Page 8 of The Trip of a Lifetime

‘That’s remarkable. Lucky they were all alive, then.’

‘Well, not all actually. One poor chap died some years ago and his two brothers are racing on his behalf.’

‘Ah, that’s nice. So, who won originally? Your grandmother?’

‘No,’ Erin scoffed. ‘Fat chance, after she was tricked.’

‘Tricked? How?’

‘Oh, some guy seduced her and then she missed her train.’

Samuel stared at her, his mouth slightly open in surprise.

‘God, one drink and I’m spilling all the tea.’

‘No problem at all. It’s refreshing to meet someone so open.’

‘Do you think I could use your phone for a moment?’ she asked.

‘What for?’ he said, another surprised expression on his face.

‘I’ve had to hand mine over so I don’t look up information before the race starts.’

‘Bit naughty, then. Isn’t that cheating?’

Erin laughed. ‘Must grab the opportunity while I can,’ she said, wondering if she could slip her number in while she looked up bus and train times. Then she realised this was pointless without a destination in mind.

‘Sorry, I can’t help anyway, left my phone in my room.’

‘Probably for the best,’ she said ruefully.

They sat in silence for a moment but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was a sunny afternoon and the slight breeze just stopped it from being warm. Erin pulled her cardigan closer around herself.

She finished her drink and placed the glass on the table, surprised at how fast she’d drunk it. She felt some of the last few weeks of stress leave her. Sitting there with Samuel made her almost forget her tears over Hamish. She’d fretted over telling her boss about needing the time off, too, but when she finally told her, she said the business wasn’t doing well anyway and she was letting Erin go. Martha had been delighted but Erin would have to find something else or give up her flatshare in Henley. It wasn’t even really a flatshare as she just rented the spare room from a friend who wasn’t even really a friend.

‘You can come and crash at mine,’ her nana had said, which had made Erin smile.

‘Crash with my nana?’

‘I suppose you’d lose all your street cred.’

But Erin hadn’t smiled at that. Not so much because she didn’t have any to lose, but more because she liked the idea of being cosseted by her grandmother. She knew it was pathetic, really.

Clare was so independent. Clare was fearless. Did you know that Clare left home when she was eighteen and never looked back?

‘Can I get you another drink?’ Samuel asked her.

‘Yes, yes, you can.’

When he came back with two glasses and a bottle of wine he sat down next to her rather than back in his seat opposite. Erin tried to be really cool about it but she could smell his aftershave and his presence was quite intense.

They talked a little about nothing much at all. He said he worked for an insurance company and hated it, she said she’d lost her job before coming on this trip and almost combusted when he touched her arm in a show of sympathy. He said the best holiday he’d had was in Japan, she said her best holiday had been in Wales and he’d laughed.

‘You can go to the other side of the world if you want but it’s so easy to forget the beauty we have on our doorstep,’ she said, and he had to agree.

Then he laughed again. ‘You do know we are on the other side of the world right now?’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I almost forgot.’