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Oh god, here we go. As I head over he produces two tiny screw-top bottles of red wine.
‘Looks like someone came prepared.’ I gratefully accept mine as I plonk myself into the plastic chair.
‘Scouts motto.’
‘You were not a scout!’ I laugh.
‘No, you’re quite right. Bet you were a Girl Guide, though?’
‘Naturally.’
We smile at each other for a moment, and it’s so nice that I almost forget about the weird end-of-days vibe. But as he takes a sip then leans forward, arms on knees, I get a strange sinking feeling deep in the pit of my stomach.
‘So Sophie, this thing I need to talk to you about—’
I jump in, desperately clinging to a lighter mood. ‘Don’t tell me you saw Oscar eating the white bread and plastic ham sandwiches too? Because Celeste is going to be fuming if she finds out.’
He smiles but he doesn’t bite. He looks almost troubled.
‘About that something,’ he says.
I could bring up the vagina candle, but what’s the point? My distraction techniques can’t stop the inevitable.
‘Go on.’
‘I … uh. I’m leaving,’ he says.
‘What, now?’
‘No, Sid and I are leaving Bristol. I’ve been offered a really good job. I know it will be a big upheaval for Sid. For me, too. But I’ve realised recently that there’s no real reason to stay in Bristol now.’
I feel like the breath has been knocked out of me. I can barely see straight, my head is swimming.
‘Where are you going?’ I ask, my throat tight.
‘York. You know I’ve been up a few times for work? They offered me the job and I’ve been umming and ahhing for ages …’ he trails off.
No! I shout inwardly. My fingers tighten around the bottle.
‘What made you say yes?’
Joe looks straight at me then, those soulful blue eyes of his boring deep into my soul.
He doesn’t answer my question.
I shake my head desolately, mind crowded with thoughts, but they all boil down to this: I don’t want him to go. And yet, I can’t stop him from going. I should say something. Tell him that I don’t want him to leave. But what would that accomplish? Asking him to miss out on a career opportunity for my sake would be unbelievably selfish. I push the temptation to say anything as far to the back of my mind as I can.
‘What about Denise and Jim?’ I ask eventually.
Joe twirls the bottle round in his hand. ‘We’ll miss them like mad but York’s not so far—’
‘Are you kidding?’ I interrupt. ‘It’s the other side of the country!’
‘Not quite,’ he says and smiles. ‘You can get a direct train in under four hours. I’ve given this a lot of thought. Mam and Dad are still pretty young, as it goes, and you’ve given Denise a new lease of life with the business. This isn’t going to be a permanent move, I imagine Sid and I will move back to Bristol eventually to be closer to the grandparents when they’re older. We’ll miss being just around the corner from them desperately but I’ve been completely upfront with the faculty up in York. I’m thinking of this as a kind of temporary step.’
‘How temporary? What do you mean by moving back to Bristol eventually?’ I’m aware that I’m firing questions at him but I feel like I’m grasping for facts when my whole world has just been turned on its axis.
‘I honestly can’t answer that, Sophie. I don’t want to keep uprooting Sid so if we come back, we will definitely do it in time for him to start secondary school.’
