Stories To Make You Smile, page 8
‘Wait.’ On the way out of the shop Gemma paused at the sale rack. The fluffy jumper was the right size. Twenty quid, and her daughter would love it. She bore it to the sales desk where the same assistant looked at her shrewdly. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, aren’t you—?’
‘No, I’m not,’ she said firmly, and handed him two ten-pound notes.
* * *
The rest of the morning was exhausting. Two boutiques, one dark with thudding music and odd clothes with unexpected holes and ragged hems, the other full of bright colours, the air cloudy with incense. Janet bought a floaty red dress in Indian cotton and a long string of beads. Gemma chose a cheap macramé keyring to show willing. In Marks & Spencer she offered her opinion as Janet paraded in a succession of outfits. But when her friend paid for a cape and a pair of boots Gemma watched, horrified, as Janet’s first three credit cards were rejected.
‘Is everything OK?’ she whispered, but her friend snapped back.
‘It’s fine. Now, lunch, don’t you think?’
* * *
Samsons (Gemma, with her teaching hat on, always thought it should have an apostrophe) was a tiled cave with glass-topped tables and a bar. A lad with a white apron and a nose ring showed them to a table. Nearby a couple of hefty young men in suits sat scrolling on their phones as they drank foaming pints of beer.
‘This is on me,’ Janet reminded her firmly.
‘Honestly, you don’t need to,’ Gemma stuttered in dismay, but Janet was already ordering glasses of wine and a lobster salad.
The Butternut Café was homespun and she’d have felt more comfortable there. Besides, the waiter was looking at her curiously and she remembered that she was wearing the same striped scarf as in the newspaper. She unwound it and stuffed it into her handbag as she asked for an inexpensive risotto.
The wine was delicious but it made her muzzy and it loosened Janet’s tongue. She talked nonstop in a way that was almost manic. About an expensive coat she’d ordered online and the new kitchen she was planning.
It wasn’t fair, Gemma thought, as she toyed with buttery rice and mushroom. Janet knew how little she and Brian had to live on, but she was throwing her wealth in Gemma’s face.
The final straw came as the waiter was preparing the bill.
The men on the nearby table were leaving. ‘Excuse us, lady,’ one said to Gemma. He showed her his phone. ‘This is you, innit?’
Gemma stared at the screen, her mouth frozen open in the same big O of horror she wore in the photograph. There she was in all her glory, clambering out of the car she’d just rolled on top of a grassy roundabout. She’d been so distracted she’d had to swerve wildly to avoid her Fiat being crushed by a lorry.
She pushed the phone away. The man was roaring with laughter. ‘Me and my mate here,’ he said. ‘Funniest thing ever. You must have felt well stupid.’
The men crept away. Janet started to giggle. ‘Sorry, Gemma, but you have to admit—’
Something snapped in Gemma’s head.
‘No, it wasn’t funny,’ she shouted. ‘It was horrible and frightening and I’ll be charged for careless driving.’
Janet laughed louder. ‘I can’t help it.’
‘And I’m fed up with today. Why do you never listen to me? All this stuff you’ve bought and it was supposed to be my day out. And you know I don’t have much money.’
‘I said I’d pay for the meal.’ Janet looked panicked.
‘That’s what I mean. All you’ve done is splash cash. It’s as though you’re taunting me.’
‘I didn’t mean—’
‘You may not have meant it, but that’s what it feels like.’ Now she’d started it was difficult to stop. All the anguish of the last few months poured out.
‘And something’s wrong with you and you’re not telling me. Why do you have all those credit cards that don’t work?’
Tough Janet sagged like a deflating balloon. There were tears in her eyes. The shock pulled Gemma up short.
‘Jan? What is it you’re not telling me?’
‘I… I’m sorry. Sorry for everything you’ve said. You must think… the clothes, the new kitchen. The thing is, Gemma, I can’t stop myself. What shall I do? I can’t pay for it all.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘Yes, completely.’ She took out another credit card. ‘This is my last one,’ she said, tossing it on the dish with the bill. ‘And I’m crossing my fingers it’ll work.’
‘No,’ Gemma said firmly, pulling out her purse. ‘Stuff Brian. I’m paying for this. And listen, Janet. This afternoon we’re going back round all the shops to take back what you’ve bought. I mean it.’
‘I can’t. I’d be too embarrassed.’
‘Then I’ll do the talking. After making a fool of myself on that roundabout nothing is embarrassing any more. Never mind my problems. We’re going to sort you out.’
Janet stared at her, an expression of admiration in her eyes that Gemma had never seen before.
‘And then,’ she said, her heart swelling with pleasure, ‘we’re going back to John Lewis. I’ve decided to buy that green dress.’
Rachel Hore worked in London publishing for many years before moving with her family to Norwich. She taught publishing and creative writing at the University of East Anglia before becoming a full-time writer. Many of her eleven novels have been Sunday Times top-ten bestsellers. A Gathering Storm and Last Letter Home were each chosen for Richard & Judy’s Book Club. Her latest bestseller is The Love Child and a new novel, A Beautiful Spy, has recently been published by Simon & Schuster. Rachel studied history at university and enjoys reading and writing historical fiction.
More from the Authors
One Moonlit Night
Lives Like Mine
A Beautiful Spy
The Love Child
Last Letter Home
The Night Book
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Copyrights and Credits
‘Behind My Fat Back’ by Jenny Éclair © Jenny Éclair, 2021
‘Schooled’ by Mark Watson © Mark Watson, 2021
‘The First Birthday Party’ by Veronica Henry © Veronica Henry, 2021
‘Purpose’ by Eva Verde © Eva Verde, 2021
‘Job Opportunity’ by Richard Madeley © Richard Madeley, 2021
‘The Wrong Cake’ by Katie Fforde © Katie Fforde, 2021
‘Blind Dates’ by Dorothy Koomson © Dorothy Koomson, 2021
‘Blind Justice’ by Vaseem Khan © Vaseem Khan LTD, 2021
‘A Slightly Open Marriage’ by Helen Lederer © Helen Lederer, 2021
‘A Relaxing Day of Retail Therapy’ by Rachel Hore © Rachel Hore, 2021
First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2021
Anthology Copyright © Read – The Reading Agency, 2021
The right of The Reading Agency to be identified as anthologist of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-3985-0578-0
eBook ISBN: 978-1-3985-0579-7
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Jenny Eclair, Stories To Make You Smile
