The front door of the neighbouring house inched open as Cassie stood on the doorstep, and the wizened face of an old lady peered out. ‘Are you the mother?’ the woman asked.
Realising she could never again claim that title now that her child no longer walked the earth, Cassie felt a crushing wave of grief. ‘Mother-in-law,’ she provided, with a tolerant smile. ‘In a manner of speaking.’
The woman looked her over through narrowed eyes. ‘So is she married or not?’ she asked bluntly, inclining her head towards Kim’s door. ‘It’s just that I do like to know who’s coming and going, since she lives right the other side of my living room wall. There’s been delivery vans blocking the road, that wretched man hammering and drilling and no doubt carrying on with her—’
‘That would be my husband,’ Cassie cut in curtly, aware that Adam had had to make some plumbing adjustments to house the washing machine.
The woman raised her eyebrows at that. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Not her husband then?’
Cassie’s tolerance evaporated. What on earth was the old fool talking about?
‘Then there’s that woman parking her car outside my house,’ she prattled on. ‘I’m not one to cause trouble, and I’ve no objection to babies – Lord knows I’ve had enough of my own – but I’m wondering whether the housing association knows about her running—’
‘You’re a nosy old cow,’ Kim cut in, having swung her own front door open. ‘Go back inside and mind your own business, why don’t you?’ she added rudely. Stepping back, she rolled her eyes skywards and gestured Cassie inside.
‘Ignore her,’ she said, as Cassie pulled her gaze away from the shocked woman and stepped in. ‘She’s the mind-everybody-else’s-business sort and obviously gaga.’
‘I gathered,’ Cassie said, feeling immensely irritated herself. Nosy neighbours had been the bane of her existence as a child. The whispered gossip after her father’s affair with a sixteen-year-old pupil at the school he taught at had ruined her mother’s life. She had never lived down the shame, retreating into herself, turning to religion, endlessly going on about how cleanliness was next to godliness. It had ruined Cassie’s life, too. She’d lived in fear of being struck down if she were ever to be slovenly.
‘She accused me of blaring my records the other day,’ Kim went on tetchily. ‘I could have clocked her one, I swear. I’d just got Samuel to sleep, so I was hardly likely to be blaring music, was I?’
‘Oh dear. You’ll have to turn a deaf ear, I suspect.’ Cassie smiled sympathetically and followed Kim through to the kitchen.
‘I’m trying.’ Kim sighed. ‘She’s hard work, though.’
‘You don’t get to choose your neighbours, unfortunately,’ Cassie said.
‘No. More’s the pity. Tea?’
‘That would be lovely.’ Cassie smiled. ‘I had to go into Worcester this morning for a meeting with some colleagues regarding future articles. It went on for ages. I’m absolutely parched.’
Glancing around the kitchen, which really could do with more of a clean than the lick Kim had given it, she seated herself at the table. ‘I ran into Jemma on the way here. She asked after you,’ she twisted the truth a little, making sure to sound casual. ‘I hadn’t realised you two had got to know each other.’
‘Who?’ Kim said, her back to Cassie as she poured hot water into mugs.
‘Jemma Anderson. I mentioned that she and her husband were at Josh’s funeral. I thought you might have met her at the doctor’s surgery.’
Kim glanced back at her, her forehead creased as if trying to recall. ‘Yeah,’ she said vaguely. ‘I don’t really remember.’
Cassie tugged in a tight breath. Held it.
‘To be honest, I try to avoid getting too heavily into conversation with other mums. I find it difficult explaining about Josh and what happened to him, as I’m sure you understand.’ Walking across with the tea, Kim looked into Cassie’s eyes, her own tearful.
‘I do. Completely,’ Cassie said, her heart pumping as she lowered her gaze.
‘I’ll just go and fetch Samuel.’ Placing a mug in front of Cassie, Kim turned away from the table. ‘He fell asleep after his feed, bless him, so I thought I’d leave him a while. There’s bickies in the barrel if you fancy one.’ Nodding over her shoulder to the work surface, she headed through the dining room to the stairs, leaving Cassie bewildered.
Kim was telling lies. Why would she? Her stomach knotting, she got to her feet, instinctively fishing the dishcloth from the sink