Page 62 of The Way We Are Now

‘Nope, it was me actually,’ Theo said. ‘I reminded Mum I was coming down for the weekend, and she told me to ring Mrs C and order in what I wanted. “I know what you boys are like,” Mum said. “Order what you want. Put it on your father’s account. I don’t want Wills’ and Fraser’s mothers thinking I don’t know how to look after their sons.”’

This was a different world to the one I knew.

‘Do you want to shower?’ Theo asked, pouring us both a glass of Chablis.

‘Yes, and I’d like to change.’

The previous week, Linda from the office had taken me in hand once again, insisting I take advantage of the sales in the town centre, selecting summer dresses, another couple of cotton jumpsuits which were still all the rage, while encouraging me to treat myself to some fancy bras and knickers.

‘I can’t afford all this,’ I’d insisted, stroking the silky fabric of a pair of French knickers.

‘Anna, you only live once,’ Linda had said.

‘You tell that to the bank manager,’ I replied. ‘Or the poor miners who haven’t a penny to their name.’

‘Oh, sod the bloody miners,’ Linda had sniffed and, not for the first time, I wondered if working for the NUM was really up her street.

Theo led the way upstairs to the room he said was always his when he was here in London, and I was glad we wouldn’t be in the master bedroom. How awful to have been sleeping in his parents’ bed.

It had been nearly a week since I’d last been with Theo. He’d driven over to me, ended up talking to Dad in the back garden about Dad’s escape from the Nazis, as well as the Russians and, both enjoying each other’s company, it had meant I’d only had an hour or so with him before he drove back to Leeds.

‘He could have stayed the night, love,’ Mum had insisted.

‘Oh? Where?’

‘Well…’ Mum had looked round vaguely. ‘In our David’s bed.’

‘Next to Les? I don’t think so.’

There was so much sexual tension between us in Theo’s schoolboy’s bedroom that evening, the city’s summer light and warmth streaming in through the open windows, but rather than jump on him, I looked round, taking in everything that drew a picture of Theo, the child. The room probably hadn’t changed much since he was a schoolboy, and I found it touching that his model aeroplanes and Beano annuals were still on display.

Having examined his childhood treasures, I opened my case, moving a couple of things around, taking out clean underwear and a different T-shirt. I found the new knickers Linda had insisted on buying for me as a going-to-London present and was about to head to the bathroom.

‘Jesus.’

‘What?’ Theo looked up from where he was lounging on the bed, reading Time Out.

‘Nothing, nothing.’ Pink-faced, I started to laugh. ‘I reckon whoever made these forgot to sew the seams of the… you know… the… gusset!’ I held them up for Theo’s inspection, suddenly utterly turned on by the very thought of wearing them.

We didn’t get to see the delights of Holland Park or anywhere else in London that evening.

20

I hated leaving London, hated knowing I wouldn’t be able to see much of Theo over the coming weeks once he was back up in North Yorkshire working the summer months at Mandeville Hall. I reassured myself that Theo had asked me to go up and stay there with him and, although I wasn’t overly looking forward to another weekend en famille, I had more than liked Mary and Graham the groom, and to be honest, even Lord Hugh had been pleasant and welcoming.

‘I don’t want to go home,’ I said, once we’d thrown our bags into the back of the Mini at Sheffield station, Theo had put the car into gear, and we were on the road back to my house.

‘You didn’t want to leave London?’ Theo turned to me with a smile. ‘Or you don’t want to leave me?’

‘Both,’ I said. ‘I never thought I’d love being in a city as much as I did London. Thought I was a country girl at heart.’

‘Well, you did see London at its best.’ Theo took my hand once he’d stopped for a red light. ‘It can be grey, miserable and crowded a lot of the time. As well as ridiculously expensive. I can’t say I’d ever want to live there permanently.’

‘Oh, really?’ I felt disappointment, having been wrapped up in lovely little dreams of Theo and I both moving to London once we’d finished our final year at Leeds. ‘But, you know… Westminster? The Houses of Parliament? I want to be there. Where it’s all at.’

‘I get that. And I’m sure you will end up just where you want to be. If I had a choice I’d be back in the South Island of New Zealand.’

‘Right.’ Theo hadn’t said ‘we’ and I sat back in my seat, a slight despondency working its way through every bit of me as I took in his words. I was being ridiculous, I knew. For heaven’s sake, we’d only been seeing each other a few weeks. But they had been the best few weeks of my life and I knew I wanted – needed – more of Theo Mandeville.