Page 38 of For Love or Money
The noise of a door banging outside drew them both to the window.
‘Ah, there she is now,’ Al said as Lesley peered through the grime to see a figure emerge from a little shed at the bottom of the garden. She was clad all in black, the evening sun glinting off her tangled mess of wavy blonde hair. As they watched, she shielded her eyes and squinted back at them. Spotting Al, her face lit up with a smile and she gave them a little wave as she picked up her pace, striding purposefully towards the house.
The door opened.
‘Al,’ Jane beamed, rushing up to him. ‘It’s lovely to see you!’ She threw her arms around him and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.
Now that she was closer, Lesley recognised the pixyish face, more fleshy and lined than the picture in her head, but still girlishly pretty, her amazing eyes intensely blue and luminous as moonstone.
‘This is Lesley,’ Al introduced her. ‘Lesley, my aunt Jane.’
‘Hello,’ Lesley held out her hand to shake, but Jane pulled her into a hug.
‘It’s lovely to meet you.’ She turned to Al. ‘If I’d known you were bringing someone ...’
‘You’d have baked a cake?’ Al said.
‘Well, no. But I might have tidied up a bit.’
‘Good job I didn’t tell you, then. I didn’t want you to go to any bother. I know you’re busy.’
‘Sorry the place is in such a mess,’ Jane said to Lesley, looking around vaguely.
‘It’s fine,’ Lesley said. ‘He should have told you.’ She gave Al a dig with her elbow. ‘It was very inconsiderate.’
‘Oh, it’s no problem. It’s lovely to see you.’
‘I know you’re on a deadline,’ Al said, ‘so I thought it would be a good idea to bring reinforcements.’
‘But I did want to talk to you about ... that family matter.’ Jane gave Al a meaningful look.
‘Oh, don’t worry about that. Lesley knows the whole story.’ Al put an arm around Lesley’s shoulders.
‘She does?’
‘Yes, you can speak freely in front of her.’
‘Al tells me everything,’ Lesley said, briefly laying her head on Al’s shoulder.
‘Okay, good. Sorry, Lesley,’ Jane said, turning to her. ‘This isn’t much of a welcome for you. Sit down.’ She pulled out a chair at the table. ‘How about a drink? I was just about to have one. There’s some whiskey in the dresser, Al,’ she said, waving at it as she sat down beside Lesley.
Al rinsed a couple of teacups and a tumbler under the tap, then lined them up on the table and splashed generous measures of whiskey into them. ‘Bottoms up!’ He clinked his cup against Lesley’s, then knocked back the drink in one go and shuddered.
Lesley sipped hers gingerly, wincing slightly as it burned her throat.
‘There’s some shortbread I made yesterday,’ Jane said, grabbing a biscuit tin that was sitting on top of the pile of papers on the table and opening it. ‘Would you like some?’ she held it out to Lesley.
‘Thanks.’ Lesley took a piece. The sweetness was a nice antidote to the whiskey.
‘So, how’s the book going?’ Al asked his aunt as he sat beside her.
She made a face. ‘Not great. I’m almost finished, but I’m having trouble with the ending.’
‘It doesn’t help, not taking care of yourself, you know. You should take a break now and then – get out, see people, eat food. You need fresh air and vegetables.’
‘I don’t have time for fresh air and vegetables.’
‘Well, Lesley and I will take care of that while we’re here. Won’t we?’ he said to Lesley.
