Free When Sorry Is Not Enough by Millie Gray Page A

your arse. And I hope your advocate and mentor will be able to tell you what to do about that.’
    ‘You can’t do this to me!’ Josie protested.
    Advancing towards Josie, Sally grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her out into the street. ‘That right?’ Sally asked as Josie fell on to the pavement. ‘Well it seems I just have.’
    The door had just banged shut when Rita asked, ‘Do you think you’ve done the right thing? Josie is so very good at running this bar for you.’
    Sally’s head furiously bobbed up and down. ‘Maybe so,’ she agreed, ‘but I’m not having some money-grabbing gigolo turning her head. The one way for her to see sense is to have her go out and find a job that’ll keep her and Victor in the manner they seem to have become accustomed to … cocktails in the Caledonian Hotel at my expense.’
    ‘But, Sally, who’s going to run the Four Marys? Just remember that right now you’re so busy with your family problems and guest house that you have very little time left for the licence business these days – and – ’ Rita hesitated. She was apprehensive then she decided to throw caution to the wind and forcibly uttered, ‘Your two bars are where all the money that you need to keep everyone afloat is made.’

    Josie had been standing on the pavement outside the Four Marys wondering what she should do when she discovered she had not lifted up her handbag. She had just decided to go back in and not only demand her handbag be returned to her but also her job when the door opened and her bag landed at her feet.
    ‘That’s it,’ she screamed at the banging door. ‘I was willing to give you the chance to say sorry but, Sally, you will have to come crawling now. I’m away to Victor and he and I will decide on what to do next.’

    There are times in life when everything appears to go belly up and the more you try to keep them from getting worse the more they do. Sally had just decided that she would have to run the Four Marys herself until she could find a suitable, honest replacement for Josie when Margo, her first born and the most difficult child to deal with, slunk in. Without asking why Sally was serving behind the bar, Margo immediately announced that she was in a predicament and only Sally could get her out of it. In fact she had gone on to say that it was Sally’s duty as her mother to do just that.
    ‘And, Margo, just what is it I will be doing or being responsible for?’ Sally enquired when the lunch time buzz began to abate.
    ‘As you know, Mum, I am in my mid-thirties and I am childless.’
    ‘Surely that is a problem for you and your husband. Have you spoken to Johnny about it?’
    ‘Of course we have spoken about it. And before you ask, yes I have taken my temperature and sent for Johnny the minute it was at the right degree. And do you know that boss of his just laughed when I phoned last week and asked for Johnny to be sent home straight away. And as my Johnny ran across the showroom floor the chief mechanic not only opened the factory gate so he could dash through it …’ Margo was now weeping sorely but she continued on bravely, ‘… he also handed him a bottle of Mackeson’s Stout and said that everybody knew that there was a bonny baby in every bottle.’ Margo stopped to dry her eyes and catch her breath before her verbal tirade continued. ‘Honestly,’ she went on, ‘as if life wasn’t hard enough. And half of the times I summoned Johnny he came home so stressed and nervous he couldn’t even raise … well he couldn’t. And when he did manage to do what he required to do, I then had to endure the embarrassment of lying in bed with my legs in the air. And see the day when I forgot the window cleaners were due, my blood pressure leapt through the roof when his ladders banged against my bedroom window.’
    The images of all that Margo had been relating to Sally were now floating before her eyes. Try as she might she could not repress her giggles.