Read Liverpool Love Song for Free Online Page B

the old lady wrapped in shawls.
    ‘Now we’ll be able to sit in the summerhouse,’ Helen said. ‘Gran will be comfortable there for many more months of the year.’
    For the next Sunday, Helen invited Rex too. He looked forward to going because he’d be with Chloe for several hours. She’d talk to him and he’d be able to find out if she was as serious about Adam as he thought. When he arrived, Helen was already in the sitting room, sipping sherry with her relatives. Chloe let him in, all smiles and wearing her red dress and high heels again.
    ‘You look very smart,’ Rex told her.
    ‘Thank you.’ She looked grown up and very beautiful. ‘If you’d rather have beer than sherry, come to the kitchen first,’ she whispered. He was glad to follow her anywhere; she seemed to dance in front of him. The kitchen was full of delicious roasting scents.
    ‘Lager is what you like, isn’t it?’ She tipped one bottle into a tankard for him. ‘D’you want to take another bottle with you? There’s only sherry on offer in there.’
    ‘Better not,’ he said.
    Marigold gave him a frosty glare when Chloe took him in. Her conversation was mostly about her own aches and pains.
    ‘My back,’ she said, ‘is riddled with arthritis, and so are my hands.’ She held them up to show him how misshapen they were. ‘They ache terribly in cold weather.’
    ‘You must keep your hands warm, Aunt Goldie.’ Chloe smiled at her.
    ‘It’s not that easy when I have the housework to do, and your granny makes a lot of washing for me. She likes pure wool next to her, you know, and I have to hand-wash all that.’
    Old Mrs Darty had very little to say. Marigold told Rex that her mother had been fighting bowel cancer for years and that her heart was giving her trouble too. Helen seemed to sense the atmosphere and was more than usually chatty, as if trying to make up for it. She was very enthusiastic about her new summerhouse.
    ‘Chloe and I love it,’ she said. ‘We’ll have our coffee there today, after lunch.’
    Rex carved the joint of beef, but his lack of practice showed. Living alone, he didn’t buy joints any more. It was a breezy day of fitful sunshine, and when the meal was over, Helen offered to help Gran out to the summerhouse.
    The old lady looked round, almost as though she didn’t know where she was. ‘I don’t feel too well, Marigold,’ she said. ‘I want to go home.’
    ‘We won’t wait for coffee today, Helen, thank you,’ Marigold said. ‘It upsets Mother’s stomach anyway and I think she’d feel better in her own bed. She always goes up for an hour after lunch, as you know.’
    ‘Shall I take you to see my summerhouse first?’ Helen asked.
    ‘I can see it from here,’ Marigold said, looking through the window. It was at least thirty yards away and partly obscured by bushes. ‘I’ll take a closer look next time I come.’
    So Helen helped Gran into her coat and scarves and took them out to her car to run them home. Chloe started to clear the dishes from the dining room. Rex stayed to help.
    ‘Aunt Goldie does moan,’ she said. ‘Not a load of fun for you listening to all that.’
    ‘The roast dinner was good, I enjoyed that. So did everybody else, I think.’
    ‘We all tucked into it.’ Chloe gave him a quick smile. ‘Though Aunt Goldie reckons neither she nor Gran has any appetite.’
    Rex managed to say, ‘I understand you have a boyfriend now.’
    ‘Yes,’ she giggled. ‘He’s lovely, but I don’t think Mum’s keen on him.’ That cast Rex down; it was bad news for him.
    Just as they were finishing the washing-up, Helen brought Adam inside. ‘We arrived at the same moment,’ she said. ‘Adam has come to pick Chloe up.’
    It pained Rex to see the way their eyes met, the look of adoration they exchanged. Chloe shot upstairs and came down wearing her coat.
    ‘Bye.’ She flashed Rex a radiant smile. ‘Bye, Mum.’ She dropped a fleeting kiss on her cheek.
    Helen sank down at the