“You can keep it if you like.”
“Really, are you sure?”
“ ’Course. It’s just a scribble.”
“Well, then, I should give you something in return.” He felt in his pockets but all he had was his friend’s copy ofOn the Road. “You can have this, if you like? I’m not sure it’s for me.”
“Thanks. I’m intrigued to see what this Mr.Kerouac is like.”
The way she said his name was completely different to how Frank had pronounced it, and he felt himself blush again.
“I’ll give it back when we meet,” she said, taking the book off him.
The bus was approaching Oxford Circus, and the girl stood up to disembark. Frank watched her, savoring every last detailto remember until he saw her again. He wanted to say something profound or funny, something that would make her smile when she remembered him later. Something they could talk about in years to come.
“It was lovely meeting you,” he said, feeling once again like a hopeless schoolboy.
“You too, Rock Hudson. See you soon.”
She turned and walked down the aisle toward the stairs, not looking back.
CHAPTER
1
April 2022
This is the 88 to Parliament Hill Fields.”
The electronic announcement rang round the bus as Libby heaved her two rucksacks on board. There was a queue of passengers behind her, and she heard an impatient tut as she rummaged in her handbag to find her wallet. Finally she located it and tapped her card to pay, but not before she heard someone mutter, “Bloody tourist.” Libby hurriedly scooped up her bags and began to maneuver toward the one free seat on the lower deck, but she’d gone only a few paces when a teenage boy pushed past, almost knocking her into the lap of an elderly woman, and threw himself into the vacant seat.
Libby gave the boy her best death stare, then turned and climbed the narrow stairs toward the front of the upper deck, clinging to the handrail so she didn’t fall as the bus swerved out of Vauxhall Station. When she reached the top, she was relieved to see that the nearest seats in the first row were available, and she dumped her bags on the floor and sat down.
The bus edged its way through the London traffic, and Libby looked out of the front window. Everyone seemed insuch a hurry: crowds of pedestrians streaming along the pavement, car horns honking like angry geese, a cyclist gesturing and swearing at a taxi driver. As the bus drove onto Vauxhall Bridge, Libby turned right to get a view along the River Thames. She recognized the Tate Britain art gallery, and behind it the London Eye, its glass pods glistening in the late April sunshine. Simon had taken Libby on it once as a birthday treat, three or four years ago. They’d drunk prosecco as the wheel had rotated them high above the city, and afterward they’d bought hot dogs and walked along the South Bank, hand in hand. It had been one of their rare day trips to London, and Libby remembered feeling so lucky to be there with Simon. And yet—
“Oh my goodness, it’s you!”
A voice to Libby’s left made her jump, and she swung around to see an elderly man sitting across the aisle, wearing a burgundy velvet jacket that had seen better days. His face broke into a grin when he saw her.
“It really is you, isn’t it?”
Oh god. She’d been in London only ten minutes and already she’d picked up a weirdo.
“I’m sorry. I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else,” Libby said, and she turned away from him.
“Oh... oh, I am sorry.”
Libby pulled her phone out of her handbag. Usually, if a stranger tried to make unwanted conversation, she’d ring someone for a chat instead. But who on earth could she call now? Certainly not her parents, and all her friends these days were Simon’s friends too, the wives and girlfriends of his mates and the last people she wanted to speak to. Libby slid her phone back into her bag.
“I’m sorry I disturbed you,” the man continued, his voice shaky. “I get a little confused sometimes.”
There was something in his tone that made Libby turn back around. He was staring at his lap, looking so utterly dejected that she had a sudden urge to make him feel better.
“Don’t worry. Strangers are always mistaking me for someone else. It’s my face, I think. I look very average.”
“Average?” His head snapped up. “You don’t look average. With that marvelous red hair, you look like Botticelli’s Venus.”
Libby ran a hand though her long, thick curls. Her hair had been called many things over the years—ginger nut, Weasley, carrot top—but never compared to a Renaissance painting, and she couldn’t help but smile.
