Jo had arrived back at Number Six, after visiting Kris at the psychiatric clinic she was staying at in Norwich.

 

‘Oh….’ Jo more or less collapsed in a heap on the sofa and started to cry now that she was safely within her home.

 

Phil moved over and hugged her.

 

‘Oh, Phil it was awful, she looks so ill! They’ve got her drugged up to the eyeballs it seems to me!’ Tears streamed down her face, heartbroken at what was happening to her friend.

 

‘I’ll definitely come with you next time, you shouldn’t have done that on your own,’ Phil felt eaten up with guilt about the fact that he’d been too busy to go with her, he would tell work to get stuffed next time.

 

‘What did the doctors say to you?’ Phil asked.

 

‘Well, they were using a few terms that I didn’t understand, but she’s at least had a total breakdown and they’re talking about the possibility of manic depression too…’

 

They sat in silence, thinking about Kris’s fate.

 

‘And to think that this all started off with a few forged cheques,’ snorted Phil.

 

‘No, no, I think it started way before that, Phil,’ Jo pondered.

 

‘What do you mean?’

 

 

 

Well, I’d say that things started to affect her more after the breakup with Nathan. I think she really loved him, y’know, and look how she treated Lisa?!’

 

Phil sighed ‘You’re right, and now that Lisa has moved in with Nathan, things are even worse.’

 

‘It destroyed her, Phil, she was heartbroken...and we didn’t really even notice. What sort of friends are we?!’

 

‘We can’t punish ourselves, maybe we could have done more, but you have to remember that Kris never made things easy for herself, she was always being hostile and angry,’ Phil stopped, realising that he was talking about her as though she were dead.

 

 

***

 

 

The Lucas family were out for a pub lunch that Sunday, in a village just outside Deadham.

 

‘Cheers!’ Val clinked glasses with everyone, Ray containing something non-alcoholic of course. He chuckled to himself about that, realising that he’d not said cheers for ages without it involving booze.

 

‘Here’s to us,’ Val started off one of her little speeches, ‘and to your father being well again…’

 

Laura and Rhys laughed at her dramatic tone.

 

Here’s to you, Pater!’ Rhys joked.

 

‘Stop it, Rhys,’ Val snapped.

 

‘Here’s to you, Dad, it’s great that you’re better,’ Laura added genuinely.

 

‘Thanks,’ Ray seemed to go a bit coy, even in front of his family, he never did like being the centre of attention. Not when sober anyway!

 

‘Did you see that bloke going into The Reynolds house earlier?’ Laura asked.

 

‘Is that Jimmy?’ Ray asked Val.

 

‘Yes, I think it must be,’ she replied.

 

‘Who’s Jimmy?’ Rhys asked.

 

‘Well…..oh, I suppose you’ll find out anyway!’ With that, Val started telling them.

 

 

***

 

 

Meanwhile, Jimmy was still at Number Two, as they waited for Sam to come home.

 

‘So when are the tests done?’ Don asked abruptly.

 

‘Don! Be a little bit patient please!’ Josie cried from the kitchen.

 

‘Everything will be taken care of properly once Sam agrees to it, Jimmy smirked at Don.

 

 

 

Oh, hello, you must be Jimmy,’ none of them had realised that Sam had just walked in.

 

‘Yes, hello Sam,’ Jimmy walked towards him and held out his hand to shake, but Sam walked away ignoring it.

 

‘Anyway, thanks for coming over Sam,’ Josie stuttered.

 

‘I do still live here, Mum!’ Why was she being so formal with him, he wondered? She must be really nervous!

 

‘Yes, of course, I meant coming round from Ros’s. We need to talk about these tests…’

 

‘Let’s just get the whole thing over and done with,’ Sam said casually. Externally, he was so strong and unaffected it was impressive, but he was going through inner turmoil. This was making him realise how much Don meant to him, he didn’t want any other man in the world to be his father.

 

 

***

 

 

Phil and Jo were deep in discussion again.

 

Ron, Lesley and Tracey were here earlier,’ Jo said, referring to Kristen’s parents and sister.

 

‘How are they?’

 

‘Bearing up, but it’s upset them so much seeing her...well, it would.’

 

‘Ron Slater always struck me as a man who couldn’t be upset by anything!’ Phil cried.

 

‘Believe me, he’s crushed by it. They were asking about Gary’s death, how much it may have affected Kris?’

 

Phil thought for a moment.

 

‘Well, it did upset her, but I’d say that you were the worst hit in this house.’

 

‘On the surface maybe, but Kris bottles things up a lot more than I do, and she did care about him. Look at the way she

used to tease him, sure way of Kris showing someone that she likes them!’ Jo was unable to stop thinking of her friend over these days….

 

***

 

Sam had left the Reynolds family home, trying to hold back tears, and walked back up the road towards Number Ten.

 

He could see Lisa Hudson, the gorgeous student that was living in his brother’s flat, standing talking to Ros on the doorstep.

 

***********************************************

Yeah, take these books for as long as you like, I’m sure they’ll help with your course,’ said Ros. She’d bumped into Lisa at The Headless Pint and they’d started chatting, and were quite pally, Lisa reminded Ros of what she had wanted to do when she was younger, but marriage to Nick stopped a lot of it.

 

‘Hello darlin’! Hi Lisa!’ Sam forced jolliness as he greeted them both.

 

‘Everything OK?’ Ros asked, started to look at little pale, thought Sam.

 

‘Yeah, let’s talk about it later though, eh?’

 

Suddenly Ros cried out and clutched her belly.

 

‘Oh! Sam! I think the baby’s coming!’

© 2010 Danny Alborough / DJA Publications
All characters, names and situations are fictitious.
Any similarities to places or people, living or dead, are purely coincidental.