Chapter 8
8
DAY TWO
Now
‘Come on, let’s go celebrate!’ Minnie said, clutching a manila envelope of cash and a bottle of Sainsbury’s prosecco she wasn’t entirely sure Mrs Carter would drink. Minnie had won big on the third game, bellowing ‘BINGO!’ ten times louder and prouder than Jesse mistakenly had.
They walked through Mile End Park, appreciating the early June chill after having danced to ‘Survivor’, getting sweaty at the end of the night. Jesse had had little choice in dancing after one of the women in the fortieth birthday group dragged him to his feet. He’d looked terrified, but survived, and Minnie rescued him by joining in. The blast of air now made him slow down as they got to Mile End Tube.
‘You know I can’t,’ Jesse said, slightly relieved he had a genuine out. ‘It’s the twins’ birthday tomorrow – my friends’ kids – so I said I’d help prep the party. Ida’s coming.’
Oh, boring! Minnie wanted to sing.
‘Nice,’ she said instead.
‘Yeah it’s a bit of bonus time on a non-Ida weekend.’
Jesse looked genuinely excited and Minnie suddenly realised how different their lives were. That perhaps a forced friendship with a temporarily single dad wasn’t the best idea.
‘Ahhh that’s sweet,’ she said, as enthusiastically as she could muster. ‘I should probably get home anyway, start looking at the script for my scene.’
‘Paris calls,’ Jesse said hopefully.
There was a slight awkwardness, a mutual deflation in the air, as they made their way down the stairs to the platform to head back west. A train was already in the station, which gave them a distraction, a reason to rush. They made it and sat next to each other on tatty upholstered seats while the train doors beeped and the tube left the station.
‘My mum lives in France,’ Jesse said, breaking the impasse.
‘Oh cool, Paris?’
‘No, in the south.’
‘With your dad?’
The noise of the train rose, howling through tunnels and the open window at the end of the carriage, as the tube raced through London’s Saturday night underworld to Stepney Green. The sound hit the carriage like a scream, a muffler, which gave Jesse the freedom to say what he hated saying out loud, as loud as he could manage.
‘No, my dad… my dad died.’
Minnie looked at Jesse sharply, glad the screech of the tube on the tracks silenced her gasp.
‘I’m so sorry.’
She sat examining Jesse’s face while he stared at an advert for wellwoman vitamins above the heads of the passengers opposite. ‘How long ago?’ She wanted to put her hand on his arm but couldn’t now. She suddenly had a horrible feeling. ‘It wasn’t a plane crash was it? Oh G?—’
Jesse shook his head.
‘No. It wasn’t a plane crash.’ He gave a brief and rueful smile. ‘It was a common-or-garden-variety heart attack. He was in his garden, actually, in France.’
‘Oh no.’
‘He loved his garden,’ Jesse said, as if it made it easier.
‘When did he die?’
Jesse cleared his throat as the howl in the tunnel quietened. It was hard enough to say it to Minnie, he didn’t really want the other passengers in the half-empty carriage to hear too.
‘Early December. Before Christmas. He was putting pots away for the frost and… he just fell down, in his greenhouse.’
‘Last Christmas gone?’
He nodded.
‘That’s only six months ago,’ she said quietly. ‘I’m so sorry.’
Jesse smiled as if to say thanks, because he couldn’t speak. The tube stopped at Liverpool Street and more people got off and then on. Neither Jesse nor Minnie noticed a single thing about any one of them.
‘What about the book?’ Minnie asked.
‘Well, this is the reason I need to get on with it. My dad wanted me to draw it when he was alive, but I was so caught up in work and Ida – and Hannah…’ He shook his head. ‘I always pushed the book project to the bottom of my to-do list. I thought my dad was immortal – he was always so strong.’ Jesse turned to Minnie. ‘Like yoga-obsessed strong.’
‘Wow.’
Minnie thought of her own dad. Watching him on stage when she was a little girl and being both bored and immensely proud at the same time. She remembered being in his arms while he had thick stage make-up on, and wanting to wipe it away so he looked like her dad again. She remembered how she treasured every bit of one-to-one time with him as a teen. The thought of losing him washed over her in panic and fear. It was unthinkable to imagine she and her siblings would have to go through it one day.
‘Do you have any brothers or sisters?’
Jesse shook his head, feeling that he had sobered up. Thinking that that was probably a good thing.
‘Just me and Mum now, but she’s so far away.’ The guilty hue on his face deepened and he half winced.
As the tube slowed into Moorgate, Minnie realised she needed to change lines.
‘This is me,’ she said, briefly squeezing his arm before straightening her bag on her lap. She didn’t really want to leave him now. ‘Thanks for a fun night, I’m going to go and blow my fifty-three-pound winnings on a Balmain dress.’
Jesse laughed.
‘And swap this shit for Cristal…’ she said, wielding the bottle as she stood up.
‘You want me to see you to your flat?’ he offered.
‘No! You’re good, I’m not far from the tube, my flatmate’s restaurant is even nearer. I might stop off for leftovers en route.’
‘Oh really?’ Jesse felt bad; he should have ordered more than a bowl of fried popcorn chicken, but the night had been so unexpected he hadn’t factored in food.
‘Yeah, I like to hang out there and make a nuisance of myself anyway.’
‘In which case, let me sort out the next meet-up…’
Jesse called them meet-ups; Minnie called them playdates, as if she was the parent out of the two of them, as if the word playdate was part of her vernacular.
The tube was pulling into Moorgate and Jesse felt an urgency, realising he had about thirty seconds in which to come up with a plan.
No phones.
Minnie stood in the centre of the carriage holding the handrail, giving a little wiggle to straighten her dress.
‘Two Saturdays’ time yeah?’ he said, looking up. Not sure whether to stand too.
‘Yeah groovy,’ Minnie said casually, a hunger rumbling in her stomach. ‘Where?’
The tube stopped. Jesse panicked, stood, and kissed her on each cheek to say goodbye. She felt his imprint, and it pleasantly surprised her.
‘Oxford Circus, Nike Town?’
‘Like we really are kids,’ Minnie laughed, as she walked towards the doors. ‘Finally! You got the hang of this!’
Jesse smiled.
The doors opened.
‘Cool. Nike Town, 7p.m.?’ Minnie said.
‘See you in a fortnight.’ Jesse waved, and slumped back down in his seat.
The doors slammed closed.