The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up by Laura Pearson

Author:Laura Pearson [Pearson, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

26

THEN

I’m getting ready to open up, Dee at my side. Something’s shifted a bit between us, in the months since I admitted to the violence in my marriage. I feel like she’s always watching me but, at the same time, she’s keeping me at arm’s length. We haven’t talked about it again. She’s tried, but I’ve always walked away or changed the subject. Sometimes I worry that we’ll never recapture our friendship, the way it was. But tonight, I’m not thinking about any of that. Things feel easy. She’s telling me about a date she went on last night, on her night off, with one of our regular customers, Liam.

‘I was looking forward to it. I mean, he’s a good laugh, isn’t he?’

I nod my agreement.

‘But he was so boring, Shell. I don’t know what happened.’

‘Boring how?’

‘Like, every single thing that came out of his mouth was about his job or an article he’d read about climate change or something.’

‘What is his job?’ I’m surprised to realise I don’t know.

‘He’s an IT consultant. God, I almost wish I’d been at work. At least I would have got paid for it,’ she says.

‘Don’t go down that road,’ I say.

And Dee realises what she’s said, covers her mouth as if her small hand can contain her huge laugh.

‘What are you going to say next time he comes in?’ I ask.

Because Dee is at the Pheasant five or six nights out of seven, it’s there that she meets the men she goes on dates with. There just isn’t really the opportunity to meet them anywhere else. And when the dates are a disaster, which they usually are, she’s on pins waiting for the men to come in again, and I find myself having to pretend Dee has food poisoning or that she left for another job when she’s actually hiding in the cellar or crouched down by my legs, trying not to laugh.

Dee shrugs. ‘Do you think he will?’

‘Dee, it’s Liam! He’s been coming in every few nights for as long as I can remember.’

‘Oh god, why do I always do this? He talked to me about mortgages.’

I laugh, because I know I am expected to, but I am thinking that Dee doesn’t know how lucky she is. How I would choose boredom over terror any day. How I would always take a chat about mortgages with safe Liam over a shove or a kick from my husband.

‘So what’s the next instalment in Dee’s Dating Disasters?’

‘Who knows?’ Dee goes over to the doors, slides the bolt across. ‘Let’s see who comes through the door, shall we?’

Derek appears as if he’s been waiting there, which he probably has, and both Dee and I laugh so hard we’re bent double for a while, can’t even gather ourselves to serve him while he stands there saying, ‘What’s all this about, then, ladies?’

By the time Liam comes in, it’s gone six and we’ve got our hands full. A group of drunk women staggered in an hour or so earlier, and they’re drinking cocktails.

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