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‘Come in. I called Kathy but she didn’t answer, so I’m going to have to catch up with her on the phone later.’ Rory led her down a hallway with a black and white tiled floor which Carrie barely had the opportunity to admire, and walls that were painted a dark blue, with the woodwork finished in the same colour. ‘Are you feeling all right?’ he asked. ‘I was worried about you the other night. We haven’t had a chance to talk, since.’
They came into a wide, cosy lounge with two plain white sofas which shone out against the same blue walls as in the hallway.
‘I’m fine, thanks.’ Carrie put her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, feeling slightly awkward. ‘Sorry for crying all over you.’
‘Don’t apologise. I didn’t mind at all.’
The lounge’s floorboards had been varnished and a mustard rug stretched between the two sofas. A wall of bookshelves stood opposite. Carrie resisted the urge to look surprised that Rory was such a reader, and also to go over and look at the books he’d read.
‘Take a seat.’ He offered her one of the sofas. ‘Coffee? Tea? Glass of wine?’
Carrie looked at her watch. ‘It’s two forty p.m. Maybe a little early for wine.’
‘Oh, right. Sorry. I’ve been up all night, sorting things out. Sort of lost track of time.’ Rory ran a hand through his black hair and exhaled. ‘Coffee, then? I could do with one.’
‘Sounds like you could. I’ll help.’ She followed him into an adjoining kitchen, which contained a dining table and chairs that were piled up with more laundry, and a large rucksack. ‘Going somewhere?’
‘Yeah. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, actually.’ He flicked on the kettle and got a silver canister of filter coffee out of the fridge, spooning a generous amount into a cafetiere, then took two blue mugs from a shelf and poured milk into one. ‘Do you take it black, or white?’
‘White, one sugar.’ Carrie watched him, admiring the way that he moved with almost balletic grace around the kitchen.
‘No problemo.’
They made small talk while they waited a few minutes for the coffee to brew. Carrie was grateful for the fact he wasn’t making her talk about Claire. When Rory deemed the coffee ready, he pushed down the plunger, humming under his breath while he did so.
‘Here.’ He handed her a mug. ‘Do you want to sit down in the lounge? These stools aren’t as comfortable as the sofa.’
‘I know, but I’m not as worried about spilling coffee on them,’ Carrie said, taking the mug and lowering herself onto the tall metal stool. ‘Those are two blinding white sofas in there. Only a childless man would choose such an impractical colour.’
Rory frowned for a brief second. Carrie suddenly wondered if she’d made some kind of terriblefaux pasmentioning the fact that he didn’t have children, but then he smiled, and, just like every time Rory smiled, it was as though rainy clouds had been blown away and the sun had come out.
‘You’re right. They looked great in the showroom. That’s all I really thought about.’ He stood on the other side of the white marble kitchen island and took a long slug of his coffee. ‘Plus, it’s just me here.’
‘It’s really nice, though,’ Carrie said, and meant it. The kitchen had wide bifold doors that opened onto a long garden, which started with a patio area. ‘Is that a kitchen garden out there, too? Like outside the restaurant?’
‘Yeah. I try to keep it up when I have time. Just some standard herbs, potatoes, broccoli, chard, onions. Nothing much.’
‘That sounds like a lot.’ Carrie glanced back at the dining table piled up with clothes. ‘So. You’re going away?’
‘Yeah,’ Rory sighed. ‘Look. You know I was in the navy, right?’
‘I remember.’
‘Yeah. Well, I left, but I stayed in the Reserves. That means I can theoretically get called up if needed, until I get too old to be useful.’
‘Right. And?’
‘I got called back, would you believe.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘Haven’t seen active service for years. But I’ve been asked to provide some specialist training for the thing I used to do. I’m going early tomorrow.’
Carrie’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, goodness. Where?’
‘I can’t say, I’m afraid. It’s unusual to be asked to come out of retirement, but not unheard of when your skills are quite niche.’
‘What are your skills?’ Carrie sipped her coffee. ‘Or is that on a strictly need-to-know basis as well?’
‘Ha. I was a navy diver. I specialised in neutralising bombs underwater.’
‘Oh. Wow.’
