‘Is this an abstract question, or are you asking me to go to one with you?’
I hardly knew him, but I already liked the direct way he approached things. Perhaps it was something to do with his profession… or perhaps it was just him.
‘Amelia and Sam went on a particularly memorable date to Lassiters,’ I told him, naming a well-known and much-loved family-style amusement park about thirty miles away. I recognised the absurdity in talking about an imaginary person attending an imaginary event as though it had really happened and felt certain Nick was about to call me out on it. But he didn’t.
‘Would you like us to go there tomorrow?’
My throat tightened convulsively, and it took a few seconds before the lump his kindness had brought to it could be swallowed away.
‘If you’re not too busy,’ I replied.
‘Like I said, I’m free until evening surgery. It’s why I phoned you.’
‘Then, yes please. I’d like that.’
‘I can pick you up in the morning if you give me your address?’ he offered, sounding a little startled when I immediately declined.
‘No, don’t worry. I’ll meet you there at ten, if that’s okay?’
*
I got there early, parking in the first row of bays in the largely empty car park. A couple of coaches trundled in shortly after I arrived, and I watched as the tourists spilled out and snaked their way towards Lassiters’ entrance.
I’d been to this amusement park many times as a child, but never so early in the day – nor in the year, come to that. I associated it with blistering hot summer days, dripping ice creams and sunburnt noses. My nose was certainly red right now, I was sure of that, but it was due to the wind and the cold rather than the sun, which was conspicuously absent on this chilly March morning. I cinched Amelia’s sheepskin jacket a little tighter around me and wished she’d fantasised about wearing her less flattering but much warmer thick quilted coat on this date with Sam.
I kept my eyes fixed on the car park entrance, standing meerkat tall whenever a new vehicle swept in. I’m not sure why I was bothering, because I had no idea what car Nick drove. Which made it even stranger that the moment I spotted the black Range Rover in the distance, I immediately knew it was his. The tinted windows didn’t reveal the driver’s identity, but I was already striding towards the car as it manoeuvred into a free space.You’re going to look really stupid if it isn’t him, I thought, as I stood waiting for the driver to emerge. Luckily, my instincts had been good, and moments later Nick climbed out of the car. I noticed the thick splatters of mud on its lower panels – probably a souvenir from whichever farm he’d visited the previous night.
He saw me looking and immediately apologised.
‘Sorry, I should have run it through a car wash this morning, but I had an errand to attend to and I ran out of time.’
I bit my lip guiltily, having already guessed what that errand might have been.
Could you wear a blue denim shirt tomorrow – if you have one, I’d messaged, so late at night I wasn’t sure Nick would still be awake.
His reply had taken less than a minute to ping back.Sure. No problem.
From the brand-new, just-out-of-the-packet creases on the shirt he was now wearing, I was fairly certain what his ‘errand’ had been. I smiled up at him, because however disapproving Nick might be about what I was doing, it was an incredibly thoughtful thing to have done.
He reached into his car and pulled out a thick padded jacket. ‘I’ll take it off for the photos,’ he assured me, shrugging his muscular arms into the sleeves. I was staring too much and with an effort I brought my attention back to the reason we were there. Nick wasn’t my partner in crime, not really; he was just a very nice, decent man, settling a perceived debt of gratitude.
After the slight debate about who was buying the entry tickets, we went through the old-fashioned turnstile and entered the park. I’d picked up a guide map from a stand near the entrance and unfolded it now, studying it as carefully as a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award candidate on an expedition.
‘We should probably hit all the big rides that Amelia said they’d done fairly early on, before the crowds get here.’
Nick glanced dubiously at the grey sky, with its gathering clouds. ‘Somehow I don’t think it’s going to get all that busy here today.’
I turned my face upwards and felt the mist of impending rain on my cheeks. ‘We may have to dodge the showers,’ I said with a frown. ‘It was cold but dry on the day Sam and Amelia were here.’ Nick said nothing, but the expression on his face was extremely eloquent. ‘Except of course, Idorealise that they were never actually here,’ I added.
Nick took a step closer and gently tugged the map from my hands, looking for all the world as though it was going to lead him to buried treasure.
‘How about,’ he suggested, his eyes still fixed on the guide map, ‘we forget to keep saying that it didn’t actually happen and just concentrate on getting the photographs you want.’
This level of kindness was so new to me that I didn’t know how to respond. I had no idea if he was this way with everyone, but if he was, he might truly be one of the nicest people I’d ever met.
I wonder why his wife left him?
The thought blindsided me. I hadn’t seen it coming and it knocked whatever I’d been about to say clean out of my thoughts. I had absolutely no idea how his marriage had ended or who had left whom. And more importantly, it was none of my damn business.
