Page 87 of The Time of My Afterlife

Pearl takes a tissue from the sleeve of her cardigan and dabs at her watery eyes. ‘Let’s hand it over.’ She forces out a little smile. ‘Mary always joked that she would tell me to do one thing and I’d end up doing something completely different.’

Clark’s eyebrows shoot up his forehead. ‘Seriously?’

Pearl nods. ‘She’d say to me “book a holiday for us to Gran Canaria” and I would end up booking one to Menorca.’ She blows her nose. ‘What a day!’

Clark nudges me. ‘Shall we go now?’

As we get up, Pearl stops us. Her face looks grave and I worry what she’s about to say. But when she speaks, the words that come out of her mouth are the last I expected. ‘I’d like to go to Pixie Cove tomorrow to see Rodney.’

‘What?’ we both exclaim.

She gives her nose a second blow. ‘If I can’t give Mary her bestseller wish, I will go and meet Rodney.’

I look at Clark, who smiles. ‘Pearl – are you sure?’

‘Yes,’ she says. ‘I know you work, Clark, but would you take me?’

‘I can take you.’

She sighs. ‘I haven’t been there in years.’

‘Why did you never go back?’ I ask, out of curiosity.

‘I lost hope,’ she says wistfully. ‘My late husband never wanted to travel anywhere and my kids were a handful when they were young. If I’d gone back to that place without Rodney it would have ruined my memories. Over time hope faded. I never gave up on him though.’

We step out of Pearl’s house with smiles on our faces. ‘Wow, that was unexpected,’ I say under my breath.

Clark runs a hand through his hair. ‘Looks like I am off to Pixie Cove again.’ He looks over at Jane’s house before saying, ‘There’s something I need to do.’

‘Apologise to Jack?’

He smiles. ‘Yes. See you back at yours in a bit?’

I hold up Mary’s book. ‘I’m going to track down Detective Holloway and post them this book.’

‘Really?’

‘Hopefully they’ve not retired. I just think it would be fitting for them to know about this confession.’

34

CLARK

Jane answers the door and immediately frowns when she sees me. ‘I thought you were going to watch Jack?’

I flick my eyes to the floor. ‘Jane, I fell asleep on my sofa, and I didn’t set an alarm. If you must know, I haven’t been sleeping at night. I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s okay,’ she says, ‘I know all about sleep issues.’

I lift my gaze, and she smiles. ‘I’ll speak to Jack.’

‘Could I talk to him?’ I ask. ‘He won’t let me off easily, but I’m prepared to try and get him to forgive me.’

She casts me a pained look. ‘Jack is like his father. He’ll be in a dark mood with you for days.’

I need to make it up to him. ‘Can I please try? Is he home?’

With a smile, she lets me in and shouts up the stairs. ‘Jack, Clark is here to see you.’