Page 19 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

‘Oh no,’ said Harriet. ‘What will you do? Find somewhere else for when you go back to your job?’

He hesitated before replying. ‘I’m going to bring everything back here until I can get a new place sorted.’

Harriet nodded. ‘Of course.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Is that the time? I must get ready for my first client.’

‘And once I’ve got rid of all this dog fur, I must be off as well,’ said Libby. ‘Well, nice to meet you, Katy.’

‘I’m sure we’ll bump into each other again before you leave,’ added Flora.

‘And if you’re bored with all the menfolk upstairs,’ added Libby, giving Ryan a nudge with her elbow as she headed outside, ‘you’re welcome to join us for gin night at Harriet’s place on Friday night.’

‘Oh. Well. Thanks. That’s very kind of you to offer, but I’m sure I’ll be kept pretty busy here,’ replied Katy.

They all said their goodbyes. Left behind, Katy reminded herself that she didn’t need gin nights and friends. She was fine by herself.

She looked across at Ryan to find him studying her with his dark eyes.

‘You’re up early,’ he told her.

‘I always am for work,’ she reminded him.

‘Not too early for breakfast, I hope,’ he replied, holding out a bag of what turned out to be croissants.

‘Thanks,’ she replied, her stomach rumbled in anticipation of the buttery pastry. It was as delicious as it looked. ‘Wow, you’re really good at cooking,’ she told him.

But Ryan shook his head. ‘I can’t take the credit, I’m afraid. Maggie, one of our neighbours, makes the most amazing pastries and cakes.’

‘I see,’ she said, licking her lips. ‘So your cooking speciality is Italian, is that right?’

‘Yeah,’ he said, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. ‘Listen, I know things got off to a bit of a rocky start with my dad yesterday. But I’ve got to head off shortly to the airport.’

It was all a bit awkward, thought Katy. They barely knew each other and suddenly she would be living alone in his home with his father.

‘Sorry to leave you in the lurch like this,’ he said.

‘It’ll be hard to clear as much as you want me to without any guidance,’ she told him. All she ever wanted to do was a decent job, whatever the work might be. It was a question of pride, she thought.

‘I’ll be back the day after tomorrow,’ he replied, not seeming at all concerned. ‘And there’s always Dad to check with in the meantime. All of this stuff is his, after all.’ He hesitated before carrying on. ‘I also have a small favour to ask. I don’t know you at all well, obviously. But you seem like a sensible person. Would you mind if I ask you to keep an eye on my father whilst I’m gone?’

Katy was stunned. ‘Oh, er, of course,’ she told him.

‘Thanks,’ said Ryan, obviously relieved.

What else could she say? She and Bob would still be living under the same roof, after all.

Which reminded her about the hole in the roof in the corner of the room. She was about to say something when he gave her his mobile number in case of any problems, wished her goodbye and walked away.

Katy closed the door behind him, leaving her alone. She took a sip of her coffee, thinking that without the chatter of the girls and even Ryan about, it suddenly felt quite empty and lonely in there. That itself was odd because she normally preferred her own company rather than mixing with anyone else.

Then she gave a shake of the head to rid herself of the negative thoughts and started to organise all the boxes once more.

11

Katy spent a quiet afternoon by herself in the ticket office slowly tidying boxes into some kind of order.

Now that Ryan had left to go to Rome, the place seemed eerily quiet. Occasionally, she looked out of the windows towards the platform, but she couldn’t even see Harriet and Paddington the dog.

She thought to the packed pavements of the cities where she had always worked and wondered how anyone could bear the solitude. But then she realised that each city hadn’t held any companionship for her either, so perhaps it really wasn’t that different.