Never Say Goodbye by Susan Lewis Read Free Book Online Page B

rest of the world knowing her business she felt suddenly irritable and frustrated. ‘I have to ring off now,’ she told Jeff shortly. ‘I’ll see you at home about seven,’ and before he could say any more she ended the call.
    Just don’t let him be in the cab office by the time she got off the bus, or he’d be likely to see her walking in the opposite direction to the bakery and wonder where the heck she was going. Actually, he’d probably guess, since the only reason they ever ventured north of the high street, apart from when Jeff was picking up or dropping off a fare, was when one of them needed to see the doctor whose surgery was at the Health Centre on Long Walk.
    It wasn’t easy having secrets, but no one had ever said it was, and anyway it wouldn’t be for much longer. She just needed to get this bit of nonsense sorted out, then she could get on with organising Christmas.
    After that it’d be full steam ahead for the wedding.
    August 11th was the date Lily and Jasper had set when they’d gone to see the vicar the week before last. Luckily, the golf club was able to fit them in on that date too, so the venues at least were settled. Quite what Jasper’s parents were making of it all she could only guess at, since Lily hadn’t told her yet how the news had gone down. If they hadn’t been thrilled Lily was sure to have said so, and since all she’d texted about these last few days was the fantastic dress the designer was creating, Josie had to presume that the Cunninghams were at peace with their youngest son blowing his little windfall on a wedding.
    ‘They’re probably seeing it as saving them from having to fork out,’ Jeff had commented gruffly.
    The fact that he wasn’t expected to foot the bill was a bit of a mixed blessing for him, since he felt relieved, of course, given they didn’t have a brass farthing to call their own, but Josie knew it was sitting badly with him not to be able to take it on himself.
    Another black mark against Ryan, as if there weren’t enough already.
    Still, the important thing right now, especially for Jeff, was that Lily and Jasper were planning to spend Christmas Day with them and Boxing Day with his folks over in Kent. Had it been the other way round, she knew Jeff would have felt every bit as crushed as she would about neither of their children being at the Christmas table. Of course, being the way he was, Jeff wouldn’t have voiced his disappointment in more than a few grunts and sighs, but Josie generally knew what he was thinking, in the same way as she knew that his son was rarely far from his thoughts.
    Certainly he was rarely far from hers, or from his sister’s, which would be why Lily, in her typically sensitive way, had made sure she would be with them on Christmas Day itself. It was going to be their first without Ryan.
    Dismissing the awfulness of that from her mind as she spotted three rolls of Christmas paper for a quid in the window of the Pound Shop, Josie ran in, grabbed six, tossed two coins at the cashier, and ran out again just in time to jump on the 28 bus. It was easing her conscience a bit, she realised, as she sank into a window seat, to have turned the lie to Jeff about doing a bit of shopping before heading home into a truth.
    Now all she had to do was get some presents to go inside the wrapping and a few tags to tie on – luckily they’d set a fifteen-pound limit for everyone this year so as not to break the bank – and they still had to bring their tree down from the loft. She’d been on at Jeff about it for over a week now, but, as usual, he was either too busy to go and borrow a ladder from Alan across the street, or there was something on telly he just had to watch. He’d get there eventually, he always did, and even though they couldn’t afford a real tree, which she’d have dearly liked, he’d no doubt pull off his usual trick of popping in the garden centre on Christmas Eve to snap up some real mistletoe, if there was any