Ashley locked the entrance door of Golden Meadows Retirement Home behind her and stepped into the tiny office directly next to it.

‘Evening.’ Rose looked up from a pile of rosters spread out on the table in front of her. ‘How are you this fine evening, flower?’

‘Fine? Which window have you been looking out of? It’s cats and dogs out there.’

‘I haven’t been looking out of any windows – that’s the problem. Haven’t had bloody time. Two girls missing off shift today, a suspected heart attack – which turned out to be heartburn, though we had ambulances and all sorts – and a wanderer, so we’ve been run ragged.’

‘Your wanderer…’ Ashley smiled. ‘Let me guess… Wilf?’

‘Got it in one. He’s determined he’s going to get to that pub. How many times have we told him it was knocked down in 1980? I’ve even driven him past, but he’s not having it. Insists the landlady has a pint waiting on the bar for him and a cuddle waiting in the back after closing time.’

‘It must be lovely to disappear into your past like that.’ Ashley shrugged off her raincoat and hung it on a peg. ‘Leave all the troubles of the present behind.’

‘Oh, and where would you go, flower?’

Ashley gave a small smile. ‘I can think of a few places. Not that there’s any point in wishing it, because wishing won’t change the here and now no matter how many times I do it.’

‘Someone sounds like they had a bad day. And then they had to come here and do the twilight shift. Poor bugger.’

Ashley laughed. ‘I’m OK. Ignore me and my whining. People have it worse than I do. Like poor Wilf, who can’t recall if he’s in this world or the next.’

‘Yeah, but he’s happy enough in his little fantasy world, and if we can keep them happy that’s about the best we can do for them, isn’t it? I wish we could give them their lost years back, but we can’t, and one day it’s going to be us sitting in that day room waiting for death.’

‘Oh, well that’s a comforting thought – thanks. Now I feel so much better!’

‘You’re welcome. By the way, can you do an extra on Wednesday? Pat’s got a funeral to go to.’

‘I’ll check with my mum if she can look after Molly for me, but it should be OK.’

Ashley hesitated, tussling with the request she’d been thinking about all the way to work. The holiday to Saint-Raphaël was very last minute and she knew Rose wasn’t going to like her asking. She also knew Rose would struggle to say no, even if it did leave her in the lurch, and the thought made Ashley even more reluctant to ask the question. But she’d promised her mum she would for the sake of her stepdad, Maurice, who desperately wanted them to go. God knew both she and Molly would benefit from the time away from home – time to bond and relax without the worries of money and duty hanging over them.

‘Thanks, flower. It would do me a huge favour. When you start will you just make sure Mavis hasn’t hidden her meds under her mattress again? Petra found three days’ worth under there last week when she was cleaning.’

‘Sure. Rose…’ Ashley began before clamping her mouth shut again. It wasn’t fair to ask, and she realised it now as she watched her boss bend her head back to the rosters. Rose looked up.

‘Yeah?’

‘Nothing.’

Rose frowned. ‘Nothing? Ashley, my love, we’ve known each other long enough now that I can tell when you have an awkward question and you know I’ll give you a straight answer if you open your mouth and spit it out. What’s ailing you?’

‘I know. It’s just… I don’t want to ask because I know it’s going to be really difficult. But my mum… well, my step-dad really… there’s this huge family do for his aunt who turns a hundred at the end of the month and he wants me and Molly to go. It’s really important to his family that everyone is there and, of course, my mum too.’

‘So you need a day off? I’m sure I can jiggle the rota for you. Why didn’t you just say – I’m doing them right now anyway.’

‘Actually it’s in France. Down south. So I’d need a week…’

Rose said nothing for a moment, but Ashley could tell by her expression what the answer was going to be.

‘Flower,’ she said finally. ‘You know I’d let you go if I could, but it’s such short notice, and I don’t know if I have enough people to cover—’

Ashley shook her head. ‘Don’t worry. I knew it was a big ask and I know you’d let me if you could.’

‘But—’

‘Honestly, forget I mentioned it. It’s putting everyone out massively and it’s really not that important…’

Pulling a tunic from her locker, she buttoned it hastily and left the office to start her shift.

---

Ashley found the morning’s dose of pills stuffed inside Mavis’s pillowcase. After cajoling her to take them with a cup of tea, she set about making a huge urn of tea for the rest of the residents of Golden Meadows Retirement Home. She tried not to acknowledge the disappointment lodged in her throat as she dropped the bags in. And she tried not to dwell on how tired she was, how long it had been since her last decent holiday, or how wonderful the Riviera, which she’d never seen, though she’d often longed to, might look at this time of year. As she shoved Gladys’s dentures back in she tried not to think about how nice it might be not to be shoving anyone’s dentures anywhere for a week. Or breaking up arguments about which TV channel they were having on between a room full of people who really were all old enough to know better.

Instead, she smiled, offered gentle words and gestures, made sure everyone was as comfortable and as happy as they could be. She gave time and patience, a friendly ear and an understanding nod. And whatever any of the residents needed, she made sure they got it. Because what was the point in sulking over things she couldn’t change, and it was hardly the fault of any of the pensioners in her charge. Disappointment was a fact of life these days, and perhaps after all these years, she ought to be used to it.

During her break in the tiny office she sat at the table with her sandwiches and opened a text from her mother.

Ashley let out a sigh and locked the phone again before putting it back in her pocket. Her mum would say that Ashley hadn’t tried hard enough, that she needed to stand her ground, that she was the most faithful and reliable member of Rose’s team and she ought to point that out and ask again. And she’d be right, but Ashley just didn’t have the heart. She liked working here and she liked Rose, and she didn’t see the point in rocking the boat. The holiday was a silly idea anyway, foolish daydreaming. Maybe her mum and Maurice would be able to take Molly with them and Ashley would man the fort at home? They wouldn’t be pleased but at least that way Molly got a holiday and there was no doubt that Maurice and his family would spoil her rotten. She’d have the time of her life, and maybe it would take the sting out of her disappointment over the music school. She’d put it to her mum later.

As she was washing her cup ready to go on shift again, Rose came in.

‘Sit down a minute, flower.’

‘I’m due back, I—’

‘Whoever wants a Horlicks can wait. You are my priority right now.’

‘I don’t understand—’

‘If you want that week off you can have it.’

‘But you said…’

‘I know. But then I had a think about it. You’re one of my best workers and I’d be lost without you. But you’re no good to me burnt out, and it wasn’t until I checked the records that I realised just how little of your allocated holidays you actually take. It’s all very well me paying you extra to forfeit them and come in, but even you need a break from time to time. You rarely ask for time off and if you’ve asked me this time then it must be important to you. So I’ve called the nursing agency and they’ll send someone to cover your week.’

Ashley blinked. ‘You mean I can go to France?’

‘Frankly you can go, stay at home… I don’t care what you do with your week. So long as I don’t see your face here while the agency nurse covers, I don’t want to know what you’re up to.’

Ashley broke into a broad smile and flung her arms around Rose. ‘Thank you!’

‘Don’t be daft,’ Rose said, pushing Ashley off. But she was smiling too. ‘Now get back to work before I change my mind!’

Haydon scanned the web page. The week Bryn had mentioned he had free at his villa in the South of France was at the end of July and so fell nicely into Ella’s summer break from school. It was all too neat, and the more Haydon thought about it, the more he was wondering whether he should have snapped up the opportunity for a cut-price week away. Now, as he viewed a tourist guide to the area, taking in the glorious photos of palm-flanked beaches, breathtaking mountain passes overlooking glittering slices of ocean, quaint villages and vivid seas of lavender threaded by empty roads, he was regretting his immediate refusal more than ever. He could almost smell the garlic of a bowl of escargot, taste the crisp white wine, hear the relaxed chat of a roadside café. He and Ella could spend time on the beach – fishing, sandcastle-building, sunbathing – it didn’t really matter what they did; what counted was the time spent together. They could bond, build their relationship to be stronger and more loving than ever, and even if she moved away in the future, they would always have this perfect week lodged in their memories, holding them together.

Closing the lid of the laptop, Haydon went through to the kitchen to wash up the single dinner plate he’d used to eat his microwave lasagne in front of the TV news. His eyes went to the window as he ran the tap. His flat was three floors up, and it was too dark to see much of the street below. Squally rain beat against his window and wind whistled through the cracks in the frame. It was meant to be summer, though there was little evidence of it out there tonight.

His phone bleeped in his pocket and he hurried to dry his hands before reading the message from Ella.