Page 24

‘Okay,’ I say. ‘Thanks, Nico. Keep us informed about any changes to the plan, will you?’

‘Yes,’ he states, then gives us a polite nod. ‘Dinner will be served in the dining room at eight o’clock.’

‘Thanks, Nico,’ Dee says.

He nods once more, then backs away, closing the door quietly behind him.

‘Ah hell,’ I say, rubbing my hand over my forehead. It’s tense from frowning so hard.

Dee’s stopped giggling now and looks at me with wide eyes. ‘So we’re stuck here for a bit longer. Potentially, quite a lot longer, by the sounds of it.’

‘Yeah. I’m going to need to make a call,’ I say, anxious to make sure my mum’s going to be okay with me not turning up for a while.

She sounded pretty confused when I spoke to her yesterday, but sometimes she’s clearer-headed and can get a bit tearful if I don’t see or speak to her for a couple of days.

‘I’ll call Bea and let her know,’ she says, already getting up off the sofa and moving towards the other side of the room to sit on the bed.

I wait till she’s speaking on the phone, then call the assisted-living complex where my mum is staying now. I get my mum’s carer on the phone first, who assures me everything is okay there and that Mum’s had a good day today. She then goes off to find her to speak to me.

I wait, with my pulse elevated, for her to come to the phone.

I hear a rustle and some breathing, then my mum says, ‘Hello?’

‘Hi, Mum, it’s me.’

There’s a short pause where I wonder whether she’s going to remember who I am.

‘It’s Jem,’ I add, just in case.

Every time she forgets me, I die a little inside.

It’s the most horrendous feeling, having your own mum not know who you are – a horrible insight into the grief I’m going to feel when she passes away.

It feels like I’m losing her piece by piece, memory by memory, like a human jigsaw slipping through cracks in the fabric of the universe.

No wonder they call Alzheimer’s the long goodbye.

‘Where are you?’ she says eventually, and I relax a little.

‘I’m on a Greek island, remember? I called you yesterday to tell you.’

There’s another short pause, then she says, ‘Oh, yes. I remember now.’

But I get the feeling she can’t remember that conversation and is just pretending so I don’t worry.

‘Is it sunny over there?’ she asks, breaking into my troubled thoughts.

I glance out of the window at the storm raging around us, bending the trees to almost snapping point.

‘No, it’s not sunny. In fact, we’ve been caught in the middle of a storm here so I’m not going to be able to get back to England to see you for a few days.

I just wanted to let you know and check everything’s okay there. ’

There’s another short pause before she says, ‘Yes, everything’s okay.’

I can’t quite tell from the tone of her voice whether she’s upset about me being away for longer or if she’s confused about what I just told her.

‘You sure?’ I ask.

She lets out a huffy, impatient sigh. ‘Yes, of course. I’m fine here. You have fun on your holiday.’

And the line goes dead.

My chest lurches, but I take a breath and subdue the feeling of guilt spiralling through me. There’s nothing I can do about it right now, so she’s going to have to cope without me for a few days.

Dee’s just finished her call too and comes limping back over to me on the sofa.

I look up at her and force a smile. ‘All okay with Bea?’

‘Yep. Absolutely fine. Of course. I think she’s actually quite pleased to still be working at the hotel, to be honest.’

There’s a slight pinch to her brow now, as if this bothers her.

‘Really?’ I say. Huh. I’d have thought she’d want to get out of there as fast as possible. Unless Dee’s hot celebrity boss has something to do with it.

I push that thought away. That has the potential to get messy too, but I can’t worry about it now.

I need to focus on what’s going on here.

‘Is your mum okay?’ Dee asks gently. Even though I didn’t say who I was calling, she’s obviously guessed who I needed to check up on.

‘Yeah. She seems to be all right at the minute. She even recognised my voice and knew who I was, so I’m taking that as a positive sign. I had a word with her carer beforehand and she said she seems pretty content. So that’s a relief.’

‘Great. So now you’ll be able to relax a bit.’

‘Hmm. Hope so.’ I get up off the sofa. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ I tell her, heading into the bathroom.

Once in there, I splash water on my face and take a few deep breaths, trying to clear my mind of the residual worry.

There’s nothing I can do and she’s in a safe place, I tell myself. Put it out of your mind for now.

I’m glad I’ve been able to have a serious conversation with Dee about what’s being going on in my life. It’s actually helped lift a bit of the strain I’ve been feeling over the last twenty-four hours.

So that’s something.

Perhaps I was a bit hard on her to think she wouldn’t understand. In fact, I think I’ve taken a lot of things for granted about her.

Not that I should let myself get too comfortable in her company. She’s still quite the wildcard after all.

A fun one to play with, though.

Taking one last deep breath, I go back out to the bedroom.

Dee looks up at me from where she’s now sitting on the sofa. ‘So, I guess we might have a few days to fill before we’re home again,’ she says.

‘I guess so.’

I sit down next to her and she turns to face me, propping her elbow on the back cushion and her chin on her hand. Her citrusy scent envelops me and I breathe it deep into my lungs, feeling my body immediately respond.

‘Whatever shall we do to pass the time?’ she says with a waggle of her eyebrows.

My mood immediately lifts and all other thoughts trickle away.

‘I know what I’d like to do,’ I say, reaching up to slide my hand into her hair and rub my thumb along her jawline.

She visibly shivers, her eyes sparking with interest.

‘And what would that be?’ she asks, straddling me again and lowering herself carefully onto my lap.

‘Have a guess,’ I say.

‘I don’t need to guess. From the feel of this, it’s pretty obvious what’s on your mind,’ she says, rocking her pelvis back and forth against my clothed erection. ‘So I guess it’s time to begin that whistle-stop tour.’

Then she leans in and kisses me and I give myself over to pure pleasure for the rest of the day and the night that follows.