Chapter 31
Nora arrived early at the coffee shop to meet Liam so she went to the nearby charity shop to have a browse and kill some time.
She was examining a glass chopping board with Elvis’s face depicted on it in vegetables when Liam walked by the window.
Nora dashed from the shop with the chopping board still in her hand.
‘Liam. Hi.’
‘Hey, you’ve not paid for that!’ shouted the shop assistant, chasing after Nora.
‘Good grief. I’m so sorry.’ Nora and Liam stared at the depiction of Elvis in aubergines and avocados in Nora’s hands before she thrust it at the cross-looking shop assistant.
The woman didn’t take it. Instead she folded her arms. ‘It’s two pounds. We’re a charity shop, you know.’
‘Er, of course. Right. Sorry.’ Nora rummaged one-handed through her bag, looking for her purse.
‘Here you go,’ said Liam, pulling some coins from his pocket and handing them to the woman, who took the money and shook her head at Nora.
‘Oh, um, thank you,’ she said, and slipped the ugly chopping board in her bag.
The shop assistant muttered something under her breath in a Muttley-esque way as she stomped back into the shop.
Nora rolled her eyes. ‘That was weird. Anyway, hello.’ She tried to brazen it out as they walked two shops down to the coffee place.
‘Hi. Is everything, um, you know, OK?’ asked Liam.
‘Yes, it’s great. Why?’
‘It looked like you were taking that picture from the charity shop.’
‘It’s a chopping board,’ she said, realizing that really wasn’t the point.
‘It was a misunderstanding. I was looking at it for someone else, obviously. Then …’ Nora had an odd image of Renee in her head saying, ‘Whatever you do, don’t say you rushed outside in a blind panic when you saw him.
’ Nora swallowed hard. ‘Then I realized the time. And I hate being late. Hate it!’ There was a possibility she was a little too vehement because Liam took a slight step away from her.
Liam looked at his watch. ‘We’re five minutes early.’
Crap. ‘Oh, that’s good then. Clearly I need a new watch.’ They both looked at her bare arms. ‘Anyway here we are.’ She opened the coffee-shop door and waved for him to walk through. He hesitated, then slipped inside quickly as if not wanting to pause too long next to Nora.
Brilliant start, she thought. At least it can’t get any worse.
They joined the coffee queue and Nora began to relax.
This was recoverable. She just needed to act normal.
She could do normal. Liam was staring at the chopping board in her open bag.
She tried to zip up the bag but it was too tall and Elvis’s aubergine hair was still visible as the board stuck out the top.
‘How has your week been?’ she asked, in the hope of distracting him.
‘I secured a new client at work, my cousin had a car accident and my nan broke her dentures.’
‘Great,’ said Nora, before all of what he’d said had fully registered.
‘Oh goodness. Not great at all. Awful. The thing about your cousin and your nan. But yay for the new client.’ She punched the air with both hands like a cheerleader who had lost her pom poms. She felt like she was losing her pom poms. She really needed to calm down.
Did she used to be this jittery around Liam? She didn’t think so.
‘How was your week?’ he asked tentatively, still taking sideways looks at Elvis.
‘Good, thanks.’
They both nodded uneasily at each other. Nora was hugely relieved when it was their turn to give their drink orders. Once they had their coffees, they found a table for two near the window.
Liam kept doing that uncomfortable rolled-in-smile thing he’d used to do when he was feeling awkward.
Nora took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry. I know I’m acting weird, and I don’t know why.
This feels like a first date and as you know I’m terrible at those.
Can we sort of delete the bits where I was being strange and start again? ’
‘Sure. Just one thing though. It’s not a date, is it?’ he asked.
She wasn’t sure how to interpret his raised eyebrow. Was that a ‘it had better not be a date or I’ll run for the hills’ gesture? Or a ‘that might be quite OK, if we were on a date’? She had no idea but decided to play it safe. ‘It’s coffee, Liam. OK?’
‘That’s good.’ He leaned back in his seat and did seem to be relaxing. He smiled. ‘Our first date was truly awful, wasn’t it?’
‘Don’t remind me.’ Nora could feel heat creeping up her neck at the thought of it.
‘I’ve never had a tummy bug like it. I should not have left my bathroom but I really didn’t want to miss out on a date with you and I thought if I cried off you’d think I was being flaky and wouldn’t ask me out again. ’
‘I would have asked you out again,’ he said, his eyes full of warmth. This was the Liam she remembered.
‘That’s good to know.’ They held each other’s gaze as they sipped their drinks.
A succession of raps on the window near Nora’s head made her jump and drop her cup, splashing coffee all over her, the table and Liam.
‘What the hell—’ She turned to see an unwelcome face at the window.
Gareth, her disastrous date from a few weeks ago, was waving at her and gesturing that he was going to come in.
‘No!’ She waved her hands and splattered Liam with more coffee.
‘I am so sorry. This is some random guy I barely know and—’
Gareth barrelled up to her and embraced her in a tight hug. ‘It’s so good to see you, Nora.’
‘Gareth, I’m kind of busy right now,’ she said, wiping herself with a very small and already sodden serviette.
‘Whoops, was someone clumsy?’ he asked as he snorted a laugh. ‘How are your bowels now?’
Nora frantically waved the dripping serviette towards Liam. Gareth seemed to spot Liam for the first time. ‘Hello there. I’m Gareth.’ He offered a hand to shake.
Liam wiped his palm first before shaking hands. ‘Liam.’
‘And how do you know Nora?’ asked Gareth, pulling up a chair, which Nora quickly intercepted and added to the table behind them, making Gareth falter as he almost sat down on thin air.
‘We dated …’ she said.
At the same time as Liam said, ‘We’re old friends.’
‘Ouch,’ said Jay, from halfway up the climbing wall.
‘I know, right?’ Nora was pleased she had Jay’s support as she had just divulged all the details of her coffee non-date with Liam.
‘Sorry. That was a real burn calling your relationship “old friends”.’ He winced as he said the word, which Nora felt was a little dramatic. ‘I think I might have niggled my groin injury when I tripped over at Skeggy. I’m coming down,’ he said.
They’d had a good climbing session but Nora was feeling a little low after her catch-up with Liam.
‘Do you need a hug?’ asked Jay when he’d reached the bottom. ‘Because I think I do.’
‘Why, what’s up with you?’
He got his phone out of his bag and scrolled to what he wanted to show her. ‘What do you make of that?’
Nora read a series of messages sent over a couple of days. The first couple were someone saying hi, and Jay asking who it was. When Jay stopped replying the messages changed:
Hey answer me or I’ll get cross
Stop faffing about Mr P
I’m watching you Jay Pandey
Still watching U Mr P
You don’t want to end up at the corned beef factory
‘Shit, that escalated quickly. Who is it?’
‘No idea,’ said Jay. ‘Some weirdo. Same one who sent me the cardboard effigy, I guess. I keep blocking them but they pop up with a new burner phone. I’m not worrying about it.’
‘That’s good,’ she said, feeling that she would be cacking herself if they’d been sent to her.
‘Does that warrant a hug?’ asked Jay.
Nora nodded and Jay wrapped her in a cuddle.
It was lovely to be held and feel the warmth of his body against hers.
He wasn’t some great brute of a man but she felt safe in his arms. ‘I think I might give up on the 37 per cent rule,’ she mumbled into his shoulder. ‘Maybe the past is best left alone.’
‘Don’t be daft.’ Jay held her at arm’s length. ‘You need to finish this. Then you can move on and look for new possibilities. Don’t you only have one more left to check out anyway?’
‘Yep, Tyler.’
‘Do you want me to come with you?’ he asked.
‘No, that’s a little bit weird.’ She paused as she mulled over the offer.
It wouldn’t be much fun going alone, especially if it was another hopeless mission.
‘But I could do with the support if you didn’t mind tagging along.
I’ve found where he’s working but there’s no personal contact details and I don’t like to message the company.
Maybe we could go over there and see if we can casually bump into him.
It’d look less stalkerish if we both went.
Sorry, that was insensitive. What with you having an actual stalker and threats and creepy cut-outs and … I’ll shut up now.’
‘It’s OK. What does Tyler do?’ asked Jay, getting out of his climbing equipment.
‘He’s a farrier.’
Jay’s head shot up and, as he had one leg in the air getting out of his harness, he toppled over and landed with a thud. He lay still for a moment. Nora bent down to him. ‘I’m OK,’ he said in a small voice.
Nora helped him up and out of the harness, then together they sat down on the bench.
‘Did you say farrier as in blacksmith?’
‘Yep.’
‘It may have escaped your notice but neither of us have a horse. I know Bruce is the size of a baby donkey, but still. He’s not a horse.
I’m not sure popping by his business is going to work as a credible plan.
I mean, I do have access to a high-quality pantomime horse but unless Tyler has the same IQ as a teabag he may see through our cunning disguise. ’
Nora gave him a nudge for his cheekiness.
‘Ouch.’
‘Wuss.’
‘You know I bruise like an out-of-date peach,’ he said, rubbing his arm.
‘He is a farrier but he makes stuff like gates and things. So no horse required.’
‘Good. I’ll stand down Dobbin.’
There was a round of applause as Trent strode into the centre wearing disturbingly tight shorts. ‘Great, just what I need,’ said Nora.
Trent was keen to maximize the returning-hero moment. Jay and Nora watched from the bench.
‘Good to see you back, Trent,’ said Jay.
‘On the road to recovery, I hope,’ said Nora, turning towards Trent and finding herself face to face with his bulging shorts.
She didn’t know where to look but given his proximity her options were limited so she put her head back until her eyes met his, but it was a very unnatural angle to have her neck at.
‘A few scars physically and emotionally,’ said Trent. ‘But I will heal.’ He held his palms together in front of him as if praying or blessing the top of Nora’s head.
‘Yep, you do that,’ said Nora.
‘It’s incredible how a near-death experience can be life-changing,’ said Trent without a flicker of sarcasm.
‘Maybe everyone should try it,’ said Nora.
Trent nodded sagely. ‘It’s an interesting concept that I’d like to explore,’ he said.
And Nora was pretty sure he wasn’t taking the piss.
Nora’s neck was aching from keeping it fully tilted upwards.
As she relaxed it a fraction she came face to face with Trent’s tight shorts once again.
‘Can I get you a coffee while we talk about it further?’ he asked.
Jay leaned into her shoulder and the contact made an unexpected shiver run through her body. He whispered, ‘One lump or two?’
‘No, thanks, I’ve got to dash,’ she blurted to Trent, grabbing her stuff and skirting past him as she and Jay almost ran for the exit.
Outside they got a bit giggly. She loved how much she laughed with Jay.
‘Trent should get an Equity card. He’s a better actor than I am.’ Nora laughed and Jay waved his arms about. ‘That’s the part where you say, “Nooo, Jay, there is no greater actor than you!”’
‘Sorry. You’re right. You are an excellent actor. The best in the business apart from Gary Oldman.’
‘Accepted,’ said Jay.
‘And Idris Elba, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan Mc—’
‘OK, that’ll do. My ego is shrinking with every name and it’s about to turn itself inside out. At least you didn’t say Steven Seagal.’
Nora pouted and Jay slow-blinked at her.
‘Don’t even go there,’ he said.
‘I was joking. Unlike Trent who is very serious about his life-changing experience.’ They both chuckled. ‘He’s definitely seizing every opportunity to milk this. Me getting stuck has kicked off a whole new chapter for him.’
‘Talking of new chapters, shall you, me and Bruce track down Tyler tomorrow?’
‘Great. I’ll finish work early and we can go then but do we really need to bring Bruce? He’ll only be an hour on his own, tops.’
‘Sorry. Non-negotiable. I’m a responsible dog-owner, and more than that, Bruce is my friend. Plus if things turn ugly you’ll be glad we brought Bruce with us,’ said Jay.