The Grace Girls (34 page)

‘Shut up and don’t be so childish!’ Heather told her in the low, firm voice of an older sister. ‘It’s not my fault if you’ve lost all your sense and made a fool of yourself with that manager of yours.’ She took a deep breath, realising that it was up to her to get things back onto an even keel. ‘I don’t know what you even see in him . . . you’re far too good for him.’

Nothing was said for a few moments, signalling a truce.

‘Do you really like him?’ Heather asked again, this time in a softer, more understanding tone. She started rubbing her sister’s shoulder again.

Kirsty gave a little sob and nodded her head.

‘Well . . . I suppose I’ve only met him once,’ Heather conceded. ‘Maybe there’s more to him than meets the eye.’
She halted. ‘He’s good-looking for his age, I’ll give him that.
’

Kirsty turned around now in the bed, her arms folded behind her head. ‘If you knew him the way I do, you’d understand. I’ve never met anybody like him.’ She gave a b
ig sniff, prompting Heather to reach over to the windo
wsill for a paper hanky.

‘He’s dead clever, and really funny,’ Kirsty went on, taking the proffered hanky. ‘I’ve never felt like this about a fella in my life before . . .’ She dabbed at her eyes and then blew her nose.

‘Maybe it’s just infatuation,’ Heather said quietly. ‘Maybe
it’s just a kind of crush. You know, the way you might feel about a teacher at school –’

‘No,’ Kirsty said, rubbing her nose with the tissue. ‘It’s not anything childish like that. I’m not that stupid, I know the difference. I’ve had enough boyfriends to know . . . Larry’s totally different from them all.’ She cleared her throat now. ‘We’ve got loads in common. When I’m up there on the stage, and he’s watching me, I feel on top of the world. I feel as if we were meant to be together.’ She took a deep, shuddering breath. ‘I think I might be in love with him.’

‘What did you actually say to him?’ Heather asked.

Kirsty slunk down into the bed again. ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t want to even
think
about it.’ Then she covered her face with the sheet.

Heather stared down at the pink bedcover, wondering why all these terrible problems had suddenly plummeted into her life: poor Lily who wasn’t getting better as quickly as everyone had hoped; then there was all the carry-on with Gerry, and of course Liz and now this bombshell with Kirsty.

Of the four, Liz’s problem seemed the most serious – but it was likely to be the only one with a happy ending. At least Liz had got what she wanted: Jim Murray. She would get married and live happily ever after with her husband and her baby.

Long after Heather had gone back to sleep, Kirsty lay thinking about her journey home in Larry’s car. Her face burned with shame at the memory. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have made such a terrible fool of herself? How could she have made such an embarrassing mistake?

She wondered now if it had been the Babychams. Had a couple of drinks loosened her tongue so much? Kirsty wasn’t sure – all she knew was that it had seemed the right thing to say at the time.

Larry had hardly spoken two words for the first leg of the journey, then he had suddenly started talking and going over the whole excruciating situation again.

‘Was it me, Kirsty?’ he had asked in a low voice, his eyes focused on the dark road in front of them. ‘Did I give you the wrong impression?’

Kirsty’s head and shoulders had drooped as she sat cringing in the car seat beside him. She had eventually managed a shrug and a shake of her head.

How could she say that it had all started with a romantic dream about him? How could she answer him when she didn’t know the answer herself? She supposed she had just got totally carried away with the whole idea of them working so closely together and him giving her the lovely dresses and
then turning up at her house with the expensive perfume that night.

Had it been the perfume that had triggered off the dream? she had wondered.

‘It’s just that I never saw it coming,’ Larry had said. ‘I feel so dense that I never realised what you were thinking.’ He had paused, concentrating on negotiating a tricky turn in the road that took them into Rowanhill. ‘I suppose giving you perfume didn’t help. I didn’t think that you might read more into it – with you being so young . . .’

Kirsty had squirmed in her seat at the description of being
so young
, and wondering if he had read her thoughts about the Chanel No. 5.

‘Was it that which confused everything? Me giving you the present?’ he had asked.

‘No,’ Kirsty had said, in a small voice. ‘I don’t know what it was . . . I don’t know what came over me. I should never have said anything, and I’m really, really sorry I did.’

They had driven down the main street of Rowanhill and then turned into Kirsty’s street. He had pulled up outside the gate, turned the engine off and then turned towards her, his arm resting on the steering wheel. ‘Do you think we can go on working together after this, Kirsty?’ he had asked, his face solemn in the glow of the orange street lights.

Kirsty’s chest had tightened and she had found she was almost struggling to breathe. ‘I said I’m sorry, didn’t I?’ she had said, her voice like a child’s – a bit like Lily’s when she was in a bad mood.

Larry had looked out of the car window, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel. ‘OK,’ he had suddenly decided. ‘We’ll give it another go – we have to – we’ve got that New Year’s commitment in the Clyde Valley Hotel in a few days’ time.’ He halted. ‘We’ll start all over again – just pretend this thing never happened. Make sure everything is on a purely business basis.’

‘OK,’ Kirsty had said, a huge wave of relief washing over her. ‘That’s fine by me.’
Thank God
, she had thought to herself.
Thank God he’s not dropping me and my whole singing career
.

She turned her face back into the pillow now, wishing desperately for the sleep that had eluded her so far. She had to get up for work in the morning, and she needed a couple of hours at least to function any way normally.

Just as her eyelids started to close, she made a decision. Never again would she make such a fool of herself over a man. She would learn from this.

She would never, ever leave herself open to being hurt like this again.

Chapter 39

Heather had the four penny coins ready in her right hand and the phone receiver in her left listening for an answer. She was all wrapped up in her old duffle coat and thick woolly scarf and gloves, as the temperatures had gradually dropped over the last few days into the more seasonal cold that they were used to. The sudden click on the line prompted her. She slid the copper coins one after the other into the dull brass slot to the side of the phone.

‘Hello – can I speak to Sarah Fox, please?’

‘Oh, ye’ll have to wait a wee minute, hen,’ a muffled, elderly female Glaswegian voice came over the line. ‘I wis just passin’ by when I heard it ringin, so I was.’ There was a small pause. ‘I’ll just have to hang the phone up and then I’ll gie her a shout. I shouldnae be too long, hen, for I just saw her mother at the windae.’

The phone receiver was laid down and Heather could hear what she imagined to be the creaking of the phone kiosk door and then the sound of an old lady’s footsteps going off in the distance. She could then hear the rumble of city traffic passing by, and more muffled voices, and then eventually she heard the door creak open again.

‘Hello, this is Sarah Fox,’ came a familiar breathless voice. ‘Who’s speaking, please?’

‘It’s me, Heather.’ She hesitated for a moment, sudden
ly unsure. Maybe her workmate had forgotten all about her over the Christmas holidays. ‘It’s Heather from the office.’

‘Oh, Heather!’ Sarah said in a high-pitched squeal. ‘Ye decided to phone after all.’

Heather’s heart lifted; she hadn’t been forgotten. ‘I was just wondering if it would still be OK if I came out for that Lex McLean show with you?’

‘Of course it’s still OK,’ Sarah told her. ‘They still have tickets left, because one of my mammy’s friends got them today. I can go into the Pavillion tomorrow and get you one no problem.’

‘Are you sure?’ Heather checked.

‘Definitely! Just give me a wee ring again at the same time tomorrow and I’ll let you know I’ve got it all sorted out. You’ll be stayin’ the night at our house like we said, won’t you?’

‘Are you sure it’s all right?’ Heather asked, a sense of excitement running through her at the thought of a night out in Glasgow.

‘Of course it’s all right,’ Sarah said, sounding almost insulted at being questioned. ‘As long as you don’t mind sharing my room.’

Heather laughed. ‘Didn’t I already tell you that I share a room with my dead annoying younger sister?’

After she hung up, Heather dug deep into her coat pocket for her small blue leather purse. She took another fourpence out and a small card she had tucked in the back. She sat the card up on the ledge and carefully dialled the second Glasgow number, then went through the same procedure with the coins.

‘Hello,’ a very crisp voice sounded on the line and then went on to recite the number.

‘Hello . . . Auntie Claire? It’s me, Heather.’

‘Heather?’ Claire’s voice was high with surprise. ‘Hello, darling, what a lovely surprise.’ There was a sudde
n silence. ‘You’re not phoning about Lily, are you?’

‘No . . . no,’ Heather said reassuringly, ‘she’s coming on fine. Well, she’s back in hospital for another wee while, but she’s slowly getting better.’
A bit too slow
, Heather thought, but the hospital said she was definitely improving.

‘I’m glad about that,’ Claire said, the relief evident in her voice. ‘Well, it’s a lovely surprise to hear from you. Did you all have a nice Christmas?’

‘Aye, we did, thanks,’ Heather said, momentarily conscious of her local Rowanhill accent, but quickly reminding herself that she’d always felt comfortable talking to Claire and it was stupid to feel self-conscious just because they hadn’t chatted in a while. ‘I just thought I’d give you a wee ring to say thanks for the lovely charm bracelet . . . and Kirsty asked me to say thanks as well.’

‘Oh, that’s really nice of you,’ Claire replied. ‘I’m delighted you both liked them. The minute I saw them I knew they would suit you.’

‘Lily was wearing hers over Christmas as well,’ Heathe
r informed her aunt.

There was a slightly awkward little pause. ‘Good – I’m delighted that your Auntie Mona let her have it.’ Then, realising that the conversation was veering into uncomfortable waters, she changed the subject. ‘So what have you been doing with yourself over Christmas? Anything nice?’

‘Oh, I’ve been out and about,’ Heather said, ‘and we had a lovely day at home. Pat and Mona have a television set now, so we all went over and watched it a few times.’ Then she quickly added, ‘They got it for Lily really . . . because she’s not able to move about yet.’ Some people thought television sets were only a fad, and didn’t approve of them. She wasn’t quite sure which side of the fence her aunt would come down on with regards to it.

‘That was a great idea,’ Claire said
warmly, and obvious
ly meaning it. ‘Oh, I hope she’s up and running about soon. I can’t wait to see her back to normal. She’s one of the brightest, liveliest wee girls I’ve ever known.’

‘Oh, she is,’ Heather agreed, ‘and she is slowly getting back to her old self.’

There was a crackling silence on the line. ‘Heather,’ Claire said, ‘does your daddy know that you were coming out to phone me?’

Heather felt herself going red, and was glad there was nobody to see her. ‘I mentioned that I might ring you sometime to thank you for the bracelet,’ she explained. ‘And I was coming out to phone my friend from work w
hen I remembered your card . . . my friend lives in Glasgo
w as well.’

‘Does she?’ Claire asked. ‘Whereabouts?’

‘I’m not really sure,’ Heather admitted. ‘I think it’s out near Govan or somewhere like that. I’ll find out tomorrow, because I might be going to a show with her, and she’s asked me to stay the night.’

‘Oh, that’s lovely!’ Claire said. ‘And you must come out and visit me and your Uncle Andy – we’d love to see you and Kirsty. We have two nice spare rooms, and we love having guests.’

‘We will come some time,’ Heather promised. She had a sudden thought. ‘Maybe I could come out some Friday night, straight from work. It would be easier since I’m already in Glasgow.’

‘That would just be wonderful!’ Claire said, obviously delighted. ‘You just give us a ring a few days before to check we’re in, and we’ll have everything all organised.’

Chapter 40

Heather had never been to a grown-up show in Glasgow on her own. She’d been to pantomimes at Christmas with th
e family, and she’d gone to comedy shows in Motherw
ell and Airdrie – but she’d never done anything like this on her own.

She had taken the train into Glasgow on the Friday afternoon, and then she had caught the bus from George Square that Sarah had told her would take her out to Govanhill – not Govan, she had stressed, laughing at Heather’s mistake.