The Catalyst | Joanne

Chapter 23

Joe, do we need anything... oh! Look how cute that is!"

Joe rolled his eyes and pushed the trolley to where Dianne had wandered off to. It was typical of their supermarket trips- Dianne got distracted by shiny, pretty things and Joe (secretly) found it adorable. Her childlike sense of fun and adventure was one of the first things he fell in love with, and he never wanted her to change. One day, he thought, her personality was going to make her such a brilliant mum.

"What have you found now?" he asked.

Dianne held up a bedding set. "How cute is that? Campers! We could get it for Chippy."

Joe smiled. "I think we need to do some more work on him before he's ready to sleep in."

"That's a shame" Dianne said, "I was kind of hoping we could have a Chippy sleepover while it's nice out."

"We will one day" Joe assured her, hand on her back, "but not yet. I think we'd probably need to have come up with more of a plan. And we need to check it all works properly." Dianne put down the bedding set and looked at Joe. He smiled. "One day, though, we can definitely have a Chippy sleepover. And, when we do, I promise we'll get campervan bedding."

Dianne smiled and followed Joe as he led her down through the supermarket. "Oh, Joe?" she said, noticing he'd raced off ahead. "Should we get your mum some flowers?"

"Good thinking, Di" Joe said as he reversed himself back down towards his girlfriend. "These are quite nice."

Dianne nodded. "I love sunflowers. They just always look so... bright. Shall we get one of those for her, then?"

Joe nodded and picked up a bouquet for Dianne to place in the trolley. "Right, now what did my mum say she wanted us to get? Eggs and..."

Dianne checked her phone. "Eggs, yoghurt and kitchen wipes."

"OK, perfect. Let's go."

With their shopping finished, the couple headed back out to the campervan and onto the road. They only had a few miles left on their drive, and the break had been welcome for all of them, including the car.

"And we're here" Joe said, pulling the van onto the large, gravel driveway. "Awwh, wave Di!"

Tracey was stood at the open door, dog at her heel, waving enthusiastically as her son and his girlfriend pulled up. Joe cut the engine and Dianne jumped out of the car.

"Hello!" she called to Tracey, her arms already out. "How are you?" She pulled Joe's mum into a hug.

"Oh, I'm better for seeing you two. Did you manage to get down here OK? Was the drive alright?"

Tracey moved from Dianne to Joe and pressed a loud kiss to her son's cheek. "It was fine, mum" he answered her question. "Our old Chipster is getting pretty used to these impromptu drives out to the countryside."

"Well, he's a beauty" Tracey said. "Right, let's get you two inside. I've just done salads and stuff for dinner, so it's ready whenever if you're hungry. I'll let you get settled first, though."

Joe looked back at Dianne as they followed Tracey into her beautifully decorated home and smiled. "It's a mum thing" he said quietly.

Dianne nodded. "She's so cute."

Once they were inside, Joe carried their bags up to the spare bedroom he usually used. Dianne untied her shoes and slipped them off, neatly placing them by the stairs. As Joe re-emerged, he smiled.