Chapter 37
There had been a steady stream of customers in the shop all morning, but at one o’clock it was empty, except for Valerie who was in her unit unpacking some clothes and steaming them on their hangers with her iron. Lew had gone out to the supermarket in Penistone for some wine for the evening. It was the first chance that Bonnie had had to talk to Valerie. She looked terribly pale and aged, thought Bonnie. Grief was weighting her features, pulling her lips downwards into a sad arc.
‘You all right, Valerie?’ asked Bonnie.
‘Thank you, as well as can be expected,’ she replied, pressing the steam button to remould a felt hat.
‘I didn’t think you’d be in for a while.’
‘I have to carry on and earn a living,’ said Valerie, with a loaded sigh. ‘My world is a little grey at the moment, Bonnie dear, but slowly some colour will come back into it, I’m sure. I’m going to stay with my sister in Italy for a couple of months. Hence why I’m here, replenishing my stock so there’s plenty for you to sell in my absence.’
Bonnie wanted to throw her arms around Valerie and hug her, but she wouldn’t. Valerie wanted to keep her composure intact, even if her heartbreak was obvious.
‘Valerie, would you mind if I borrowed your iron for two minutes please?’ asked Bonnie. ‘Whilst the shop is empty? My shirt needs a press.’ She checked to make sure no one was about to come in.
‘Go behind my changing curtain,’ commanded Valerie. ‘I’ll do it for you. Go on and take it off.’
Bonnie did as she was told.
‘I’ve never seen you with a creased shirt before,’ said Valerie as Bonnie handed it to her. ‘In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never been less than immaculately presented. Now why is that, I wonder?’
‘I left my husband,’ said Bonnie from behind the curtain. ‘I only took the bare essentials with me.’
Valerie didn’t miss a beat. ‘And when did you do this?’
‘Yesterday,’ said Bonnie, peeping around the curtain. ‘After what you said at the funeral about taking your chance, I took mine yesterday.’
Valerie pressed the short sleeve of the blouse. ‘Jack always said you weren’t happily married. Harry Grimshaw once told him that he didn’t like your husband.’
‘Really?’ said Bonnie. Harry had never interfered, apart from what he’d said at her wedding, and she’d certainly had no idea that he’d spoken about her to anyone else.
Valerie went on, ‘Of course Harry was too much of a gentleman to gossip but he did once tell Jack that he thought you had rushed into things.’
‘I did,’ sighed Bonnie. ‘I made a mistake.’
Valerie handed the shirt back to her.
‘Not so easy to leave a marriage. I know this, of course,’ said Valerie with a sad smile. ‘Especially when you are held there by ties of loyalty.’
Bonnie nodded slowly. Valerie was talking about Jack; she didn’t know how true that was of Bonnie’s situation too.
‘Where are you living now, Bonnie?’
‘I’m renting Starstruck’s daughter’s house on Rainbow Lane in Dodley Bottom.’
‘I’ll leave the iron for you. I won’t need it if I’m going away. And take the ironing board too. Are you short of anything else, other than that? I have a few bits of extra furniture at home.’
Bonnie smiled. ‘That’s very kind of you, Valerie, but I’ll not put you to any trouble. I’ll buy pieces here and there when I can afford them.’
Valerie’s hands flew to her hips in a gesture of impatience. ‘Do you have a bed? Sofa? Table? Chairs?’
‘I have one of those chair things that flops out into a bed.’
‘That will be no good at all for your back,’ Valerie tutted. ‘Leave it with me.’
‘Honestly, Va—’
‘Can I tell you something, Bonnie?’ Valerie cut her off with a snap in her voice.
‘Go on,’ said Bonnie. Valerie was a formidable creature and when she demanded people’s attention, she usually got it.
‘Your father was a gentleman. When I first started off in this game, I fell behind paying my rent in his shop because someone bounced a large cheque on me. He gave me three months free on my unit so I could get on my feet and I think he’d have given me more if I’d needed it. I survived because of his kindness and I never looked back, and I don’t forget things like that. I’ve made a good living at this game and I’ve loved it, and I have your dad to thank for extending his hand of friendship towards me when I needed it most. And it isn’t just me that feels like that. Your dad helped Stickalampinit out with a lot of things, and Jack and Boombox and Stan. They all thought a lot of your father and they wouldn’t see his daughter in need.’
Bonnie recalled how many of them went to visit him in the home, just to pass some time with him. Even though he mostly didn’t recognise them, they still went and sat and talked to him.
‘You have customers,’ said Valerie, shooing Bonnie away just as she was about to open her mouth and protest. Bonnie saw how shiny and full of tears her friend’s blue eyes were before she turned back to steaming the hat. ‘Bonnie, go and attend.’