‘Hi! A mate was coming back this way so I thought I’d drop your car at home and get a lift back with him. I thought you might like a hand clearing up. Where’s all your stock?’
‘Sold! But, Jago, that’s so kind! After you’ve taken Mum home and everything – to come all the way back to help me with this lot.’ Helena gestured to the loom and other bits of equipment she had used to dress her stall.
‘’S OK. It’s what mates are for,’ said Jago. He started dismantling the loom which, as he’d helped her assemble it when she first decided to move into weaving with silk, he knew how to do.
‘But you must let me take you out to dinner, in return,’ said Helena firmly. ‘I’ve done so well today, it’s the least I can do for you.’
‘I was going to have to knock up something out of leftovers for us, so I’m well up for eating out.’
She smiled. ‘Anywhere you fancy?’
‘There’s a gastro pub I’ve read reviews of. It’s a bit off our patch so it would be nice to go there while we’re over this way.’
‘Great! If you know where it is, I’m happy to go.’
‘I’ll drive, then you can drink.’
She paused, a large plastic box in her hands. ‘You didn’t come all the way over here so you could drive the pickup and not risk it with me for any longer than you had to?’
‘No,’ he said shortly. ‘I have many faults but I am not possessive about my pickup. You drive it as well as I do.’
Helena’s heart warmed to him another bit. At this rate she’d be in love with him before the summer.
They found the pub without too much difficulty and went into the bar. ‘If we don’t like what’s on the menu, we don’t have to stay,’ said Jago.
‘I think we will like what’s on the menu,’ said Helena, looking at it. ‘It’s got chips on it and I think after my long day I deserve some.’
‘Then you shall have chips!’ said Jago. ‘And a large steak to go with them?’ He inspected the menu carefully. ‘You can have sweet potato chips instead if you like.’
‘Nooo! Nothing wrong with sweet potatoes but if I’m having chips, I want proper ones.’
They had ordered and Helena was sipping a large glass of red wine when she looked across at a tableand then leaned forward so she could speak to Jago privately.
‘I recognise those two men over there,’ she murmured, shifting her chair so she wasn’t facing them. ‘One ordered a scarf from me today – didn’t catch his name but I’ve got his card and I know exactly what scarf he wants – and the other …’ She laughed. ‘Although you would never guess, he has recently run a half-marathon with his colleagues.’ She frowned. ‘Or maybe he was just in the photograph with the runners. It was in the local paper.’
‘So you don’t know these people in real life, you just recognise them with your superpowers?’
‘No, the first one I met.’ She found her handbag and burrowed about in it until she came up with a card. ‘Here you are! It’s him.’
Jago took the card and then at Helena. ‘Really?’
‘Yes. Do you know him?’
‘Of him. We’re in the same business only he’s a massive company and I’m a one-man band.’
‘You mean you couldn’t afford one of my scarves?’ Instantly she began planning the design for one she’d make as a present for him. She took another sip of her wine. It was delicious, and she was glad Jago had led them here. ‘How was Mum when you drove her home?’
‘She was her usual charming self but she did seem a bit twitchy. When I asked if she’d enjoyedthe show she said it would have been better if she could have driven herself there and was annoyed she didn’t just change the date for her car being serviced.’
‘Oh!’ said Helena. ‘Martin always arranges for her car to be serviced. Since the divorce. Cars are a blue job, you know. Women can’t ring up a garage and make an appointment to have one serviced.’
‘Really?’
‘Mum indulges him because it’s the only thing he does that’s remotely helpful and she doesn’t want to undermine him.’
‘So, what’s all this colour-coded job thing?’
‘Cressida thinks it’s simpler for men if jobs have colours. Blue and pink. Cars are blue, doing the online grocery order is pink. Don’t get ideas of it going on between us. I prefer everything to be mauve.’
