It Had To Be You

NINE

The next morning was freezing, snow was promised, but she was hoping against hope that she could at least start physical work on this huge project. The rooftop gardens were to be low maintenance, which meant she wasn’t really restricted by the weather. If she was planting early shrubs or flowers, the frost and snow would easily destroy them. So she was glad that the majority of the job was excavating and paving. It was cold and heavy work, but rewarding. She grafted long days, forming segregated areas that would be covered in different coloured shale and stones. When the snow finally arrived on Wednesday morning, she was glad of the opportunity to get home and warm up; she’d managed to get herself slightly ahead of her work schedule, so she wasn’t worried.

After a quick shower and dressing in her winter gear, she made her way to the local shop. All week cooking for him was her utmost thought; it was only when she was busy, lugging and hulking at her building site of a garden project that she managed to switch off. Tonight was the night when she’d tell him how she felt, explain to him that she couldn’t just roll over and forget all he’d done, and all that had happened since. She couldn’t sleep again without making it all clear. 

She wasn’t going for glamorous food, but definitely hearty, it was cold, Alex had probably not had ‘proper home cooking’ in a long time, so she got started. The plump duck breasts with winter vegetables and creamed potatoes was not a difficult meal to prepare and she was sat catching up on the news of the day on TV when there was a knock at the door.

Alex was smiling, but he looked tired and cold. All her pent up animosity and anger that she had primed to unleash on him were quashed in that instant.         

“Are you ok?”

He shrugged, “my mother’s not well. She fell and broke her hip. I’m waiting to hear how she is.”

Suddenly her heart bled for the boy she knew who’d protected his mother at all costs, who was now out of his depth with worry and despair. She mothered him into the lounge gleaning the relevant information from him. His step father had called as they were travelling in an ambulance en route to the local hospital. His mother had fallen on the stairs, as far as he knew the hip was the only injury, but she could see by the tension ravaging his face that he was worried.

            “Eat some food; if you do need to fly home tonight it’ll be one less thing to think about.” She started to dish up a meal for him.

            “I won’t do it justice Jessie, my mind’s not on anything but her.” He slumped onto the sofa, holding his head in his hands. His distress was almost palpable.

Jess abandoned the food and moved towards him, squatting down next to him, “she’ll be okay, your mother is strong! She’s been through worse.”

            “I worry about her, how would I live without her? She’s not as strong as you think. Especially since....” he didn’t finish his sentence as he fought with tears.

She whipped out her laptop and connected to the Net, “why don’t you find a flight whilst I finish dishing up?”

            “I won’t need to fly back if all goes well!”

She scoffed, “you’re beside yourself with worry, I think you need to go see her, check she’s ok.”

He laughed, “Since when did you know me so well?”

            “Forever!” She offered in a whisper as she headed through to the kitchen.

When she rejoined him in the lounge to place the meals on the table, he was calling the airline direct, and after a few moments he hung up.