Touched (27 page)

‘Oh it’s a good job I love you!’ she said. She was laughing so much that tears were running down her face. Recovering a little, and wiping her eyes, she nodded at the phone. ‘So what are you going to say to the lovely Jenny?’

‘I’m telling her what you told me to tell her,’ he said, texting, ‘That I’m on my own, that I’m still touring the Highlands – on my own – and that I am being good – also on my own.’

‘And talking to yourself, on your own, of course,’ said Tess as the two old ladies walked past again.

Dan looked up and smiled at them. They started to walk much more quickly.

‘It’s a good job I love you too!’ he grumbled, ‘and given that I do and that you know it, why am I sending texts like this to Jenny?’

‘Oh that’s easy.’

‘Is it?’

‘Yes. It’s because I asked you to, of course.’

Dan just stared at her.

‘
Harumph,’ he said.

‘You are using that word a lot lately,’ she said.

‘I wonder why…but I still don’t see why I’m doing this.’ He held up the phone.

‘Because she’s a sweet girl and you owe her for what you did to her. Anyway she must have excellent taste if she fancies you. And you should never burn bridges, you never know when you might need to cross them.’

‘But…’ said Dan, mystified.

‘No buts. Just do it.’

‘OK,’ he sighed, ‘I think I could do with a stiff drink.’

‘Distillery tour then?’

‘Good idea.’ He finished writing the text and sent it.

‘Then afterwards home?’

‘Tomorrow yes.’

‘Let’s go then. I’m sure that another part of the Highlands will enjoy the “Dan Jackson talking to himself” tour!’

She darted away from him as he lunged at her.

On the far side of the street the two old ladies had come out of another shop. Seeing him, they froze, then hurried back inside again.

*

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Saturday midday

Dan allowed the Skoda’s speed to climb into the mid 90’s. The M74 was very quiet and he could see for mile ahead. If he had been on his own he would have risked going even faster but, for the last week, had got used to his new speaking speed regulator. That, however, now didn’t seem to be working properly.

He risked glancing over at her. Tess was resting her head against the passenger window and was staring at the passing scenery.

‘You ok?’ he asked eventually, concern winning over his need for speed.

‘What? Sorry?’ she said with a start. She had clearly been deep in her own thoughts.

‘You’re very quiet, that’s all.’ He said.

‘Is that against the rules? I thought you liked quiet?’ she said irritably.

Dan fell silent, raising his eyebrows in surprise. She had actually snapped at him! That was a first. He decided that saying nothing was the safest plan – perhaps not the bravest admittedly, but definitely the safest, at least for now.

He concentrated on driving for a while.

A few minutes later he felt the chill of her hand on his left, the one that rested on his thigh as he drove.

‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘that wasn’t fair.’

‘Hey we all have our moments,’ he said, ‘Is it something I’ve done or said?’

‘No love, it’s not.’

The miles ticked past.

‘Are you worried about doing that stuff about finding out what happened to you?’ he asked.

‘No. I’m not interested in doing it now, to be honest,’ she said. ‘Unless you want to, of course,’ she added.

‘I don’t want to. I don’t want to risk losing you,’ he said.

He risked another glance. She had rested her head against the window again. She still looked deep in thought but seemed much more relaxed, her face softer.

‘Eyes on the road,’ she said, ‘and you’re going far too fast.’

Smiling, Dan eased off slightly on the throttle.

Saturday evening

They got back to Dan’s flat at about 6 pm. He let Tess inside and then began to unload the car.

‘Sorry, I’m no help am I?’ said Tess from the settee as he staggered in with the second load from the car.

‘It’s Ok, you have a good excuse!’ he said dropping his load on the floor, ‘Mind you, you could try using your special powers to make me a coffee.’

‘Well I could,’ she said, ‘but it does take a lot out of me and I was trying to save some of my energies for tonight.’ She gave him a particularly dirty wink.

‘I’ll make myself an instant,’ said Dan quickly.

‘Thought you might!’

Ten minutes later, the car was empty and locked and the kettle was on. Dan unpacked the tent.

‘I’ll have to dry and air this I’m afraid,’ he said, ‘otherwise it will stink. Mind you. I’ve never done this in a flat before.’

He looked around, wondering where would be best to drape it.

‘The outer is quite light isn’t it?’ she said.

‘Yes.’

‘Would the shower rail hold it?’

‘Great idea!’ he said.

‘And the inner could go over the dining table if it’s not too muddy.’

‘It isn’t too bad. You’re brilliant, you know that?’ Dan said as he carried the outer to the bathroom.

‘I’d always suspected it,’ she said.

‘Is there much on the table?’ he called through.

Tess turned to look.

‘Not much. A few papers and a business card.’

‘Ok, thanks!’

She got up and walked over to look more closely at what they were.

‘It’s those job ads,’ she called over her shoulder, ‘you should keep these in case they come back to you.’

‘Yes, good point,’ said Dan coming back through into the lounge. ‘in fact I should check the post in case I’ve had a reply. I forgot to look. Won’t be a moment.’ The post boxes for each flat were outside, retrieved by a key.

Tess was about to sit back down when her eye was caught by the business card.

‘Dan!’ she said, clearly surprised, ‘Where did you get this card from?’

He came back through from the hall.

‘What card?’

‘This one!’ she pointed.

Dan picked it up.

‘Oh, yes. This is the guy that Jenny and I met in Bar 37, the one that worked out in the middle east. I was going to give him a call to get some contacts off of him. Why?’

‘I know him,’ she said, in an odd, slightly hollow voice. She walked to the window.

Dan looked at the card again. Alex Curry LLB, a commercial law specialist at one of Manchester’s leading legal firms.

‘Is that the firm you worked for?’ he said, walking over to join her.

‘No,’ she said, still staring out of the window, ‘I’d had enough of big firms when I left London. I was with a little practice just off St Ann’s Square.’

‘OK.’

Dan knew that there was more than this but that she was someone who preferred to gather her thoughts first before speaking. There was no point in asking before she was ready. He let her continue to stare out at nothing until she turned to look at him again. Her face softened into a smile.

‘Most guys would have started digging by now,’ she said, ‘I do wish I’d met you before.’

‘Ditto. But it is what it is. All we can do is make the most of what we have.’

She nodded.

‘Alex Curry,’ she said, saying the name slowly, ‘Alex.’

She had gone thoughtful again.

‘How do you know him?’

‘Let’s sit,’ she said. They did, together this time, their knees touching.

‘We met in the usual way, in a bar after work. You know how it is, a thousand bars in the city and everyone seems to go to just a handful.’

‘Yeah we’re a bit sheeplike.’

‘I’d only been back here a few months. I did my degree in Manchester you know?’

‘I guessed you had.’

‘When I decided I didn’t love Henry enough to marry him I also wanted out of London too. It was always too big and crowded for me. I love Manchester and missed it so I just came home. And a few months after I arrived back I met Alex.

‘I didn’t go out much to be honest. I wasn’t interested but that night it was a friend’s birthday and I didn’t want to be rude.

‘Alex seemed so sweet at first. Quiet, thoughtful. He loved classical music too and so do I. That first night we met he invited me out to the Bridgewater. He had a spare ticket for a concert a few nights later – well he said he had anyway. I almost said no. I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend or anything like that really. But then I thought, why not? I was a bit lonely to be honest.’

Dan let her speak without interruption, sensing she had something important to tell him.

‘And it was OK, I enjoyed his company. At the start anyway. But there was one very odd thing, right from the start which set quiet alarms off somewhere in the back of my head’

‘What was that?’

‘He insisted that we keep it quiet that we were going out. He said it was because he hated how gossipy it was in the circles we worked in and that he wanted a private life for once.’

‘He had a point,’ said Dan, ‘You can’t seem to do anything in town without everyone knowing it almost before you do yourself.’

‘I know, and that’s why I went along with it. I like my privacy too. But then, after a while, it started to feel all wrong. It felt like I was always sneaking around, like I was having an affair, like I was his dirty little secret.’

‘Did you think he was married?’

Tess nodded. ‘It crossed my mind more than once, but then he said I could call him any time I liked – oh I don’t know.’ She shrugged.

‘So what happened?’

‘Well, as I said, it was fine at first, I had a good time with him. But then I saw a different side of him.

‘There was one night when we were due to go out and I just couldn’t. I just had to work late on a rush job, you know how it is sometimes?’

‘Yes of course. I would have thought he would have too.’

‘So did I but instead he went ballistic at me over the phone. He was really nasty, offensive, swearing at me and calling me…some really horrible things I don’t want to repeat. I was just so….well shocked I guess. I mean, I hadn’t done anything had I?’

‘So you stopped seeing him?’

Tess looked embarrassed. ‘I should have done. I was going to. But he came to see me though, so apologetic and begging me to forgive him. He seemed so genuinely upset. He told me how stressed he had been, that he was being driven into the ground and that the way he had reacted had been completely out of character and how badly he felt about what he had said.’

‘You took him back?’

Tess nodded, ‘Yes but it was worse than that. As an apology he gave me a first class ticket to Dubai. He was going there on business at the weekend and wanted me to go along.’

‘You
went
with him?’ Dan could not keep his incredulity out of his voice.

She nodded again. ‘It was a stupid thing to do, I know. I don’t think I was thinking straight.’

Dan took a deep breath.

‘So how was it?’ he said.

‘Again, at first, it was Ok. To be honest I didn’t see too much of him in the day, they work you hard out there you know, long hours. It was a nice hotel though and we had the evenings together.

‘The second night I was there though, when we were waiting for the lift to go down to dinner I saw a chambermaid looking at me oddly. She was half hiding behind a door; I quickly
realised that she was trying to keep out of sight of Alex whilst wanting me to see her.