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‘Hmm,’ said Jonah and she heard the bristling tone blow through the sound. ‘They’re still there. Still in that hovel, though they don’t keep any animals any more apartfrom a few chickens. They go into Millspring together for their shopping. You wouldn’t think that Rachel was only a woman of fifty and Ella was sixty-five. If they were odd before, they’rereallyodd now. They pulled up the drawbridge completely when Denny died, not that it was down much when he was alive. I’m surprised the place is still standing, it’s falling down round their ears but they won’t accept any help and they won’t move and buy somewhere smaller and easier to manage. It makes no sense because the land is worth a fortune. I’m not sympathetic, I have nothing but contempt for them, mostly for Ella but Rachel had her part to play too, she’s not as green as she’s painted. I told Ella once, I couldn’t stop myself. I told her that I knew she’d lied about you and the truth will come out one day because it always does. I scared her a little bit more than I expected to, but I didn’t really care.’
Jonah lifted his eyes from the plate to Shay and smiled warmly at her.
‘Tell me more about you, because you have no idea how many times I’ve wondered how you are. You had it so bad.’
‘Not that much to tell, really,’ said Shay. ‘We moved to Sheffield; I had a year which is best forgotten. Then somehow I felt patched up enough to go to sixth form, met new friends. I worked in offices then became a virtual assistant based at home so I could fit my job around my family. And that’s all.’ Her résumé ended with a yawn as well as a full-stop.
‘There must be more than that.’
‘Not really. I’m very ordinary.’
‘You were never ordinary, Shay.’ He looked at her with an intensity that brought the heat to her cheeks.
‘You were going to run ICI as I remember,’ he went on.
‘And you’ – she pointed her fork at him – ‘were going to play rugby for England.’
‘I played for Penistone first team and that was enough,’ replied Jonah. ‘My nose survived but not my ears, look at them.’
He tilted his head from side to side so she could see his cauliflower ears.
‘They’re beauties. My son plays,’ replied Shay. ‘I dread him getting his lovely face damaged.’
Then Jonah blurted out, ‘I cut it down – the tree. I borrowed my dad’s saw and it took me days but I cut it down by myself. Dad went mental. Not only because I broke his saw but because I could have been crushed; but I couldn’t stand that it was still there.’ He took a moment, steeled himself. ‘What really made Denny do that, Shay? Do you wonder if there was something wrong that we couldn’t have known about?’
‘I’m sure there was. And that’s why I came back,’ she answered.
They ate as they talked, reminisced. Jonah filled her in on where some of the people they knew as kids were now. Their sleazy art teacher Mr Button ran off to France with a fifth-former on her sixteenth birthday; Hannah Coles in their class had had four surrogate pregnancies for people. Little Paul Midgeley who had a permanently snotty nose went into the army and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Jess Lyons had eight children to a man she’d married at eighteen who was thirty-five years older than her – and they were still happily together. James ‘Brainbox’ Boxworth, on course to become a doctor, instead became a priest. Big Maria Morrison, who was a martial arts champ,won a gold in the Olympics. Extraordinary lives within the parameters of ordinary ones.
‘I feel so boring,’ said Shay. ‘All I’ve done is ferry parents to hospitals, put meals on tables, do shopping, mend school trousers. Stuff like that.’
‘Never underestimate “stuff like that”,’ replied Jonah. ‘I’ve taken on kids at the creamery who were written off as teenagers and I know that their lives would have been so different for a bit of discipline and guidance at home; buttons sewn on their shirts, a breakfast before school, a kiss at bedtime, some kindness. I saw it with Terri, how she changed when she became part of us. Nothing spectacular about our family, but even a little love is very powerful. You know, I asked my mum once if she’d adopt Denny and she told me not to be daft because he already had a family. Then, when she went to his funeral, she cried and said she wished she’d asked his mother if he could come and live with us.’
‘What happened to Denny’s grandfather?’ asked Shay. ‘Did he ever come back?’
‘Never. Disappeared into thin air. Some people said that Denny was so upset about him going that’s why he killed himself. As if there wasn’t enough rubbish said.’
‘I’d like to go to his grave while I’m here,’ said Shay.
‘I’ll take you,’ replied Jonah.
Jonah drove her home. He’d just had the one glass of wine. Eating and drinking had not been the main focus of their evening. Everyone and everything outside their little patch of Millspring seemed a million miles away. She wondered if he’d try to kiss her when they pulled up outside Candlemas, and what she’d do if he did.
‘I’ll see you on Saturday morning then, shall I?’ he said,smiling. He turned to her, as unsure as she what might happen next.
‘Thank you for a lovely evening. And meal.’
‘You hardly ate.’
‘Neither did you, we were too busy walking down memory lane together.’
His smile closed then and he looked suddenly serious.
‘I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you, Shay Corrigan.’ His hand came out, cupped her cheek and she felt her head instinctively press into it. He leaned towards her, she felt the soft click of his kiss on the corner of her mouth and inhaled his scent, a mix of his aftershave and some indefinable other that her brain remembered from long, long ago.
She needed a stiff drink when she got in. And another.
Chapter 32
