Days Like These (9 page)
Authors: Miranda Barnes
Meg was stunned for a moment. Then she smiled, chuckled and finally began to laugh. 'Come on, James,' she said. 'Let's go before she realises her mistake.'
*
It was an old house, set in an old terraced street. Very different to the new house on the other side of the river. Robert opened the door. They stood and stared at one another forever.
'Meg,' Robert said finally.
'Hello, Robert. Pleased to see me? Or not?'
'Of course I'm pleased,' he mumbled, looking confused. 'But how did you ….'
'I'll leave now if I'm not welcome,' she assured him.
He sighed, stared down at his feet for a moment and then looked up again with a weary smile. 'Come on in, Meg. Of course you're welcome. I'm just surprised. That's all.'
'Surprised? Well, so am I,' she assured him.
He nodded and motioned her to step inside.
It was a small and compact house, part of a traditional modest terrace. She guessed there would be two bedrooms upstairs, as well as the two rooms and small kitchen downstairs, with the bathroom beyond the kitchen in a modern extension. No garden. Just a yard at the back.
'It's very nice,' she ventured cautiously as he led the way into what seemed to be the main living room.
Someone had done a reasonable job of updating the interior. Lots of pine cladding from a few years back. But fresh paint and wallpaper in the hall.
'What are you doing here, Meg?'
'Looking for you. More to the point, what are you doing here, Robert? You ran out on me!' she charged with a smile.
He passed a hand over his face and gave a shrug. How tired he looked, she thought.
'Have a seat,' he told her.
They sat down in the armchairs she recognised but that seemed too big for this small room.
'What happened?' she pressed. 'I was so looking forward to seeing you and the children again, but I got back to Newcastle to find you'd gone. And no-one seemed to know where you'd gone either.'
'How did you find me?'
'Through perseverance!'
At least that got a smile out of him.
Looking at him, seeing him so tired and weary, her heart went out to him. She realised how much she had been longing to see him again. She ached to take hold of him and hug him. But she couldn't. Not unless…
'You left the job, as well,' she added, keeping it detached and impersonal.
He nodded.
'Why?'
'It's a long story.'
'Well, let's start with Sean and Kirsty. Where are they?'
'Round at their grandparents.'
She raised an eyebrow.
'Visiting. I saw sense in the end. I couldn't do everything myself. They were right. They could help, even if I had left it a bit late.'
'Do they live in Gateshead?'
He nodded. 'Round the corner.'
That explained the move. This house wasn't a patch on the other one, but convenience had obviously come into it.
'Are the children happy here?'
He nodded. 'More or less. They miss the garden, and the greenery, but it's OK here. There's a park not far away. Anyway, it's where I belong, where I came from. Liz and I both grew up round here.'
She had to know. They were rapidly running out of introductory conversation, and she wasn't much further forward. She still hadn't heard what she needed to know. She would have to be more direct.
'Was that the only reason, Robert? To be near the grandparents?'
It took him a long time to answer that one. He even re-filled the electric kettle and switched it on while he worked something out in his head.
'No, Meg,' he said at last, turning to face her, looking almost defiant. 'It wasn't the only reason. The main reason, if you want to know, was that I had to get away from you.'
That shook her.
'Oh, Robert!' she cried with anguish. 'Don't say that.'
'We were getting too close, Meg. It wasn't good for either of us, especially when Jamie re-appeared. Correction: it wasn't good for me.'
She stared at him.
'Face it, Meg. From my point of view, it was bound to end in heartbreak. I'd got used to being on my own with the kids. Then you came on the scene. I know nothing happened between us in one sense but we were growing closer all the time. I was very happy about that, if not quite sure what to make of it.'
'But when Jamie came back, and you had a baby on the way, I knew I had to get out of your life before I was overwhelmed. I had to get out for your sake, as well. You were no longer just a baby-sitter to me,' he added with a rueful smile. 'And I could no longer be a detached, uninvolved, personal adviser.'
'But the accident…’
'The accident changed nothing,' he said quickly. 'You still had your own life to lead. I was in danger of becoming a nuisance, if I wasn't one already. I didn't mean to you what you meant to me. So I got out. Broke all the links.'
'New life,' he added with a shrug. 'I didn't intend us to meet again.'
The talking stopped. But it wasn't quiet. She could hear the constant drone of traffic. A dog barked somewhere nearby. In the kitchen a tap dripped. Her heart pounded.
'Robert,' she said slowly, trying to stay in control, 'did it never occur to you that I might feel the same way about you? You and the children were never in danger of becoming a nuisance. You lit up my life! I was only happy when I was with you.'
'Oh, I would never have betrayed Jamie while he was alive, whatever he did. But after… All those months I spent in Great Newton? Did it never occur to you that when I came back I would be devastated to find you gone?'
He stared at her. 'Meg, what are you saying?'
'What do you think?' she cried, almost shouted, with frustration. 'You tell me, Robert!'
He took a step towards her. She saw him through tear-blurred eyes and held out a hand. He took it, and clasped it tightly. She got to her feet. Their arms went round each other. She laid her head against his chest and they hugged each other.
When she looked up at him, she was unable to see his face properly. She rubbed her eyes against his shirt to clear her vision. She saw then he was smiling tenderly at her, as if she was the most beautiful and delicate thing he had ever seen.
And then he kissed her.
'So something is possible?' he said with wonder a little later. 'I got it wrong?'
'Very.'
'You want to be with me?'
She nodded. 'More than anything.'
'For good?'
'That's what I want, Robert.'
'And to be married, perhaps, in time?'
She nodded again.
'Sure?'
'Yes!'
'It's very old-fashioned of you.'
'I'm an old-fashioned girl.'
He shook his head. 'Days like these!' he murmured.
She knew exactly what he meant. Relief and happiness washed over her like a spring tide.
Then he smiled and kissed her again.
'There's a lot to sort out,' he suggested.
'Such as?'
'Where to live. A wedding. Persuading two fine, elderly people we can look after their grandchildren properly ….'
'Can't wait to start,' she told him.
Screeches of delight from the front door heralded the arrival of two other people with an interest in all this.
'Meg!' Kirsty cried, rushing into the room. 'I knew it was you. I knew you would come!''
Meg laughed and stooped to hug her, and to snatch her up, the little bundle still as light as a snowflake.
'Sean!' she added, catching sight of a shy but smiling little boy in the doorway. 'You come here, as well!'
Then Baby James caught up, arriving on the scene with a cry that announced he, too, was available – and hungry. Laughter all round.
'What a weight you are now!' Robert said, going over to the buggy and picking James up.
James stopped crying. The hint of a smile appeared on his face.
'He's happy!' Kirsty chortled. 'He likes you, Daddy.'
'It's just wind,' Robert told her. 'How could he possibly like an ugly old thing like me?'
'He does,' Kirsty insisted. 'He really likes you.'
Meg smiled. Sean chuckled.
It was going to be all right, Meg decided. Whatever it took, they would work it out.
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Days Like These
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