“And you’ll say hello to that lovely Laura for me?” Memo glanced up at something out of sight above the laptop screen on her end and nodded. Grandad, presumably.
“I will,” Josie promised. Memo had only met Laura once, but she had this uncanny ability to remember every single person in Josie’s life, in extreme detail.
“And you’ll be OK, there alone?” Memo seemed to peer in more closely, taking in, no doubt, the slight bags under Josie’s eyes, the pale skin that she’d have to cover up later. She hadn’t been sleeping all too well since she’d gotten back from New York, a constant whir in her mind asking her what the hell she was supposed to do with her life now.
Josie hesitated for the briefest of seconds before saying, “I won’t be alone, I’ll have Bia. And Laura.”
Memo looked up behind the screen, and smiled at something. Josie raised her eyebrows. “Grandad said something about Bia, didn’t he?”
“He says to say hello to her,” Memo said with another smile.
Her grandad muttered something inaudible as he came to sit on the red sofa next to Memo, one bushy eyebrow making itself known. Josie frowned, though Memo huffed out a laugh.
“What was that?” Josie asked.
“He said he expects you could do with the break from Helen right now, in any case.”
“I’m right here, Cecelia,” her grandad grumbled. “I can speak for myself.”
“Well, speak then!” Josie saw a slim hand reaching out to adjust the screen, and then her grandad’s face came into full view. He leaned forward, holding a cup of something hot—black tea, no doubt—between his hands.
“Is she driving you mad, Josie? It’s OK, you can tell us.”
“No, she’s fine!” Josie lied. And really, yes, Helen was driving her slightly insane, but she knew she couldn’t complain—she was letting Josie live there, rent free, while she tried to get herself back on her feet.
Memo moved the screen back to her side of the sofa. “Oh, we know what she’s like, my love. She’s our daughter and we love her, but she was a total nightmare to live with as a teenager, and I swear she’s hardly changed at all. She was always bossing your dad around; I tell you, it gave me a headache.” Memo smiled in a way that seemed genuine, but Josie wondered if she got that little jolt, every time she thought about the son she’d lost, just like Josie did whenever she thought too hard about her parents. It was one of the things she loved about Memo, though—the fact that she could talk about Josie’s mum and dad with love rather than sadness. It made Josie able to do it too, when she was around her.
“She’s getting me to help strip the wallpaper in her bedroom,” Josie admitted. Though, to be fair, she didn’t have much else to do right now.
“Tell her to bugger off, Josie,” her grandad said, slurping his tea.
“Yes, and give her a cigarette if she complains,” Memo said.
Josie tried not to smile as her grandad muttered something under his breath. She caught the word “encourage,” but not much else.
“Anyway,” Memo continued. “We’ll try and come to see you both in Guildford soon.”
“Great!” said Josie. It had been too long since she’d seen them both.
Her grandad popped his head into view. “Yes, and tell your grandmother I’m perfectly capable of driving, won’t you, Josie?”
“He is not,” Memo said, before Josie could answer. “His back’s playing up again, and the doctor said he’s not supposed to do anything strenuous.”
“Oh come on,” her grandad said, slinking back out of the screen, “driving’s hardly strenuous.”
“Is that my photo on the wall I see?” Josie asked. She’d long since learned it was best not to get in the middle of their bickering—both sides tended to ignore what she said in any case, so she was better off leaving them to it. It would be Memo who got her way in the end though, no matter how much she made Grandad feel he had a say in the matter.
Memo looked over her shoulder. “Oh yes!” It was the photo Josie had sent them of her standing alone on Brooklyn Bridge, bundled up in a hat and scarf but beaming nonetheless. “We love it, don’t we, John?” Her grandad grunted his assent. Oliver had taken that photo, Josie thought, though the pang she felt at his name was barely there anymore.
The taxi came to a stop outside the castle as Memo looked back at Josie. Josie glanced at the taxi driver, but he just gave her a wink as he got out of the car. “Did I tell you about the time your grandad took me to New York for our twentieth wedding anniversary?”