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What We Did On Our Holidays
‘I’m dripping water everywhere — is there somewhere I can put my wet coat and my wellies?’ said Amy, conscious the rainwater was running off her coat and down onto the bedding.
‘Front footwell, that’s where I put mine. I’m afraid campervans don’t have a generous amount of drying space.’ He pointed to a large bag of wet waterproof clothing.
She wished — oh how she wished! — she’d listened to Harry and put on her clothes instead of her pyjamas when she went to bed. That was something the Swallows and the Amazons had got right, though their reasons were of the practical keeping warm and dry variety, and hers had more to do with not wanting to reveal her nipples to Matt. Again.
The next time she came camping, she told herself, she was bringing a pair of solid flannel pyjamas which she could button right up to the neck — if there was another time. Right now, it would take a lot of persuasion to get her back into the tent, if her tent even survived the night. There was nothing else for it; she couldn’t sit here in a soaking wet waterproof coat.
Reluctantly, she took off her coat, with her back to him, hoping as she turned around again that not too much was visible under her top.
Matt suddenly became rather awkward and animated.
‘Look, would you like to … um, I’ve got a T-shirt if you … Not that I’m saying you should … or you look … but I don’t think I … Oh Jesus …’ He rummaged in a drawer and held out a T-shirt to her. ‘Here,’ he said in a strangled voice.
It was easier when she was wearing his oversized dark-blue T-shirt with a flaming guitar on it.
‘Are you cold? Should I make us a hot drink?’ he asked.
A hot drink sounded ideal as she was wet through and the wind was chilly. ‘I think that might be a good idea,’ she was saying, when suddenly, before he had a chance to light the stove, there was a thundering knock on the door, which made them both jump out of their skins.
Matt drew the sliding door slightly open, to reveal Peter Thompson.
‘Thought I’d check you’re all right,’ he said.
‘Come in out of the rain,’ Matt offered, opening the door and Peter came in swiftly, shutting the door behind him to avoid letting in too much water, although the door was on the sheltered side of the van which protected it to some extent. Amy moved out of the way, tucking her legs up beneath her and sitting further back on the bed, as there was only a small area of the campervan where it was possible to stand up when the bed was fully extended.
‘Just checking,’ he reiterated. ‘Are them two lads of yours okay? Where have you stowed ‘em?’
‘They’re up in the roof!’ Matt said with a grin. ‘We’re all fine.’ He sat down on the edge of the bed in front of Amy.
‘Sturdy things, aren’t they, these old VWs? Used to have one myself, many years ago. Not for camping; just a van. Used to put the sheep in it! Thought I’d make sure you were okay. Some of the campers from up the top of the field, where it’s more exposed, have lost their tents. They’ve gone into the old barn for the rest of the night. There’s straw in there, makes a nice bed, and it’s sheltered, and there are lights and power if you need them.’
‘That’s very kind of you, but we’ll be fine.’
‘I can see that!’ he said with a nod in Amy’s direction, as she sat tucked up on Matt’s bed. ‘Glad to see you’ve sorted yourselves out.’
‘Yes, we’ve taken down Amy’s tent. It wasn’t strong enough to survive that wind!’ Matt said.
‘That weren’t what I meant. I meant the pair of you. Glad to see you’re making the most of here and now. Don’t you wait for tomorrow, because it might never come.’
‘I’m so sorry, Peter. If I’d understood … I was too young to understand what I was doing back then — what I was making Mam do. Things might have been so different for all of us.’
‘Well, nowt you can do about that now, is there? Just make sure you don’t make the same mistake your mother did and let them boys tell you what to do.’ He sat down on the edge of the passenger seat, which had been swivelled so it faced the interior of the van and he could talk to them both. ‘We all made mistakes back then, I guess. I should’ve tried harder to make her change her mind and I’ll always regret that. I should’ve convinced her. It wouldn’t have been wrong for her to be happy, you know, and if she’d’ve been happy, so might you.’ He wiped some of the rainwater from his face with the back of his hand. ‘We’ll never know, I guess. Give ‘em time, and I’m sure your lads’ll come round, if you try harder than we did to help ‘em. But never mind that now.’ He stood up and water from his coat dripped to the floor. ‘I’ll head back up and make sure the folk in the barn are settled down. Come and knock at the farmhouse if you need anything. I’ll not be sleeping tonight. Maybe I won’t be the only one, eh?’
He winked good-heartedly in Amy’s direction again, and then opened the door, stepping down into the stormy night, and Matt shut the door behind him, and then peeped into the pop-top to check on the boys.
‘I was worried the storm and all the opening and shutting of the door might have disturbed them, but they’re both asleep now.’ He gave the floor of the van a quick wipe to dry it, then turned out the central lights on the van, leaving only the string of brightly coloured star-lights, which he’d hung above the bed, to shed a warm glow over the two of them. Without the big light, the van seemed to shrink, until it was only the huge bed lit by the multicoloured light of the string of stars.
‘What did he mean about your mother’s mistake?’ He picked up a towel and dried the passenger seat where Peter had been sitting, his face difficult to discern as she got used to the dimmer lighting.
‘Oh … I … um …’ She pulled her knees up tighter to her chest. ‘It seems he and my mother had a … a holiday romance, I guess you’d call it.’
‘And that was a mistake? He wishes he hadn’t?’ He sat down in the passenger seat, still angled to face the bed where she was sitting rather than the windscreen which was behind him.
‘No, that wasn’t what he meant. It wasn’t having a holiday romance he regretted. It was that it was never more than a holiday romance. He was in love with her, Matt, and she loved him too. He asked her to marry him, but she said no.’
He looked up at her.
