Unspoken: A story of secrets, love and revenge T. Belshaw (good books to read for beginners txt) 📖

Darren snorted. ‘We owe you nothing, Calvin. You’ve done very little, if anything, by way of work this month. You haven’t even visited the university. I checked. You made no attempt to contact us, or explain your absence. So, as I said. We owe you nothing.’ He turned to his computer screen, then looked back across the desk. ‘Are you still here,’ he asked.

Chapter 51

Jess

The doctor came at two-thirty and gave Alice a thorough examination. When he had finished, he joined Jess and Gwen in the kitchen where he opened his bag, took out a pad and wrote out a prescription for antibiotics.

‘She has an infection, but I don’t think it’s viral, so give her one of these, three times a day. She should hopefully pick up in a couple of days. Her temperature is normal and I’m not concerned about her general health. She’s very weak so if you can get some food into her it will help a lot.’ He made a few notes in a moleskin notebook, dropped it into his case and snapped it shut. ‘I’ll call back again in a couple of days. Let me know if she gets any worse.’

‘Erm, Doctor, before you go, do you think you could give her another prescription for the sleeping tablets she had a while back? She’s run out, and she’s petrified of going to sleep without them. She has terrible nightmares. She dreams she’s dying and being dragged into the afterlife by someone she’s terrified of. She has the same dream every night. She’s worried that if she allows this to happen, she won’t wake up again. That’s what’s draining her, I think.’

The doctor thought about it for a few seconds. ‘It won’t do any long-term damage at her age. What was the name of the medication?’

Jess fetched the packet from Alice’s bedside drawer and showed it to him. The doctor got his pad out again and scribbled another prescription.

‘I’m only giving her half a dozen for now; let’s see how the antibiotics work first. If she needs more, just ring the surgery for a repeat.’

When he had gone, Jess asked Gwen if she could hang around a while longer.

‘I’ll go to the pharmacy now, and I need to nip home to get some more clothes. I’ll grab my phone and laptop chargers too. It looks like I’ll be here for a few days at least. I’ll see you’re paid for the extra hours, Gwen.’

‘Don’t you worry about that, Jessica. I’ll look after her any time you need me to.’

Jessica gave Gwen a hug. ‘What would we do without you?’

The pharmacy was only a couple of hundred metres or so from Jess’s flat. The shop had a queue of waiting customers, so she left the scripts with a staff member and told her she’d call back to pick up the meds when they were ready.

Jess drove the short distance home and parked up next to Calvin’s car. She hoped he wouldn’t take the news about her staying over for a few days with Alice, too badly. They had already agreed the Thursday sleep over, but he might not take too kindly to the idea of an extended stay.

Calvin was on the sofa, sipping coffee and skimming through Internet pages on his laptop. He lifted his hand and waved as she came in.

‘Hi. How’s Nana?’ he asked.

Jess wasn’t expecting that greeting. She dropped her overnight bag on the floor, walked to the sofa and kissed him on the cheek. ‘She’s very ill; she’s got a chest infection. I’m picking up antibiotics for her in a few minutes.’

She waited for the inevitable response, but it didn’t materialise.

‘You’re going back then?’

‘I’ve got to, Calvin, she’s so weak.’

‘That’s fine, I understand,’ said Calvin. He patted Jess’s hand. ‘Look after your Nana.’

‘That’s very kind of you, Calvin. I’ll just get some clean underwear and a change of clothes.’ She walked quickly to the bedroom. ‘How was your night, did you manage to last the pace?’ she asked as she pulled open her knickers drawer.

‘My night?’

‘You were out with the lads, or have you forgotten already?’ She grabbed a bra from the next drawer down.

‘Oh that. It was okay, I was at it until the early hours,’ he replied with a smirk.

Jess came back into the lounge carrying an armful of clothes. ‘You look good on it. I’d still be in bed.’

‘I wish I could be, but I’ve got stuff to do,’ he said.

Jess removed the dirty clothes from her bag and stuffed them into the laundry basket in the bathroom. ‘Could you put my stuff in with yours when you do a wash, please?’ she asked.

‘No problem. Anything else you need doing?’

‘The bins need to go out tomorrow. It’s recycled this week.’

‘I’m on it,’ he said.

‘You might need to get a few bits in for supper. I’m sorry, but I haven’t had time to do the shopping.’

Calvin waved away her apology. ‘I’ll see to it.’

Jess couldn’t believe the change in him. There was almost always a row if she asked him to do something he considered to be ‘women’s work’. She wondered if being apart was having an effect.

She folded the clean clothes and put them carefully into her overnight bag, then she grabbed the charger cables she needed, put them in the side compartment and zipped it up.

Calvin got up from the sofa and walked over to her. Jess kissed him on the cheek again.

‘Right, I’m off. I’m sorry, Calvin, but I don’t know how long I’ll be staying. If the antibiotics work, I could be back for Saturday afternoon. I’ve got a bit of running about to do on Friday, researching that article, but Gwen says she’ll cover for that.’ She kissed him on the lips. ‘Thanks for being so understanding.’

She turned away but had only got as far as the top step, when he spoke.

‘I won’t be able to pay my share of the rent and utilities this month.’

Jess stopped dead.

‘Why not? That’s the third time