Page 62 of The Vintage Dress Shop in Primrose Hill
‘Doesn’t stop you from complaining though.’ The screen was suddenly filled up by a white t-shirt that proclaimedHoly Sheep Balls. Then Sophy’s grandmother, Jean, stepped back and came into shot. ‘Hello, darling girl.’
Jean was holding two mugs of tea, which she placed on a low table in front of their two chairs, then sat down, grimacing as she did so.
‘Oh Gran, is your hip playing up again?’ Sophy asked in concern as Jean was clearly struggling to get comfortable. ‘Any news on when they’re going to book you in for your hip replacement?’
It was odd that although they’d never met, after several years of calls, which had started on Bob’s seventieth birthday and then become more frequent over the subsequent five years, Sophy and her grandparents knew the minutiae of each other’s lives.
They hadn’t been surprised when she’d split up with Egan, because they’d seen it on the cards long before Sophy had had her epiphany. ‘The only time we ever heard him was when he was asking you where something was,’ Jean had said the first time that Sophy had called them from Mike’s office rather than from her bedroom in the flat in Deptford. ‘You don’t want a man who doesn’t know where half his possessionshave got to. You’re not there to pick up after him, Soph.’
So, Sophy knew all about the saga of Jean’s troublesome hips, exacerbated by a fall a few months ago when she’d been changing a lightbulb in one of those guest cottages though ‘Bob said not to do it but I thought it will take two seconds to scramble up a ladder and next thing I know I’m lying on the floor for an hour until he comes to find me.’
If Johnno had inherited his father’s looks then he’d definitely inherited his mother’s garrulous ways. Now, Bob and Jean shared a worried look at each other.
‘Well, we heard from the hospital this week and they’ve had a cancellation, so they wanted to move me up the list,’ Jean said, though she didn’t sound too happy about it.
‘But that’s good, isn’t it?’
‘It will be mid-July and generally that’s when we’ve got a lot of maintenance work on. We’re having real trouble finding casual staff at the moment, so I’m not sure it’s a great time to have the op… they do both hips at once, so that’s going to take a bit of recovery time—’
‘At least it’s before your wedding anniversary,’ Sophy said because she’d learned that it was fine to interrupt Jean when she got going, otherwise she’d never have a chance to get a word in. ‘You wouldn’t want to be in hospital for that, would you? Do you think a month is long enough to recover in time for your big party?’
Bob and Jean had no idea that Sophy was planning to come out to celebrate their anniversary with them. They’d talked about her coming for Radha’s wedding in October, then swinging by the sheep station after that. Maybe staying for Christmas and how Sophy was looking forward to swerving a cold, damp British winter in favour of a warm Australian summer.
‘It will sort itself out,’ Jean said airily.
‘I could come earlier maybe. There’s nothing keeping me here. Not really,’ Sophy said.
‘Have you heard about your citizenship application then?’ Bob asked.
Sophy couldn’t help but roll her eyes. ‘I’mstillwaiting on Johnno to get me his paperwork and then I’m hoping it won’t take long after that.’ But if she changed her plans and did go out a month early, then chances were she might not have her citizenship by then. The Australian immigration department’s methods were strange and mysterious and also kind of cruel. Once your application was in you weren’t allowed to chase them up and, if you did, they sent you right to the back of the queue again. It sounded even worse than trying to get visitor’s parking permits from the local council, which was saying something.
‘Now listen, kiddo, we can’t wait for you to come out and when I get my hands on you, I’m going to hug you half to death, but we’re not expecting you to act like some kind of skivvy when you get here,’ Jean said, hands on her dicky hips.
‘But it would be useful to have some extra help, especially once you’ve had your operation,’ Sophy pointed out. ‘I can clean, cook, though my speciality tends to be microwaved ready meals, and I can do admin, all sorts of stuff. Probably won’t be any good at sheep-shearing or dealing with manure, ha ha!’
‘You say that, but I reckon you’ll be a pro at shovelling shit and as to the sheep-shearing, there’s nothing to it,’ Bob said jovially. Or rather, Sophy hoped he meant it jovially and wasn’t being serious. ‘Yeah, we had a fella one time who took his finger off, but you’re a sensible girl.’
Sophy’s smile felt a little strained. ‘Thatwasa joke, right?’
Both Bob and Jean laughed uproariously but didn’t actually confirm or deny that one of their erstwhile sheep-shearers had lost a finger.
No wonder that when Sophy did finally manage to get to sleep that night, after a lot of circular thoughts about visas and plane tickets, she dreamed about shearing a sheep.
There was bloodeverywhere.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Waking up was much better than Sophy’s nightmares of a blook-soaked shearing pen. For one thing, there was a message from Charles waiting on her phone.
Dinner tonight? I could meet you after work. C x
Yes!Sophy texted back immediately. Then she wondered if it was appropriate for Charles to meet her from work if people didn’t know they were friends with kissing benefits. Apart from Cress, that was.
Charles was that rare thing. The man who messaged back immediately, without playing silly games or insisting that two hours between messages was industry standard. He was also very considerate.
I’ll meet you the Camden end of Gloucester Crescent at 7. I thought we could walk through Regent’s Park if you could bear to after being on your feet all day. Cx
Because she had a date for after work, Sophy decided to ditch her usual sack dress in favour of one of the fifties ones she’d bought at the car boot sale the weekend before. She chose a pale blue shirt dress with tiny white flowers scattered over the print and with the ubiquitous nipped-in waist, three-quarter-length sleeves and shawl collar. Worn with her fancy trainers, which were now looking a little less fancy due to the fact that Sophy wore them pretty much every day.
