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‘Then there was this one. It came to the office.’ She pulled it out of her bag and showed him. Who else knows the truth, besides you? And me?
Woody gave it a glance.
‘It’s probably just an advert for something.’
‘I don’t think so. They look as if they’re handwritten.’ Nikki reached out a hand and took a chip, unable to resist any longer. ‘What if somebody knows?’
‘Nobody knows. And even if they did, so what? It’s been years.’
‘It would be disastrous if anyone found out.’ Nikki’s tone was sharp.
‘But maybe it wouldn’t?’ He looked at her. ‘Don’t spend your whole life living in fear, Nik. Sometimes that’s worse than whatever you’re afraid of.’
‘It’s OK for you to say. You’ve never done anything wrong.’
‘Of course I have.’ He sighed. ‘Angela Lewis.’
Angela hadn’t even lasted long, but by then they’d gone their separate ways.
‘She wasn’t your fault. We were doomed from the start. We should have just stayed friends.’ Had she been wrong, to use him as a rebound? He’d known full well that was what he was.
He grinned. ‘Yeah. But then we wouldn’t have Bill. Imagine that. Life without Bill.’
She sighed. ‘Do you think he’s OK?’
‘Happy as a pig in shit.’
‘I miss him.’
‘God, me too. Not his stinky trainers though. I don’t miss them.’
They both laughed, thinking about the boy that had bound them for life.
‘I better go,’ she said now. She’d meant to get an early night and it was nearly eleven.
Woody crumpled up his chip wrapper, wound down the window and lobbed it straight into the bin.
‘Try and forget about it, Nik. People are strange. People are jealous. They probably just want to make you worry.’
‘Well, they’ve succeeded.’
‘If anything happens, just shoot me a text. I’ll be right there.’
She looked at him, with his tufty hair and his bright blue eyes which never seemed to blink and his infinite freckles, looking no different than the day he’d arrived in Speedwell. She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, comforted by his presence, comforted by the knowledge that he would be there for her, in a trice. He always had been, she remembered. Right from the night the inevitable had happened, Woody had been there by her side.
19
Then
That Friday was the end-of-summer fancy dress party at the Neptune. The theme was rock stars, which everyone agreed was pretty easy, even if you didn’t want to make too much effort. Mostly you just needed a wig and a pair of sunglasses. And as usual there was the karaoke competition, with a great big golden trophy that would be carried home triumphantly by the winner.
Nearly everyone in town piled into the pub. The mood was always joyful. This was the best night of the year for the locals, the chance to let their hair down. Keiran the landlord did them proud, kicking off the evening with free chicken or scampi in a basket to line everyone’s stomach, because it was always a heavy night and he knew it was a fine line between jolly rowdiness and utter carnage. Experience had taught him it was best to get as many carbs into his customers as possible, so the chips were chunky and plentiful, nestled in red-and-white gingham napkins, and their saltiness made everyone buy more drinks, so he was quids in.
The first hour was always filled with laughter and shrieks of glee: the transformations were impressive. Some went for an obvious choice; others were more daring. There were loads of Elvises and Elton Johns and lots of different David Bowies in all his guises as well as several Madonnas in her different phases. Some clubbed together and came as groups: Abba and the Beatles and the Spice Girls.
Nikki had transformed herself into Stevie Nicks. She’d found a long black lace skirt in a charity shop, and wore it with high suede boots and a velvet jacket. She looked good. Sometimes fancy dress was a great excuse to be someone you weren’t, and she was enjoying her alter ego, in total contrast to her usual practical jeans and sweatshirt. She was certainly getting more attention than usual and she rather liked people looking at her with new eyes.
She ordered a glass of cider and danced her way through the crowds, greeting friends, admiring outfits, feeling the tension of the working day leave her. She edged into a corner at the back of the pub where her friends had commandeered two settles either side of a scrubbed pine table. Woody was at the head, so she sat next to him. Did he suspect how she was feeling, about that night on the boat last Sunday? About the heat that rushed through her every time Rik came into her thoughts? She hadn’t seen him since, but she tried to push him out of her mind. She would wake, heart pounding, in the middle of the night, having felt the touch of his hand on her bare shoulder in her dreams, burning her skin.
