Ranulph smiled but Cass got the impression he wasn’t as happy about her answer as his smile implied.
‘Journalism is what I know. My next assignment is based around another early civilisation. It’ll be a way of making money out of archaeology, which I’ve never been able to do before – of course I don’t usually write about that.’ Then he smiled. ‘This new mission will involve a lot of travel.’
‘Which is interesting? Broadens the mind and all that?’
He nodded. ‘Sometimes I get fed up with it.’
‘Is there anything – other than journalism with a side of archaeology – you’d rather do?’
He was silent for a moment. ‘I’d love to focus on writing that biography of your father, get enough of it done so we could approach publishers.’
‘So you could spend time at home?’ She thought of Ranulph, sitting at his laptop, looking at the rugged coastline and the sea pounding away below.
He nodded.
‘I don’t blame you for wanting to do that,’ said Cass. ‘You live in a very beautiful part of the world.’
‘But it’s very far away from everywhere else. It can feel a bit cut off.’
‘Do you mind feeling cut off?’
He laughed. ‘Not at all. I like it. But it’s not for everyone.’
‘I think it could be for me. The last time I saw Dad I thought: This is just beautiful. Although of course it’s colder than Dominica. I think I must love places that are difficult to get to.’
‘To visit? Or to live in?’
Cass shrugged. ‘I don’t know, to be honest, but I think I’d like to live somewhere like that.’ Then she laughed and looked around her. ‘Although London suddenly seems like fun.’
Cass realised she felt a bit euphoric. She had been through a horrid, dangerous situation and come out the other side. Everything and anything was possible. She found she was smiling.
Ranulph looked at her questioningly. ‘Do you have a train to catch?’
She shook her head. ‘As long as it’s off peak, I can get any train. Even one tomorrow, if I need to.’ She didn’t add she’d left it so she could stay a couple of nights with Rosa’s sister if she needed to. She had wanted to stay flexible – just in case.
‘Then would you like to go across town and see if Bastian is still at his publishers? I did say I’d be there and I would like to see them.’
‘Oh, I’d love that! And if we went, I’d stop feeling guilty that it was my fault you couldn’t go when you were supposed to.’
‘Not really your fault, Cass,’ said Ranulph. ‘Right, I’ll go and sort the bill and then I’ll hail a cab.’
‘No, I’ll call an Uber,’ said Cass. ‘I have the app!’
CHAPTER THIRTY
If anyone had described paradise as sitting in the back of a hot car that smelled quite strongly of Lynx, listening to an extreme-pop music station on a poorly tuned radio, in barely moving traffic, Cass would have thought they were mad. And yet here she was, thinking she’d gone to heaven.
She didn’t want to talk. She couldn’t say what she was feeling anyway; she was just happy sitting next to Ranulph. She closed her eyes. An aphorism, something she’d heard Susie say, floated into her head. ‘It’s the things you don’t do that you regret.’
She moved her shopping basket next to her on the seat and leant against Ranulph. If it weren’t for the butterflies doing cartwheels of delight in her stomach, she might have drifted off on a cloud of bliss. Although she didn’t know how Ranulph was feeling about this closeness, he didn’t pull away.
At last Ranulph leant forward to alert the driver: ‘This is Hennings on the left,’ and they were outside the publishers’ in Bloomsbury. They got out and went into the building.
A multi-pierced young person directed them to thefirst floor, and, shortly afterwards, they were opening the door to what appeared to be an imposing boardroom.
There was a bit of a party going on inside. Bastian was there, with a very elegant woman Cass identified as his significant other. There was an older man who was obviously in charge, and a few more people.
‘Cass!’ said Bastian. ‘And Ranulph! You made it! Come and join the celebrations.’
