Not the only one (formally Chloe)

Chapter 26

"Bye Gran. Talk next week?"
"Bye fairy, been lovely to talk to you, Tuesday evening?"
"I'm working Tuesday nightshift. Thursday 6ish."
"Love you darling"
"Love you Gran." Chloe blew a kiss and closed the FaceTime.
"What have you been up to?" Her husband asked from the corner of the room, he'd been in from work a few minutes but Chloe hadn't heard him. He shocked Chloe and made her jump. "I didn't see you there." She smiled taking out her headphones "I was just talking to my Gran."
"And how is she?" Evan asked
"She's good. She's been working today, did I tell you she volunteers at the local charity shop"
"Yes I think you mentioned it, but Chloe, I think it would be best if you didn't talk to your Gran for a while. Think how much better you've been since keeping your distance from your mum and Dom."
"I guess so." Chloe said. Last week her mum had invited her to the zoo with Fletch and his kids. Chloe absolutely loved the zoo. She loved anything that included animals. She wasn't broody but didn't hate kids either and would have loved to go. But like Evan said she was doing much better staying away "But I have to talk to my Gran." Chloe told Evan "she's an old lady who lives alone with her dog. Her husband died almost two years ago and her only family are me and mum. And her sister Aileen and her family but they live in Glasgow, and she's in Aberdeen. Her great niece Iona is at uni at St Andrews and she might visit once a monthish but that's all the family she sees, surely you don't begrudge me talking to her. She's lonely." Chloe pleaded.
"Chloe." Evan said taking her hands in his "I don't begrudge you talking to anyone, I'm just thinking about you and your mental health, your emotional health. I just want you to be happy because I love you. I just want us both to be happy. Why don't you tell Gran you've been called into work in an emergency and can't talk to her next week and see how that has you feeling. I've made avocado salad for dinner" he said changing the subject. Chloe didn't want avocado salad but at least it didn't have many calories. She was starting to look too big these days, salad would help her get a little slimmer. "Oh and I nipped to M&S in my lunch break to grab some cake for Marta, you know, the Polish nurse, it's her birthday and I saw this dress I thought would look amazing on you." He pulled a brightly coloured stripy dress from his bag. It was strappy but pretty. Chloe was about to say she couldn't wear it because of her scars when Evan said. "Don't look so scared. It would go so nicely with that pink cardi you have." He was so thoughtful. Chloe took it off him. "It's a size 8!" She exclaimed "I'm a size 12 usually. Sometimes a 10 but never an 8!"
"Well they didn't have size 12 only 8 or 16 or bigger, maybe it can be motivation to loose weight. You've been loosing some due to our healthy eating and you're looking so good. Think how wonderful it will be when you got into that dress!" He was right, being a size 8 would be wonderful.

Ange was alternating between being hugely worried and completely livid. She was pacing round her living room  and couldn't sit still. She envied people who could meditate to calm down, she'd tried yoga before but today she was just too angry. She had spoken to her daughters boyfriend about how worried she was about Chloe being distant. She didn't like Evan and never had but was so worried about her daughter she'd decided to have a chat. He'd told her that Chloe was fine, and it was really good that she didn't feel the need to lean on her mum anymore. And then had the nerve to say "it's not healthy, the two of you working in the same hospital. Chloe's a big girl and doesn't need mummy watching over her. And to be frank Ange, we've spoken about it and Chloe's been struggling these last few months after everything that's happened with Dom. She was hurt and has decided to keep her distance for now."  Ange was so confused of that was the case why had she asked to be held when she came over the other week. And when Chloe had  eaten the cake the same night she had pleaded with Ange not to tell Evan, almost as if she was scared of him. It's true that Chloe was a big girl now but plenty of mothers and daughters worked together with no issue at all, and it's not like they lived in each other's pockets they worked on different wards in a hospital trust that employed over 3,000 people. She had a worrying suspicion that Evan was encouraging Chloe to keep away from her and she just didn't know what to do. All she wanted was for Chloe to be happy. And she knew her daughter well enough to know that, even from a distance, Chloe was not happy at all.