‘But now she’s met me, she’s in no hurry to leave. Isn’t that right, Helena?’
Fred was obviously enjoying the argument and Helena hoped that there would be plenty going onfor him to enjoy when he moved to his daughter’s. While the scenery was spectacular here it was very isolated.
‘That’s right! But why don’t we have our tea, and then Ja— Jonathan can start the training programme so he can go shopping.’ She sipped her tea. It was starting to go cold.
‘Bring your tea,’ said Jago, ‘and I’ll give you a tour of the house.’
‘Won’t take long!’ said Fred cheerfully.
Apart from the kitchen there was one room that was obviously Fred’s bedroom and another smaller room with a single bed in it.
‘Oh,’ said Helena, taking in that there was nowhere for her to stay. ‘Sleeping in shifts then!’
‘Actually, if you are here, that would be good. I don’t like to leave Fred unattended, even at night.’
‘So you stayed up all last night?’
‘I dozed in the chair for a bit.’
‘But you don’t want me here,’ she said, a statement not a question.
He didn’t answer for a long time and when he did his expression was bleak. ‘I want you here but I don’t want you to be here for the reason that you are.’
‘Which is? That was quite a complicated sentence.’
‘I don’t want you to have found out about my past. James must have told you, right?’
‘No, I saw your picture on his Facebook page. And to be fair, only I would have recognised it.You’re just really unlucky having a girlfriend like me.’
He didn’t answer for so long Helena thought he was never going to. ‘Not unlucky. Terribly, terribly lucky.’
‘I came to hear your side of the story.’
‘I will tell you, I promise. But not now. I must take advantage of you being here to get some urgent supplies.’
‘But Fred knows?’
‘Fred doesn’t know I reinvented myself. He’s part of the story.’
They heard a noise from the living room and Jago moved quickly to get there.
Fred was fine. ‘Sorry! I just knocked my glass of water off the table. Sorry to frighten you, love,’ he added, smiling at Helena.
‘If you can stop him causing chaos while I’m away for a couple of hours, I’ll go shopping,’ said Jago, when everything was cleared up.
‘How are you going to do that with the road closed?’
Jago grinned. ‘I’ll do what I did on my way up here: move the barriers, drive round the hole and then put the barriers back again. Simples!’
Seeing him smiling again was like the sun coming out. And then he was gone, with a shopping list and a promise to text Gilly to tell her Helena was safe.
‘So it’s just you and me then, Fred,’ said Helena, hoping Jago wouldn’t be too long but knowing the nearest town was miles away and he wouldn’t be back for a couple of hours.
‘That’s right. How are we going to pass the time?’
‘Well,’ said Helena, ‘I was hoping—’
‘Tell you what,’ said Fred, who didn’t seem to have heard her, ‘what I’d really like is for you to read to me.’
