Page 63 of The Time of My Afterlife

Hearing him say that makes my heart swell. ‘Really?’

He’s now staring at me intently. ‘Tomorrow morning, I will come to the café and we’ll go from there.’

‘What about you? There must be things you can do.’

After grimacing, he writes ‘Tell Mum about Dad’.

My eyes widen in shock. I know Clark and his dad have been estranged for years. ‘Your dad?’

‘I bumped into him in the British Museum a few months ago.’ He flicks his gaze to the floor. ‘It was weird. I hadn’t spoken to him for ten years, but when I saw him, I suddenly wanted to reconnect. We’ve been chatting on WhatsApp.’

Instinctively I reach out and touch his arm. ‘Clark, that’s great news.’

He looks at me with a worried expression. ‘It is but I haven’t told Mum.’

Gail, Clark’s mum, is still angry for Keith’s betrayal. Whenever I see her in town our conversations always result in her blaming Keith for anything bad that’s happened to her, despite the fact she hasn’t seen him for ten years. Last time I saw her she even tried to pin her faulty boiler and her recent bout of gout on him.

‘That will be tough.’

With a sigh, he nods and stares back at the board. ‘I want to be honest with her. If anything did happen to us, she would find out and it would be an uncomfortable funeral wake for everyone else.’

Tiredness washes over me and I rub my eyes.

He smiles and puts down the pen. ‘I’m exhausted too. Shall we start afresh tomorrow?’

‘I’d like that.’

We stand and stare at each other for a moment. I want to give him a hug because of what we’ve been through tonight but the thought of asking whether he wants one makes me nervous. I feel like a schoolgirl again, like I’m asking my sixth-form crush out on a date. This is weird.

‘Goodnight, Florence,’ he says with a warm smile, and my heart starts to flutter.

Something has shifted between us. Clark was in my dream last night.

I didn’t dream he was annoying me or that we were arguing. He was passionately kissing me, and I was… enjoying it. I woke up gasping, with a damp pillow. As I climbed into the shower, I tried to tell myself it was a dream, but I still felt a twinge of disappointment in my chest.

On the way to the café, I tried to distract myself by appreciating the fact I was alive and that another day full of opportunities to pass the test stretched out before me. Clark’s face kept flashing up inside my mind though and causing my heart to go berserk.

I haven’t opened the café yet. I’m cleaning the counter when I hear his voice. ‘Hello.’

He’s standing in the doorway. I must have forgotten to lock it when I entered.

Today he’s wearing a snug black T-shirt, beige shorts and trainers. His hair is not its usual artful mess and looks like it’s been styled at the front. He meets my gaze and all I can think of is that damn dream where we were locked in an embrace and he was kissing me with such ferocity and hunger.

‘Have you got time to come upstairs?’ he asks.

Even though it was his suggestion on the whiteboard I didn’t think he’d follow through with it. ‘You remembered?’

He nods and comes inside. ‘Yes, it’s been on my mind all night if you must know.’

‘Really?’

‘I want to make Harry smile wherever he is. Do you have the keys for the café? I’ll lock the door in case you get any eager customers.’

After locking the door, I unhook the ‘Do Not Enter’ sign and take a deep breath.

‘How long ago did you last come up here?’ Clark asks.

‘A couple of weeks. I got too emotional and put it off again.’