‘Up to you.’ He glanced back at the prints. ‘They’re good, especially the wombat.’
‘Thank you.’
I wanted to tell him he could have a copy – call it a late Christmas present – but I could guess how that would go down with Ingrid. About as well as him being here today, because I couldn’t imagine he was here with her approval.
Even though Aaron had said he’d better go, he showed no signs of leaving. Was he expecting me to expand on what I’d said about always viewing him as my son? Did he want to discuss Boxing Day? It had to have taken a lot of courage for him to turn up at the restaurant on Dad’s birthday and to show up here today so maybe I should take a leaf out of his book and be courageous too. To hell with Ingrid’s threats. My son deserved to know the truth and, on the back of that, perhaps there was a chance for us to have some sort of reconciliation. What was that phrase Tara used?A few minutes of courage might change your life.It might change both of our lives.
‘Sorry, Jed,’ Anastasia said, joining us. ‘Could I borrow you to answer a question?’
My heart sank and I looked at Aaron apologetically.
‘I was going anyway,’ he said and, without a goodbye, he hurried across the gallery and out of the door.
I took a deep breath and turned to Anastasia’s customers with a smile. ‘Hi! You have a question for me?’
After the customers left with a pairof prints, I nipped upstairs under the guise of making drinks, but it was really to get some space to think. Both Lucy and Tara had separately said that, no matter how angry Aaron had been at my dad’s birthday meal, he must have wanted a relationship with me to have sought me out. Now he’d done it again, specifically coming to my gallery and engaging me in a conversation. Telling him I’d bring Wally the wombat in tomorrow gave him a reason to come back and I hoped he’d take it. Spending time with him was going to be painful for me but it would be worth it if it could help him overcome any feelings of abandonment. Ingrid wouldn’t be impressed but, for once, this wasn’t about her. If I got some more time with him, I was going to take that few minutes of courage.
10
TARA
I was loading the dishwasher in the café kitchen on Friday afternoon when another of my part-time students, Molly, poked her head round the door.
‘There’s a lass at the counter asking for you. Says her name’s Zoe.’
My heart leapt. She’d come! ‘Brilliant! Can you get her settled at a table near the back and tell her I’ll be with her in two minutes?’
It was usually quieter at the back of the café so it would be easier for us to talk there. I loaded up the last few pots, washed my hands and went to join Zoe. She had her arms folded across her body and her head was bent forward, her long dark hair obliterating her face.
‘Hi, Zoe,’ I said, my voice bright. ‘I’m Tara.’
She looked up. ‘Jim said you wanted to see me.’
I sat down on the chair opposite her. ‘Yes, I did, but can I get you a drink before I explain why?’
‘A glass of tap water?’ she suggested and I realised I should have made it clear I wasn’texpecting her to pay.
‘I can get you water, but we’ve got a big range of soft and hot drinks including a stack of hot chocolates. There’s no charge. I’m going to have a butterscotch hot chocolate so I can get you one of those or a different flavour or a different drink.’
‘I’ve never had butterscotch hot chocolate.’
‘It’s divine.’
She smiled at me for the first time. ‘In that case, I’ll try one of those, please.’
‘I’ll be right back.’
Not wanting Zoe to feel uncomfortable by sitting on her own for ages with no idea why she was here I asked Molly to prepare our hot chocolates while I filled a glass with tap water.
‘Thanks for stopping by,’ I said, placing the water on the table in front of Zoe and sitting down once more. ‘I appreciate it probably feels strange to be summoned by a random stranger so let me tell you a bit about me so we’re not strangers anymore.’
She visibly relaxed, which was a relief as I’d never done anything like this before and was completely winging it.
‘So, my name’s Tara Porter and, this summer, I’ll have owned The Chocolate Pot for fifteen years. I’m not from Whitsborough Bay. In fact, I’d never even been here before but some bad things happened to me and I needed to drop everything and get away fast. I sat in a petrol station, opened up a map, closed my eyes and let a pen decide where I’d start over.’
Zoe’s eyes widened. ‘Is that true?’
‘One hundred per cent. I was twenty-two at the time and scared of leaving but staying in London near the people who’d hurt me wasn’t an option.’
