Pete looked puzzled. ‘What?’
‘Sitting here while I offloaded stuff that I can’t say to anyone else and not making me feel as if I’m unhinged.’
Pete’s lips stretched into a smile. ‘You’re not unhinged. I’ve found it very difficult to talk to people and I have great mates, and a close family.’
‘That’s good . . . well, you know what I mean,’ replied Laurie. ‘Your brother looks friendly.’
‘He’s brilliant and he’d be really cut up to find out that I’m holding things back from him. He and his wife are trying to have a baby and they’re in the middle of all sorts of tests to find out what’s wrong.’
‘And you don’t want to add to all that?’ suggested Laurie.
‘Yep. I don’t want him worrying about me because stress won’t help them. He knows that I’m nowhere near a hundred per cent, but I play it down. I’ve become a good liar. So . . . talking to you has helped me too. I’ve felt recently as if all the goalposts in my life have been shifted and I can’t trust my own judgement as much as I used to.’
‘You mean the thing with your sister-in-law?’ asked Laurie.
‘Yes, that.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I hope I’ve got it wrong and – or – I hope it goes away.’
‘How’s your brother getting on with his new car?’
‘He’s like a kid with a new toy. It’s cheered him up no end.’
‘Order, order,’ called the quizmaster down the mike. ‘The representative from the Three Amigos has not answered the snowball question correctly so next week the kitty will stand at one hundred and seventy pounds. The question was, which is the only place name in Britain to have an exclamation mark after its name.’
‘Westward Ho!’ whispered Laurie and Pete to each other.
‘Westward Ho!’ said the quizmaster.
‘We would have smashed it,’ said Pete.
‘Totally,’ said Laurie. She lifted her glass and drank a long throatful of juice. It was time to go, before she got too comfortable.
‘Work in the morning?’ Pete asked her, taking his cue from her.
‘Yep, bright and early. You?’
‘I’m on nights tomorrow.’
Laurie finished her drink then stood, Pete followed and they pushed through the people to the door. A grateful couple dived straight onto the seats they had vacated.
In the car park, standing by their respective cars, they turned to each other.
‘See you next week,’ said Pete. ‘Unless you happen to have a Ferrari for sale going really cheap, in which case I may see you at the weekend.’
‘Sadly not. I’ll have a house for sale though if you’re interested.’
‘You’re selling up?’ He seemed shocked at that.
‘It was always too big for two, it feels extra enormous for one.’
‘It is pretty huge.’
‘Alex wanted to fill it with children.’ Laurie sighed, and smiled.
‘Well if you get anybody coming to view and you want a man around . . . you know, for security purposes . . . if your friend with the red hair and the black belt can’t be there, please give me a ring.’
‘Thank you,’ said Laurie. ‘Have a good week.’
‘You too.’
There was no awkwardness as they got into their cars, no how do we end this evening? because it wasn’t a date. At the exit to the car park Pete turned left and Laurie turned right. Both of them were exactly half a mile down the road when they realised that even if Laurie had needed his help, he hadn’t given her his contact details.
Chapter 24
19 September
Pete was just about to head off to work the next night when the house phone rang. Only his dad or his in-laws rang it, or scammers. He checked to see which number was displayed before he picked up.
‘Hiya, Dad.’
‘Hiya, son, you on your day off?’
‘I’m on nights. Just setting off. Everything okay?’ There was a tone he didn’t like in his dad’s voice, a weight of worry.
‘I’m just giving you the heads up, lad. Griff and Lucy have had some bad news. They went up to the hospital to discuss their test results and it turns out that both of Lucy’s fallopian tubes are blocked.’
‘Can they unblock them?’
‘They think they can. So that’s bad news but not as bad news as it could have been. I thought you’d want to know.’
Poor Lucy, thought Pete. She had a feeling that the problem was with her and she’d been right. Intuition was a voice to listen to when it spoke loudly. As it was speaking to him also.
*
The night shift was quiet and after all their checks had been made, a few of Red Watch grabbed some shut-eye in bed. When the lights began to flash and the beep-beep alarm went off, even those in a deep sleep were up and dressing within seconds.
‘Male reported up a tree,’ said Andy Burlap once they were in the fire engine and underway, pulling up information on the onboard computer.
‘Stag do?’ asked Sal, driving.
‘Doesn’t go into that much detail,’ said Andy. ‘I’ve never really got why anyone who is your mate would tie you to a lamppost naked or that sort of thing.’
‘My mates hired a stripper for mine,’ said Jacko. ‘She must have been thirty stone. She sat on my knee and it’s never been the same since.’
‘How very PC,’ said Sal with a sarcastic tut.
It was a five-minute drive to the Red Rec, at least it was in the early hours of Friday morning with a dot of traffic on the roads. They could hear the distressed cries of a woman before they could see the man up the tree. As soon as the engine pulled up, she tore across the grass towards them. She was dressed in a grubby pink tracksuit and black wellies which must have been at least three sizes bigger than her feet.
‘Now, take a deep breath and calm down, love, because I can’t hear what you’re saying,’ said Andy gently, trying to steady her as she burbled at him. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Martine Brightside and I’ve been worried sick about him,’ said the woman. ‘He’s been clean for a couple of weeks and I thought he’d fallen off the wagon again. I’ve been out looking for him since midnight and I find him up there.’
‘Hello lads,’ called a familiar voice from up an autumn-stripped tree. ‘I can’t wave, my hands are tied.’
‘Juice, is that you?’ said Andy, recognising those dulcet tones.
‘Hiya.’
‘How the bloody hell did you get up there?’
‘Can’t remember. Likkle kids I think,’ Juice replied.
‘Here we go again,’ said Jacko.
‘Jacko, grab the short ex, that’ll reach him,’ commanded Andy, directing him to get the ladder from the vehicle.
‘No, I remember, it was the mayor. All because I chucked those Vulcan sausage rolls at him,’ yelled Juice.
‘Bastard. I’m going down to the town hall soon as it opens to have a word with him. I’ll hang him by his sodding chain,’ shrieked Martine, pacing up and down on the grass as if she were a life-size toy full of fresh batteries.