Page 14 of The Runaway Wives

They’d had such a giggle back then, when they were both young and carefree. Dee took another sip of champagne and rolled the bubbles over her tongue. She was glad she’d come away with Babs. Babs was the only person she had ever been able to truly relax with.

Suddenly, she was aware that someone was singing ‘Happy Birthday’. And others were joining in. She turned around and saw the waiter heading towards her, carrying a plate containing a chocolate brownie, a lit candle inserted in the middle, the flame flickering as he walked.

Now everyone was joining in. Dee had to blink back the tears as the waiter put the makeshift ‘birthday cake’ in front of her and Babs told her to make a wish and blow out the candle.

She closed her eyes and impulsively wished that being sixty would bring her happiness, then blew out the candle. Everyone clapped and cheered. She smiled at them all and thanked them once the clapping and cheering had died down.

‘You know, Babs, this is one of the best evenings I’ve ever had,’ Dee said as she sipped the champagne, enjoying the glow in her throat as she swallowed the fizzy liquid. She was feeling happy and relaxed. And very glad that she’d come away with Babs rather than stopped at home by herself. What a miserable birthday that would have been.

10

BABS

Sunday

Babs had a restless night. She and Geoff had barely been away from each other before, apart from when Babs was in hospital having the children, and when Geoff had pneumonia a few years ago. They had always holidayed together. Always done everything together. It seemed strange sleeping in this big double bed by herself. She had so much wine on Friday night that she’d crashed out in Dee’s guest room and slept through until Dee woke her in the morning. Last night though, despite the champagne she had barely slept a wink. She wondered if Geoff had slept any better. Surely he would be missing her?

She reached for her phone on the bedside table and checked the screen. No messages or missed calls. So Geoff wasn’t missing her then.

Or he was sulking because she’d gone away with Dee, instead of running back home as he’d demanded.

She touched the screen, opening her photo gallery and scrolled through the photos, stopping to look at a photo of her and Geoff sitting outside a pub, a glass of lager in front of them both. Bozo, their old rescue dog, at their feet. It was a mild spring day and they’d gone for a walk by the river, then stopped for a pint. They’d often gone for a walk with Bozo on Sundays, when the shop wasn’t open, it had been their way of unwinding, and reconnecting. They’d sit chatting to each other as they sipped their pints, talking about their week, and the week ahead. A couple of years ago, Bozo had died of old age and they had talked about getting another dog but decided that it wasn’t fair as they were working in the shop all day. Bozo had been older, settled, happy to go with them and sleep in the back or wander in the small courtyard, but a new dog would have to be trained. When they’d sold the shop a few months ago, Geoff had started to get bored, restless, and Babs had suggested they get another dog, but he’d said he didn’t want to be tied down. So she’d suggested he take up a hobby. Instead he’d started getting obsessed about moving to Spain – and learning Spanish. She’d thought it was all a bit of a joke at first; how wrong she’d been.

She scrolled back to more photos, stopping at the one of their wedding day that she’d shared on Facebook back in February for their anniversary. They’d been married thirty-seven years this year, first meeting at primary school then meeting up again years later when Geoff had walked into the insurance brokers she’d worked for, wanting a quote. They’d been delighted to see each other again, gone out for a meal to catch up and hit it off so well they’d started dating. They got married on Valentine’s Day the following year. It was several years before Lennon came along. They were starting to fear that they would never have children, then Molly swiftly followed. They’d been happy together, until now.

Her phone buzzed. She looked at the screen. It was Lennon. ‘What’s going on, Mum? Molly said that Dad’s being a dickhead, talking about selling up and moving to Spain. And apparently you’ve run away to Cornwall and blocked his calls?’

Damn, she’d forgotten that she’d blocked Geoff again! ‘I haven’t run away, I’ve come away with Dee for a week to give your dad some time to think about what he’s doing.’

There was a pause. ‘You are going back home though, right?’

Was she? Right now, she didn’t want to be in the same town as Geoff, never mind the same house. ‘It depends on whether your dad agrees to take my feelings into account or still insists on doing what only he wants.’

There was a silence whilst Lennon digested this, and probably thought how to respond. ‘You’re going to have to come home. Where else will you live? You don’t have the money to rent a place,’ he pointed out. That was Lennon, calm and matter-of-fact. Like his dad. Only Geoff wasn’t being calm and matter-of-fact now, was he? He was being selfish and irrational.

She was fully aware that she couldn’t stay here forever, but Geoff had to realise that she was serious about this. ‘I can afford to rent for a while and I’m not coming back until your dad takes the house off the market,’ she said firmly. ‘So, it’s him you need to speak to, not me.’

‘I intend to. I’m going to phone him now, but I wanted to find out your side first. I’ll talk some sense into him. I think he’s having some sort of old-age crisis.’ Lennon sighed. ‘You need to unblock him though, Mum. How can you sort things out if you don’t talk to each other?’

‘I will. I only blocked him temporarily because he kept phoning and distracting Dee when we were driving down here.’ And because he annoyed her when she did unblock him, she remembered. But she thought it best not to tell Lennon this.

Babs thought over the conversation when they’d ended the call. She wasn’t sure if Geoff would listen to Lennon; he wasn’t listening to anyone, least of all her. All he cared about was whathewanted to do. Was Lennon right and Geoff was having some kind of age-related crisis? There had to be some explanation why he was acting like this, it wasn’t like him at all.

She chewed her lip, her mind in turmoil. She’d walked out on Friday night in a fit of pique, determined to show Geoff that he couldn’t order her about, wanting to teach him a lesson so that he backed down, but now she was worried their problems ran deeper than that. Even if Geoff took the house off the market and cancelled his plans for retiring to Spain, had the damage already been done? He’d made a big decision without caring how she thought about it, how it affected her, so what did that say about their marriage? She’d thought they were solid, a partnership. Also, even if he did back down, would he still be hankering after going to Spain? Would he resent her for not letting him live his dream? Would their marriage ever be the same again?

11

DEE

Dee slept like a log and woke up feeling really refreshed. She glanced at the clock and was surprised to discover that it was only seven thirty. She got out of bed and pulled on the new kimono Babs had bought her, deciding to make a cup of tea and take it out into the garden, enjoy the fresh air and the quietness of the morning. She’d leave Babs for a while, it would do her good to rest. Dee could tell that this business with Geoff had really upset her. And she was a bit of a morning grouch Dee remembered. Easy-going, fun Babs didn’t surface until she’d had her second cup of tea.

Padding down the stairs into the kitchen, Dee saw the sunlight streaming in through the back window. They’d arrived home late last night after her birthday meal at the restaurant and gone straight to bed, not bothering to close the downstairs’ curtains. She filled the kettle and switched it on, then opened the French doors out into the garden. This was probably a fisherman’s cottage once, but it had been updated. She was pleased to see that the owners had kept the original beams though, and hadn’t gone too modern. The quaint French doors were made of small panes, like the rest of the windows in the cottage. She left them open to let in some fresh air, then went back to make a drink as the kettle was about to boil.

She’d just finished making her tea when she felt a furry body brush against her legs then heard a loud ‘miaow’. Glancing down in surprise she saw a little white cat sporting a red collar with a silver disc dangling from it. ‘Hello. Do you live here?’ she asked as the cat jumped onto the worktop, as if it did indeed live there, and sauntered over to the milk jug, miaowing again.

‘Do you want some milk?’ Dee looked around for a saucer, found one in the top cupboard and put it down on the tiled floor. The cat immediately jumped off the worktop, its tail arched in a question mark as it waited patiently for Dee to fill the saucer with milk, then started drinking.

‘Well, you’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you?’ Dee said, stroking the cat softly. It must live nearby and was obviously used to coming into the cottage, but surely it couldn’t belong to the owner. This was a holiday let. She guessed it must belong to one of the neighbours. Perhaps it befriended all the holidaymakers and they all fed it. Cats were a bit like that, they weren’t fussy who fed them and often had a few ‘owners’. She tried to check the identity disc on the cat’s collar but it stepped away from her.

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