Page 75

Chapter 75

September 2011

For two days, the phone in the hall is silent apart from calls about double glazing and boiler replacement.

Tess becomes highly accomplished at simply walking away and leaving the caller talking to themselves.

It’s on the evening of the second day that Georgia rings.

There is no preamble.

‘You have been in my office.’

‘I am sorry about that but you—’

‘This had better be good. I don’t like people going through my things.

’

‘I’m sorry—’

‘You have looked in my files too. We will talk about this when I come home.’

‘Yes.’

‘And what is it that is so important that you have invaded my privacy?’

‘There has been a letter from Stan.’

‘A card, you mean.’

‘A letter.’

‘Stan never writes letters.’

‘It wasn’t good news, I’m afraid.

He wrote to tell you that his sister has passed away.

He wanted you to know that there isn’t going to be a funeral, and that this is what she wanted, and that he is going to see his daughter in, I forget where .

.?.’

‘Montevideo.’

‘That’s it, Montevideo.

’

There is a pause.

‘That’s an awful lot to get on a postcard.

’

‘I told you, it wasn’t a postcard.

It was a letter and I opened it by mistake; I’m terribly sorry.

’

‘We will talk about this when I come home. I am very disappointed. If that’s what he wanted to tell me then why was it necessary for you to track me down?

I cannot think of a single reason why you would need to do that.

’

Tess is fed up with being berated.

‘There is a very good reason, actually .’

‘Oh? Enlighten me.’

‘It was in the letter.’

‘Read it to me, then.’

Tess sighs.

‘I can’t, I spilled water all over it and the ink ran.

I’m sorry, but it was important that I get in touch.

Very, very important.

’

‘Go on.’

‘I feel very weird about this.’

‘Not any more weird than I’m feeling right now, I can assure you.

’

‘I have what’s left of it.

’

‘Read it then, my dinner is waiting for me.’

Tess begins.

‘“I wanted to write and not phone you because what I have to say bears the effort of pen and ink.”’

‘He never phones me.’

‘“My sister is gone now. She slipped from this life to whatever does or does not come next, last night. She did not want a funeral of any description, there is .?.?.” And then he talked about a cremation and said she wanted him to let her ashes wash out to sea, and then .?.?. well, then it says, “not free until now, to say these things, and I will not give voice to them with breath unless your answer is positive, so”, and then some stuff about Montevideo, and then it says, “I would like to spend my last years with you, Georgia. But if you are not interested then all you need to do is stay silent. I will not mention it again, ever. I would never want to embarrass you.”’

‘Oh,’ says Georgia.

‘And the part that’s missing says that if he doesn’t hear from you, he will go to Montevideo in a week’s time and that basically you will be just friends and he will understand.

’

‘MEN!!!’

The volume is so great, Tess holds the phone away from her ear.

‘I’m really sorry.’

‘It’s not you.

It’s him.’

‘I wish you could have read the rest of it. He seems to be saying something that’s been inside for a long time.

And if you aren’t interested then he will go and see his daughter, that’s all.

’

‘Hmmm.’

‘Had you honestly no idea?’

Georgia sighs, all the way from France.

‘I suppose I did. I even tried to talk to him about it once but he said that his sister needed him and he couldn’t do anything until, well, until she wasn’t here any longer.

But it’s a bit of a leap from “let’s get together” to “if you’re not interested, I’m off”.

I’m not sure I like being given an ultimatum.

’

‘What age is he? Come to that, what age are you?’

‘I’m seventy-two, or I will be in a couple of months.

’

‘And Stan?’

‘A bit younger. I’ve never thought about it properly.

’

‘And,’ Tess pauses, ‘without being all agony auntish about it, are you interested?’

There is a silence.

‘I met him three years ago when Hazel first moved in next door. He was helping her to move furniture and get herself sorted. His wife died a long time ago but he still has the house they lived in. It’s in Murrayfield, near his allotment.

When Hazel was first diagnosed she had chemo, and he moved across the city to look after her.

I suppose we got to know each other then.

There were times when I thought there was a hint of something else happening between us, but as Hazel became more poorly, it was as though he closed that particular door.

We were still friends, but it couldn’t progress to anything else because he saw his job as being there to do whatever she needed.

They’re twins, you see.

And I think that’s a special sort of together.

More than just being siblings.

She never had a seventieth birthday, I’d have known.

So he’s probably in his late sixties.

He promised her he would be there for her and that was it.

’

‘And now you think he’s rushing it.

’

‘Yes. Why on earth can’t he just give me a month or two so we can work out if we actually like being more than friends?

’

‘I suspect that he’s written this letter, word for word, many times in his head.

’

‘Possibly.’

‘And now it has all come out in a rush, and if he’s been thinking about it for a long time, perhaps he doesn’t see the flaws in what he’s asking.

’

‘Have you ever thought of being a professional at this?’

‘Relationship advice? Oh hell, no. I’m hardly the person to offer anything like that.

’

‘And he’s still at the cottage?

’

‘I think so. He said that he’s planning to meet her request about the sea just before he leaves in two weeks’ time.

’ Tess frowns as she does mental arithmetic.

‘Actually, I think it’s one week now.

Can you not phone him?

’

‘He hates the phone. That’s why we do the postcards.

And anyway there’s no landline and the mobile reception is rubbish.

If he needs to make a call, he has to go up the wee hill beside the cottage to get a signal.

’

‘How long would it take to send a postcard from France? Or a telegram. Do telegrams still exist?’

‘You’ve been reading too much vintage crime fiction.

No telegrams since the 1980s.

’

‘I could go back on your computer and sort out a next-day-delivery Amazon parcel? If I do it now, he’ll have it tomorrow.

’

Georgia’s voice brightens.

‘You would do that for me?’

‘What do you want to send?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘How about a stop sign?’

‘You mean the kind of thing you get at a road junction? Yes, that’s perfect.

’

Tess laughs. ‘I was kidding.’

‘No, a stop sign is an excellent idea.’

‘Red and white, octagonal? I bet I can find you something like that. Give me a chance to plug this phone in next to the Mac, and call me back in ten minutes.’

*

In the gap between phone calls, Tess doesn’t once think about her anxiety.

She is completely focused on ordering a pillarbox-red stop sign from Amazon.

She loads up the website, and has all the options ready for Georgia by the time the phone rings.

‘You can have metal, like the kind you get as a proper traffic sign, or you can have stickers that would go on a wall?’

‘You’ve found one already?

I wasn’t sure you would manage it.

’

‘It was fine. It turns out that doing something for someone else isn’t the same as doing it for myself.

Do you want metal or a sticker?

’

Georgia laughs. ‘I think that I would like to make a statement, and there isn’t a much bigger statement than a whacking great metal road sign being delivered, is there?

’

‘How big, exactly? You can have thirty centimetres, forty-five or sixty.’

Georgia doesn’t hesitate.

‘Sixty. He’s not the only one who can make bold pronouncements.

’

Tess smiles. ‘Right.’

‘My card details should be stored on the site so just go ahead and order it. He’s on the account as a person who gets parcels because I’ve been sending him things while he’s been up north.

He hasn’t been able to get out much.

’

‘Stanley Goodwin?’

‘That’s him.

I’ll go and have my dinner now, and leave this in your capable hands.

And in the morning, I’ll try and work out how to get to the north-west coast of Scotland from the middle of France.

’

The phone clicks and the call ends.

Tess looks at the list of items that Georgia has sent to Stan over the last six months.

Thornton’s Treacle Toffee, Derwent coloured pencils, warm socks, some quite expensive binoculars, a book about the creatures of the British shoreline, and two pairs of rainbow-striped bootlaces.

‘Oh, Georgia,’ she says, ‘I think you’ve been kidding yourself.

This is not what you do if you aren’t sure you’re interested.

It’s how you show you care very much.

’

She finishes the order and adds a message to the ‘Is this a Gift?’ box.

Dear Stan, Georgia asked me to send this.

Please follow the instructions TO THE LETTER.

Tess.

She closes the computer down.

It has been quite a day.