“Hey, you OK?” I asked.
“Fantastic thanks, how about you? How you healing up?” Owen sounded upbeat.
“I’m doing great. Really, really great. I…forgot about the injuries, to be honest.”
“Wow. Who’s the lucky man?”
“Shut up, there is no lucky man.”
Unfortunately, Owen could always tell when I was lying. “Fine then, who’s theunluckyman?”
“Twat. I’m just seeing someone whilst I’m here. A little holiday fling.”
“I don’t remember the last time yousawsomeone for longer than the 15 minutes it took you to get off.” Owen chuckled, and if he had been next to me I would’ve smacked him. As it was, I just huffed down the phone.
“Don’t you have some Tom, Dick or Enrique in your bed right now anyway?”
“Oi. We don’t talk about Enrique.” Owen paused for a second. “Glad to know you’re having fun though. Your new phone and cards have arrived at my place, by the way. So you’ll have your normal life back as soon as possible. I’ll let the nightclubs know the hurricane is on its way back.”
“Thanks, Owen. Miss you,” I said.
“I miss you too. Now get your arse back here tonight and we’ll crack open a bottle of wine to celebrate.”
“Sure thing. Bye.” I put the phone down, not entirely sure why I hadn’t told him I wouldn’t be back in London for another day.I’ll text him later,I reasoned. I got up and left the bedroom.
I trod quietly through the little bungalow to the kitchen in case I woke up Nain — she still hadn’t made an entrance by the time Llywelyn had left and I had gone to bed. I needn’t have worried as she was already in the kitchen at the table nursing a cup of tea.
“Here.” Nain thrust another cup at me as I sat down opposite her. She rubbed at her head and squinted her eyes against the light shining in through the window. “Did you enjoy your last night in Hiraeth whilst Beca had me on shots?”
“Yes, Nain. I did. Wait, did you sayshots?”
Nain waved away my question with her hand like she could physically bat it out of existence. “When’s your train then?”
“Well…tomorrow morning, actually. I’ll spend another night with Llywelyn.”
“You two are getting very close, then.” Nain smiled and then winced again at the light. “Almost makes you wish you stayed for the whole week, doesn’t it?”
I didn’t want to say anything to her about the plan that had started germinating in my mind. It relied on too many variables , as well as my own ability to take a bigger risk than I ever had. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to anyone else until Iknewwhat I was going to do. No point getting my own hopes up as well as everyone else’s.
I checked my pocket — I had a few quid to get myself something from the bakery. “I’m going out for breakfast, do you want anything?”
“God no, I won’t be able to eat for hours. If you see Beca out and about, kindly tell her from me that she’s a cow. She only got me on the shots to avoid some awkward questions.”
“Noted. Self inflicted illness is someone else’s fault.” I gave a cheery wave as I left.
???
It was sunny again, and still freezing. I pulled Llywelyn’s coat around myself as I made my way down main street, and buried my face in the big collar to keep my teeth from chattering. I passed the bakery and carried on to the little empty shop next to G&G’s.
I could see movement inside the shop and pushed the door open, smiling automatically. My smile faltered when I saw that it wasn’t Llywelyn stood inside, but an elderly gentleman with his hands on his hips and another slightly younger man in a suit who appraised me coolly.
“Oh, sorry, I thought…” I started, but the younger man cut in.
“You thought what? The place is quite obviously closed. We’re talking business here.”
“Ah, if we could cool this down please,” said the older man. He gave me a genuine smile and reached forward to shake my hand. “I’m John Prentis. I own this cafe and the little flat above, and this is…”
The other man looked affronted at having to introduce himself to me. “Mr Albert Edwards, of Edwards Acquisitions PLC.” He didn’t hold out his own hand to me.
