‘So, Kim, do you work in Brum?’ he asked after a second.
‘Uni,’ she answered. ‘Fine art course at Birmingham City. You?’
‘School experience programme. I have to take a bus out of town once I get off the train. I’d prefer to drive, but I like to think I’m doing my bit and reducing my carbon footprint.’
‘Commendable,’ Kim said. He didn’t think she was being sarcastic. ‘So what does the programme entail?’
‘Finding out more about the role of a primary school teacher,’ Josh replied. ‘Also gaining school experience to support my teacher training.’
‘Sounds ideal. For someone so patient with children, I mean.’ She eyed him thoughtfully. ‘I’ve seen how you interact with them some mornings.’
‘I like kids.’ He shrugged. ‘It would make what I do a bit difficult if I didn’t.’
She smiled and continued to study him, making him feel slightly self-conscious.
‘What will you do with your degree, do you think?’ he asked her.
‘Well,’ her eyes flickered down and back, ‘I was thinking about teaching, actually.’
Josh arched his eyebrows. ‘Great minds,’ he said approvingly.
‘Clearly. It would be weird if I ended up following you around, wouldn’t it?’
‘As long as you don’t keep throwing yourself at me.’ Josh risked a joke.
She blushed but was smiling. ‘Sorry about that,’ she said. ‘My reaction, I mean. My former boyfriend was… Well, let’s just say it was a relationship I was well out of. He really did think all women were ready to fall at his feet. Full of himself, you know?’
‘In which case, I apologise.’ Josh felt bad. ‘I obviously touched a raw nerve.’
‘Not necessary,’ she assured him. ‘You weren’t to know. What about you? Have you managed to patch things up with your girlfriend?’
Josh eyed her, surprised.
‘I couldn’t help overhearing your phone conversation the other day,’ she explained.
Right. Josh guessed she had heard him pleading with his ‘girlfriend’ to meet up with him. At least talk to him. She’d refused, again. He felt a knot of anger tighten inside him. ‘It’s… complicated,’ he said. It had been complicated from day one. His mother didn’t like her the first time he’d gone out with her. They’d been just sixteen then, determined that love would win through. Obviously, it hadn’t, for her.
‘Ah.’ Kim nodded understandingly. ‘Not something you want to discuss in public with a near stranger. I get it.’
‘No, it’s not that. It’s just…’ Josh hesitated. He would actually very much like to discuss the situation. He was desperate to confide in someone who would give him their take on whether he was being selfish. Adam would be his first choice, but how fair would it be to ask him to keep it from his wife?
‘I get it, honestly,’ Kim repeated. ‘It’s none of my business. Don’t worry about it.’ She turned to look out of the window, leaving Josh feeling uncomfortable. She probably thought from his silence that he was hinting she should butt out.
She was quiet for several minutes, and then, ‘I feel the same as you do about the snow,’ she said.
Josh looked up from his phone.
‘At Christmas,’ she went on, her gaze still on the window. ‘It makes everything seem… untouched, somehow.’
‘Untainted,’ Josh agreed.
She nodded, a wistful look in her eyes as she turned to him. ‘My sister’s desperate for it to snow. She’s bought my nephew a sledge. Personally, I think it’s her who wants to use it.’
Josh laughed. ‘Yup, I understand the attraction of that. Do you see her at Christmas?’ He only wondered because being an only child he’d missed having a sister or brother around.
‘I see her all the time,’ Kim said. ‘I live with her up on the new Ravens Wood estate. Do you know it?’
‘I do. Nice properties.’ Josh was impressed. They were for sale at upwards of three hundred and fifty grand as far as he knew.
