Read Online Tread Softly by Wendy Perriam - Free Book Online

well?’
    â€˜Mm … fine.’ She was rigid with embarrassment. Diane’s appearance – elegant cream suit, immaculate hair, scarlet lips and nails – highlighted her own state of dishabille. Worse was the contrast in their feet: Diane’s shod in dove-grey kidskin ankle-boots; hers ignominiously naked – the right twisted and deformed, the left bloody and bristling with wires. Quickly she pulled the sheet over them and forced her face into the semblance of a smile, although making stilted conversation with a comparative stranger was not a welcome prospect.
    â€˜Do sit down. How lovely to see you!’ Whatever her feelings, she must make an effort for Ralph’s sake. ‘And what’s the weather doing out there?’
    â€˜It’s perishing, my dear! You’re lucky to be here in the warm.’
    Shades of Aunt Agnes. ‘Yes, they do keep it nice and snug.’
    â€˜And how long will you be in?’
    â€˜Oh, barely a week. I’ll be home well in time for Christmas.’
    â€˜Don’t mention Christmas, Lorna! I’ve hardly begun my shopping …’
    â€˜Are you and Bob going away?’
    â€˜Just to our country place in Shropshire. Both the girls are coming, with their families, so it’ll be the usual houseful. How about you?’
    She wouldn’t be going anywhere, that was for sure. Well, maybe hobbling on crutches from the bedroom to the kitchen. Christmas was lonely at the best of times, without being incapacitated. If only she could hire a ready-made family: parents, children, cousins, aunts … Her one living relative, Aunt Agnes, was otherwise engaged – spending Christmas in a hotel with an old friend from her teaching days.
    â€˜Lorna, if there’s anything you need I’ll be delighted to help. You only have to say.’
    â€˜No, honestly, I’m fine.’ Fine was true, for once, because at that very moment the breakfast-tray arrived: grapefruit segments, two boiled eggs, buttered toast, and tea and milk in a flower-sprigged pot.
    â€˜Oh, my dear , you haven’t had your breakfast! I’m so sorry. I’m disturbing you.’
    â€˜No, please. It doesn’t matter. It’s sweet of you to come.’
    As the phone rang yet again, Lorna began to wish she was in a National Health ward. She wouldn’t have a phone then; nor would visitors be allowed to swan in at breakfast time.
    â€˜It’s me again.’
    â€˜Oh … hello, Ralph.’
    â€˜What’s up? You sound peculiar.’
    â€˜Er, Diane Morris is here. She’s very kindly come to see me.’
    â€˜I’ll ring off then. I’m a bit pushed, actually. I’ve got to see that useless contractor in Staplehurst, so I shan’t be able to ring again till tonight.’
    Ring? Wasn’t he coming in person? She couldn’t ask with Diane there. How long was the wretched woman going to stay? It must be getting on for nine by now, but Diane worked in advertising, which was noted for its relaxed attitude to timekeeping. She and Ralph were at their desks by seven.
    â€˜Don’t let your breakfast get cold, Lorna – not on my account.’
    â€˜Actually, I … I couldn’t face eating at the moment.’ What she couldn’t face was conversing with her mouth full in front of the fastidious Diane. Or, worse, dripping egg yolk on the sheet. She eyed the untouched food – butter already congealing on the toast. Even the smell of the toast was lost in the blast of Diane’s Chanel No. 5.
    â€˜But what’s wrong, my dear? I thought you said you felt fine?’
    â€˜Oh, just a bit … sick, that’s all. You know how it is after anaesthetics.’
    â€˜Well, I don’t , to tell the truth. I’ve never been ill in my life, let alone in hospital. Bobby says I’m so healthy it’s disgusting. Anyway, if you’re feeling sick you won’t want visitors, so I’d