Page 12 of A Wish For Jo
'If he falls in there, he'll need a ladder to get out!' joked her dad, earning a dig in the ribs from Jo's mum.
The food arrived, piping hot and smelling divine. Jo's parents got stuck in, and she dunked a chip in the tartare sauce. It burned her tongue, and she took a cooling sip of shandy. Then something struck her like a punch to the stomach: her parents had less than twelve years to live. They'd both passed away shortly before her thirtieth birthday. They'd never met her fiancé, Graham — not that Jo imagined he or his control-freak mother would have met with their approval — or witnessed Jo's rise through the ranks of the catering industry. So many things had been missed, so much left unsaid. If only she'd known… But in her teens, she'd believed her parents would be around for much longer.
'You OK, Jo?' Helen put down her fork and dabbed at her mouth with a paper napkin. 'You're not eating much.'
Jo's throat tightened and she blinked away tears. 'The chips are hot; they’re making my eyes water.'
Half an hour later they were on the beach, each with an ice cream cone, licking furiously to catch the drips.
'Right, stone-skimming time!' Her dad crunched the last of his cone and bent to locate a suitable pebble. Jo and her mum followed suit, taking turns to flick their stones across the water. Her dad's bounced a pathetic three times, her mum's a marginally more impressive five. Jo whooped with delight as she counted one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…
Before she got to ten, the stone sank. Her legs wobbled, and she grabbed her dad's arm as her vision blurred and the sounds of excited children and dogs faded away.No, not now!
'Jo, what's the matter?' Her dad wrapped his arm around her and she buried her face in his chest.Please, Aaliyah, just a few more minutes.
Buffeted by a sudden gust of wind, Jo disentangled herself and stood swaying between her parents, their concerned faces swimming in and out of view. 'Mum, Dad, I love you so much. I wish I'd said it more often. You're the best parents anyone could ever have, and I will miss you every single day for the rest of my life.'
'Jo, I think you need a wee sit down and a cup of tea.' Her mum's words brought a weak smile to Jo's face, even as the beach shifted unnervingly beneath her. A cup of tea: the answer to all life's problems.
'Jo, you know we love you too. Maybe we don't say it enough, but—' Her dad's voice was distant and echoey.
'Of course we do! Neil, should we call for help?' Her mum, pragmatic as always, but rapidly disappearing.
'I love you!' Jo screamed at the sky. Then it swooped down and everything went black.
CHAPTER14
‘CouldI have a little word with you, Jinnie?’ Jo eyed her friend, whose arm was entwined with Sam's. ‘In private.'
'I've stuff to do back at the shop, so I'll leave you two to it.' Sam winked at Jinnie, who blew him a kiss in return. They'd arrived at A Bit of Crumpet moments before, ordering slabs of tarte flambée, a recent addition to Jo's repertoire. Aaliyah was out back, purportedly making black-bean brownies. There was no sound of the food mixer, though, and Jo thought it extremely unlikely that she was mixing it by hand,.
Sam left the café, pausing to blow a kiss back at Jinnie, who play-caught it in her hand. Every fibre of her body screamed, 'Look at me, I’m a smitten kitten!' Jo resisted the urge to snarl like a grouchy dog — or bitch. Just because Jinnie had found her happy-ever-after didn't mean Jo should lift her leg and pee on her happiness. What she did want to do, however, was get to the bottom of the whole lamp/genie/wishes conundrum.
'What's up, Jo?' Jinnie perched on a stool, winding a strand of hair around her finger. 'You look a bit out of sorts. Is everything OK?' Her voice sounded normal, but the hair-twisting suggested a certain twitchiness.
'How was your holiday?' asked Jo nonchalantly. 'Lucky you, being able to escape Cranley for a month.'
Jinnie shrugged, although her nervous smile lifted a notch. 'It was incredible, Jo. I always thought cruises were for older people — I mean, much older people — but I couldn't have been more wrong. We made loads of new friends and saw some amazing places. Oh, and the food! I ate more in a month than I usually eat in three.' She patted her slightly rounded stomach and giggled. 'That's a food baby, by the way, not a real one.'
The sound of the food mixer firing into action coincided with the arrival of a customer. Cursing under her breath, Jo told Jinnie to sit in the furthest corner of the café, then dealt with the order. She made them a pot of tea to share, and prayed for no further interruptions.
'Jo, I get the feeling you're mad at me. Can you tell me what's bugging you, please?'
Without a word, Jo pointed at the high shelf housing the two lamps. 'I bought them from Sam,' she said. 'But you know that already. And I guess you also knew these were no ordinary lamps, but you didn't tell me.'
Jinnie blushed and attempted to pour the tea, and hot liquid pooled in the saucers. Jo mopped up the spillage with a napkin and took over.
'I'm so sorry, Jo.' Jinnie's blush deepened. 'I was so shocked when Sam told me you'd bought the lamps that I didn't know what to do for the best.'
'So you did nothing?' Jo stirred her tea clockwise, then anti-clockwise. 'A wee warning would have been nice.'
'What would I have said? Oh, by the way, those lamps contain genies, so go easy on the cleaning. Either you wouldn't have believed me, or you'd have thought me madder than a box of frogs. Trust me, Jo, it took me a while to accept the insanity of it all.'
Jo reached out and squeezed Jinnie's trembling hand. 'Sweetheart, I understand. Well, kind of. But by the time I met my newfriend, you'd sailed off into the sunset with Sam. I suppose you weren't to know I'd get polishing so quickly.'
'Jo, it comes as no surprise that you'd get busy cleaning them up. Not that they were in bad shape, really. Which one did you…?' Jinnie eyed the shelf again. 'I know they're similar, but I'll never forget Sam giving me the first one. That one.' She pointed at the lamp on the right. 'Which means…’
'I got the female version. She's currently working as my assistant, God help me. Apparently your genie's sulking. Not that I want both of them shacked up with me; a ménage à trois is definitely not on my wish list.'
