39 Weeks (36 page)

I didn’t bother trying on the other two the changing room lady was keeping for me, I was depressed enough. All this boob activity had activated the colostrum leaking again and my toilet roll padding had gone sadly awry over one boob
,
and disappeare
d altogether over the other one
God only knows where. And I didn’t have any tissues or anything with me so I was going to have to visit a loo before long and re-stock, or re-stuff to be more accurate.
 
 
  
 

I went back to the display to look for another sensible bigger all over bra but in a different colour, I’d already got a white one
that I’d tried on
, and searched through the
attractive
lilac ones
, course they didn’t have my new size in lilac, so I searched the washed out looking pink ones even though I wasn’t mad about that colour, and found one. Then looked around for a black one, but they didn’t do that style in black. Typical. They had some that were sort of similar in black, and in my
new
size so I took a chance
it would fit and went straight to the till
, I really couldn’t face that changing room again and was all too aware that my leaki
ng boobs, well one of them, was
dangerously close to seeping right through my bra and
showing the world I was leaking
, so I couldn’t hang about anyway.
After more queuing
I paid and hot-
footed it to the nearest loo to renew my bra stuffing.

Felling a bit more relaxed now I was leak proof again, I went back to the car and continued my journey to work, silently castigating myself for not picking up some new pants while I was in Marks as mine were getting a bit uncomfortable and could have done with a bit of up-sizing along with the bra’s,
but that would have to wait for my next trip to town, at least I wouldn’t have to try them on and go through all that palaver again.

I was eager to get to work, I’d heard from Clare that David Steadman was probably going to pick which cleaning contract he was going to go with today. Clare had been pretty miffed at Shirley’s going, just as I and everyone else had been
when they found out
, so I told her about the tender Shirley and I had cobbled together. Course I swore her to secrecy and had every confidence she would keep my secret, at least until after we’d found out if we’d got the cleaning contract or not.

As soon as I arrived I made my excuses for being late, not the real one of course I don’t think Martin or Grahame
would have been too understand
ing about needing time off for a trip to Marks, but
what do either of them know about a woman’s needs in a time of crisis, so I said I’d been sick which they accepted straight away without question. Then as soon as I could I e-mailed Clare, who was only downstairs I know
,
but it’s not like we could talk properly with either of the Steadman’s possibly ear wigging every word. But David hadn’t decided yet she said, or wrote,
he was going through
all
the tenders
one more time before giving the winner a call to confirm, or more accurately telling Clare to give them a call to confirm, but she should know by lunch time.

It was a nail biting couple of hours, but at half one she came upstairs to let me in on the good news that Shirley’s tender had won, she’d got the contract for a year and then they’d review. I asked Clare to keep it quiet for a bit longer
,
at least until all the contracts and things had been signed which was probably going to be
next
Monday
, Tuesday at the latest, and she agreed she would.
I was so excited for Shirley I phoned her straight away and said I’d be round later to congratulate her and talk to her about setting up the paperwork side of things.

So it was another late night for me but I didn’t mind, I didn’t mind at all. Shirley had phoned her Vicky, the mother of the not pregnant after all Scarlet, and Julie, Shirley’s youngest although she was thirty five so not exactly an infant,
who had been the
two
daughters looking for a job and were now going
to be doing the actual cleaning
under Shirley’s supervision,
and they had come round to help celebrate, and plan in earnest stra
tegies like timetables and cleaning products they’d need. Luckily for them they could continue to use the ancient Hoover, owned by Fishers, at least until it gave up altogether by which time hopefully they’d have earned enough to be able to buy a new one.

Vicky and Julie were like mini Shirley’s, same down to earth outgoing personality, and pretty much the same looks, although a younger version
naturally
, and they were pleased as punch to get a job at all, never mind working for themselves
, at least until Shirley reminded them
that they’d be working for her and
that it was her cleaning business, and that quietened them down a bit, evidently she still ruled the roost, but they were pleased for their mum
nonetheless
.

Shirley’s Malcolm put in a brief appearance in the kitchen to see what all the noise was about, and then promptly went back to the living room to watch Britain’s Got Talent that evidently, so Shirley explained, he never misses
. I
n fact I think it was a
repeat
of Britain’s Got Talent
he was watching
so
it wasn’t even a current airing. What is it with older men and these shows, there was Martin and his beloved X Factor and Dad quite liked the American version of it, and now
Shirley’s husband and Britain’s Got Talent, I really can’t see the attraction, but each to their own I suppose.

I got a call from Rob asking if I was alright as I hadn’t been home, so I explained and he added his congrats which I passed on to Shirley, and I said I wasn’t sure how late I’d be so I’d see him tomorrow. Shirley asked if Rob and I were serious about each
other, and I said I didn’t know
it was too early yet. But I did k
now, I was serious. Q
uestion was, was he?
 

14
th
December – Week 28 + 3 Days

Everything was j
ogging along nicely, things between
Rob and I were going great, the question of sex still hadn’t been resolved
, not that the subject had come up as a question, well only in my head,
and I was getting bigger by the day, or even by the hour, so I wasn’t even sure if sex
was a possibility
anymore
for me anyway
, but the kissing had intensified a level or two
and that was
pretty wonderful.

Shirley had signed the cleaning contract and was all set to start
her
business on the second of January straight after the Christmas break. She was so excited about having her own little cleaning empire and not having to give up work, and of course the bonus was that she wouldn’t actually have to do much of the cleaning herself,
two of her daughters would be doing the grafting. She’d planned that during the first month they’d give the old place the thorough spring clean it had been crying out for,
that’d make it easier to keep on top of, and of course create a good impression with the Steadman’s.

The news had gotten round that Shirley had been given the push but that it was also Shirley that had secured the cleaning contract, and most people thought it was a decided ‘one in the eye’ for the Steadman’s and congratulated her when they saw her. And the bonus for me was
not only did I get the satisfaction of knowing Shirley hadn’t lost her job, but t
hat I would be the Shirley and C
o’s accountant
and receive a small remuneration. I don’t know what David Steadman thought about it when he found out because I
never saw him, and
he’d hardly be likely to confide in me anyway even if I had
, but Norman did ask me one morning if I knew anything about it. Course I came up with my
usual intelligent response of ‘u
m . . ‘ to which he nodded sagely suggesting he knew it was me all along, but he was smiling so I guess he wasn’t annoyed.

And on the subject of work Doreen was chirruping away happily eve
ry day, with the thought of George
leaving
soon. ‘Two weeks, only two more weeks’, she said excitedly to me and Jack. To which we smiled indulgently understanding how much it meant t
o her. The collection for George
had managed somehow to net nearly eighty pounds and Norman dug into his pocket and made it up to a round hundred and then David
Steadman added another twenty, so Doreen had bought a hundred pounds worth of garden centre vouche
rs, knowing how dedicated George
was to his allotment, and with the balance she bought a bottle of champagne and a large car
d, all to be presented on George
’s last day. She’d even arranged with Ted
to start looking
for his replacement and planned to start interviewing
straight after Christmas. This was one guy who was not going to be missed, by anyone.

Last Friday I’
d had a visit
from T
ricia to say her and Daniel had broken
up again, no surprises there really. She’d caught him out with some girl he worked with, not actually at it red handed as it were, but
almost.
W
hen she went to meet him after work he was in the car park doing that leaning in thing blokes do when they’re on the pull, against this girls car.

According to Tricia she definitely heard him saying
to the girl
som
ething along the lines of meeting
her on Saturday, and as he’d already told Tricia he wasn’t going to be able to see her
that night
because
he had to go and see his Gran, which Tricia had thought at the time sounded a bit odd as he’
d never even mentioned his Gran
before, and then she noticed he wasn’t wearing his ring, it was pretty obvious what he was up to. Course he den
ied the whole thing and said Tricia
was being hysterical and over reacting
, and the reason he wasn’t wearing his ring was that he didn’t want to get it scratched. I mean, come on, didn’t want to get it scratched! You’d think for a womanising serial scumbag he’d have been able to think of something better than that wouldn’t you? After all let’s face it he’d had enough practise. But you’d have been wrong.

Anyway Tricia broke up with
him about an hour later,
he’d wheedled and tried
his best
to lie his way out of it, but she was having none of it and didn’t fall for his
lies this time. Course she was pretty devastated, not only because she’d broken off her engagement, or that
she’d found out
he’d been cheating on her, but because she’d been so stupid as to believe that he’d really changed all this time, that was the cherry on the two-timing scumbags cake.

She
arrived at
mine at about eight on Friday night, only a couple of hours after the actual
breaking up, and practically fell through the door sobbing so much she could scarcely see where she was going, how she’d managed to drive I dread to think. I phoned Shelley with the update while Tricia was in the loo and she said she’d come straight round, which she did
,
arriving about ten minutes after I’d put the phone down.

Course both Shelley and I said al
l the usual things, you know, ‘y
ou’re better off witho
ut him’ and ‘p
le
nty more fish in the sea’ and ‘y
ou were too good for him anyway’, all that kind of thing. But it didn’t do any good, well it never really does, does it? It’s just what you say. You know it’s not going to make any difference while you’re saying it, and the person you’re saying it to knows it’s just something you say, but still it has to be said. So Tricia kept right on crying, and Shelley and I kept right on commiserating.

Rob put in an appearance in the middle of it all as we’d sort of
previously
arranged a quiet night in, but made a hasty retreat when he sussed what was going on.
Seeing him did make Tricia fo
rget her own troubles for a few short minutes
and she stopped sobbing long enough to ask me how it was going, but when I said everything was great it started her off on another crying jag to think how I had Rob, and Shelley had Nick, and she had no-one.

Tricia finally left at about midnight, she’d stopped crying by then, well for the time being anyway no doubt there was plenty more still to come, but she was already beginning to move on from the
‘
being devastated
’
phase
, to the
‘
being really pissed off
’
phase and wanting to rip Daniel’s head off, which was a good sign as these things go.