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“Next Saturday.”
“I’d better check my diary.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Bob, I’m joking. Of course I don’t have anything in my diary. Plus, I’m intrigued to meet your scaly admirer.”
Bob huffed and pressed on up the hill. Soon the houses thinned out, and the road narrowed, becoming little more than a track, with grass poking through the tarmac in the middle. The few houses they passed were a mix of large new-builds and traditional cottages.
“I can’t believe we’re in the countryside, so close to the town.”
“Lovely, isn’t it?”
Kate nodded and followed Bob as he turned down yet another tiny road.
“Just stop here a minute and look at that.”
Kate turned around and gasped at the view. The whole town lay spread before her, sparkling in the winter sun. It looked beautifully quaint, and very different to the slightly depressing place of empty shops and daytime drunks she’d witnessed so far.
“What’s that up there?” she asked, pointing to a large monument above the town.
Bob looked at her with surprise. “It’s the beacon. Don’t tell me you’ve not noticed it yet?”
“Um, no.”
Bob slapped his hand to his forehead and let out a theatrical sigh. “I’ve really got my work cut out with you, haven’t I? It’s a nature reserve, Kate. A bloody great nature reserve practically right behind your house. Well, a five-minute walk more like, but not more than five minutes. What on earth have you been doing with yourself all this time?”
“Hey, it’s not even two months since I moved in, and I’ve been so busy with the house…”
Bob wasn’t buying her excuses. “Right, well, consider this homework from your tour guide. By the time I see you next weekend, I want you to have explored up there. Deal?”
“Deal.”
They turned off the road and onto a track that wove between two enormous fields filled with solar panels. The track led them into a forest, majestic conifers towering above their heads.
“Wow, this is so Christmassy. I feel like I’m in Scandinavia.”
“I know a great spot. Come on.”
They walked through the forest, Kate feeling like she’d been transported to Narnia, just without the snow. Near the bottom of the hill, Bob stopped and pushed through wide pine-covered branches, indicating that Kate should follow. He led her into a moss-carpeted clearing, their feet sinking into the soft ground, trees looming over them, blocking the sky.
“Oh my God, this is beautiful.”
“Yeah, it is. Me and Dad used to camp out here when I was younger. Looks like people still do,” said Bob, kicking the remains of a fire. “He’d insist on us building our own shelter, then he’d help me make a fire and we’d toast marshmallows and tell ghost stories. Scared me so much I’d be pinned to him all night.”
“He sounds like such a cool dad. I’d like to meet him sometime.”
“Did you say you brought snacks?”
“Um, yes,” said Kate, digging a box of flapjack out of her bag and wondering why he’d avoided her suggestion of meeting his parents. Was he embarrassed by her? Or them? Maybe they weren’t as good friends as she thought. They sat in silence, eating the sticky flapjack and sharing coffee from her flask. Kate felt a pang of sadness at all the opportunities missed with her own dad. Had he enjoyed camping? He probably did if it involved drugs or booze. She pushed the thought away.
“Want to see the place me and Dad called our bathroom?”
“You mean the place you went to the loo?”
“God no, that was anywhere a shovel would sink into the ground. No, I mean the place we washed.” He used his fingers to air quote the wordwashedand Kate wondered where on earth they were going.
They left the clearing and re-joined the path. A couple of mountain bikers whizzed past them and Kate made a mental note to return here with her borrowed bike. Before long, she heard the sound of running water and glimpsed a river through the trees.
