‘She’s a cruise director now,’ I tell Charlie. ‘Worked her way up the ranks.’ From dancer to beauty therapist to hostess to assistant director to where she is today.
‘Sounds like a fun job,’ he says.
‘She likes it.’
‘Do you get to see her much?’
‘Not that much.’
I survey my clothes. ‘Guess I’d better put this lot away.’
He downs the rest of his tea and puts his empty cup onHermie’s table, pausing and squinting at the inside of the van. ‘Don’t you have any levelling blocks?’
‘Oh, do you know what? Ido,’ I say, remembering. ‘Dad told me about them. They’re in the boot.’
‘Let me give you a hand.’
‘Really?’ I follow him to the back of the van. ‘I’ve already taken up enough of your time.’
‘It’s okay. We didn’t have much else on. Are you going to take that back, by the way?’ He gently kicks the hired bike I’ve locked up to the pitch sign.
‘I feel a little uncomfortable about using Nicki’s bike,’ I admit cagily.
‘Don’t be stupid about it,’ he chides. ‘I’ll leave it for you in the hall tomorrow morning.’
‘Where will you be?’ I ask.
‘I’m taking April to my parents’ place. My mum’s going to look after her for a few hours so I can crack on with my job.’
I open the boot and rummage around for a bit, before pulling out a dark-blue bag. ‘I think this is them.’
‘Looks like it,’ he says, taking the bag from me. ‘You driving?’
‘I just have to turn the seat around. Er, and clear the footwell...’
Charlie gapes in disbelief when I open the driver’s door. ‘Are you seriously a travel writer? I would’ve thought you’d have packing lightly down to a T.’
‘Thisisme packing lightly,’ I tell him. ‘You should see me when I go abroad.’
‘How do you cope?’
‘I’m not usually in any rush. I’d rather wait at a conveyor belt for a bit than make do without my essentials.’ I scoop up my clothes. ‘Yeah, I know, I’ve got a lot of essentials.’ I head back around the van to my clothing pile.
‘You could do with a tent to put everything in,’ he calls after me.
I sigh on my return. ‘Dad wanted me to bring one. I didn’t think I’d need it.’
‘I’ve got a tent you could borrow.’ He pauses for thought, adding, ‘Somewhere...’
I grab my second and final armful. ‘I’ll be fine. I’ll just shove everything back in the boot.’
‘Doesn’t it get in the way when you have to put the bed down?’
‘Yeah, I have to move it all again. It’s a pain in the arse, to be honest,’ I call over my shoulder. ‘The ridiculous thing is I went shopping on Friday and almost boughtmoreclothes.’
‘You’re a nutter,’ he says with a grin as I reappear.
I shrug. ‘Best you know that early.’ I climb in the car and start up the ignition, closing the door and putting down the window. ‘What do I do?’
