When We Meet Again by Jill Steeples

Author:Jill Steeples [Steeples, Jill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

14

After breakfast, we decided to head for the great outdoors. The atmosphere in the flat was becoming oppressive and besides, the sun had been filtering through the picture windows, beckoning us outside, the forecast for the rest of the day bright sunshine.

Brickhill Country Park was only ten minutes away and a haven for wildlife, dog-walkers, young families and courting couples.

Walking hand in hand with Jimmy along the pathway that led to the boating lake, I had to keep reminding myself that outside of our little fragilely constructed bubble, none of this was real. To the man pushing his young son along on his toy motorbike, I was a single woman taking a Sunday morning stroll alone. To the teenage couple gently teasing each other, I was probably a figure of pity and ridicule. To the guy loitering behind the dustbins, I was fair game.

‘All right, love?’ he asked, a sneer moulding his face.

‘She’s out of your league, mate,’ called Jimmy, putting a protective arm around my shoulder as we sauntered past. I laughed, confusing the guy with my reaction as he shook his head dismissively. If I’d been alone, I’d have felt vulnerable and frightened and would probably have turned back onto the main path, but with Jimmy beside me I’d felt protected, a feeling I relished, and something I realised had been sorely missing from my life. Someone to lean on.

Maybe, in the absence of a real live man in my life, I needed something else. A dog, perhaps, I thought, smiling as a scruffy-haired mutt scampered past. Whatever it was, the hole that I hadn’t even known existed in my life had been given a temporary fix by Jimmy’s special brand of spiritual healing. The trouble was, I knew it was only a for-the-moment arrangement.

‘To be honest, Jimmy, it was all a bit of a disaster last night. We did our best, but we had to pounce on Donna in the loos. It wasn’t the most conducive atmosphere to getting her on our side. And when she heard what we had to say, it only made matters much worse.’

‘I bet.’

‘She’s very pretty, isn’t she? Much prettier than she seems on telly and in the mags. Up close, you can definitely see the natural beauty beneath all the glitz.’ It wouldn’t have surprised me if Jimmy had slept with her, after all. Any red-blooded male would have their head turned by someone as desirable as Donna.

Jimmy scrunched up his nose, as though he’d just caught a whiff of something unsavoury.

‘You think? She’s not my type, that’s for sure.’

‘Really? And what’s your type then, Jimmy?’ The outdoors air made me bold.

He stopped and spun me round to face him.

‘Someone like you,’ he said looking at me intently. ‘Yeah, I suppose you’d do, with your funny ideas and quirky ways.’

‘Thanks a bunch,’ I said, laughing away the compliment, but my body couldn’t ignore the implication. My stomach scrambled and I felt the back of my throat tighten.

‘She was very cool and collected,’ I said, linking my arm through his.

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