Chapter 29
Dixie was surprised when she got back to Elsie to see that someone had opened the engine bay at the back of the vehicle.
Her heart started to thump but her fears were unfounded because, as she got closer, Ned appeared, wiping his hand on an old rag.
He saw her approaching and waved. She waved back and promptly stumbled over a tree root.
It was impossible to stay elegant in the woods.
At least she didn’t fall flat on her face.
‘You came back,’ she said.
‘Yeah. I thought I’d see if I could get Elsie going. I was worried I’d had a wasted trip when you weren’t around but helpfully you’d left the engine bay unlocked.’ He pointed at the engine.
‘I should probably lock that then?’
‘I would. Just in case anyone is in the market for a vintage engine that doesn’t work,’ he said with a smile.
‘No luck then?’ she asked, peering at the grubby engine as if checking for signs of life.
‘Well, I’m no expert but—’
‘It’s buggered,’ she filled in for him.
Ned laughed. ‘I wasn’t going to say that.’
‘Oh, it’s just that my other expert-VW-engine-type person said exactly that and I didn’t listen to her.’
‘That explains why some parts look recently lubricated.’
‘That’d be Renee. She seemed to know what she was doing.’ Dixie had been impressed with Renee’s knowhow, even if Elsie had conked out a few miles down the road.
‘I think your piston rings are worn out,’ said Ned with a sage nod.
‘My pissed-on rings are worn out?’ she queried. Was he taking the mickey out of her?
Ned snorted a laugh. ‘Piston rings. They keep an airtight seal on your engine so if they go, pow!’ He mimed an explosion.
‘It didn’t explode exactly. There were vibrations under my feet followed by smoke out of my back end. Then it was more of a fast decline of power.’
‘Vibrations sounds like something else, flywheel maybe.’ He seemed to be thinking out loud.
Was a flywheel a real part of a car? She wished she’d paid more attention to what Renee had said because now she had no idea if Ned was winding her up or not.
‘I could see about getting some replacement parts, if you like?’ he offered.
‘Yes please. That would be amazing. Assuming that you’re offering to fit them as well.’
‘Of course. I can’t offer a guarantee, I’m afraid.’
‘That’s OK. Just let me know what I owe you and I’ll transfer it across.’
‘OK.’ They looked at each other for a little too long and both seemed to realize it at the same time.
‘Right, I’ll finish up here,’ said Ned, scratching his cheek and leaving a small grease mark.
It gave him a more rough-and-ready look and Dixie found it strangely attractive.
She knew it was a terrible cliché but as a rich girl she was rather fascinated by working-class men.
She’d certainly had very little luck with the posh ones.
She stepped closer, pulled a clean tissue from her pocket and handed it to him. Ned seemed confused for a moment. ‘There’s a smudge on your face.’
‘Oh right. Thanks.’ He rubbed the tissue on his chin.
‘No, higher, other side,’ she instructed.
Ned rubbed near his eyebrow. Dixie was becoming frustrated.
She took the tissue and gently ran it over his cheek to remove the grease, suddenly aware that it was quite an intimate thing to do.
Her pulse had quickened and Ned was staring at her lips.
Goodness, it was all a little intense, with an air of Lady Chatterley about it.
‘Hey, you!’ shouted someone with a posh voice at the same time as a Labrador came bounding through the trees and almost took Dixie out.
The moment was gone. If it was a moment. Dixie wasn’t sure. She may have fabricated the whole thing in her head. It had been a while since she’d been in male company, or any company for that matter. She was probably just craving some human contact.
‘Hey. You there!’ shouted the same woman and Dixie turned around.
‘Hello! How can I help?’ said Dixie, her accent matching the woman’s. She watched as the rotund woman approached, wheezing slightly with the effort of striding through the woods.
The woman seemed startled for a moment. Perhaps by Dixie’s accent. ‘You can’t set up camp here,’ she said, jabbing a walking pole at Elsie. ‘We don’t want undesirables or that ilk turning the place into a fairground.’
‘Oh I know. I broke down. Terribly inconvenient. Vintage camper, you see,’ said Dixie. ‘We were trying to fix it and we think we’ve identified the trouble so hopefully we’ll—’
‘We?’ The woman was peering past Dixie.
‘Yes. Ne—’ Dixie turned around but there was nobody there. That was strange. She peeped inside the van but he had gone. ‘Anyway, it needs some new parts.’ She leaned towards the woman. ‘Piston ring and flywheel,’ she said.
‘Oh I see, how awfully inconvenient,’ said the woman.
‘Indeed it is. But thank you for your concern. Lovely of you to stop by,’ said Dixie.
‘No bother at all. Need to keep an eye out for any riffraff, you understand.’
‘Oh totally,’ said Dixie.
‘Cheerio,’ said the woman before turning and heading back the way she’d come. ‘Hendricks!’ the woman hollered somewhat belatedly and the large Labrador dashed by Dixie and off into the woodland.
Dixie did a full lap of the camper and checked inside and even under the seats.
Where had Ned disappeared to and why? It was rather strange.
A thought struck Dixie and she jumped out of the van to call after the woman but she could no longer see her.
Was she the mystery note-writer? Unfortunately she’d missed her opportunity to find out.
*
Nora and Jay bought a stick of rock for Renee and decided they would call in to give it to her on the way back from Skegness. Nora was driving when she heard the beep of a text arriving. ‘Can you see who that is?’ she asked Jay.
‘I’m on it,’ he said as he rummaged in her bag. He pulled out her phone. ‘Well, well, well,’ said Jay and Nora’s interest jumped a notch higher.
‘What? Who is it?’ she asked with a couple of quick glances in his direction.
‘Liam wants to know if you would like to meet him for a coffee.’
Nora wasn’t sure if she was pleased or not. ‘Coffee? That’s not a date, is it? Coffee is … what is coffee?’
Jay pulled a face. ‘Friends have coffee. My nan has coffee with friends.’
It wasn’t the response she’d been hoping for but at least Liam had got in touch. She was trying to stay positive. ‘Exactly. But it’s better than nothing. And he did say he was getting over a break-up. Please can you reply with something casual.’
‘I’m not replying straight away. That smacks of desperation,’ said Jay. ‘I don’t want him thinking that I’ve been hovering over my phone like a saddo. I mean, that you’ve been waiting for his message. He’ll think you have nothing better to do.’
‘Good point. There’s no rush. He’s kept me waiting. I’ll reply tonight.’
‘We could compose something for you at Renee’s.’
‘Oh heavens. Can you imagine what Renee would say?’ They both burst out laughing.
‘Bloody hell,’ said Renee. ‘Not exactly Fifty Shades, is it?’
Nora held her phone in her hands, ready to send a text to Liam. ‘That’s not what you suggest I put, is it?’
‘Nooo,’ said Renee. ‘Although …’ She tilted her head as if considering it. ‘No. I’d say something like. “Can do, but a large G&T is more my thing. Talking of my thing.” Then I’d put those three little dots.’
‘An ellipsis,’ said Jay.
Nora hesitated with her fingers over the keys. ‘That really doesn’t sound like the sort of thing I’d say.’
‘I think keep it simple,’ said Jay.
‘Bruce Willis had a great chat-up line. He used to ask, “What are you doing for sex later?”’ Renee pursed her lips. ‘Very effective, I can tell you.’
Jay was looking impressed. ‘You knew Bruce Willis?’
‘In between wives only,’ said Renee. As if that explained things adequately. Jay opened his mouth but seemed to think better of questioning further.
‘How about,’ began Nora, ‘“Sounds good. I’m free any time.”?’
Nora looked at the others for reassurance. Jay sucked in a breath.
‘Don’t imply you have nothing and nobody better to do,’ said Renee. ‘Even if that is the case,’ she added quietly.
‘Why is this so hard?’ asked Nora. ‘Come on. Tell me what to put.’
‘Maybe you could say: “A coffee sounds fine. Let me know when you’re free and I’ll check my diary”,’ offered Jay.
‘I like that,’ said Renee, giving him an approving raise of her glass before taking another swig. ‘Just the right level of interested, I’d say.’
‘Great.’ Nora tapped out the message word for word. ‘Should I add a kiss?’ She looked up at the waiting faces.
‘Did he put one?’ asked Renee.
‘No,’ said Jay quickly.
‘Then definitely not,’ said Renee.
‘OK. And send.’ Nora pressed the button and immediately swapped her phone for her cup of tea.
‘Have you got a one who got away, Renee?’ asked Jay.
‘Goodness, no. I did it all.’
‘How about you, Jay?’ asked Nora.
‘Far too many to list really. Although …’ He tilted his head and looked wistfully off into the distance, which just happened to be a painting on Renee’s wall of a naked woman. ‘Layla Davis.’ He sighed deeply after her name. ‘She was perfect. Like she’d walked off a film set.’
‘Given your line of work, had she?’ asked Nora.
‘No. She worked in the sandwich bar at uni. My heart used to properly flutter when she asked me if I wanted plain or seeded.’
Nora failed to suppress a giggle. Jay gave her a look. ‘Sorry, carry on,’ she said.
‘Big eyes. The kind you could look into for hours. And a smile that brightened a room, or in this case the student canteen. After a while she knew my order and would have it ready for me every day.’
‘What did you have?’ asked Renee.
‘Cheese and onion on seeded,’ he said.
Nora knew she was scrunching up her features but she couldn’t help it. ‘But you hate onions.’
‘Yeah. She got the order wrong so it used to take me ages to pick the bits of onion out. Happy times.’
‘Why didn’t you ask her out on a date?’ asked Renee.
‘No confidence. But I heard she was obsessed with horror movies so I figured if I became an actor and one day starred in one, it would be the perfect story.’
‘Bloody hell, Jay,’ snapped Renee. ‘What a pifflingly long-winded way to go about it! It would have been a lot easier and quicker to just ask her, “Hey, what are you doing for sex later?”’
‘I couldn’t ask anyone that.’
‘And that’s just sex,’ said Nora. ‘It’s not a relationship.’
‘My point exactly,’ said Jay.
‘Sex is a relationship, isn’t it?’ asked Renee, looking at the others. They both slowly shook their heads.
‘Hogwash.’ Renee seemed to pause for a minute and Nora didn’t know what to do.
Renee stared into her glass. Nora wondered if all Renee’s relationships had been transient sexual encounters, which was quite sad.
Renee’s head snapped up. ‘Oh well, I had a damn good time. Cheers!’ and they clinked mugs with her glass.
Renee put a finger in the air and everyone stopped. ‘Actually, there was one person. There was one who got away. Mersea Island 1969. Theo Carlisle. Absolute darling. Kind, considerate and smart. Not my type at all. Artist. Painted blurry flowers. Utterly bewitched, I was.’
Everyone was leaning forwards. ‘What happened?’ asked Nora in almost a whisper.
‘Parents,’ said Renee. ‘They didn’t approve. Theo married a teacher and I went on tour with Julie Driscoll and the Brian Auger Trinity.’
Everyone was gobsmacked.
‘You must have heard of the song “Wheels On Fire”?’ Renee was looking at the blank faces.
‘I’m afraid not,’ said Jay. ‘But I’m sorry about Theo.’
Nora nodded. Renee shrugged but definitely seemed to be carrying a little sadness after what she’d shared.
Nora and Jay exchanged glances. Nora felt unexpectedly emotional at the thought that Renee may have missed out on a meaningful relationship.
It made her even more determined to complete her review of her exes.
She didn’t want to be Renee in a few years’ time, sitting there with a gin and tonic wondering if she’d thrown something magical away. ‘Renee, I’m sorry,’ said Nora.
‘Don’t be. I’d have only messed it up anyway.’