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I sit at my kitchen table and eat a bowl of pasta and pesto sauce for my dinner. How strange will it feel to have someone else in the cottage after so much time on my own? I can hardly picture Dominic sitting here opposite me and, at the same time, I can hardly wait.
When I’ve cleared up, I clutch my envelope and take it round to Mike’s house. He beams as he lets me in the door and I hold out my hand to him.
‘What’s this?’
‘Debt repayment,’ I say. ‘Thanks so much.’
He takes the envelope. ‘Are you sure? I don’t need it yet.’
‘You should have it while I’ve got it,’ I advise. ‘I might need to borrow it again soon.’
Mike cocks an eyebrow.
Launching in without preamble, I say, ‘I’ve asked Dominic to come and live here.’
The other eyebrow joins it.
I wait for him to tell me what a bad idea this is, how stupid I am, how I don’t know the man. All of these things and possibly some more that I haven’t even thought of, but Mike says nothing. It’s fair to say that he looks a little bit stunned by my announcement.
‘Are you paying for him to come here?’
‘Yes.’ Now the stern warnings will follow.
‘You’ll be needing this then.’ Mike offers the envelope back to me.
I hold up a hand. ‘I’m going to try to raise it with overtime and I’m thinking about doing a car boot sale.’
‘I’ll help you,’ Mike says. ‘I’ve got a load of old sports stuff in the loft that I could do with getting rid of: squash racquets, cricket bats, ski gear that I’m never likely to use again.’
I sigh gratefully at Mike. ‘You’re so good to me.’
He takes my hand and kisses my fingers to his lips. ‘That’s because I love you.’
Right. Where can I take this conversation? ‘Mike . . .’
My neighbour holds a finger to my lips. ‘And I want you to be happy, Janie. I’ve said that before. If there’s anything I can do,’ Mike continues, ‘you only have to ask. Remember that.’ He squeezes my hand. ‘Always remember that. Promise me.’
‘I will.’
‘I’m going to open a bottle of wine and we can toast Dominic’s arrival. Pick a film,’ he says and spreads out a selection of DVDs on his coffee table.
‘Anything in particularly you fancy?’
‘As long as it’s not Out of Africa or The Lion King, I don’t mind,’ he teases.
I can’t believe how kind this man is and I’m feeling very emotional. I think I’ll steer clear of anything too slushy or romantic that will make me blub. Instead, I’ll go for something with a high body count or lots of gratuitous violence.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Barely two weeks later and I hear that Dominic’s visa has come through. He took the bus all the way to Nairobi and back without a hitch and flying in the face of the normal pace of bureaucracy, his application sailed through. He texted me the news. That has to be a good omen, right? I feel sick and elated in equal measure. There’s no going back now. This is really going to happen.
I gave Dominic my credit card details and he walked to the next village to book his flight on the internet. He messages me to let me know the date. In another week’s time, he’ll be here. Maniacally, I start to tidy the house and try to make space in a crammed wardrobe for Dominic’s things.
At the salon, there’s an underlying tension in the air that’s not very pleasant. They’re all talking about me behind my back, I can just tell and I’m sure it’s not me being paranoid. It seems to be led by my supposedly closest friend, Nina, and that makes me very sad. Why can’t she simply be happy for me?
At the allotted time on the allotted day, I set out for the airport to meet Dominic from his plane. Mike had offered to drive me, but how could I do that to him? I would have liked Nina to come along with me, but she didn’t offer and I didn’t feel that I could ask her. Relations between us aren’t that good and I can tell that she’s having problems with Gerry again, but she’s not confiding in me. I hope that when Dominic is finally here she’ll grow to like him. How could she not?
This morning, I spent my time running around like a headless chicken making the cottage look like a show home. Now every surface is gleaming. The place hasn’t been this tidy since the day I moved in.
Now, driving round the M25, my palms are sweating and I’m all in a lather. The air-conditioning is on full-tilt even though the temperature outside is near zero degrees.
It’s just over a month since I last saw Dominic but, stupidly, I’m worried that he won’t recognise me. I worry too how he’s got on with the long plane journey as his only previous experience of flying was on the balloon flight we took over the Maasai Mara.
