“Welcome back Mrs Baker, your friend is just over there.” The waitress took my coat and pointed toward the table next to the tall glass window. The October mist was restricting the view across the bay. Carol is not going to like that!
Carol was staring at the mist; a glass of sparkling water held in her hand.
“Hi Carol,”
“Finally, Jackie, I’ve been waiting ages. I was thinking you had forgotten what time we’d agreed to have lunch.” Before I could respond, Carol swept her hand across the window. “Look at this terrible mist blocking our view.”
“Oh, autumn mist has its moments, Carol. Sorry, I’m late. I did text you.” I pulled the cushioned chair away from the table and sat.
“You did?” Carol retrieved her iPhone from her Mulberry handbag. “Oh yes, apologies, I have it on silent during lunches.”
“David’s carer was a little late, and I can’t leave him until he is settled and calm. This morning, he was a little more confused than usual.”
“I’m glad he’s okay.” Said Carol as she pulled the menu from the glass ‘seal’ shaped holder. Okay? Is that what I just said?
“Gosh, look, Jackie, they have imported truffles from Alba.”
“They have what?”
“Truffles, from Piedmont in Italy, the Precious White Truffles. They are wild, and dogs hunt them, not pigs. But of course, I don’t think you’ve been to that part of Italy.”
“You’re right. I haven’t, but truffles are not for me, thank you.”
Carol pulled her compact mirror from her bag and meticulously checked her reflection. Then snapped the compact shut with a sharp click.
“Going back to David…you mentioned he was a little confused. Is that his Alzheimer’s thing? Brian told me about that.”
“Yes, it is, and I have also told you…several times.”
Carol reached across the table to pat my hand. Her fingers barely touched. Then she pulled it back to her napkin. I looked down at my hand. Had I forgotten to wash after helping David? No, of course I had not.
“It really is a tragedy, darling. And just when you finally managed to secure a husband too. In your late forties, no less! We all thought you and David getting together was an absolute miracle.”
Here we go again…I pulled a menu from the seal, flipped it open, and held it up between us.
“David is a wonderful man. It’s just…it’s a lot of work. The cognitive decline is happening faster than we were expecting.”
Carol let out a dramatic, radiating sigh. She waved at the waitress.
“Oh, I completely understand the stress of a demanding household. When Brian was managing the bridge infrastructure project in Tokyo, the domestics, Philippinos’ I think they were, spoke absolutely zero English.”
“Phillippino’s? How did you know their heritage if they couldn’t speak English?”
“Back on your orange box, Jackie?”
The waitress arrived at the table holding her iPad.
“Do you know how impossible it is to explain to a Phillippino maid that Egyptian cotton cannot be tumble dried on high heat?”
The waitress cleared her throat. “Are you ready to order?”
“In a moment, yes,” said Carol, her eyes not straying from the menu. “The dining room is not full. I’m sure you can wait just a few seconds?”
I turned to the waitress, “could give us 5 minutes please?” She nodded and stepped away.
“So, you did your own laundry in Japan?”
“Gosh, no, they understood how to do it, eventually.”
“Right. Well, I’m doing all the actual laundry. And the cooking. All the gardening. And the bathing.”
Carol started laughing. Did I just make a quaint joke?
“Well, yes, but that’s the life you built, isn’t it? I suppose it’s a good thing you had all those years raising your son on your own. You must be used to the grind. That’s probably why you continue doing what you do, even though you don’t have to.”
“You’re right, Carol. I don’t have to, but it helps me live day to day…”
“I’m with you on that one, Jackie. Honestly, if I didn’t keep myself active, I’d lose my mind. I’ve just taken up tennis again. My backhand is back to lethal. And, I’ve joined this absolutely divine choir group. We are rehearsing Vivaldi for a Christmas concert.”
“I barely have time to shower most mornings. Let alone sing Vivaldi.”
Carol tisked, loud enough to hear above the wind brushing against the window. “See, that’s exactly what I mean about letting yourself go. You need an outlet! Next Thursday my Red Hat Ladies’ group is hosting an evening do at the manor house. You really ought to come as my guest. Oh wait…” Carol paused, tapping her chin with a manicured nail… “I suppose you couldn’t possibly leave David, could you? And the theme is ‘gilded glamour,’ so you’d have to find something quite lavish to wear. I could lend you something, but you have expanded recently. It’s a shame. Just not realistic for your chosen situation right now.”
Jackie stared at Carol for a long quiet moment. Before slowly setting her menu flat on the table. “You know, Carol, you are right.”
Blinking with a smug look emerging across her face, Carol jumped in. “Well, of course I –“
Cutting her off, Jackie raised her finger. “For thirty years, you’ve paid other people to raise your children, clean your messes and handle your husband while you drifted around the world like a piece of Louis Vuitton luggage. You never actually had to care for a single soul in your life. Now your husband has his own life.
“That’s…” said Carol, her face flushing crimson. “That’s incredibly ungr-“
Jackie trapped Carol in an unblinking stare. “I am losing the man I love, who loves me, to a horrific disease. But even as his mind fades, he has more warmth, dignity and humanity left in him than you ever had.”
“He was Brian’s CEO, Jackie. You have plenty of money. Stop being horrible to me. I’m your friend.”
“No, at last, I am being honest, Carol. I’m going back to my husband, the man I adore. I will change his clothes and do the laundry. So, enjoy your truffles. And enjoy returning to your empty house.”
I picked up my handbag, stood and walked away, leaving Carol speechless beside the window, now covered entirely in greying mist.
