“You’re the one who opened the door.” Leo chuckled.
“When?” Failing to share his amusement, I couldn’t believe he was blaming me.
“What was it Mum said?” He began repeating her words. “Food for the body and the soul.And what was your response?” He then repeated mine. “I can see that.”
“Which proves my point. I mean, how was I supposed to know she was being literal? If you’d let me in on it, I could have chosen my words more carefully.”
“And all the stuff about the Saint Oswald’s Church,” Leo carried on. “Where did that come from?”
“I was trying to impress.”
“You did that all right.”
Naturally, I respected Grace’s right to her beliefs, even if they were different to mine. What I couldn’t understand, was how a simple conversation about a building’s history had led her to think I followed Jesus too. “Leo, you should have told me.”
As we reached the beachfront, there was no one else in sight. Probably because the locals had more sense, I told myself. I’d never experienced wind like it. Leo unclipped Otis from his lead and the dog ran straight for the water’s edge. He barked at the buffeting waves as they crashed onto the sand, and making our way over to him, Leo and I stood in silence staring out at the ocean. Thanks to the grey clouds reflecting on the water, it was hard to see where the horizon ended and the sky began.
“You’re right,” Leo said, forced to raise his voice to be heard above the roaring sea and the thrashing gale that blew in. “I should have said something.”
I pushed my hair out of my face. “Why didn’t you?”
“If I’m honest, because I didn’t know how. I mean, in what way do you tell someone that your mum likes to quote the Bible? Because believe me, she can be a bit full-on when she wants to.” Leo fell quiet for a moment. “Plus, like you said, you’d have steered the conversation differently if you already knew. Been guarded before we’d even arrived.” He turned to look at me. “You might not have wanted to meet her at all.”
I felt myself relax a little. Put like that, I at least began to understand. We were talking about his mum, after all, and it was only natural that Leo wouldn’t want me making false assumptions. However, that didn’t stop me from wishing he’d had a bit more faith in me.
Otis appeared with a long piece of driftwood, which he dropped at Leo’s feet. Leo picked it up and threw it into the distance and the dog went running after it. “At least now you can see that you’re not the only one with an eccentric mother.”
“I suppose it explains why you’re so patient with my mum. Isn’t tolerance one of God’s teachings? Your mum obviously passed it on.”
Leo scoffed. “Let’s just say I’ve had plenty of practice.”
“What about Bill?” I recalled his exasperation over their church pilgrimage. “He doesn’t seem into it at all. Why doesn’thesay something?”
“Like I said, we both go along with things out of respect for Mum.”
“My dad’s the same, I guess. He doesn’t stand up for what he does and doesn’t want either. Going off their experiences, you have to wonder if opting for the quiet life really is worth it?”
Leo smiled. “I’ll let you know whenweget to that point.”
I laughed. “If I turn out to be anything like my mum, I want you to shoot me, not humour me.”
“If?” Leo said. His face broke into a smile. “With your dodgy coughs and fake headaches of late, I’d say you’re halfway there.”
“Cheeky.” I took a deep breath of sea air. “Eccentric or not, I’ll take your mum’s religious stance over mine’s wedding obsession any day.”
Leo chuckled. “Imagine having both together?”
I shuddered. “I’d rather not.”
Chapter 32
“I’m sorry, son,” Bill said. He jumped up from his seat at the table as we let ourselves back into the house. “I tried to stop her.”
“What are you talking about?” As we took off our coats and set them to one side with Otis’s lead, Leo looked from his dad to me, concerned. He scanned the rest of the room. “Where’s Mum?”
“You know what she’s like when she gets something into her head. She stops listening to reason.”
“Dad, where is she?”
