Even when my son had been going through his legal separation with Stephanie, he had failed to ask his solicitor the most rudimentary facts and never seemed to know anything about what Stephanie and her new, rather flashy boyfriend were up to. Except that Gary was a Sheffield Wednesday supporter and therefore beneath contempt.
As I made my way back to my seat I thought about Jack. There was no doubt he was attractive and easy to talk to; perhaps that was because of his line of work. He seemed interested in people and their experiences. Yes, that was why he had struck up a conversation with me. He was gathering information for his article.
Maybe we would get a mention when it was eventually published, as three slightly comical walk-on characters who cropped up unexpectedly and made fools of themselves. Oh heavens, he had taken pictures of us singing at the karaoke evening. That wouldn’t be good. I wondered if it might be possible to persuade him not to use it.
I got back to my seat to find Anna reading a book on her Kindle, and Harriet asleep with her mouth open, her head pillowed on her coat up against the window.
‘Where have you been?’ Anna whispered.
I watched as Jack returned to his seat four rows behind her and I smiled.
‘No where. Just exploring.’
‘It’s a train, Lizzie. There’s nowhere to explore,’ she said.
‘There’s a little bar-café thing further up that way. I had a coffee.’
She gave me a knowing look. ‘You’ve been gone for forty-five minutes. Were they roasting and grinding the beans?’
I laughed. ‘No, while I was there I met up with the hit man-stalker chap and we had a nice chat, and a cannoli. Name’s Jack Fisher.’
‘That’s a funny name for a cannoli.’
‘Very droll. He’s a freelance journalist. He’s been commissioned to write a piece on this journey, which is why we keep running into him. You know what it’s like when you go to the supermarket and you see your neighbour as you go in, and then you pass them at least once in every aisle after that and you have to nod and smile and say something every time. Well, it’s a bit like that.’
Anna chuckled. ‘It’s nothing like that.’
For some reason I held back the knowledge that he was also going to be on the train to Venice. And neither did I mention that he would be on the boat with us next week. It all seemed a bit too much information, and knowing Anna it would just set her off imagining all sorts of things.
‘Is Harriet okay?’ I asked, nodding towards her.
‘I think so, just a bit worn out,’ Anna said, ‘I do feel awful. I’ve been thinking about what you said and much as I would like to argue, I can see you’re right. Now, where is this café? I quite fancy a coffee.’
She stood up, took her purse and went off down the corridor.
I went to sit in her seat next to the window where I could still see glimpses of the sea as we raced along the coast towards Genoa. We were in Italy now, the country of the Renaissance, fabulous food and beautiful scenery. We were going to have a peaceful week cruising down the Croatian coastline; I suddenly felt a new little leap of enthusiasm at the prospect.
Another message from Ben arrived.
Ben
I went back to see Jenna (that’s the vet) and she gave the kittens a good check-up. She’s really nice. Mrs Fluffy is a bit underweight and Darth has an eye infection so I’ve got some stuff. I have to take them back tomorrow.
Me
Gosh how much did that cost?
Ben
Nothing, she said I was a good Samaritan, so she didn’t charge me.
To me this sounded rather promising. Was my trip away also facilitating a fledgling romance? How marvellous if it was.
13
The trip from Ventimiglia to Milan was uneventful and took about three hours.
Occasionally we went through tunnels, emerging into the sunlight again to catch glimpses of distant mountains which, we agreed, because they still had snowy peaks, must be the Alps.
