Free When Summer Fades by Danielle Shaw

Carlos? Where had he slept? Certainly not on the sofa; it wasn’t big enough. Had he therefore slept in the Z-bed?
    Following Sophie’s gaze and reading her mind, Carlos enquired with a wry smile.
    ‘What do you think of my hospital corners Miss Fuller?’
    ‘Hospital corners?’
    ‘Isn’t that what you nurses call them? I remember when I was last in England—’
    ‘Oh, you mean the sheets? Yes, they’re perfect.’
    ‘Such a pity then that they have to be disturbed.’
    ‘I’m afraid I don’t follow you.’ Sophie was beginning to feel like an idiot. What on earth was Carlos getting at? If he was trying to be clever, then he’d picked the wrong person. She was far too tired to participate in any of his fancy mind games.
    ‘Of course the bed! I’m sorry, Carlos. I forgot. I’ll do it now,’ Rosa called, running through to the tiny bedroom, where she stripped the Z-bed of all its linen and replaced it with a clean set.
    Sophie stared in disbelief. What on earth was happening? Rosa turned to her with a beaming smile.
    ‘Not to worry about the sheets, Sophie. Carlos says we can take them to laundry.’
    ‘You’re surely not walking to the laundrette before you go to London?’ Sophie enquired, saying the first thing to come into her head.
    Carlos reached out for a soft leather jacket. ‘No. Before I rang Miss Sheffield I ordered a self-drive car. It should be arriving any minute. Miss Fuller, you can have your flat to all to yourself and Rosa and I will wish you pleasant dreams.’
    Pleasant Dreams? From the way she felt at the moment Sophie was convinced she’d have only nightmares. One minute she thought Rosa was leaving – whisked away by Carlos to more suitable accommodation, and the next she’d witnessed a certain frosty exchange when Rosa had announced her intention to stay.
    Despite welcoming clean linen, Sophie crawled wearily into bed, convinced she could still smell Carlos’s aftershave. For some reason it unsettled her. She fell asleep thinking about eyes the colour of indigo and Carlos’s parting words before he’d ushered Rosa from the flat. Was he simply being sarcastic or had he been genuinely concerned?
    *
    Eight hours later and considerably refreshed, Sophie found herself humming a familiar song as she ran her bath.
    ‘What’s with the songs?’ Callie asked, heaving a suitcase of summer clothes into the hall. You’ve been humming it ever since I arrived. You know what they say about constantly humming or singing the same tunes.’
    ‘No. But I’ve a feeling you’re about to tell me.’
    ‘It’s supposed to be unlucky. Can I suggest you think of something else.’
    ‘Unlucky!’ Sophie protested. ‘You surely don’t expect me to believe this fiasco with Rosa and her cousin can get any worse, simply by me humming Song Sung Blue and Mood Indigo ?'
       ‘ Song Sung Blue , I recognize but Mood Indigo ? Don’t think I've heard that one before.’
    ‘Probably not. It was one of Mum and Dad’s favourites.’
    ‘Anyway what is an indigo mood when it’s at home?’ Callie queried, pausing for breath, swinging Sophie’s suitcase nearer to the door.
    Sophie stopped packing books and assorted odds and ends into another suitcase and pushed back her fringe. ‘I don’t know really. To be honest I’ve never really thought about it much. Indigo is a deep violety-blue sort of colour. I suppose it could mean a blue mood back to front,’ she grinned.
    ‘And we’ll be back to front if we’re not careful! By the sound of that exhaust, I’d say that’s Colleen and Sean with the van. You’re sure it’s all right to take this stuff?’
    Sophie fixed Callie with a vacant stare.
    ‘By that, Staff Nurse Fuller, I mean you’re not planning any exotic trips to the Caribbean in the immediate future? You won’t be requiring your summer wardrobe?’
    ‘Hardly,’ came the wistful reply. ‘I leave that to the likes of Carlos and Rosa.’
    Waving Callie and the van goodbye Sophie