Page 54 of The Last Saturday In July
Figuring she should try to get some sleep, she found some blankets and a spare pillow in the tiny airing cupboard in the bathroom. There was a spare bedroom, but it was full of Moira’s sculptures, packets of clay and paints, so she made the couch as comfortable as possible. As she pulled the blankets up to her chin and tried to relax, she wondered for a moment how her nana would react to having a carer. She knew how fiercely Moira guarded her independence, but Jess hoped that she’d agree to accept help for the next while.
Chapter 21
JESS waited for her dad to arrive the following day before leaving for work. Despite Moira’s insistence that she was fine, Jess had no intention of leaving her by herself. She felt grimy after spending the night in her blouse and underwear and planned to swing by the flat to shower and change, so she’d rung Emily to say she’d be late. To her surprise, her parents pulled up outside the house shortly before half past eight.
‘Hi.’ She hugged them briefly in the hall before turning to her mother. Shouldn’t you be in bed, Mam?’
Carmel dumped a bag of shopping, which seemed to be full of ready-to-eat soups and dinners for one, on the table. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not working tonight, so I’ll catch up then. How’s Nana?’
‘She slept well – she’s having breakfast in bed.’
Carmel rubbed Jess’s shoulder. ‘You leave things to me. I’ll organise some extra help for her.’
Tom took off his jacket. ‘And Seamus and I can pick up the slack. I’ll go in and say hello. Well done for stepping in yesterday, love.’
As Tom checked on Moira, Jess wrapped her arms tightly around herself and shivered with tiredness.
‘I’ll say goodbye before I head off. I need to change and get into work.’
Carmel nodded. ‘Have you been on to poor Simon?’
Jess wondered how the dinner party went. ‘I left a message yesterday evening.’
‘Good, I’m sure he understood.’
Jess hugged Moira carefully before she left. ‘Take care, Nana, I’ll check in with you later.’
‘Thank you, dear, I’ll be fine. I just have to decide what outfit will look best with this boot, for your big day.’ She beamed and Jess gave her another quick hug.
As she drove back to Donnybrook, Jess fought the urge to call in sick and just go home to bed. She was stiff and exhausted after the uncomfortable night on the couch.
As soon as she got to the flat, she went straight to the bathroom to shower before slipping into clean clothes, feeling slightly better as she blow-dried her hair and reapplied her make-up. Stomach rumbling, she went into the kitchen, put some bread in the toaster and started up the coffee machine, before opening the fridge.
She froze when she saw the half leg of lamb was still there. Maybe Simon hadn’t had time to cook it, so he’d done something quicker instead. Like some of those fish fillets with diced vegetables in little tinfoil parcels that were dead easy to do but looked really fancy. She checked the bin, but there was no sign of any sort ofleftovers.
With a growing feeling of unease, Jess plugged in her phone to charge and switched it on, to find she had three missed calls from Simon. She debated calling him in work, but decided it was better to talk to him later. The coffee machine beeped, and Jess poured herself a large cup, adding two spoons of sugar and a splash of milk.
As the first welcome shot of caffeine hit her system, she remembered Kate and David’s date the night before. She rang Kate, hoping for some good news to distract her.
Kate answered immediately.
‘Jess, did you get back in time for Simon’s business dinner?’
Jess was a bit thrown. ‘How did you ...?’
‘Simon called me.’
Jess’s insides squeezed. ‘When?’
‘Last night. I was out with David.’
‘That’s why I was phoning – tell me everything.’
‘Jess, it was a total disaster.’
Jess leaned back against the counter. ‘But you two got on so well the other night!’
Kate huffed out a breath. ‘I’m talking about Simon. That was an important business dinner – he was really upset when he rang me.’
