Lost Luggage by Samantha Tonge

Author:Samantha Tonge [Tonge, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

24

Dolly picked up the pencils, dropping a couple in the process; she took her time before standing upright. As their eyes met again, time rolled back, taking with it his hearing aids, the wrinkles, the bushier eyebrows, until she was looking at the Fred she fell in love with – a Fred with thick, styled hair and designer labels, cigarette hanging sexily out of the side of his mouth. He used to be such a sharp dresser. A cocky bugger, too, according to Greta.

Fred was here. On her doorstep. Fate had brought them together in a different millennium. She wanted to run away and bury her head in a pillow, as the crushing pain his disappearance had caused ripped through her once more, along with precious romantic details she’d never dared think about for fear of falling into a spiral of sadness. Like the chocolate he’d buy her when she got her monthlies. How he’d always prepare her favourite Salt ’n’ Shake crisps.

Now he was shaking his head. ‘So it’s true. We’ve been living close all these decades.’

‘We’re hardly neighbours and I’ve never had any reason to visit Lymhall. Greta always said the people there must be daft to spend that much on property.’ She held on to the door. ‘What exactly do you want?’

‘I wouldn’t say no to a hot drink.’

‘You’ve got a nerve,’ she snapped, annoyed that somehow she’d opened the door further.

‘No pluck, no luck and… I’d be the luckiest lad in Manchester if you let me in to talk.’

‘Lad? Hardly. Almost half a century has passed since we last met – or have you forgotten?’ She’d been twenty-five in 1975, him three years older.

‘I forget a lot these days… where I’ve put my glasses, what Phoebs said to me five minutes ago. But you? I’ve not forgotten one detail of our life together.’ His voice was quiet. ‘Looking good, Dolly.’

For the briefest of moments she felt as if she were in her twenties again.

‘Whereas you look as if your exciting new life, away from Manchester, didn’t bring the treasures you’d hoped for. What happened? Did you limp back with your tail between your legs?’ It was as if his presence, after all these years, wrapped a tight band around her chest that constricted with every word they exchanged. ‘What is there to discuss? It’s history. Said and done.’

‘I wanted to… I need to… fill in any gaps.’

‘This is about easing your conscience?’ Her voice wavered. ‘Picture me, turning up to your empty flat. At first I imagined all horrors… that you’d lost the job you loved, that you had a terminal illness or had suffered, I don’t know, a psychotic episode. But I’d already decided, in my head, that I’d stand by you, whatever it was.’ She gave a hollow laugh. ‘Then the landlord told me the truth – an opportunity you couldn’t refuse had come your way.’

Fred lowered his gaze. ‘Let’s not discuss this out here. If I could come in and—’

‘You think I care

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