Finn checked his watch again. ‘I have to go, I’m sorry. I’ve got a rescheduled tutorial, even though it’s Sunday.’
‘Every day’s a work day,’ I said with a smile.
He got up from his seat, and patted Elsie’s book. ‘I’m sorry to leave because I’d loved to have gone through the book with you.’
‘I’d have liked that too,’ I said, hardly able to believe my own boldness. ‘When you have an hour spare, drop me a message.’
Finn held my gaze a fraction longer than was necessary. ‘I will.’
Chapter 18
Finn had told me to find out more about the hospital during the war, and I knew exactly how to do it. There was a book – the one Helen had snatched from under my nose from the mobile library – and I was going to find it. I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it had been called, so simply ordering it from Amazon or finding it in the bigger library in the town centre wasn’t an option. I had to get it from Helen.
She’d been keeping herself to herself since she’d arrived at Tall Trees. That wasn’t unusual; it often took new residents a while to settle in. But though I’d tried to get to know her a bit better and find common ground, she wasn’t very responsive. Maybe though, chatting about local history would give us something in common. She was clearly interested in it.
So I thought I’d go and see her in her room – she didn’t spend much time in the communal areas – and spend some time with her. It would be useful for me and my quest to find Elsie, but it would also – hopefully – make her feel more at home.
So I knocked on her door after dinner one evening. It was one of those awful summer days where it’s muggy and unpleasant all day and then lashing down with rain all evening. Helen’s window was open and I commented as I went in, ‘I’m glad Cyril got itopen for you. These rooms can get stuffy. You’re not getting damp, are you?’
She was sitting in her armchair next to the window, reading a Katie Fforde novel that I’d seen on the bookshelf in the lounge only yesterday. She obviously did spend some time in the communal areas then, despite what I’d thought.
‘I like listening to the rain,’ she said. ‘It reminds me of home.’
‘Dublin?’
‘That’s right.’ Helen’s face was turned away from me, looking outside to where the heavy raindrops were bouncing off the terrace. She looked very peaceful and, I thought, content.
‘What brought you to us?’
Like a door slamming shut, her expression changed.
‘Personal reasons,’ she muttered.
There was a short, awkward silence.
‘Do you still have the books you got from the mobile library?’ I asked, looking around her room. Ah, there they were. In a pile on top of her bookshelf. ‘Is that them?’
Helen got up. ‘What was it you wanted?’
‘I wondered if I could have a look at one of the books?’ I asked, feeling oddly like I was asking something outlandish. ‘The one about hospitals.’
She looked right at me. ‘There isn’t one about hospitals.’
What on earth? I knew that I should let it go, but I could see the book on top of the pile.Bombs and Bandages, it was called. I didn’t understand why this woman was being so difficult but I wasn’t going to give up.
‘Just the one on top.’ I took a step towards her and she moved so she was standing in between me and the bookshelf.
‘Would you excuse me, I ned to get ready for bed,’ she said.
‘It’s not even six o’clock.’
‘I’m tired.’ She looked at me, her eyes unblinking. ‘Goodnight.’
Totally bewildered, I admitted defeat. ‘Goodnight,’ I said.
I stood for a minute outside her closed door, wondering whyshe was so determined to stop me looking at the book. Maybe she was just contrary? I didn’t blame her, really. I had plans to be quite a grumpy old woman myself one day. But that didn’t help me now.
Unless … I could do contrary too. And now I’d remembered what the book was called.
