Page 73 of Old Girls Behaving Badly

‘It’s Erik with a K,’ Dorothy said after she introduced them.

‘I’m not sure Gina needs to know that, unless she’s planning on writing him a letter,’ Miles said and everyone laughed.

‘Is it a Scandinavian name?’ Gina asked him.

‘Danish,’ he said. ‘My mother was Danish, but my father is Welsh and I grew up in North Wales, so I’m a fair mix.’

‘I love North Wales,’ Gina said with a smile, ‘such beautiful countryside.’

They tucked into the quiches and salads that Lavinia and Miles had made and Dorothy poured them all glasses of the cloudy lemonade she had decanted into a jug and stuffed with ice cubes and slices of lemon. It wasn’t as warm as it had been in previous weeks, but pleasant enough to sit outside.

‘Do you have a boat too?’ Gina asked Erik. ‘Is it obligatory when you live here?’

‘I do. I have a narrowboat like Dorothy’s,’ he said.

‘Do you take it out much, or is it just an expensive place to sit and have coffee?’ Gina asked and Dorothy watched as her cheeks flamed.

Erik laughed; a deep bass sound that rumbled from him and when he stopped, Dorothy noted that he locked his piercing blue eyes onto Gina.

‘It was just something Dorothy said when she showed me her boat,’ Gina said, seemingly desperate to explain her odd question.

‘Guilty,’ Dorothy said simply.

‘In truth, Gina, it is mostly an expensive place to sit and have a coffee and I’m lucky to have it, I know. I should take her out more. Perhaps you’d like to come sometime when you’re settled in?’

All eyes turned to Gina then and she took a long sip of her lemonade before answering.

‘That sounds lovely, Erik,’ she said. ‘I’d like that.’

Dorothy smiled to herself. It was a deeply satisfying feeling having these two people that she’d grown fond of, connecting like this. It was something she would be encouraging wholeheartedly.

When lunch was over and everything cleared away, Dorothy was pleased to see that Miles and Lavinia were leaving. Gina looked a little overwhelmed and probably just needed to settle quietly into her new space, alone.

‘I promise it won’t always be like this,’ Lavinia said. ‘We never just turn up unannounced. Dorothy doesn’t like it.’

‘Of course I don’t like it. It’s rude not to let someone know you’re coming,’ Dorothy said and it wasn’t lost on her that her son and his wife shared a knowing smile.

‘You all just do whatever you did before and I’ll fit in,’ Gina said.

‘Well, we’re both very happy that you’re here,’ Miles said. ‘Mum is incredibly independent, but everyone needs a helping hand from time to time.’

Erik said goodbye not long after the other two had left and then opened the little gate next to the boathouse and disappeared into his own garden. Dorothy and Gina settled onto the loungers under the willow at the water’s edge with a cup of tea each.

‘It’s really beautiful here, Dorothy,’ Gina said, looking out over the water. ‘You might never get rid of me.’

‘Fine with me,’ Dorothy chuckled and closed her eyes.

She must have nodded off, because when she woke her teacup was on the table, stone cold and Gina was chatting over the fence to Erik. Dorothy watched the two of them together and how Gina kept touching her hair and Erik stood straighter than usual with one strong arm on the top of the fence post. Dorothy smiled. They could be a couple of teenagers. Nothing changed with age when it came to blossoming attraction. It was always timeless.

Gina returned to Dorothy with a paperback in her hands.

‘Have you joined Erik’s book club?’ Dorothy asked her.

‘He’s lent me the latest Karin Slaughter and wants to discuss it when I’ve read it. I’m already thinking it might be a bit scary for me.’

‘Erik loves a book chat. I’ve not been too on board recently and can’t seem to settle to a story, but maybe with you here that might change.’

‘He suggested a bottle of wine and that a narrowboat book chat was in order. You’d be up for that wouldn’t you, Dorothy?’