‘Yes, way. In the end, I think she found me interesting and mysterious from a distance but boring up close. I decided then that I had to get away. Going somewhere I’d barely even heard of with nothing more than a backpack was kind of a ‘screw you’ gesture – an attempt to prove I wasn’t the dullard she’d pegged me as. I’ve kind of drifted along from place to place ever since.’
‘She sounds awful,’ Rosie said, ‘and you arenotboring. I think you’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.’ She felt herself grow pink and was grateful that he probably wouldn’t notice in the candlelight.
‘Only because you know I’ve lived in Russia and spent a summer at an Italian monastery,’ Aled laughed.
‘Actually, you hadn’t mentioned the monastery,’ Rosie said, arching an eyebrow. ‘But the globe-trotting isn’t what makes you interesting anyway. There’s a lot more to you than that. You have … layers.’
‘Layers, like an onion? LikeShrek?’ he asked, grinning.
Rosie made a face at him. ‘I mean, maybe? What would be wrong with that?’
‘He’s bright green, Rosie. He’s a literal ogre.’
‘He’s the eponymous hero of four films!’ she cried indignantly. ‘And you’ve just proved my point. If someone had told me two months ago that you had a sense of humour, I’d have asked them what they were smoking.’
‘Gee, thanks.’
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘You have to admit you were a bit standoffish.’
‘I’m rubbish at meeting new people,’ he admitted, looking sheepish. ‘Also, your boyfriend hated me from the moment I moved in, and I got the sense he was the jealous type.’
‘Ex-boyfriend. Yeah, so jealous he binned me off for another woman!’ Rosie hooted.
‘He’s an idiot. It’s very much his loss,’ Aled said, with such feeling that Rosie’s stomach seemed to trip over itself.
She didn’t know what to say. Rosie felt the silence between them stretch and grow taut.
Aled’s eyes were ink black in the darkness, and they were fixed on her in a way that made her wonder if he had X-ray vision. She almost wished he could see all the way through her – right down to the part of her that was screaming for him to kiss her senseless.
As though he could read her mind, his eyes dropped to her lips. She pressed them together; a nervous tic she’d never been able to shake.
‘Do you think she was right? In the film, I mean,’ he whispered.
‘Who?’ Rosie asked, her own voice low and confidential. ‘About what?’
‘Sally. About the transitional person. The person who comes after a big relationship being someone who usually doesn’t last.’
‘Oh.’ She frowned, then said: ‘I don’t know. Surely you’re in a better position to answer that one, if you and Ceri broke up years ago.’
‘You’d think. But there’s barely been anyone since then. It’s not often I meet someone I feel at home with.’
The words weighed heavy in the air. They seemed laden with significance, but Rosie couldn’t make full sense of their meaning. The idea that he’d ever be short of female company was ludicrous to her – yet that was what he’d implied.
Unable to resist asking, Rosie said: ‘Was it Ceri who sent you that postcard?’
Even in the dark, she could see Aled’s expression of surprise that she’d remembered it. ‘Yeah,’ he said, a little grudgingly. ‘Her way of making sure I know thatsheknows I’m back in the country. According to Rhianne, she’s newly single – and considers me significantly less boring than she did ten years ago.’
Before Rosie could organise her thoughts, let alone formulate a response to this, the TV – now showing some late-night news programme – burst back into life. The sitting room lamp lit up and the street light outside glowed yellow.
‘Power’s back,’ she observed, pointlessly. ‘D’you feel better?’
‘Better than in a long time,’ Aled said, smiling at her softly before standing up to take their empty wine glasses to the dishwasher.
Chapter 18
Over the next week or so, Rosie reran the power cut conversation approximately five thousand times.
The more she thought about it, the less sure she felt of what it had allmeant. He’d told her about a childhood incident so unpleasant it affected him more than two decades on, and yet she couldn’t be sure how significant this was. He might well have related the story toanyonehe happened to be sat next to seconds after the lights went out. He’d been vulnerable and panicked, and while baring his soul seemed out of character for Aled, Rosie understood why he’d done it. In that moment, he’d felt the need to explain what lay behind his sudden nervousness – and for all she knew, he would have offered a total stranger full disclosure.
