In the back of the car, Poppy sighed. “Please don’t tell us about the concrete one again, Dad.”
Mitchell grinned. “I’ll try not to.”
He found himself gripping his seat as Liza took a sharp bend in the road. She finally pulled onto the Jupiter Hotel’s car park with a screech.
Mitchell and Poppy unbuckled their seat belts and opened the doors. They both clambered out quickly.
However, Liza stayed put.
Mitchell placed his hand on the car roof and bent down to speak to her. “Are you going to join us?”
She bit her bottom lip. “I’m not sure, Mitchell. It’s late and I’m giving a lesson tomorrow. I dashed out of the house and Sasha will wonder where I’ve gone to...”
He gave her time to think.
The music on the radio ended and the presenter started to drone on in a sleep-inducing voice.
Poppy ducked her head around Mitchell’s arm to speak to Liza. “Rosie made Graham a tapestry, a family crest,” she said. “It’s got a unicorn and a donkey on it. Because they’re so different. You should come see that, at least.”
Mitchell and Liza shared a smile, before she paused a few beats. The anticipation of her reply made his chest feel tight.
“Well, that sounds most interesting,” she said. “Perhaps I should take a closer look.”
Mitchell beamed. “It’s 11:58,” he said.
Liza flung her car door open and jumped out. The three of them ran across the car park into the hotel and shoved open the doors to the ballroom.
Graham and Rosie stood together on the dance floor. No music played as Mitchell, Liza and Poppy approached them.
“Bloody hell, Mitchy Boy. Talk about cutting it fine,” Graham said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“My fault.” Liza pointed down at her feet. “I had to find shoes to wear. One was under my bed and it took a while to locate it.”
Rosie broke into a smile. “I love those. Pregnancy has made my feet swell so I had to wear these.” She hitched up her wedding dress to display a pair of purple Nike trainers.
“They’re so cool,” Liza said. “That look really suits you.”
“I didn’t know about that,” Graham laughed.
“We can tell each other all our secrets, now we’re married,” Rosie said, and she wrapped her arms around his waist.
The first stroke of midnight sounded faintly from the Upchester cathedral clock.
“This is it,” Graham said. He raised a hand and waved at Brock, who had also taken on DJ duties.
The opening bars of “Crazy For You” by Madonna started to play. Graham and Rosie held each other close and swayed side by side. Other couples filtered onto the dance floor to join them.
Poppy stood there stiffly. “I don’t know this one,” she said. “I might join the kids under the table.”
“Go and play,” Mitchell said. “Have fun.”
She sidled away self-consciously, then broke into a skip.
“Shall we...um, get a drink? I’m in the mood for a glass of chardonnay, or do you fancy a nice red?” Liza gestured toward the bar. “Or you can show me the tapestry.”
Mitchell followed her gaze. After running across the city, he could really do with a glass of cider. But there was something he wanted more. He positioned his arms as if ballroom dancing with an invisible partner. “I know I’m not perfect—far from it. But I’d really like to ask you to dance, Miss Bradfield.”
She paused for a while, so he wasn’t sure what her answer would be. Her eyes flicked away from his before she gave him a short nod. She took hold of her skirt and curtsied. “That’s a nice proposition. Not something I’ve been asked before. I don’t mind if I do, Mr. Fisher.”
They stepped closer together and he wrapped one arm around her waist and took her hand. When she placed her hand lightly on the back of his jacket, he felt light-headed, in a good way. Her perfume had a hint of coconut and it reminded him of holidays and sunshine. And he knew he liked it. Very much indeed.
From beneath a table at the edge of the dance floor, among a line of other children, Poppy stuck her thumbs up at him.
34
THE NEW BRIDGE
Two days later
Mitchell and Poppy walked along the main road in Upchester, past the Slab, Vicky, Archie and Redford, toward the new Yacht bridge. The river ran beside them, a shimmer of smooth gray satin. Mitchell enjoyed being in the city with the sun warming his cheeks. It brought out a happiness in people, a bonhomie that didn’t exist in duller weather.
There was an energy in the air, an infectious buzz about today’s centenary celebrations and the opening of the new bridge. Families and friends waved flags and held on to bobbing balloons as they teemed toward it. Mitchell felt genuinely happy for the lovers who held hands and looked into each other’s eyes as they walked along.
It was something he’d once had for himself, and perhaps he could again.
When he saw a swish of a red jacket among the crowds, Mitchell let it slip away, knowing it could never be Anita. He focused on what was ahead of him instead. He’d arranged to meet Liza and her family in the middle of the bridge, next to one of its huge masts.
Mitchell wondered if any of the people surrounding him might have written a letter to him, and received his own in reply. It made him feel a stronger connection to the city and everyone who lived in it, as if there were invisible threads binding them all together.
When he and Poppy approached the mouth of the bridge, Mitchell saw the barriers had been removed and food stalls and vans now lined its pavements. The smell of hot dogs made him feel hungry. Other vendors sold hats, T-shirts and commemorative posters with Jasmine Trencher’s bridge design on them, and he could see how his own original plan had been steeped in the past. The new white structure that towered in front of him was majestic and beautiful.
At the far end of the bridge, a big Word Up logo spun around on a large screen above the stage.
Mitchell spied Liza with her back to him several meters away. She wore her white shirt with rows of dogs on it, and the purple highlights in her hair had a dragonfly-like iridescence. When she turned and they caught each other’s eye, something bubbled gently and hopefully inside him.
A group of excited toddlers milled around Mitchell and Poppy, their parents trying to gather them all together in one place. When Mitchell halted to let them pass by, he felt a hand stroke down his arm, as if he was a cat.
Spinning around in surprise, he saw a flash of platinum blond hair and slash of scarlet.