Page 26 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

‘Thanks,’ he said, looking relieved. ‘And, for what it’s worth, my mozzarella roll would knock this thing into outer space.’

Katy suddenly remembered her and Bob completing the application for the pop-up coffee shop the previous evening. Perhaps there was hope for the station after all, she thought. Time would tell and she found herself hoping that she might be there just long enough to see it become successful once more.

15

Katy felt weary the following morning, having returned late from the hospital with Ryan once they were happy that Bob was settled up in the ward.

But despite the late hour, she had had trouble getting to sleep. She just kept seeing Bob lying there on the floor of the station waiting room in pain. Finally, she fell asleep but had strange dreams all night. She woke up in the morning with a start.

Unwilling to face her own guilty thoughts over and over, she got up and crept downstairs so as not to disturb Ryan. She stood on the platform and looked out across the fields in a blank daze. Why on earth had she agreed to stay on for more than a week when all she wanted to do was run away?

‘Penny for them?’

She turned around and saw Eddie walking towards her. For once, he wasn’t wearing his overalls but jeans and a coat instead.

‘You were deep in thought there,’ he told her with a soft smile. ‘I’ve already said good morning twice.’

‘Oh. Sorry,’ she said. ‘Good morning.’

‘I guess you must be tired after last night.’

She immediately cast her eyes down towards the platform floor, not wanting to see the judgement in his eyes.

‘It’s not your fault, love,’ she heard Eddie say. ‘Just one of those things.’

‘I’m not so sure about that,’ she replied, sinking down onto the nearby rickety bench as the feelings of guilt washed over her once more. ‘I was so focused on my emails that I didn’t help Bob.’

Eddie sat down next to her. ‘The only person blaming yourself is you,’ he said.

She sighed. ‘I’m just no good at real life,’ she found herself confessing. ‘I’ve spent so long wrapped up in work that I can’t seem to communicate with people any more.’

It was the truth, she realised. Gerard had been right. She had been distant for a long time, with everyone in her life. She even kept her mum at arm’s length in case things went wrong and she hurt her somehow.

‘Some folks are just better at that kind of thing than others,’ said Eddie. ‘It doesn’t make it wrong. Everyone’s different and has their own set of skills. Yours is business, from what I’ve heard, and that’s grand. Me, I don’t know anything about that kind of thing. But show me anything with an internal combustion engine and I’m your fella.’

They sat there in silence for a while as Katy mulled over his words. Was Eddie right? Perhaps she wasn’t a bad person, just bad at communication. And if she could learn to be better at talking to people then perhaps she might be happier as well.

She looked at the vast countryside, with only green rolling hills in the distance to clutter up the skyline. On the other side of the nearby footbridge across the railway line was a long path that led off into the distance. It was bordered by miles and miles of fields.

‘That there’s Flora’s farm,’ said Eddie, following her gaze. ‘Of course, it was Helen and Graham’s before that, her grandparents. Just Helen and Flora left there now. Helen has been here as long as I have, which is too many years to count now. It’s a hard life for them and getting harder by the year, from what I’ve heard.’

Katy could just about see a charming farmhouse peeping out through the trees.

‘But I reckon despite all their difficulties,’ carried on Eddie. ‘Neither of them would want to live anywhere else. And who can blame them on a morning like this?’

It was just so open, Katy decided. So different to the cluttered urban landscapes she was used to living in.

‘It’s lovely, it’s just that it scares me a little,’ she confessed. ‘I grew up in cities, away from all this nature stuff.’

‘Nature’s pretty special, you know,’ replied Eddie with a chuckle. ‘From the food we eat, the air that we breathe and the water we drink, it all comes from this.’

‘But what about bugs?’ asked Katy, with a shudder. ‘And insects?’

Eddie smiled at her. ‘Let me tell you something amazing. Do you know how many trips a honeybee has to make to collect the nectar needed to fill a jar of honey? Ten million! Isn’t that incredible?’

‘I guess,’ said Katy, still a little unsure.

‘If you were to spend time in Harriet’s lavender fields, then you’d get used to the hum of bees. And you’d see plenty of butterflies too.’