Page 7 of Be More Capybara

‘Take a leaf out of Klaus’s book and go for a walk. That always helps.’

The sun might be out, but the wind was bitingly cold up on the clifftop. Nigel pulled up the hood on his waterproof and zipped up the front so that the collar covered his mouth. He should have brought a scarf with him.

He walked along the path until he reached the highest point of the cliff, then turned to admire the view. The sea seemed to go on forever, but somewhere beyond that horizon were Madison and his daughters, Sloane and Avery. They’d still be fast asleep. Too early to text them a Happy New Year message. He’d wait until lunchtime. Hopefully, one of them might reply when he did.

Something bashed into his legs, making him stumble. An animal. What the hell? He watched it continue its mad trajectory along the path. A small greyhound, or perhaps a large whippet, which explained the speed. Who was stupid enough to let a dog off the lead up here?

He turned to look where the dog had come from. A woman was jogging towards him. Judging by her padded full-length coat and walking boots, she hadn’t intended to go running this morning. ‘Rocky!’ she shouted.

‘Your dog nearly knocked me over,’ Nigel yelled into the wind. ‘You should keep him under control.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ the woman said as she drew nearer. ‘We don’t normally see any rabbits up here. Oh, thank God - he’s stopped.’

Nigel turned to follow her gaze. The dog was making his way slowly back to them.

‘A lead might be a good idea.’

‘He was on a lead.’ She was getting her breath back now. ‘He pulled it out of my grip.’

She held her hand out in front of her so he could see the angry red mark running across her fingers where the lead had given her a friction burn.

‘That looks awful. You need to put that under a cold tap.’

‘Bit tricky up here.’ She stared at him. ‘Nigel?’

How did she know his name?

She pulled down her hood.

He looked at her face properly for the first time. Oh god. Those hazel eyes. It was Helen. After all these years.

‘What are you doing here?’

4

HELEN

Helen was so thrown by seeing Nigel standing in front of her, older and greyer and looking exhausted but still recognisably Nigel, that she almost forgot to answer him. ‘I’ve moved back home. And you?’

‘I’m visiting my mother for a few days. Well, I’ll probably stay for a while.’

They looked at one another awkwardly for a few seconds until Rocky nudged her. She grabbed his lead and winced.

Nigel looked concerned. ‘What are we going to do about your burn? Let me look at it properly.’

She held it out to him.

He took off his glove and took her hand gently in his. A jolt of electricity shot up her arm as they touched. Wow! That hadn’t happened in so long. He quickly let go. He looked as confused as she felt.

‘I’ve got my water bottle. You can pour the contents of that over it for a start,’ he suggested.

He pulled it out of his pocket, removed the lid and handed her the open bottle. ‘I’ll hold Rocky’s lead.’

The cold water helped.

‘Is that better?’ he asked.

‘A little.’ She winced again. It was stinging.