CHAPTER TEN
My heart started beating fast. I felt quite breathless. Should I catch him up and say hello? The reality was we barely knew each other and he might think it was weird. But then I remembered Barley. That little dog was as good a reason as any to want to talk to him...
But he was getting away from me, striding along the high street, and if I wasn’t quick, I’d lose him again.
So I started to run, dodging as nimbly as I could between oncoming pedestrians but almost taking a woman’s handbag with me. I stopped to apologise and she smiled and said it was fine as she secured the bag over her shoulder. But when I looked back, Jensen had disappeared. Panicking, I set off again at speed, and finally set eyes on him again walking along a side street.
He’d stopped to look at his phone, which was a stroke of luck, so I was able to catch him up and tap him on the shoulder. ‘Hi!’ I gasped, out of breath. ‘It’s really great to see you. How are you?’ He turned in surprise and I beamed up at him.
And that’s when I realised.
It wasn’t Jensen at all.
I’d been chasing a different man altogether. And he wasn’t even a stranger, so I couldn’t just say, ‘Oops, sorry. I thought you were someone else.’
It was the cheery young postman who always had a twinkle in his eye when he delivered a parcel and I took receipt of it.
He looked somewhat surprised by my enthusiastic greeting. ‘Hello! Nice to see you, too. Erm... so how’s it going?’ I could see he was trying to work out where he’d seen me before.
I swallowed. ‘Um . . . yes. Good. Good.’
He nodded. ‘Good. Nice day.’
We looked up at the sky which was a solid gunmetal grey.
‘Yes. Yes. Not bad. Erm, hopefully it won’t rain.’
‘Hope not. Funerals and rain are the worst.’
‘Oh, dear. That’s why you’re wearing the suit today?’
He nodded. ‘My great-aunt.’
‘I’m really sorry.’
‘Well, we weren’t close. But yes... yes, it’s sad.’
‘Right, well. Enjoy the... I mean, I hope it goes well,’ I blustered. ‘Right. Better be going.’ I started edging away.
‘Yes. Er... nice to see you. Craster Road. Number eleven, isn’t it?’
‘Well remembered!’ I called back as I escaped.
Despite the dull day, heat was radiating from my T-shirt. I hadn’t felt that embarrassed since I’d had to read something aloud in front of the whole school, on the subject of the environment. I’d stumbled nervously over ‘the clock is ticking’, missing out the ‘l’ altogether, and giving my bored audience the best chortle they’d ever had in school assembly. (‘Hey, ticking cock!’ followed me for a good while after.)
I slowed down once I was out of sight of the postie and almost home. And as I pushed open the front door, I was feeling a jumble of emotions.
I’d scored a victory that day, getting Loli to agree to me being tested – on condition I tracked down my dog rescue hero. (Presumably she thought we’d take one look at each other and agree to live happily ever after!)
But one thing was abundantly clear. I’d have to do rather better than accosting the occasional puzzled acquaintance in the street if I wanted to find Jensen again...