AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nelson’s Mercedes has been behind Ruth’s Renault for the whole journey, making her feel stressed at junctions, but he has had to park in the next street. Ruth waits for him, hoping that there won’t be time for the dreaded heart-to-heart.
Cathbad opens the door before they have time to knock. This could be his famous sixth sense or it could be just because Thing, the bull terrier, is barking excitedly.
‘My two favourite people,’ he says. ‘I am blessed.’
Cathbad smiles seraphically, but Ruth still can’t get used to seeing him looking so thin and frail. Cathbad frequently thanks the gods– and the NHS– for his recovery from Covid but he’s still lacking in energy and, shockingly, sometimes uses a stick to walk. There’s no sign of it today, though, and when Cathbad hugs Ruth, she’s relieved to find him feeling more substantial.
‘No need to hug me,’ says Nelson. ‘Covid has its uses.’
Ruth and Kate are officially in a ‘bubble’ with Cathbad’s family, which means they can socialise. Ruth and Nelson are not in a bubble, although they have done a lot more than hug.
Kate is in the garden with Michael and Miranda. She waves at her parents but doesn’t come over. It’s no longer such a novelty to see her mother and father together and, besides, she’s busy showing her friends a new TikTok dance. Judy, Cathbad’s partner and a DI on Nelson’s team, is still at work.
Cathbad makes tea and Ruth fills him in on the day’s developments. He is satisfyingly outraged.
‘Philistines! There’s no appreciation for beauty or knowledge. You must fight this, Ruthie.’
‘We are going to appeal,’ says Ruth, rather wearily. She feels that she has been fighting things– Covid, the university, her own feelings– for too long. She has even given up telling Cathbad not to call her Ruthie.
‘David Brown said that Ruth was the jewel in the university’s crown,’ says Nelson.
‘So she is,’ says Cathbad, putting a plate of flapjacks on the table. ‘Their light in the darkness, to use a less royalist and colonialist image.’
‘I don’t know,’ says Ruth. ‘Maybe it’s a sign that my time at UNN is up.’
The words come from nowhere but, as soon as they are out in the world, Ruth has a vision of her future: a new house, a new job, different horizons. Is Nelson in the picture? She’s not sure.
She realises that Cathbad is watching her closely.
‘When you’ve finished your tea,’ he says, ‘why don’t you and Nelson take Thing for a walk on the beach?’
Thing races across the sand. Cathbad used to take him for two longs walks a day but, since Covid, hasn’t felt strong enough for more than a stroll to the park. This was why Ruth and Kate took over dog-walking last summer, but Ruth had hoped that Cathbad would be back to striding along the beach by now. Thing’s exuberance shows that this isn’t the case.
The tide is going out and the wet sand glitters in the early evening light. Everything is golden and blue. In the distance, the beach huts are outlined against the pine trees like a postcard from a different age. Surely, thinks Ruth, even Nelson must love Norfolk at times like this?
But Nelson says, kicking a piece of seaweed, ‘Cathbad still looks bloody awful. I would have thought he’d be completely better by now. It’s been more than a year. And he’s always been so fit.’
‘He nearly died,’ said Ruth. ‘It takes a long time to recover from that. And a lot of people suffer from Long Covid. The symptoms can go on for months, even years. I’ve been reading about it.’ She doesn’t add that she’d been reading about it because she, too, is worried about Cathbad.
‘He has ringing in his ears, apparently,’ says Nelson. ‘Tinnitus. He told Judy that he thought it was the universe trying to send him a message. Nutcase.’
‘Never discount Cathbad’s sixth sense,’ says Ruth. ‘It’s saved you a few times.’
Nelson grunts and kicks a stone into the sea. Ruth knows that he doesn’t like to think about the many times that Cathbad has turned up just when he was needed: guiding Nelson across the treacherous marshes, appearing through the mist at the helm of a boat, materialising in Italy after an earthquake. Cathbad even claims to have visited the dream realm in order to rescue Nelson. According to Cathbad, Nelson performed the same service for him when he lay in a coma last year.
‘I think he’s getting better, though,’ says Ruth. ‘He’s doing yoga again and he’s less breathless. The brain fog’s improving too. We were doing the crossword together the other day and he was much quicker than me, especially with the anagrams. . .’ She stops, aware that she’s babbling.
‘Ruth,’ says Nelson. ‘What are we going to do?’
Ruth turns away, pretending to look for Thing, who spoils the charade by turning up, panting, at her feet.
Nelson puts his hand on her arm. ‘Ruth?’
‘What are we going to do about what?’ says Ruth, pushing her hair out of her eyes.
Nelson sighs. ‘What are we going to do about us? Are we going to continue the charade of me sneaking over to your godforsaken house after dark or are we going to come out in the open as a couple? Are you going to move in with me?’
How many times over the years, thinks Ruth, has she longed for Nelson to say something like this? All those times she watched him go back to Michelle, all those weekends, birthdays and holidays when it was just her and Kate. When Michelle told Nelson, at the end of the first lockdown, that she wanted a separation and followed this up by moving to Blackpool with their youngest child, Ruth’s first reaction had been admiration. Finally, Michelle had done something to break the deadlock. Ruth and Nelson were free to be together. And, as much as possible during successive lockdowns, they have managed this. But now the future looms– as wide as the sea and equally full of dangers.
