The Wrong Holiday by LK Wilde

Author:LK Wilde [Wilde, LK]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

Jess walked into the sitting room and hung her coat on the banister. ‘Hello?’ She’d grown used to arriving home to find Joy lounging on the sofa watching daytime TV, but today she was nowhere to be seen. ‘Hello?’

‘Through here.’

Jess walked through the sitting room and found Joy red-faced, glaring into the oven.

‘Is everything OK?’

‘No, it’s not. I’ve invited Fran to join me for dinner as you’re off to meet your chap, but the darned lasagne has turned to a crisp.’

‘Let me see,’ said Jess. She bent down next to Joy, a wall of heat meeting her face. ‘Could the oven be on too high?’

‘What does it say on that dial?’

‘Two hundred and forty degrees.’

‘Bugger. It’s my damned eyesight letting me down. I was alright with my old gas stove. I thought I’d treat myself to an upgrade, but I can’t read the tiny writing.’

‘Why don’t I turn it down to a lower heat and cover it in foil, then it will cook through without burning?’

‘I don’t know what I did before you arrived,’ said Joy, offering a rare compliment.

‘What time’s Fran coming round?’ asked Jess.

‘Whenever I get around to fetching her.’

‘Oh,’ said Jess, ‘I thought Fran lived nearby?’

‘She does, but she’s had trouble leaving the house since that bastard of a husband put her in hospital. Now the only place she’s confident getting to is work.’

‘Oh, God, I had no idea. When she mentioned her divorce, I assumed it was a bog standard, growing apart type of situation, not anything so extreme.’

‘Yes. If you can believe it, he’s being difficult about the divorce, despite being behind bars. It’s a shame they closed Bodmin Jail. If you ask me, the best way to deal with men like that is at the end of a noose.’

Jess smiled as she pictured her parents listening to this conversation. They were dedicated lefties, in favour of rehabilitation rather than retribution. The thought of her parents reminded Jess that they were due a call. She checked her watch. They’d still be at work, so she’d ring them after meeting up with Ryan.

‘I’d better get going,’ said Jess. ‘I told Ryan I’d meet him at the end of his shift, which is in twenty minutes, so I’m already running late.’

‘Yes, off you go. There should be plenty of lasagne left over for our tea tomorrow if it doesn’t poison me and Fran first.’

Jess ran upstairs to the sound of Joy cackling downstairs. She removed her work clothes and slung on a fresh T-shirt and jeans. In the bathroom she washed her face and after moisturising applied mascara and lip gloss. ‘You’ll do,’ Jess said to herself.

‘See you later, Joy. I won’t be out too late.’

‘Don’t you worry about that,’ said Joy. ‘You’ll be wanting to make the most of your time with your chap. I know I would, fine fellow of a man from the photos you’ve shown me.’

‘Joy! We’re just having a beach picnic, nothing more. Besides, he shares a caravan with three other men.

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