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"How’s your week been?” She asked. "I feel like I’ve hardly seen you."
"End-of-term, though, right?” I pointed out to her. "Not long till we’ll be able to sit by the river drinking rosé and pretending that we’ve never had to mark a paper in our lives."
"And in what teacher-training-free world is this little vignette taking place in?" She asked curiously. I laughed. She had a point. Even with the summer coming up, it wasn’t like we just got to put our feet up for seven weeks.
"Paula and I were thinking about heading down to the Hunter’s for a drink this evening," she told me. "I was thinking you could probably use a break, too?"
I pondered on the proposal for a moment. It would have been nice to get a little tipsy and forget about my troubles for a while, but in truth, I didn’t feel like the trek back to my flat in Inverness when it was all over and done with. Much as I loved spending time with Mallory and our other friends on the faculty, I was feeling a little maudlin and wanted nothing more than some time to myself.
"I think I should probably just get the last of my marking done and then head home," I replied, and she narrowed her eyes at me and planted her hands on her hips.
"Did something happen?" She asked, always able to see through me like she had X-vision. I shook my head.
"No, I’m just tired," I lied. "And I have some errands to run tomorrow, I don’t want to have a hangover..."
"Who said we’re going to be drinking enough to be hungover?" She protested, and I tipped my head to the side and raised my eyebrows at her.
"Sorry, did I hear you wrong? I thought you said you were going to the Hunter’s," I reminded her. "And I’ve been with you on enough of those nights to know how they end."
"Oh, don’t act like I haven’t had to bundle you into a taxi home while you were trying to get me to sing Loch Lomond with you," she teased me. I held my hands up.
"Hey, never said I didn’t," I agreed. "But I don’t feel like it tonight, that’s all. I’ll catch you some other time, alright?"
"Alright," she replied. "But you give me a text if you need some company over the weekend, won’t you? I don’t like the thought of you sitting around at home by yourself for the next couple of days..."
"Really? Because I think it sounds like a treat," I replied.
"Any chance to get away from me, eh?" Mallory responded.
"You’ve rumbled me," I agreed, and I grabbed my bag from where I had hooked it over my desk chair.
"I’ll see you on Monday then, alright?" She suggested. "I think it’s my turn to bring in the coffees."
"I think it is," I agreed, and she put an arm around my waist and led me out into the grounds once more; half of the playground was covered with tarmac and sketched out with hopscotch lines and chalk designs, and the other was taken up with a muddy, slightly hilly grass area that was used to conduct football tournaments every single lunchtime.
I gave Mal a hug at the gate and said goodbye, and then climbed into my car and started the drive back up into the city. It had just started to rain by the time I passed over the bridge and into town once more, and the River Ness was speckled with the ripples of raindrops on the water. And there I was, thinking that it was meant to be summer sometime soon. Maybe I had blinked and missed it.
I got back to my small flat just off the River and sighed as soon as the door clicked shut behind me. The place was dark and cool and I wished I had someone there to greet me as I came through the door. Someone who could put the heating on while I was out. Order a takeaway for us to cuddle up on the couch and enjoy together. I kicked off my canvas shoes and tossed them into the hallway, then flopped down onto the couch.
It wasn’t that I just wantedaman. I wasn’t in my twenties anymore, and I wasn’t going to settle for whoever came through the door just so I could keep up with my friends and not feel left behind. I wanted someone who made me feelalive.Who made me feel like I could take on the world. Or at least, take on a family. A partner. A real partner. That was what I needed. No boys, no boyfriends, but a partner, someone who could stand by my side and would do everything they could to protect me against the world, while supporting me on my way through it.
But where was I going to find one of those? Sure as hell not standing at the gate of the school waiting for his wife, or down at the familiar stools of the Hunter’s Inn. I needed to think bigger. I needed to think newer. And I...
I needed to think about this in the morning, once I’d gotten some sleep. Then, I could get around to changing my life.
Yeah, in the morning.
Chapter two
Red lipstick vixen
"OhmyGod,Ican’t believe how close we are to being done right now," Mallory murmured to me, keeping her voice low to make sure that she didn’t tip off any of the parents around us to the fact that we were counting down the minutes till term ended.
"I know," I agreed, grinning at her and glancing at my watch. "Twenty minutes? And then it’s all done."
"Until we have to come back in for teacher training," she replied, pulling a face. I pulled one right back.
"But we can pretend that we’re on holiday for a little while, can’t we?” I pointed out. "Even just tonight?"
