Read Online What Goes Around... by Carol Marinelli - Free Book Online Page A

cigarette and to make a couple of phone calls, to gather my thoughts really, before the baby is born.
    Noel won’t come.
    It might not be his – she’s finally told me.
    She only told Noel a couple of weeks ago it would seem.
    I stand outside the ambulance bay – there’s a message from Lex, Bonny’s husband, to say that they’re sorting out the flights for Bonny and Alice and her boyfriend, Hugh. Lex is going to stay behind and look after the boys. I have to admit to a sliver of relief, because Bonny’s got four sons and they’re a bit wild. Also, I had no idea how I was going to fit everyone in.
    I still don’t.
    I’m trying to work out where everyone is going to sleep when I suddenly remember Paul.
    God, the poor guy, we were supposed to meet at eight. I look at my watch and it’s ten past nine and I think of him sitting there all that time. He hasn’t texted or rung and I don’t blame him. I knew it took a lot to ask me out. He’s about my age, well a few years younger and he’s a quiet guy, a bit shy really. He’s divorced, like me, except his is more recent and I’m the first person he’s asked out since the break up.
    Sorry
    I start a text, but what the hell do I write? That my ex-husband dropped dead at lunchtime and my eldest daughter ’s gone into labour, and her husband’s not here because they’ve broken up, because she’s not sure if the baby is his….
    I can't really put that can I?
    Except, I'm too tired to dilute the facts for anyone, to w eary with it all to make it sound more palatable, so I put exactly that.
    Welcome to my life, I think , as I hit send.
    I light up another cigarette, I really ought to head back, but then I see Rose heading out from the end of her shift and she comes over to me.
    ‘How's Eleanor?’
    ‘Getting there. I think this will be my last break before the baby is born.’ It shouldn't be like this, I think. My grandchild is about to be born, it’s usually such a happy time, and it shouldn’t be so mixed in with grief. ‘Thanks for all your help today, Rose. It must've been awkward for you.’ I see her frown. ‘I mean, having the wife and the ex-wife in the same room.’
    ‘I just felt sorry for you, ’ Rose says. ‘I know how hard it must have been. I dread the day Vince goes.’ She rolls her eyes and I think she’s going to say goodnight but she doesn’t head off, she just stands there. I don't know if it's my place to ask, but I do want to know.
    ‘Was it quick?’ I ask, because no matter how I feel about him, I don't want him to have suffered, or maybe I do, I don't know.
    ‘I think so,’ Rose says. ‘He arrested at home and they got him back but then he arrested again when he got here. We worked on him for ages but there was nothing…’ She shakes her head and I know what she means but I want to know more. We’ve been friends for years Rose and I, well, loose friends. We’re about the same age and we’ve both been through messy divorces and have worked a fair number of shifts together over the years.
    I need to know more.
    ‘Did he get chest pain?’ I ask. ‘Did he say anything?’ I want to know if he said anything before he collapsed, I want to know if even for a minute he thought of me, of our girls, of the family we once were.
    ‘He was in full arres t when the paramedics got there,’ Rose says gently. ‘Let him rest,’ Rose says. ‘He’s with the Lord now.’ And that’s Rose - she’s all Lordy, Lordy, it gives her comfort and I want some. I’ve always had my faith but I don’t know what I believe tonight.
    ‘I’d better get up to Eleanor.’ I am so tired and there’s still so much to do, but just as I move to go, Rose stops me.
    ‘I called fo r the porters before I went off.’ I know that means that they're taking him to the mortuary. ‘Do you want to see him before he goes?’
    ‘Me?’
    ‘You were his wife for a long time,’ Rose says. ‘It might help you if you can say goodbye.’
    ‘Do you think it's