Chapter 48
48
When I arrived in the foyer back my hotel, I asked if I could check out early and get a refund, but sadly, they wouldn’t refund the extra night. It was the night before Christmas Eve but their Christmas spirit was clearly not at the forefront of their customer service. My heart and my soul was completely deflated and I didn’t care how much money it would cost me now, but I just wanted to go home and lick my wounds in my familiar surroundings. But fate had other ideas because when I checked the train time app to change my tickets, there were no more trains until the following day anyway.
I left the hotel, not knowing where I was going but knowing I didn’t want to go and sit in my room alone.
All my visions of spending time with Dennis in London were now long gone. When he’d talked about how fabulous the Oxford Street lights were at this time of year, and how beautiful Covent Garden was, I had envisaged us wandering around hand in hand, taking in the sights and then coming back to the hotel and spending the night together, truly being with the one I loved.
I wandered for miles before I realised I hadn’t a clue where I was. Being lost in London made me realise just how out of my depth I was and how I should never have come. My battery had run out on my phone so I couldn’t even use Google Maps and if I stopped to ask someone, I probably would have scared them to death. I was pretty sure I looked like Alice Cooper. I was sat on a stone bench somewhere in London, with a cold backside, not knowing where the hell I was and not knowing a soul apart from someone who didn’t want to see me.
A beep of a horn startled me, and bizarrely the taxi driver from yesterday was dropping off a fare.
‘Small world, eh? What’s the chances of seeing you here?’ He laughed out of his window before he saw that I was clearly not happy. I’d spent the day looking at faces that I didn’t know, yet when I saw this man’s friendly face, I burst out into tears again.
He pulled over a little further up the road and was suddenly beside me on the bench.
‘What on earth has happened?’
It all came tumbling out before I had time to think. How I’d very nearly made a total fool of myself and how instead of doing those touristy things that people did in London at Christmas, I wouldn’t be doing any of them, least of all with the man I loved.
‘Don’t be hard on yourself, lovely. I just want to ask if you’re sure of what you saw and heard.’
‘Yep! He’s just a complete bastard. It’s my own fault. I should have known better. Why would someone like that ever be interested in someone like me?’ I wailed loudly and he handed me a crisp white cotton handkerchief.
‘People still use these?’ I hiccuped through my tears.
‘Every day my lovely wife gives me a freshly ironed one as I leave the house. Says you never know when it might come in handy.’
I scoffed. ‘She won’t like it much if you return it full of snot and mascara.’
‘She wouldn’t mind at all. Salt of the earth, my Emma. And I know that if it was one of my girls, who was sat on a stone bench crying over a man, in the middle of London in December, getting a cold arse, she’d hope that someone would do the same for them. She’d also give me a huge bollocking if I didn’t get you into my warm cab and take you back to where you’re staying.’
I laughed through my tears.
‘Sounds like my mum.’
‘She sounds like a good mum.’
‘And so does your Emma!’
‘She’d also tell me that if I didn’t take you to see the sights you wanted to see I’d be in big trouble too. Look, I know this just sounds weird, but that last person I dropped off is my last call for the day. How about I take you to Covent Garden and we have a nice cup of tea somewhere?’
I had no idea who this man was, and if I read more psychological thrillers, I probably wouldn’t ever have given him the time of day, but he seemed so lovely and genuine, and I felt like he was honest and good.
I dithered. Should I go or not?
‘I promise you I’m not a serial killer.’ He winked.
‘Yeah, that’s what they all say!’ I laughed.
I remembered his kind words from the day before. And his great advice. Be brave.
‘A cup of tea, you say?’
He nodded his head.
‘If you make it a gin and tonic and I buy, you’re on!’
He grinned back at me.
‘Only if you sit up front though. I do this with my daughters and they get really annoyed with me for pointing out all the landmarks.’
‘It’s a deal. I haven’t a clue where all the landmarks are anyway. I’d love you to point them out to me.’
‘In that case, you can consider me your personal tour guide. This way, milady.’ He hooked his arm for me to grab on to and then opened the passenger side door to the cab. ‘He’s a fool, you know. A real fool.’
Sitting with a total stranger in an outside bar in Covent Garden, under a patio heater and wrapped up in my fake fur coat, should have seemed really bizarre but it wasn’t at all. Ralph was a total gentleman and told me all about his children and grandchildren, clearly a wonderful man with family at the heart of everything he did. We even called his wife from the bar so I could speak to her. She was so lovely and said that he was just a big old softie who wanted to help everyone and that he’d never been any different. It was one of the many reasons why she loved him so much.
We went back to my hotel via Harrods, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, Oxford Street and even Buckingham Palace, with Ralph pointing out all the landmarks.
‘I just wanted to make sure that your trip to London wasn’t a total waste of time, darlin’,’ he said as he pulled up outside my hotel.
‘Considering what happened earlier, I’ve had a really lovely end of the day. Thank you, Ralph.’ I leaned across and kissed his cheek.
‘You take care, girl. And remember, you’re too good for him anyway.’
He dropped me off at the hotel entrance and I waved as he drove away. Going back into my hotel room that evening should have felt a million times worse than it did and I thanked God for genuinely wonderful people in this world we live in.
‘Have you enjoyed your stay, madam?’ the receptionist’s sing-song voice asked me as I checked out the next morning.
I hesitated before answering. ‘It wasn’t quite what I was expecting but yes, in the end I did.’
‘Well, that’s good to hear. I hope to see you again soon.’
As I walked away, dragging my case behind me, I realised that I would probably never return to this hotel again. And possibly never again to London. I had mixed memories. Ralph had somehow turned a shitty day into a really pleasant experience, but I just wanted to be back at home now, sat around the table in our kitchen with my mum, Dad and bickering with our Dan. Maybe it was OK if that was what my happy-ever-after was meant to look like. Times change after all. Maybe fairy tales do too.