Page 26 of The Runaway Wives

Dee pulled back the curtains to find Babs waiting, dressed in a Barbie-pink jumpsuit that clung to her in just the right places.

‘Gorgeous! I knew they would suit you. What do you think of this?’ Babs did a little twirl.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Dee told her.

‘Try the red dress on now,’ Babs encouraged her.

The red dress looked good, too, and the colour seemed to make her brown eyes even darker.I think I definitely will wear brighter colours more often, she decided.

‘Are you ready?’

She stepped out to find Babs wearing a lime-green dress that she was almost spilling out of and that clung in all the wrong places. Dee gulped. How could she tell her friend that this wasn’t the dress for her. Then she noticed that Babs was giggling. ‘Imagine if I walked into The Pirate’s Head wearing this. I reckon Glenn’s eyes would pop out!’

Dee chuckled. ‘Well, you’d certainly make an entrance!’

‘This is a no, but that dress is definitely a yes.’ Bee nodded in satisfaction. ‘Red really suits you, Dee.’

After paying for their clothes they went to get a swimming costume for Dee.

‘It’s a shame I didn’t think to bring the new ones with me, there was a really nice black and white striped tankini amongst them.’

‘Forget black and white! Make those eyes pop out!’ Babs held up a yellow bikini with a barely there top and G-string pants.

Dee spluttered. ‘You must be joking!’

‘You should see your face.’ Babs eyes were twinkling. ‘We’d have worn this if we were a bit younger, wouldn’t we?’

‘Loads younger, you mean. And I’m not sure I would.’ Babs would have though!

‘How about this then? One-pieces can be really flattering, especially with a figure like yours.’ She held up a beautiful bright blue tropical print swimsuit.

‘Actually, that is nice.’

‘Go on, try it on. Then you can wear it when we go for a swim tomorrow.’

Babs was right, the swimsuit really suited her, Dee thought. She was surprised how toned her figure looked.

Babs spotted a straw sun hat with a gaily coloured scarf around it and couldn’t resist. And, on impulse, Dee bought a white brimmed floppy hat that made her look quite jaunty.

They stopped at the newsagents to get a box of chocolates, a couple of magazines and a bottle of lemonade for Edna, and set off to the hospital.

19

Edna was sitting up and, although pale, looked a lot stronger and was delighted to see them with their gifts.

‘Thank you, both, you saved my life. I could have been lying there for days.’ She sounded very emotional. ‘And you’re holidaymakers too, I can’t believe that you noticed something was wrong.’

‘It was Dee, really,’ Babs said as they each pulled out a chair and sat down beside the bed. ‘She was the one who thought we should check on you.’

‘Actually it was your cat, Snowy, who alerted us. We’re staying at Sunset View, as you probably realised, and he visited us. He seemed hungry but we could tell that he was well cared for, and his name and your address was on the disc on his collar. So when I saw him miaowing and scratching at your front door, and your curtains all closed, I had a feeling that something was wrong and decided to check.’

Edna clasped Dee’s hand between hers. ‘Thank you. Thank you.’

She turned to Babs. ‘You too. You helped. And the lovely policewoman said that you’re both looking after Snowy while I’m here. How is he? I’m so worried about him.’

‘He’s fine, he’s made himself at home. See.’ Dee showed her a couple of photos of Snowy that she’d taken earlier. One of him eating his food and the other of him curled up in his basket.

‘That’s so kind of you. So kind.’ Edna dabbed her eyes with a tissue. ‘All of this has been such a shock to me. I’ve been getting a bit unsteady on my feet, and when I was lying there on the floor I thought “this is it, Edna, no one’s going to find you for ages”.’ She dabbed her eyes again. ‘It’s not been easy living on my own since Bert died.’

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