‘I’ll mention that when I’m dating more than one woman. I’m just being efficient.’ He winked. ‘Tell me about Mickey,’ he added, struggling to get a climbing shoe on. He hopped a couple of steps, toppled and Nora grabbed him to keep him upright.
‘Mickey is a personal trainer.’
‘I’ve been thinking about getting one of those,’ said Jay, finally succeeding in getting his foot in his shoe.
‘I could ask him if he’s taking on clients but then I don’t think he’s local any more because we’re meeting in Skegness.’
‘I love Skeggy,’ said Jay, clapping his hands together and making Nora smile. Jay saw the look and quickly reached into his chalk bag and slapped his hands together again as if he’d been spreading chalk all along. The chalk made a cloud of dust and Jay breathed it in, making him cough.
‘Are you OK?’ asked Nora, unsure whether patting him on the back would make things worse or better.
‘I’m fine,’ he spluttered, pulling out his inhaler and taking a puff. ‘You were saying,’ he wheezed.
‘I wasn’t really saying anything. I’m catching up with Mickey in Skegness in the next couple of weeks.’
‘I wonder what Bruce will make of the seaside?’ said Jay, his voice intermittently sounding like his own.
‘You can come if you want. To the beach, I mean, not to meet Mickey, obviously.’
‘Obviously,’ repeated Jay. ‘But yes please to a day out at Skeggy. Thanks.’
They decided to climb on two different sides of the bouldering room and Nora was quite in the zone. There was something freeing about climbing without a harness, and the extra thick mat below her gave her the reassurance that the odds of seriously injuring herself were minimal. She understood why some people chose to free-climb but the chances of having a major accident were far too high for her liking. A thud behind her made hercheck over her shoulder. Jay was lying flat on his back on the mat.
‘Are you OK?’ she asked.
‘Yep, fine. Just missed that tricky hold.’ He pointed at the wall. ‘I think I’ll take a break. You carry on,’ he added as he got to his feet.
Nora traversed the room and had a go at the tricky overhang. This was her nemesis. It took a lot of upper body strength to get around it.
‘Hey, Nora, have you seen this?’ called Jay.
Nora lost concentration, let go and landed safely on the mat.
‘Sorry, did I put you off?’ he asked.
‘It’s OK.’ Nora walked over to where Jay was studying the noticeboard.
‘There’s a climbing mini-break next weekend and they need two more people or it’s cancelled. What do you think?’ he said.
Nora skim-read the notice. Hostel accommodation, lots of outdoor climbing and abseiling, country walks and hearty meals. ‘Statistically outdoor climbing is more dangerous,’ she said.
‘Yeah but a weekend away would be fun, right?’
‘What about Bruce?’
‘Bugger,’ said Jay.
The weekend climbing trip came up again at the next Crafting and Cocktails. Nora had to admit she had been thinking about it but felt she couldn’t go on her own.That would be unfair, given it had been Jay who had told her about it. It had been Jay’s turn to sort the cocktails so this week they were having Piña Coladas.
‘It’s in the Forest of Dean,’ said Jay. ‘I’ve always wanted to go there.’
‘It’s a bloody beautiful part of the country,’ said Renee. ‘Unfortunately after I stayed there for a folk festival with a travelling community they introduced a bylaw to stop you sleeping in tents and caravans in the national parks. Shame, I love Cockadilly.’
There was a pause in conversation while Nora and Jay were processing what Renee had said, pondering whether Cockadilly was a place or a euphemism, while Renee had another sip of her cocktail.
‘It’s nice, Jay. Any chance you brought the rum with you?’
He shook his head.
