This Thing Called Love by Debbie Howells

Author:Debbie Howells [Howells, Debbie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Published: 2025-05-04T16:00:00+00:00

Knowing there’s hope on the horizon, after that, I doze intermittently, falling deeply asleep just as it’s getting light, so that it’s 10 a.m. by the time I awake properly. Then as I come out of the shower, I see Leo is calling me.

‘Alex. It’s Leo. I got your number from Kevin. How’s your mother doing?’

‘Not so bad.’ Then I remember, when I met Leo, he was in the hospital, too. ‘How are you?’

‘Could be better. But can’t complain,’ he says cheerily. ‘That isn’t why I called, though. Don’t know if Kevin told you, but I have an address for Atlas. He lives in a hostel.’ Just as I’m imagining Atlas being homeless, Leo goes on, ‘He never could bear to see folks having nowhere to go. He bought the place years back to give homeless people a roof over their heads. Apparently, he’s still there. Running it has pretty much become his life.’

I’m stunned. ‘I had no idea. But thank you. I’m going to try to go and see him.’ I pause. ‘Why don’t you come too? We could meet in Glasgow.’

There’s silence from the other end of the call. ‘That’s a fine idea.’ He bursts into a fit of coughing, that becomes muffled for a couple of minutes, before he speaks again. ‘Sorry about that.’ His voice is hoarse. ‘It’s best you go without me.’ He pauses. ‘I’ve a horrible feeling I picked up Covid when I was in hospital.’

‘Of course.’ I’m frowning, thinking how unwell he’d looked. ‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘I’ll be back in England soon. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.’

‘Bless you.’ His voice is rough. ‘About Kevin…’ He hesitates. ‘I know he can be a bit of a miserable bugger. But his heart’s in the right place.’

‘I’m kind of working that out,’ I say. ‘But he doesn’t do himself any favours, does he?’

‘You could say.’ Leo chuckles, before it turns into a coughing fit. ‘You’re a good lad, looking after your mother. But don’t forget to look out for yourself, too.’

I have the oddest sensation of a lump in my throat. When you’re constantly caring for someone else, you tend not to think about yourself too much. ‘I’ll let you know how we get on,’ I say.

‘I’ll look forward to it,’ Leo says. ‘Cheers for now.’

Checking out of the hotel, I’m sad to be leaving. But we have time to spare and drive over to Luke’s.

‘Leo asked for your number. No idea why,’ Kevin says.

‘He called before we left. He wanted to talk about Mum.’ Though I think it was more to see how I was coping with Kevin.

Reaching Luke’s place, I park and get out. Standing there, I soak up the peacefulness of the surroundings. The hills in every direction, the valleys of pine and olive groves. A world apart from everything I know, quite simply, it’s a little corner of paradise.

‘Come on,’ Kevin says impatiently, as he hobbles towards the house. ‘We don’t have long.’

We make our way around the side of the house to the terrace where Luke is sitting at his laptop.

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