Jo can hear Malcolm’s rumble of laughter. She looks towards him for help, but although he smiles sympathetically, he also raises his shoulders and shrugs.
‘I’m not sure … umm, I don’t know …’
Ferdy continues to stare at her.
‘Er … how about seals?’ she suggests.
Ferdy stares a bit longer andthen says, ‘And what about spiders and worms and crocodiles?’ He then adds, solemnly, ‘You don’t know much, do you?’
Sacha and Lando both jump in. ‘Ferdy, that’s rude!’
Jo doesn’t think it was rude. He was stating the obvious.
She takes the opportunity to introduce her companions, keeping Ruth’s introduction as short as possible. The Runaway Vicar may be old news, but she doesn’t want to say anything that would reveal Ruth’s identity.
Another figure appears beside the table. ‘Lando, Sacha, sorry I’m late. Hi, mate,’ he directs at Ferdy. Then he spots Jo and smiles. ‘Oh, hi! What are you doing here, Jo?’
Looking up at Eric the Viking, Jo wishes she had taken her bobble hat off. She quickly explains their swim and makes introductions, adding in, ‘Eric the Optician.’
‘Not “the Viking”?’ he mutters under his breath in apparent disappointment.
Ruth also mutters under her breath. ‘Ah, the Viking is back.’
‘You think my hair’s noko, don’t you, Eric?’ Ferdy demands of the Viking, tugging on his hand.
‘Course,’ Eric responds immediately.
‘See,’ Ferdy says, looking at his parents. Argument won.
Jo looks puzzled, ‘Noko?’ she queries.
‘Oh, Ferdy and Eric make up their own language,’ Lando sighs, resignedly. ‘I think “noko” means, cool.’
Eric turns to the erect figure seated beside him. ‘Are you the Malcolm who is writing a book on Highgate Cemetery?’
Jo is mortified. She doesn’t want Malcolm to think she has been giving his secrets away. She rushes in, ‘I’ve been telling Eric about your research. I explained you didn’t know exactly what you were planning on writing yet.’
Malcolm bows his head a fraction in her direction, as if in understanding.
‘Yes, it’s a fascinating undertaking. Have you been to visit the cemetery, Eric?’
Before Eric can answer, they are interrupted by the arrival of two waiters. The small gathering by the table is clearly very much in the way, and with hurried apologies and half-finished sentences, the two groups separate. Lando, Sacha, Ferdy and Eric are shown to a table at the other end of the restaurant. One of the waiters deposits water and a bottle of red wine on Jo’s table, and then proceeds to take their orders.
‘So,’ Ruth says, reaching for her wine, ‘tell usallabout Eric the Viking, Jo.’
Jo puts her head in her hands, but she finds she is laughing, ‘I don’t know where to start and I’m not sure there’s really anything to say.’
Malcolm begins to pour water for them all. ‘I rather think you might tell Reverend Ruth a bit about James, if you didn’t mind, Joanne. Set the scene, so to speak.’
The scene for what?Jo thinks, but she does as she’s told and fills Ruth in on much of what happened with James and the problems (whatever they may be) with Lucy. She has had no reply yet to her most recent letter about Christmas wishes, and waiting for one is making her feel unsettled and slightly panicky
They are now well into their meal and second glass of wine. Jo’s story had taken quite some time in the telling, with both Ruth and Malcolm asking a string of questions, especially about James, before dismissing him as ‘Not good enough for our Joanne.’ Jo was finding that the more she talked about James, the more she agreed with them. She can feel a growing anger towards him, and also anger directed at herself for having gone along with it all, and for giving up on things and people she liked without a fight. Not that it would have come to a fight. James wore her down by providing endless reasons of why he was right and she was wrong.A reasonable man.And if this didn’t work, he would sulk. That could go on for days.
‘And now to your Viking,’ Ruth says, with relish.
‘He’s notmyViking,’ she says, then laughs, thinking how ridiculous she sounds..
‘I think he likes you,’ Ruth declares, with decision.
