‘She’s great,’ agreed Jess. ‘I miss her a lot,’ she confided as they walked.
They strolled along wide, tree-lined streets, and Jess admired the splendid mix of Victorian and Georgian houses as they turned corners.
Some of the homes had beautifully manicured front gardens and expensive-looking cars in the driveway. Jess imagined living in such a house, with stained-glass windows filling the rooms with shafts of rainbow light. She had browsed such properties on websites, daydreaming about living in one, when she had been looking for a place to rent following her divorce.
‘Imagine living in one of those,’ commented Declan, nodding to a particularly handsome house on Eshe Road North and tapping into her thoughts.
‘I know. Although I like to think the people that live in those houses can’t be completely happy,’ she said and he laughed. ‘Otherwise, there really is no justice in the world.’
Before long, the familiar green painted hut outside the station that offered coffees and snacks during daytime hours came into view, and Declan insisted on purchasing the train tickets.
Boarding the train, they sat opposite each other and chatted easily as the train rumbled along the familiar route towards the city centre.
Declan remembered the days out he had enjoyed on the train with his mum and his sister during the school holidays. Sometimes they would head into Southport for a day at the funfair and the amusement arcades. His mum would save a tub full of coppers to feed the machines that would churn out tickets in exchange for a small prize. Pocket puzzles, or packets of crayons and jelly sweets, were like gold to him and his sister. He took comfort in the fact that his sibling had at least enjoyed a happy childhood.
Pulling into the station, Declan glanced at his watch. They were in good time for their slot at the indoor golf, and he hopedJess would agree to heading to a city bar before they caught the train home.
‘Wow this is some place,’ said Jess when they arrived at the venue, glancing around at the colourful, mind-blowing graffiti on the walls. Street artists from all over the world expressed themselves on the walls of the urban indoor golf course as club music pumped out, giving it all an exciting but chilled vibe.
‘I thought it was something a bit different.’ Declan smiled, feeling happy with his choice of venue.
Jess discovered a talent she did not realise she possessed, as she struck golf balls that negotiated humps and bends, and fell straight into the hole.
‘You’ve done this before,’ said Declan, trailing behind.
‘I haven’t. Well, apart from the pitch and putt at Southport, but even that only once or twice.’ She laughed.
They were behind a group of blokes on a stag do at a further hole, who kindly ushered them ahead. Declan hit one of his balls so fiercely it hit the ceiling, missing the hole by miles and almost hitting him on the head when it descended, having Jess crease up with laughter.
‘They should give you crash helmets at the entrance,’ Declan said, laughing. ‘Or maybe I’m just really bad at this.’
‘No comment,’ said Jess, who continued to play her shots with ease. By the end of the course, passing through landscapes created from old buses, and disused rail tracks, they sat in a café area having some food and Jess clutched her winning score card.
‘That was a lot of fun,’ said Jess as she sipped a beer. ‘And I won, so bonus!’
‘I’m glad the golf was a good choice. Not so glad that you beat me,’ he said good-naturedly.
‘It was perfect,’ said Jess, unable to remember a time just recently when she had laughed so much. Declan was such engaging company, though, it would not have mattered wherethey had gone on their date. She thought of her ex, who was so competitive, he would have sulked at getting such a thrashing and ruined the whole evening.
Talk turned to their respective jobs then, and Jess asked Declan if he enjoyed his work.
‘I do, but I would really like to work for myself one day.’ He told her all about Alice’s offer of the building in Liverpool Road. ‘Working for the council is a safe enough job; I just think I would like to get my teeth into something bigger,’ he confided.
‘That’s brilliant,’ Jess said enthusiastically. ‘Alice really is something, isn’t she? Are you going to take her up on her offer?’
‘I would if I had some clients,’ he told her, desperately wishing that was the case. ‘Although I am doing the books for a new café around my full-time job. It’s something to consider for the future, though.’
There was also the possibility of doing the accounts for a small painting and decorating company in the near future.
‘How about you?’ Declan asked as he sipped his drink. ‘Do you like working in a shop?’
‘It’s an honest way to earn a living and I enjoy chatting to customers who are often lonely, when time allows. I think it’s one of the reasons it is so easy with Alice,’ she told Declan. ‘Although one day I would like to own a little beauty salon,’ Jess admitted as she sipped her beer. ‘I trained as a beauty therapist when I left school.’
‘You mentioned that,’ said Declan, recalling the day she stood close to him and disguised his black eye. ‘Will you pick it up one day, do you think?’
‘A job in a salon doesn’t really work around school hours, and they are especially busy of a weekend,’ she explained. ‘But maybe, in the future, who knows?’ She shrugged.
It made Jess wonder just how many people give up on their dreams, trading a real passion for something mundane in orderto have job security. Having said that, she truly believed that things came to you at the right time in life, and that you must never give up.
