Page 22 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

Bob scratched his chin and drew in a breath. ‘Trouble is, Ryan doesn’t seem to want to even talk about his cooking at the moment. I don’t know why when all I kept hearing about from Ethan was how amazing his food was in that fancy restaurant.’

Katy could also recall Ryan telling her that he was only on a sabbatical from Rome and that perhaps his future lay elsewhere.

‘Maybe we can iron out the finer details later, such as who would be doing the cooking,’ she said, grabbing her phone. ‘In the meantime, we could keep this little business idea just between us?’

‘You mean it would be our little secret?’ Bob looked delighted. ‘Absolutely.’

‘That’ll mean we’ll definitely have to clear a bit of space downstairs,’ added Katy, giving him a pointed look.

Bob took a deep breath before he nodded. ‘If it’s for the community, then perhaps we should.’

Katy was relieved, feeling that perhaps she had had some kind of breakthrough with Bob regarding clearing out the station downstairs. So she quickly went through the online forms needed by the local council, with Bob’s input. It might not come to anything, she thought. But the station needed so much more than just a tidy-up, she reckoned. It needed people coming through its doors once more and perhaps a small coffee shop would do that.

Afterwards, as they watched the TV, she began to relax a little. When was the last time she had done this? The guilt of needing to work hard normally overwhelmed her and forced her back to the laptop. But in deference to Bob, she laughed along at the lame jokes on the gentle murder mystery that they watched and had a few more biscuits before they turned in for the night.

After wishing him goodnight, she headed into the tiny bedroom to get ready for bed. She heard Bob move around for a while before it all went quiet. Too quiet, she thought, climbing into bed. And a little chilly too, she thought, pulling up the covers.

But it was the quiet that overwhelmed her most of all. In her apartment, there were noisy neighbours. Traffic. People outside on the pavement shouting after the pubs and clubs had shut. But not now. Not here in Cranfield.

Here, with only an owl hooting outside, she was left with her thoughts. Normally, she didn’t like that as they tended to dwell on her empty life and the horror of the bankruptcy.

Feeling her anxiety beginning to rise, she trained her mind to think of Bob chatting about how busy the station had been at one time. And about family too. How they had all pulled together over the years.

She brought out her phone, hesitating before calling her mum.

‘Hi,’ she said, when her mum picked up.

‘This is a nice surprise,’ said her mum, sounding pleased. ‘How are you? How’s the job hunt going?’

‘Well, I’ve found a temporary post, but it’s only for a week,’ Katy told her.

‘That sounds promising.’

‘It’s in the countryside,’ she said, with a small laugh.

‘That’s a definite change for you,’ replied her mum.

‘It certainly is,’ she said. ‘How’s Greg?’

‘He’s fine,’ said her mum, going on to chat about how her stepdad had decided to take early retirement the following year.

‘Well, he does work hard,’ remarked Katy.

‘And work isn’t everything,’ said her mum in a pointed tone.

Katy smiled at the hint. Her mum had always worried about her daughter working too long hours.

They chatted on for a while before finishing their conversation.

It had all been about family that evening, she thought, snuggling back down under the covers. And perhaps, for once, that wasn’t as bad as she had previously thought.

12

Ryan looked around the apartment that he had been renting above the restaurant in Rome. It hadn’t been exactly luxurious, but the hours had been so long and strenuous that he hadn’t really had time to notice it until then.

Of course, it wasn’t in its best state at that moment. The ceiling had collapsed in and there was still water dripping through the holes. He was hurriedly trying to pack up everything to take back to the hotel room that he had booked. Anything that he couldn’t take on the plane would be shipped back separately, he had decided.

It would have been nice to have had a spare bit of time in Rome to enjoy a few of his favourite restaurants. A few months ago, he would have been welcomed with open arms. Now, he wasn’t so sure.