Page 8 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

Ryan stayed quiet. It was a pipe dream as far as he was concerned. A long-held labour of love that his dad had become obsessed with whilst not noticing that his marriage had been falling apart in the background.

Shuffling sideways, Ryan led Katy and his grandad through the mess towards the double doors at the other end of the entrance hall, out onto the platform.

Once back outside, he watched Katy take a deep breath of fresh air. He didn’t blame her. It was pretty grubby and stuffy inside the station.

‘Hello,’ said his dad, appearing at the far end of the platform. He had obviously just returned from the train workshop beyond where the tracks stopped.

‘This is Bob Connolly, my father,’ said Ryan, by way of introduction.

‘I won’t shake your hand,’ said Bob, giving Katy a smile before wiping his blackened hand on his overalls. ‘I’m filthy, as you can see.’

‘That’s fine,’ she told him quickly. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’

‘This is Katy Smith,’ said Eddie. ‘She’s come for the job that young Ethan posted about tidying up your home.’

A job that didn’t exist, thought Ryan as he and Katy locked eyes briefly.

‘Oh! He told me about that,’ said Bob, nodding thoughtfully. ‘Well, what do you think?’

Katy gave a little start, as if she hadn’t been expecting such a direct question.

‘Oh, well,’ she began, before clearing her throat. ‘I’m afraid there’s been a bit of a mix-up. It’s just that I work in hospitality, you see. Managing large five-star hotels situated in major cities. I’m not quite sure what use I could be to you all the way out here.’

As she looked at him, Bob took a deep breath as if to steady himself.

‘Don’t worry,’ he replied, his voice shaky. ‘I understand. My wife’s walked out, you see. Four weeks ago now. Well, twenty-seven days as of today. Anyway, I don’t blame you, love. Who would want to stay here with all this mess? She certainly didn’t.’

Bob turned around so that only his back could be seen, but they could all hear his quiet sobs of despair. He was still in shock about the breakdown of the marriage, the only person that seemed not to have known that his wife was unhappy.

Ryan closed his eyes and willed his dad’s broken heart to be mended again, but he knew that nothing possibly ever would heal it. The hurt he had tried to spare his dad had happened anyway, just fifteen years later.

In any case, it wasn’t the time for his dad’s grief to be made public, so Ryan gestured with his head for Katy to leave with him. The ridiculous interview was most definitely over as far as he was concerned.

But Katy appeared to be an immovable object. She looked away from Ryan and instead, to his surprise, she went around to stand in front of Bob, pulling out a paper tissue from a packet that she had taken out of her handbag.

‘Here,’ she said softly, passing it over before gently placing a hand on his arm to give it a squeeze.

‘Thank you,’ Ryan heard his dad say, his voice still shaky.

She looked over his shoulder at Ryan briefly before looking back at Bob.

‘Look, I can’t mend marriages, I’m afraid,’ she carried on, talking in a surprisingly gentle tone. ‘But I can promise you that I would do an excellent job of organising this place in a very short time. It’s my best skill, you see? So I’d be happy to help you.’ She gave him a small smile. ‘If you’d like me to.’

‘Oh, that would be grand!’ said Bob, with a sniffle. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely,’ she told him with a determined nod of her head.

Bob spun around to look at his son and father, appearing far more cheerful. ‘Katy’s going to stay and help us. Isn’t it great?’ he asked them.

Ryan moved his look of stunned amazement from Katy to his dad. Bob had never declared a desire to have the place tidied before now.

‘Don’t you see?’ Bob’s eyes were still watery with tears, but this time they held something else in them. Hope. ‘If the place is clean and tidy, then your mum will come back to me!’

Ryan exchanged a look of concern with his grandad. They both knew that Ryan’s mum was never coming back. She had told them both repeatedly that she wouldn’t return. She was living the high life in Spain and all conversations over the last few weeks were that nothing would ever change that. Unfortunately, it appeared that Bob was deep in denial at this stage.

‘Well, er, if that’s all decided with, then we’d best have a look at that temperature gauge,’ said Eddie after a long pause. ‘It won’t fix itself, will it?’

‘Right you are,’ said Bob, beaming at Ryan and Katy. ‘Well, I feel far more cheered up now! I’ll leave you two to sort the rest of the details out. See you soon, love.’