Walking with Ghosts

job. You’ve got no education. As far as I can see you don’t have any ambition.”
    ‘Geordie got up from the table and went to our room. I gave her what for, but she knew she’d drawn blood with him, and it didn’t matter what I said, she was happy because she’d made him miserable. I don’t see how she can say she’s interested in my welfare. She’s never been interested in anything I’ve done. We only invited her because I thought the silence had gone on long enough. She’s old and lonely now, and I thought she would’ve responded to us including her in the wedding, and with the baby coming.’
    Marie squeezed her hand over the table. ‘That sounds terrible,’ she said. ‘How can you stand it?’
    ‘I know her. I spent my childhood with her. I can phase her out, forget about her, even when she’s in front of me. But it’s harder for Geordie. At breakfast this morning he was trying to be polite.’
    Marie shook her head. ‘Geordie won’t put up with it for long, though. Specially if he talks it over with Sam. Sam’ll tell him to poke her in the eye, and he’s liable to do it.’
    ‘I know,’ said Janet. ‘He was burning Vanity Fair this morning, a page at a time.’ She laughed. ‘What gets me is the hypocrisy of it. All that nonsense about Geordie’s prospects. Mother doesn’t give a damn about that. She hates him because I’m in love with him. Anybody I liked she’d find fault with. When I was at home she hated anything I liked. Music, films, books, clothes. You name it, if I liked it she’d think it was the work of the Devil.’ Janet stopped talking. She shook her head from side to side for a moment, then she said: ‘But I don’t want to think about all that. What about you? How’re you getting on with J.D.?’
    Marie turned up her nose. ‘So-so,’ she said. ‘Oh, I like his company well enough, when he’s there. It’s good to have a man around for a change, though I can’t help comparing him to Gus. But I find myself getting irritated with him. He’d changed the shower settings this morning. I know it’s trivial, but if I’d done that in somebody else’s house I’d have changed them back again when I’d finished.’
    Janet smiled.
    ‘And he gambles,’ Marie continued. ‘Gambles everything he’s got. Comes away from the table without a bean. Needs to borrow money to get a sandwich or buy a newspaper.’
    ‘What about the sex?’
    Marie eyed her. ‘First indications seem promising. But it’s so long since I did it, I’m not the best judge.’
    ‘So what you’re saying,’ said Janet. ‘There’s a guy in your life, you’ve invited him in and asked him to take his coat off, but for the time being he shouldn’t remove his shoes.’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Marie. ‘And there’s something else beginning to put me off. You know those tight little balls of fluff you get on a jumper when it’s been washed too many times?’ Janet nodded.
    Marie shook her head. ‘All his jumpers are like that.’
    The waitress arrived and asked if they wanted more coffee. Janet glanced at her watch. ‘We’d better get going. There’s not just the dress. I need shoes, tights, order some flowers. Oh, and don’t let me forget make-up. I need pink eye-shadow, blusher, some white highlighter, and a black pencil. Going for the Bo-peep look.’
     
    When she got to the office the door was locked. Inside there Was a note from Celia saying she’d be back in half an hour. Marie sat quietly at her desk, glad of the break after the lunch-hour shopping.
    She was beginning to unwind when she heard the footfall on the stairs. It wasn’t a sound she recognized. Sam took two steps at a time when he arrived. Geordie scurried up the stairs, something like a hungry mouse after discovering a grain-store. Celia placed her feet crisply on each tread advertising the organizational flair and precision which enabled her to run the office.
    But the steps on the stair now were none of these. Whoever was coming up was having some difficulty with the climb. Probably someone for one of the other offices. Except the sound was ominous, creepy, setting an echo in the stairwell, and, finally, in the passage leading to the office.
    The figure that presented itself on the other side of the frosted glass was much smaller than Marie had expected. There was a quick tap on the door, which was immediately pushed open to reveal a woman who Marie felt she should know, but didn’t quite recognize.
    She’d obviously