Borrowed Time , livre ebook

BORROWED TIME
Adrienne Till





First published in 2016 by
ARTHUR H. STOCKWELL LTD
Torrs Park, Ilfracombe, Devon, EX34 8BA
www.ahstockwell.co.uk
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
© Copyright 2016 Adrienne Till
The right of Adrienne Till to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.



No More Tomorrows
Outside it was raining. People were scurrying about like mice trying to make their way indoors without getting too wet. Roberta dashed over to her car and for a couple of minutes she sat with her face resting on the steering wheel trying to compose herself. The rain splashed down the windowpane: pit-pat-pit-pat. She switched on the wipers and they swooshed the rain away. The two sounds together echoing through the car: pit-pat-swoosh-swoosh-pit-pat-swoosh-swoosh. It was amazing how tired she suddenly felt. She had a lot of big decisions to make and she attempted to draw up a mental list of all the things she needed to do. She soon abandoned this idea, however. She couldn’t face it. After all, how could she possibly plan anything when she wasn’t certain how much time she had left? No, she decided. Best to take each day now as it comes.
The appointment with the consultant filled her thoughts as she drove home. It came over her in waves of emotion: each time she felt like breaking down to cry. She suddenly felt very lonely...
Roberta emerged from Dr McAllister’s office. She felt numb inside. She had known from the moment she had telephoned for the results of her tests that the news was not good. Even more so when the receptionist in a very kindly voice had suggested that she should arrange to see the consultant as soon as possible and that she might want to bring someone along with her - right then Roberta had feared the worst, and she was right.
The consultant had been very gentle when he explained that the cancer was malignant and that, because it had progressed so rapidly, there was nothing that could be done.
Roberta had asked him how long he thought she had, to which he’d replied that there was just no way of telling. For everyone was different. It could be a matter of months; others were lucky to make it that little bit longer.
He told her to rest as much as possible, to conserve her energy - she might feel well now, even though she was so ill, but very soon this was bound to change.
Roberta had just nodded, unable to take it all in - not quite knowing what to say back to him. Instead she mumbled thanks for his time and made her way as calmly as she could out of his office.
In the corridor, she leant her head back against the wall and let what he had said slowly filter through her mind. The consultant had said the word, the word that everyone was afraid of - dying . It reverberated through her whole body starting from the very tips of her toes and by the time the word had reached her head, it felt as if she had already heard it a thousand times before.
Turning the key in the lock of her front door, Roberta was greeted by Max. He was a Labrador and her ever faithful companion. She had first taken him in when he was a puppy and somehow just his presence made her house feel lived in. She hadn’t needed anyone else. She wondered what would happen to him when she was no longer here. She hoped very much that Carol would look after Max.
Carol - she would have to phone her and let her know how her appointment had gone. Carol had wanted to go with Roberta, but she’d said no. It was something she wanted to do by herself, she’d said. And even now, the thought of phoning Carol was something else she couldn’t face at the moment. Instead she suddenly felt very hungry. ‘I need to eat,’ she thought, ‘and drink. Tea? Coffee? Something stronger? I need to freshen myself up, take a shower.’
The shower never felt so wonderful, and afterwards she lay down on her bed and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep. The clock on the wall seemed to invade the silence as Roberta slept, and beside her lay Max with his head resting on his front paws. It was as if he was her protector - wherever she went, he went too. And he guarded the house with such ferocity, even though he was the most docile and cuddly friend you could wish for in a dog.
The hours seemed to fly by and it wasn’t until much later that there was any sign of motion in the stillness of the bedroom.
Roberta stirred just a little at first, then turned on to her back and opened her eyes. For a while she stared up at the ceiling and then sat up. Max, sensing movement, lifted his head up as well.
“Oh my gosh, five o’clock already?” she groaned as she glanced at the clock. “Why didn’t someone wake me?” she asked, giving Max a little look. But even as she asked the question, she knew the answer. There was no one else. She had no family and Max was the only male in her life.
Roberta had been involved with someone a few years back, but nothing had come of it. The relationship appeared to be going nowhere and finally it reached the point where there was nothing holding it together. Since then she had been on a couple of dates, but that was all.
She reached for her dressing gown and, after brushing her hair, descended downstairs with Max close at her heels. She made her way over to the phone.
“Hi, Carol. It’s Robbie. I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?” she asked, all the while playing with the phone wire. In a world full of mobile phones, she still loved the idea of having a house phone, quirky and old-fashioned as that might seem: a proper corded one with that unmistakeable ringing sound.
“No, not at all” came the response. “I’m in the middle of decorating the nursery and now I get to take time out.”
Roberta could almost feel Carol beaming at her when she said this. She felt a sudden rush of affection.
“Listen. The reason why I’m calling is because I thought you might like to come over tonight. I really need to talk to you.” She didn’t want to say anything else over the phone.
“Sure. No problem. I’ll pick up a bottle and some pizza on the way - make a night of it.” And then, as though she had a sixth sense, she said: “It was today, wasn’t it, your hospital appointment?”
“Yes, but I’ll go over it with you later.”
Roberta’s voice wavered slightly, something she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide from her friend.
She placed the receiver back into its cradle, so lovingly held that it was, and looked around the room. There was just so much she was going to have to sort out, come to terms with.
Later that evening the doorbell rang followed by the sound of Max barking.
“Sh-h-h,” she muttered as she opened the door.
Outside stood a very pregnant Carol.
Kissing etiquette - on the cheek - and the fondest and warmest of hugs done: “I would have been here sooner, but I had to wait for Jim to get home. On this of all nights” - she rolled her eyes dramatically - “he decided he had to work later than usual.”
She carried the wine and pizza through the house to the kitchen - for she knew every nook and cranny, every twist and turn of Roberta’s house, like the back of her hand - and when there dealt with sharing both of these out.
Carol was the same age as Roberta. They had been friends since school and as Roberta no longer had any family of her own, Carol was her next of kin. With dark brown hair and bright green eyes, Carol had stuck fast to Roberta, and Roberta in turn had taken an immediate liking to Carol. They’d been pretty much inseparable ever since.
Sitting down at the table together, Roberta knew she couldn’t put it off any longer.
“Carol, you know I’ve been feeling lousy lately, the tests I had done...”
Max, seeming to sense that the two friends needed some time alone together, sloped away as quietly as he could on his padded paws to his basket.
“I don’t know how to tell you.” Roberta’s voice dropped - why, she didn’t know. It wasn’t as if anyone else was around to hear, but suddenly she felt the need to whisper. “It seems very unreal at the moment.”
Carol took hold of her friend’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Just tell me, Robbie, please?”
And so she did - she began in short bursts and then more and more came out until it became a flow, a swell, and the final “I’m dying.”
For a moment there was silence. They say in moments of pure silence that you can hear a pin drop. Well, this is no metaphor and this was one of those times. And then, as usual and as Roberta hoped she would, Carol took charge of the situation. The silence ended and the welcome hug returned. She hugged her friend as tightly as she could.
“I am so so sorry, Robbie. It’s not fair. It’s not bloody fair, none of it is!”
Her voice caught a little, and at this - such tenderness - Roberta couldn’t keep the tears back any more.
“It’s all right, there, there, we’ll take care of you, Jim and I.” Carol brushed Roberta’s hair away from her face.
“How can you? You’ve got a baby to think about. You don’t need me on top of that.”
“Sh-h-h,” reprimanded Carol in the exact same tone as the one Roberta had used earlier w