Chapter 60
SIXTY
MARK
Mark spotted the ‘sold’ sign one morning as he was leaving the apartment.
Carol had just returned from dropping Maisie at school when she ran into him.
‘Morning, Carol. So it looks like that’s it, then,’ he said, glancing at the ‘sold’ sign that must have appeared last night.
‘I guess we knew it was coming.’ Carol sighed. ‘Jess will be devastated. Hopefully I will have a place soon, though.’
‘So, have you moved back to the area?’
‘Yes. I’m staying here with Jess and Maisie, at least for the time being.’ She squinted in the autumn sunshine, wishing she had brought her sunglasses.
‘Oh right,’ said Mark in surprise. Her life in the Lake District had sounded idyllic when she described the surroundings at the BBQ evening. But then maybe she had missed her family.
‘Do you have time for a coffee?’ she found herself saying.
‘I have all the time in the world,’ said Mark. ‘Actually, I don’t suppose you fancy a walk as it is such a lovely morning? We could walk through Alexandra Park, then grab a drink from a café somewhere.’
‘Yeah, I’d like that,’ said Carol. ‘I don’t suppose we will have many more days like this, before the weather turns cold.’
She found herself wishing she had applied some make-up before she had headed out this morning. Still, she could at least put some lipstick on when she popped inside for a moment.
‘Just let me put this in the fridge first,’ she said, lifting the milk she had just purchased from the Co-op.
She quickly checked her hair in the hall mirror, before sliding some lipstick over her lips and grabbing a light cardigan.
Alexandra Park, a small park favoured by dog walkers, was quite busy this morning with the usual occupants of the neighbourhood. Park walks had become a bit of a thing for him after spending the day with Alice, he thought to himself.
An old lady was sitting in her usual place on one of the memory benches, a plaque dedicated to her husband. She had informed Mark of this one morning, when they had got chatting.
They wished her a good morning as they passed by, and she returned their greeting.
A group of teenage girls, bags slung over their shoulders, were making their way to school, chattering loudly as they went.
‘Oh, to be that age again,’ commented Mark, who had always been popular with girls.
He watched a small group of boys from a neighbouring school turn and glance at the girls as they walked past.
‘I wish I had had a few more adventures at that age,’ Carol found herself saying.
‘Do you?’ asked Mark. Carol was such good company now, and he imagined her being a bundle of fun in her youth.
‘Yeah, I do,’ she confessed. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun with my friends, I just wish I had been a bit more adventurous,’ she reflected. ‘I had a friend who went off and worked abroad as a nanny. I wish I had done that.’
‘I imagine that was quite an adventurous thing to do, back in the day.’
‘Oh, it was,’ agreed Carol. ‘Everyone thought she was really daring, going off like that on her own. Not like me, married at twenty-one and still living in the place I grew up,’ she told him.
As they approached one of the exits at the far end of the park they passed an elderly gentleman who wished them a cheery good morning as he threw some nuts and seeds from a plastic supermarket bag to a flock of birds on the nearby lawn.
‘Let’s hope the birds eat all that food or the rats will,’ Mark whispered to Carol as they walked past, not wishing to offend the old man, who regularly fed the birds in the park.
Some of the leaves on the trees already had a soft yellow bleeding through the green, and at some point the trees would become a mixture of red, gold and green, thought Carol as she walked. As she did so, the line of a well-known eighties song popped into her mind, and she smiled.
‘Something amused you?’ asked Mark.
‘“Karma Chameleon”,’ she said, explaining her thoughts.
‘That song was number one when my daughter was born,’ he said.
He told her all about his daughter, who lived in Australia.
‘Wow. I didn’t know that. You must miss her,’ said Carol.
‘We both did at first,’ he told her, referring to himself and his late wife.
‘But when we went out there and saw the life she was living, we knew it was right for her. We would go out at least once a year, and she and her husband would come over here,’ he told her.
‘She came over after Diane died and tried to persuade me to go and live with her.’
‘And you didn’t fancy it?’
They had stopped for a second on a path to allow an enthusiastic young boy to ride past on his bike.
‘I felt too old to make a new life on the other side of the world,’ he said as they strolled along.
‘Besides, my life is here, along with my memories. We are still close, though. There are lots of FaceTime calls.’ He smiled.
‘In fact, she and her husband are actually coming over early in the new year, doing a bit of a tour, visiting old friends too,’ he told her.
‘That will be nice,’ said Carol, hardly able to imagine how she would feel if Jess and Maisie lived on the other side of the world.
They eventually arrived at an exit on the right-hand side of the park and walked on until they reached Coronation Road.
There was another park on the road, that included a playground for children and a field for dogs to run around. The council had recently installed some new outdoor gym machines, as well as upgrading some of the equipment in the play area.
‘Did you know Declan was instrumental in getting the funding for the upgrading of the park?’ Mark informed Carol as they walked by.
‘Was he really?’ said Carol.
‘Yes, and the gym equipment. He told me about it once. Only when I happened to mention something about the park, though,’ he told her. ‘I like Declan; he’s a good bloke.’
Carol had replayed the conversation in her head this morning when she had dropped Maisie at school. Jess had insisted on taking the train into town as she knew how flustered Carol got driving into the city centre, despite her mum offering.
Along with most people in the city, Carol remembered reading about the downfall of Tony Callaghan. To hear that Declan had been the one who had killed him, though, had come as a huge shock.
She understood her daughter’s concerns, of course she did.
Yet something inside her told her that Mark’s instincts were right.
Declan was a good man. All the same, she thought this was something her daughter would need to figure out for herself, despite any advice she might give her.
At least she was back here now, so could keep her eye on her daughter and granddaughter should anything change.
When they took their seats at a café in the village high street, on which there were more eateries and less shops these days, Carol considered talking to Mark about what Jess had told her, before deciding against it.
What would be the point? Besides, it was up to Declan to decide who he should tell about his past, should the need ever arise.
Whatever had happened in a person’s life was no one else’s business, thought Carol. Don’t we all have a past?
Carol declined the offer of breakfast and popped the complementary caramel biscuit into her mouth that came with the coffee.
‘So did you say you were back here for good, then?’ asked Mark as he stirred his drink.
‘I am, although I can’t live with Jess forever,’ she told him. ‘In fact, I have already booked an appointment to view an apartment tomorrow. Not far from the beach. And given the situation with the apartment block, at least her and Maisie would have a roof over their head.’
‘Sounds perfect,’ said Mark. He surprised himself by feeling pleased that Carol would be moving back to the area.
She really was so easy to talk to. He also tried not to think about his current home being sold.
He did have his sister, though, although he wondered if he was too long in the tooth to be sharing a home with someone else, even family.
‘It needs a bit of modernising, although nothing too drastic,’ Carol said positively. ‘A lick of paint, and maybe a more modern shower is pretty much all it requires.’
‘Well, if you need a bit of muscle, I’m your man,’ said Mark, who then felt the colour rise in his cheeks. God, he hoped he wasn’t blushing at his age.
‘I might just take you up on that.’ She winked. ‘Anyway, I don’t want to be getting my hopes up,’ she told him. ‘Although if something is meant to be, it will be. I am a firm believer in that.’
After his wife’s death, and now his mother’s, Mark did not want to sit with his grief any longer. His new friends were so full of life, maybe he ought to try and take a leaf out of their book. At least from time to time.
‘Maybe you’re right.’ He smiled. ‘And I mean it, if you need any help redecorating the flat, I would be happy to help.’
‘Let’s hope I get it, then,’ Carol said with a wink as she tapped her cup against Mark’s. ‘And thanks for the coffee.’
‘My pleasure,’ said Mark with the warmest of smiles and a feeling of optimism for the future.