Chapter 23
MARTHA
‘That’s it, I’m getting off the bus,’ I said, standing up and reaching for my bag. ‘Driver, we need to stop at once.’
‘Martha,’ Harrison said in a soothing tone which only added to my annoyance and the bus driver ignored me, anyway.
‘What are you going to do by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere? They know we’re going to Winnipeg and when we didn’t immediately turn around, they probably got a lift share. ’
‘But we don’t know that for sure and I’m not prepared to lose that girl.’
‘He won’t leave her, you have my word,’ Harrison said and I was tempted to say his word wasn’t up to much but I didn’t have the energy for a fight. I still felt really unwell and my focus had to be Erin, not a silly grudge from the past.
‘What are his credentials? What does he do?’ I asked and even to my ears the words sounded ridiculous.
Harrison smiled and guided me back into my seat, which I was quietly grateful for as my legs were a little wobbly.
‘Are we trying to marry them off to each other?’ he said and didn’t drop the smile.
‘Sam is my sister’s grandson and one of the best blokes I know.
He’s a temporary housing officer and is great in a crisis.
He’s well-travelled, fluent in French – which has been handy on this trip and will be even more so if we end up in Quebec City – and is funny and kind. ’
‘And lies to girls he meets in bars,’ I added, perhaps a little unkindly.
‘I’m sure he’s kicking himself about that.’
‘I’m glad Sam is with Erin,’ I said with a sigh, because I had little other choice. ‘And you’re probably right, they most likely did get a lift. But I’m not leaving the bus station when we get to Winnipeg until they find me.’
‘I’m with you,’ Harrison said and I was surprised how much comfort that gave me.
The bus rattled onwards and all I could do was hope they weren’t too far behind us.
I was still feeling terrible so I took a couple more of the tablets and ended up falling back to sleep.
It was only when I woke, an hour later, that I realised I had my head on Harrison’s shoulder.
He didn’t seem to mind but I was relieved that he made no comment.
The sun was beginning to come up and there was still nothing but road and trees.
The driver told us we were an hour from Winnipeg.
If Erin were here, we’d be thinking about how fast we could get off the bus, where we’d be able to get to next and discussing Niagara Falls.
I had been excited about seeing them but now I couldn’t care less.
‘We’ll be out of the race,’ I said to Harrison. ‘I mean, I don’t mind and all I want is to have Erin back, but it will mean we’ll never catch up with the others.’
‘I was just thinking about that,’ he said. ‘You and I could team up and leave the younger ones to it.’
This he said with what could only be described as a cheeky smile.
‘Yeah, that’s not happening,’ I said.
‘I was only joking, of course.’
We rattled into the bus station almost exactly an hour later and everyone gathered their things and slowly made their way down the steps. I was feeling marginally better now but still my joints ached when I moved. Harrison said he was much the same so I put that down to age rather than illness.
Noah and Gaz came to find us with Cally in tow. She looked officious suddenly but Noah seemed sheepish. It probably wasn’t really their fault but until I had my granddaughter back, I, of course, would be holding them completely responsible.
‘News?’ I asked, but Cally was already shaking her head.
‘Not from Erin and Sam, but I did want to tell you that the other two teams want to wait here with you until they’re back.’
‘Really?’ Harrison said. ‘Why on earth would they do that?’
‘We offered them a hotel room for use today and overnight, with the idea that we’ll get Sam and Erin back, then start again at seven tomorrow morning from the bus station.
They were happy with the chance to rest properly and also, they all agreed, it wouldn’t be much of a race with just the two teams. So much has been invested in The Trip of a Lifetime,’ Cally said.
‘Priya agreed to this?’ I asked her dubiously, and her fixed smile slipped slightly.
‘Tara was in complete agreement with Femi and Liz and… let’s just say that Priya was persuaded.’
‘That sounds more like it,’ I said, and Harrison looked at me quizzically.
‘Obviously, we’ll do the same for you both,’ said Cally. ‘A hotel room, I mean.’
‘Two hotel rooms, I assume,’ I said.
‘Of course.’
‘And food,’ Harrison said.
‘Of course,’ Cally said again.
‘I’d really rather stay at the bus station until they arrive,’ I said, but Harrison put his hand on my arm.
‘How about Cally and Noah and Gaz and Rita, my producer, stay at the bus station and they can let us know via the trackers when our guys arrive.’
* * *
The hotel was in the part of the city not far from the bus station, and plush enough for me to think that the production team knew they were in the wrong, or certainly they were trying to pacify us and get the race back on track.
It was on the banks of a river that the receptionist told me was called the Red River of the North which flowed all the way from Minnesota and North Dakota in the States until it eventually emptied out in Lake Winnipeg.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested but I was tired.
I thanked her for the information and also hoped there wouldn’t be any more.
She must have sensed I was less than interested because she just offered me a tight smile.
‘I’m going to make use of the shower,’ I said as we walked through reception with our room keys. My hair felt tangly and my body ached. A hot shower would be perfect.
Harrison hovered outside my room for a moment and I thought he was going to ask me if he could come in. The sudden intimacy took me by surprise.
‘When you’ve had your shower, would you like to join me for breakfast in my room?’ he asked.
I just stared at him. It was a reasonable question but as the words left his lips, I was dragged back to that night in the hotel in Spain all those years ago.
Our bodies entwined around the sheets and each other.
I could feel a heat rising on my cheeks and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was.
‘I mean, it would be good to be together as any news comes in,’ he continued, a slight waver to his voice.
Would I like to go to Harrison’s hotel room after I had just got out of the shower? Erm, yes, yeah, I would. I then realised I hadn’t actually answered him.
‘Okay,’ I said, trying to sound business-like but feeling like a girl being asked out on a date.
‘Great,’ he said with a smile far too big for business.
I opened my door and after Harrison handed me Erin’s rucksack he’d so chivalrously carried for me, I scuttled inside.
It really didn’t seem that long ago I’d been determined to stay at the bus station until I saw that Erin was safe and well, and now I had a breakfast date.
No matter that a whole team of people were there and ready to let us know when our family arrived, no matter that I could do nothing to help the situation, I still felt strange about going to Harrison’s room.
The shower was welcome and I felt a little more human when I was dressed.
I didn’t bother drying my hair and other than some moisturiser, I left my face devoid of make-up.
It really wouldn’t do to look like I’d made too much effort for our breakfast. Then I looked in the mirror and had a word with myself.
I could have got away with it the last time I’d seen Harrison.
But I’d been twenty then and could get away with anything.
Now I was seventy and let’s be honest, I could not.
So, I used the hotel room dryer to put a bit of shape in my hair and swept a little tinted moisturiser over my cheeks and ran some mascara up my lashes.
Then, making sure I had the tracker with me, I left the room.
Harrison had ordered a tray full of cooked food and also there were pancakes, fruit and yogurts, croissants and pastries.
A jug of orange juice large enough to hydrate a bus full of people sat to one side with plates, cutlery and glasses.
I was surprised there wasn’t a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice. I hesitated.
‘I know it’s a lot,’ he said. ‘And I know you won’t be comfortable until they’re back, I feel the same, but it’s free and better than sitting in the bus station.’
I sighed and sat down at the table by the window. He was right, of course.
‘Plus, we can load up our pockets before we go,’ he said and I laughed.
He poured us both a glass of orange juice and sat down to his plate that was loaded up with pancakes and bacon.
The sight of it was enough for my own appetite to return and I happily tucked into a pancake where I dropped strawberries, raspberries and blueberries on the top.
Then there was coffee and a shared croissant before Harrison walked over to his bed and stretched out on top of the covers patting his stomach.
It was not at all suggestive. Then he sat back up and pulled his pillows behind his back. He looked thoughtful for a moment.
‘Can I ask you something?’ he said, his expression soft and open.
‘I think that rather depends on what you want to ask,’ I said.
There was a small armchair in the corner of the room and I had made myself comfortable, cradling my coffee cup. It was as far away from Harrison’s bed as it was possible to be without being outside in the corridor.
‘I wanted to ask about your husband.’
‘What about him,’ I said, surprised.
‘Does he make you happy?’
‘He made me happy once and then we were both unhappy for a while. He left about ten years ago and since then I have had many moments of happiness and some moments of deep despair, but that is nothing to do with him.’
‘But you still wear his ring?’ Harrison said, nodding to my hand.
‘This was my mother’s,’ I said. ‘I wear it as a reminder of how to try and be strong like she always was.’
I’d forgotten how Harrison was able to make me open up, to get me to talk, or maybe it was just because I was young back then and naturally more open.
‘Right,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry your marriage broke down. I never took the plunge myself. Got close a couple of times but it just didn’t work out. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong person.’
‘What have you been doing for the last fifty years, Harrison?’ I asked him.
‘I was an archaeologist.’
‘No way!’ I laughed at him then, truly laughed at the image of him digging for artefacts with a whip curled in his belt and a leather fedora on his head. ‘Harrison decided to become Indiana Jones. I guess it was inevitable with your name.’
‘A bit more Roman pottery than the Holy Grail, actually, but I loved it. I lectured at Oxford for a while. We focused on the intersection of archaeology and anthropology.’
‘Wow,’ I said. ‘I don’t mean to be dismissive; it sounds really interesting.’
‘Then I met someone just as I was retiring and followed her down to Cornwall. Even though the relationship floundered and then ended, I stayed there because I felt a real connection to the West Country. I feel a bit differently now. It’s not really my home.’
‘No kids, then?’
‘No, and that’s really the bit I regret.’
‘And how do you think you’d have taken to fatherhood? Sleepless nights, dirty nappies and all that jazz.’
‘Do you know, Martha, I think I’d have been bloody good at it,’ he said and I laughed. ‘I bet you were good at it.’
And there we were, inching closer to Clare and even though I usually loved any excuse to talk about my daughter, I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to Harrison about her so I just nodded.
‘Yes, I think maybe I was.’