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

another bloody wild idea? Can’t you just finish one project, sell it, and make some money so we can have a decent holiday?’

Jess ignored him. ‘Anyway, that’s why I was late.’

‘I know,’ replied Calvin. ‘I saw your car parked outside her house about an hour and a half ago.’

‘Have… have you been following me?’ Jess blurted out.

‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ replied Calvin. ‘I just fancied a drive that’s all, some fresh air.’

‘But there’s nothing on that road past Nana’s except another farm. It’s a dead end,’ said Jess, puzzled.

‘Well, I know that now,’ Calvin replied with a laugh. ‘Who was that bloke you were talking to outside Tesco?’

Jess concentrated on keeping her hands from shaking. ‘Bloke?’

‘Yes, bloke. The tall dude with the big chest, you were talking to him.’

‘Oh, you mean Ewan?’ He used to be in my class at school, I haven’t seen him for years. Since school actually.’ Jess decided not to complicate things any further by mentioning Uni.

Calvin came up close behind her.

‘And you’re sure you haven’t seen him since. Like recently perhaps?’

‘Hardly,’ replied Jess. ‘That’s what the conversation was about. He’s just come back from four years in Africa, volunteering.’

Calvin turned away and sat on the sofa.

‘More fool him, that’s all I can say. Why waste your life like that? Is he gay?’ he added. ‘He looked gay.’

Jess swore under her breath.

‘I really have no idea,’ she said.

As they sat down to dinner Jess’s phone rang.

‘Hi, how are you? Really? I’m not sure to be honest, I’ll ask Calvin, he might be doing something on Saturday.’

She took the phone away from her ear.

‘Calvin?’

‘No, I’m not interested whatever it is,’ he said sternly. ‘I was going to shoot some pool at the Crown.’

Jess returned to her conversation.

‘Sorry, Sam, Calvin is—’

‘Sam? Is that the lovely Sam? Of course we’ll come, what are we doing?’ Calvin beamed across the table.

‘Make your mind up, Calvin,’ shouted Sam down the phone so that Calvin could hear.

Jess explained the situation.

‘Sam has a new bloke in tow, she’s been out with him a couple of times this week and now she wants to know what he’s like in civilised company. So, she wants us to make up a foursome on Saturday.’

‘I’d happily make up a threesome,’ snorted Calvin. ‘Yes, tell her yes. We’ll be there.’

Jess cut off the call.

‘It’s the Venetian restaurant. Eight-thirty, sharp.’

Calvin took a forkful of stir fry.

‘Sam,’ he whispered, then louder. ‘Sam.’

That night, in bed, they had their usual post wine sex.

Jess could feel something wasn’t right. She looked up at Calvin as he slid back and forth. His eyes were closed tight and he had a dreamy look on his face. She dug him in the ribs with her elbow.

‘Hey, I’m here too you know.’

Calvin took a few moments to respond.

‘Sorry, babe, I was just concentrating on you.’

It took Jess two hours to get to sleep that night. Calvin snored his usual light snore alongside her as she thought about Nana and what it must have been like back then for a pregnant seventeen-year- old in a society that just would not accept it.

Chapter 7

Alice

On Thursday, Gwen left on time as usual and went to sort out Mr Hathersage’s mess. Alice listened to classical music for a while on the DAB, cursing everyone who dialled in to request music the station played every day, sometimes twice. She resisted the urge to pick up the phone and request Rachmaninov’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, switched off the station, leaned back in her cushions and stared at the clock, willing it to stop.

After another thirty minutes of her life had ticked by, she began her usual abuse.

‘Stop, Damn You, I have little enough time left as it is.’

She looked around for something to throw at the clock but found only her empty tea cup and the TV remote, none of which she could realistically use to find the target.

Alice closed her eyes and dozed for a while. When she awoke, the filtered shadows had moved across Marylin’s silver image to the Turner prints further along the wall.

She yawned, her jaw making a slight cracking sound, and focussed on the clock again.

‘Is this to be the remainder of my life?’ she asked aloud. ‘Come on, God, if you’re there, help me out here. There’s plenty of time for Purgatory after I’m gone.’

As if to answer, the phone rang. Alice reached across and managed to grip the handset at the second attempt. As she lifted it, she noticed that her hands were gradually taking on a vellum-like texture. She sighed; she had always looked after them, using only good quality hand creams. After a hard day on the farm, she looked forward to a hot bath, and a bit of indulgence, spending her meagre ‘me time’ on her face and hands. Even at seventy her hands looked good, despite all the years out in the cold, wet weather.

She held the phone in front of her and pressed the green, answer button.

‘Yes, hello. I’m sorry but I’m afraid I do not require assistance with the virus that has infected my computer as I don’t possess a computer. However, my granddaughter has a computer. No, she’s not here at the moment. She’s at work, she’s a detective inspector in the police force, shall I get her to… Oh, you’ve gone.’

Alice put down the phone.

‘That’s a shame, I was enjoying that. Back to Purgatory practice.’

She nestled back in the chair and studied the clock face again.

At six, on the dot, Gwen arrived. She warmed up a frozen meal of Risotto in the microwave and gave it to Alice on a tray. The meals were delivered by an online company that Gwen had organised to save her cooking fresh food every night.

‘This tastes like cardboard,’ complained Alice.

‘I’m sorry, Lovely,’ said Gwen with a frown, ‘I’ll ring them tomorrow and put in a complaint for you.’

‘Don’t bother,’ replied Alice. ‘Everything tastes like cardboard these days, even the tea. I think my taste buds have been nuked by