“I’m no genius,” he laughed. “But I enjoy the game. I usually look in on the chess club and play a game or two with the kids, but with the careers fair happening today, there wasn’t time.”
“They obviously missed you. They looked thrilled when you joined them.”
He waved this off. “They’re just looking for an easy mark to destroy with their brutal moves.”
Gaby laughed. He was being modest. The kids had lit up when he’d joined them for a few minutes. Based on what she’d seen this afternoon, Peter was a much-loved teacher with both the staff and students.
On their way to the exits, they passed a few more groups of students—boys from the football team, kids involved in the school theatre club, and another group who’d been part of the clean-up crew after the careers fair and who were still milling around together. Peter said hello to them all and they each responded in turn with a mix of football match results, rehearsed lines from their theatre productions and confirmation that they’d completed the careers fair tasks Peter had given them and he could go and check the assembly hall for himself if he didn’t believe them.
To this saucy remark Peter responded with an amusing quip that had the kids laughing as they streaked past along the corridor.
“You really found your calling in life,” Gaby said once the kids were gone. “You’re completely in your element here.”
“I love it,” he said with an easy smile. “It’s funny, but when I was a student here, if someone had told me I’d come back one day as a teacher, I wouldn’t have believed it. And yet, here I am.”
“Of course, this is your old high school,” Gaby said, realisation dawning. “I didn’t quite realise that until just now.”
She wasn’t sure why it hadn’t occurred to her, butof coursethis was Peter’s old school. He’d grown up in Hamblehurst and his family all still lived here, so naturally this was the school he’d attended.
“That must seem a bit strange to someone like you who loves travelling around the world and moving from place to place,” Peter said. “The idea of staying in the same town where you grew up must be odd.”
“Maybe a little,” she admitted. “But not in the way you might think. When we met all those years ago, I was a visitor to Hamblehurst and you were back from university for the summer. I knew you’d lived here and grown up here but because we were both leaving once the summer was over, I think it just stuck in my head that… we were both strangers passing through. Does that make sense?”
He nodded. “Yeah, it does, sort of.”
Gaby knew it didn’t really make a lot of sense, if she was being honest. She’d spent time at his family home back then, after all, meeting his parents and sharing meals with them and with Peter’s siblings. She’d known that this was Peter’s hometown.
But her own experience of staying in Hamblehurst during that summer, as a visitor who was passing through, had coloured her memories of Peter too. Her mind had played a trick on her, turning Peter into the same transient free spirit she’d been back then.
Even during the brief time they’d spent together since she’d returned here, her mind had stuck to its skewed understand. It was the strangest thing.
Now though, after being at the school with Peter this afternoon and seeing him in his natural environment, she understood that this was where he belonged. She might be seeing things through the eyes of a passing visitor, but Peter was part of the fabric of this school and of this town. The realisation came as surprise to her, even though it shouldn’t have done.
Peter must have noticed the look on her face because he laughed as he pushed the main exit doors open for her.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked. “You look a bit… baffled all of a sudden?”
“I think it’s a delayed reaction to surviving my careers talk,” she said with a grin. “It’s nothing a large glass of wine won’t fix.”
Peter laughed again. “Then let’s get that sorted. I know the perfect place to stop off for a drink before the restaurant.”
“Thank goodness.”
His smile made his eyes dance and Gaby had to glance away because that look did something manic to her heartbeat. Maybe this whole experience of talking to the kids at the careers fair had left her more off kilter than she’d realised.
“Are you okay to walk there?” Peter asked. “It’s about a fifteen-minute stroll.”
“That’s fine with me.”
It was more than fine. She only hoped the fresh air would help clear her muddled head.
11
The small cafébar was quiet when they arrived and Peter was glad to see it. After the noise and busyness at the school, he thought Gaby could use some breathing space. There were plenty of empty tables lit with soft tealights and the music playing in the background was low and unobtrusive.
While Gaby chose a table by the window, he ordered their drinks.
“A crisp sauvignon blanc to quench your thirst after your gig at the school,” he said when he placed the wine glass in front of her.
