Chapter 28
‘Saul!’ Betty shouted down the phone. ‘I need a favour. A friend of mine will be landing at Bristol Airport and she needs a lift to Tanglewood. Can you do it?’
Saul gave Donald a pat on his woolly head and scrambled to his feet. The poor sheep had needed six stitches in his face and a cast on his leg. The vet had said he had most likely broken it in his haste to escape, but it was a clean break and the wound to his cheek would heal. After a shot of antibiotics, Donald was now in one of the lambing pens, munching on hay and sheep nuts, and looking considerably less sorry for himself than he had an hour ago.
Six of the seven ewes who had been attacked had also been treated for their injuries, but unfortunately the seventh hadn’t survived.
‘Saul, are you there?’ Betty sounded cross.
‘I’m here. What day and time does your friend need to be collected?’
‘Today. Her flight lands at twenty past ten.’
‘ Tonight? It’s a bit short notice.’
‘Can you do it?’
Saul didn’t want to drive all the way to Bristol and back, but he knew he was unlikely to get much sleep tonight (if any) so it would give him something to do instead of lying awake, wallowing in misery. What he really felt like doing was finding a nice deep hole and hiding in it for the next decade or two, but as that wasn’t an option, he may as well help Betty out. ‘I can, but only because it’s you.’
‘You’re a good lad. I knew I could rely on you. You’re not half as bad as they say you are.’
Saul ignored the comment. ‘What flight is she on, and what’s her name? I’ll write it on a piece of card.’
‘No need, you can pick me up on the way to the airport. I’m coming with you.’
After he’d settled the rest of the injured sheep down and did the remainder of his nightly chores, he had a shower and changed into clean clothes.
His mum said, ‘You need to eat something . Let me make you a sandwich to take with you.’
Saul hadn’t wanted any of the stew she had kept back for him. Leanne’s phone call had driven his appetite away. ‘No thanks, I’ll take a flask of coffee with me, though. Not in that one!’ he cried, as his mother picked up the engraved flask that Kazz had given him for Christmas.
‘It’s for using, not looking at,’ Iris retorted. ‘I bet Kazz doesn’t want it to sit on a shelf and not be used.’
‘Not that one,’ he repeated.
His mother shot him a curious look, but he didn’t care. He had enough reminders of Kazz, without having one in the Landy with him. At least Betty sitting in the passenger seat might keep him from thinking about Kazz.
That’s what he told himself, but he didn’t believe it. Nothing on earth could prevent him from thinking about the woman he loved and had lost.
When Saul pulled up alongside Betty’s cottage, the downstairs lights were on. He gave a quick beep on the horn to let her know he was outside, then he got out and went to stand by the railings and stared across the dark field to the river beyond. He couldn’t tell how high the water was, but it didn’t sound as though it was flowing particularly fast, despite the run-off from the melting snow up in the mountains.
He heard Betty step out of her house and close the front door, but before he could hurry around to the passenger side, she had already managed to clamber in, so he hastened to the driver’s side, opened the door and—
His heart gave a lurch, then skipped a beat.
Kazz was sitting in the passenger seat.
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, surprised at how calm he sounded. Little of his inner turmoil showed.
‘I’m coming to Bristol with you.’
‘No, you’re not.’ Wearily, he leant against the door. ‘I’ve got nothing to say to you, Kazz.’
‘But I have something to say to you ,’ she said. She looked scared and was nibbling at her lip.
He desperately wanted to take her in his arms and kiss that worried expression away, but he couldn’t allow her to inflict any more pain. ‘Please get out of the car,’ he said. ‘It’s been a long day and I want to go home.’
‘I thought you were supposed to be going to the airport?’ She sounded panicked.
‘So did I.’
‘You must go!’
‘Why?’
‘You’ve got to pick up my— Betty’s friend.’
He flinched. ‘I hate to break it to you, but Betty has set us up.’ The interfering old so-and-so. He would have a few words to say to her the next time he saw her.
‘She has, but we still have to go to the airport. You really do have to pick someone up.’
‘Fine, but you’re not coming with me. Say what you want to say, then get out.’
She hesitated. Her eyes were huge and glittered with unshed tears. He thought she was going to chicken out, and he assumed that if she did, it couldn’t be that important.
But when she finally spoke, he understood that what she wanted to say was possibly the most important thing he had ever heard.
‘I love you.’
Kazz was frozen in her seat, her declaration of love floating in the air between them. Saul seemed unable to respond and appeared just as frozen.
Had Betty got it wrong, Kazz wondered. Was Saul horrified? Was he frantically trying to think of how to respond?
He closed his eyes; his mouth was a thin line, his jaw tense. A twitch had developed in the corner of one eye and his shoulders were rigid.
Then he opened his eyes and stared at her.
Unable to look away, she stared back.
Eventually, he spoke. ‘Leanne seems to think you are going back to London.’
Kazz gave a resigned shrug. ‘Tia must have told her. It’s a long story.’
‘I’ve got all night.’
Betty rapping on the window with her knuckles made her jump, and Kazz wound it down.
Ignoring her, Betty said to Saul, ‘I know you’re a bloke and you have limited capabilities, but surely you can drive and talk at the same time?’ She tapped her watch. ‘You’d better get a move on if you don’t want to keep Kazz’s mother waiting.’
Kazz winced as Saul shot her a frown. ‘I thought I was meeting a friend of Betty’s?’
‘I said it was a long story.’
He continued to glower at her. ‘Do you really love me, or are you saying that just to get me to drive to Bristol?’
‘I would never do something like that!’ Kazz was aghast he would think it. She was hurt, too.
Saul got in and started the engine. ‘I had to be sure.’
‘Don’t bother!’ she cried, tears gathering in her eyes. She reached for the door handle.
Saul said, ‘I love you too.’
Kazz turned to stare at him. ‘What did you say?’ Her voice was a whisper of disbelief and hope.
‘I love you.’
Betty gave a whoop, and Kazz jumped. Her heart hammering, she asked, ‘Is that true?’
‘Yes.’ His voice was soft.
She gulped, the tears spilling over. Slumping into the seat, she felt giddy and weak with relief.
Saul loved her .
He said, ‘I want to take you to bed and kiss your tears away, but I think we’d better get going. You don’t want to keep your mum waiting.’
Kazz fished a tissue out of her pocket and blew into it. ‘Better not. She’s worried enough as it is.’
He sent her a curious look. ‘I think we’ve got some catching up to do,’ he said, putting the Landy into gear. ‘I’ll drive, you talk. Is that all right with you, Betty?’
Betty gave him a thumbs up. ‘When you get back, give poor Donald a Jaffa Cake from me. I hope he’s better soon.’
Saul blinked. ‘How do you know about Donald?’
Betty tapped the side of her nose.
‘I swear to God that woman is psychic,’ Kazz muttered as the car pulled off.
‘She certainly gives that impression,’ Saul said.
‘What’s wrong with Donald?’ she asked.
‘It looks like I’m going to have to talk as well as drive.’ Saul chuckled. ‘You go first.’
So Kazz did.
Kazz bounced from foot to foot as she craned her neck to see around the passengers trudging wearily out of the security gate. She was so excited, she couldn’t keep still.
‘Stop jiggling,’ Saul grumbled as she trod on his foot for a second time.
Kazz stopped bouncing, and he put his arm around her and kissed her hair. She sighed with contentment.
She loved Saul and Saul loved her. They had each other, that was all that mattered. Everything else faded into insignificance: the bookshop, his search for a farm to rent, everything.
Those were things to think about tomorrow. Right now, Kazz couldn’t wait to see her mum.
‘There she is!’ she cried, spying her mother’s worried face. Vince plodded behind, pulling a suitcase.
Kazz darted forward and barrelled into her mother, wrapping her arms around her in an enormous hug.
Her mum patted her on the back, gently at first, but the pats became thumps as Diana wheezed, ‘Karen, let me go – I can’t breathe.’
Over her mum’s shoulder she saw Saul approach Vince, holding out a hand to take the case.
Kazz released her hold and linked arms with her mum instead. ‘It’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you so much.’
‘I’ve missed you too, my lovely girl.’ Diana turned her attention to Saul, then back to Kazz. ‘Have you two made up?’
‘We have.’ Kazz beamed at her.
Diana rolled her eyes. ‘Well, at least that’s one less problem we have to worry about. Now, all we’ve got to do is work out how you’re going to keep your bookshop.’