Flights of Angels (12 page)

‘Kristen! Shush! He’ll hear you.’

‘I wouldn’t care - the good for nothing…’

Claudie held the phone away from her face as Kristen’s tirade ensued, and counted silently to ten, putting it back to her ear just as Kristen was winding up.

‘He’s the devil, Claudes. The devil!’

‘Isn’t that going over the top just an intsy bit?’

‘Do I have to remind you where he placed his hand at your wedding reception?’

‘Come on, Kris - it’s traditional for the best man and chief bridesmaid to get on.’

‘Yes but that doesn’t follow that
I
wanted to get off.’

Claudie rolled her eyes. She was in no mood to hear all that again.

‘Where is he now?’ Kristen asked.

‘He’s asleep on the sofa.’

Kristen sighed. ‘Just watch out, Claudes, you know what he’s like. He’ll be lodging with you - rent-free - for as long as he can. I bet he’s already eaten all the food in the house?’

Claudie tried not to think of the supper he’d prepared at eleven o’clock. But she would definitely have to go shopping today.

‘Claudes? Am I right?’

‘Kristen - you’re always right. But let me handle this my own way, okay?’

‘So what were you doing last night?’

‘We watched a couple of films.’

‘You’re joking?’

‘No -
Summer Stock
and
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
.’

There was a pause on the other end of the line whilst Kristen digested this piece of information. ‘Just so long as he doesn’t think that you’re one bride for two brothers.’

‘Kristen! What a thing to say.’

‘I just wouldn’t put anything past him. He’s no good, Claudes. He’s a freeloader. He’s probably on the run from someone too. He’s-’

‘He’s Luke’s brother,’ Claudie interrupted.

There was another pause. ‘Just don’t let him take you for granted. That’s all I’m saying.’

Claudie listened and said
yes
and
no
in all the right places, knowing that otherwise there’d be no getting rid of her. Finally, Claudie thought of a way to finish the conversation. Kristen was sounding rather breathless, which could mean only one thing.

‘Kristen?’ Claudie interrupted her flow. ‘Are you smoking?’

When she put the phone down, she felt like blowing a huge raspberry, Jalisa fashion. She loved Kristen, but she sometimes treated her as if she were a child.

She walked through to the living room and dared to draw the curtains an inch, letting in a sliver of spring sunshine.

‘Morning!’ Daniel said from underneath the covers on the sofa.

‘Sleep well?’

‘Like a baby,’ he said, pushing the covers down to waist level. Claudie averted her eyes quickly but not before getting an eyeful of a red and green snake heading south from the base of his throat.

‘I’ll get some breakfast going,’ she said, speeding out into the kitchen.

Kristen wasn’t at all surprised that Daniel Gale had landed in Whitby. She only wondered what had taken him so long.

She sighed. Had she been forthright enough with Claudie on the phone? Had her message really got through? Claudie could be stubborn sometimes, believing that she could look after herself, but she couldn’t.

‘Jimmy!’ Kristen’s mouth dropped open at the sight of him out of bed before eleven in the morning. And it wasn’t even May yet.

‘Don’t look so surprised!’ he said, shaking his head in disapproval.

Kristen snapped her mouth shut. ‘Cup of tea?’

‘If you’ve time,’ he said, looking at the clock, knowing she’d have to leave for work soon. ‘Who was that on the phone?’

‘Claudie.’

‘Bit early, isn’t it?’

Kristen nodded. ‘She’s got a guest staying with her.’

‘Oh?’

‘Daniel.’

‘Bloody hell! In her tiny cottage? Where’s he sleeping?’ Jimmy blurted, and then suddenly coloured. ‘I mean - if he’s in the living room, his feet will end up in the kitchen.’

‘I know. I’ve told her to get rid of him.’

‘I thought you usually needed a couple of bouncers to get rid of him.’

‘You’re not joking,’ Kristen shook her head in annoyance and watched as Jimmy grimaced. She could see that he was remembering something unpleasant.

‘If I ever catch him touching you up again -’

‘Jimmy!’ she warned, not relishing the idea of an argument first thing in the morning. ‘It’s sorted. Now leave it,’ she said, secretly pleased that her man would defend her honour.

‘I’m going to be out most of today,’ he announced, shuffling across the kitchen in a pair of red tartan slippers which made him look about eighty. ‘And most of tomorrow too. But I’m all yours come Friday night.’

‘What do you mean?’

Jimmy turned and grinned at her. ‘What do you mean what do you mean? For crying out loud, Kris, it’s our anniversary!’

Kristen’s mouth dropped open again. She’d remembered it a few days ago and then, with the recent office goings-on, she’d plain forgotten about it.

Jimmy walked over to her, extended a hand under her chin and pushed her jaw up until her mouth closed. ‘And I’ve got a surprise for you,’ he whispered, tickling her ear with his mouth, his unshaven face gently grazing her cheek.

‘What is it?’

He frowned. ‘Do you think I’m going to go spoiling it, now?’

‘Come on - just a hint!’

‘No! You’ll find out soon enough. Now get to work, before the boss lays you off for a week too.’

‘So what are we doing today?’ Daniel said, leaning up against the sink.

‘I hadn’t made any plans,’ Claudie said honestly, hoping the sink wouldn’t buckle under the weight of him.

‘Want to watch another film?’

‘Daniel, we can’t stay in and watch films all day.’

‘Why not?’ He stared at her with his intense blue eyes. Claudie instantly felt embarrassed. It was as if they saw right through her. As if he knew what she got up to when there was nobody around.

‘Don’t you think we should go out somewhere?’ she said, knowing that she didn’t want to spend the entire day trapped in her tiny place with Daniel. It would be too much. He was so like Luke that she couldn’t bear to think of the comparisons that she’d be likely to make. No, they had to get out.

‘Okay,’ he said casually, taking such a large bite out of his slice of toast that he almost ate his fingers in the process. ‘Where shall we go?’ he asked, his mouth crammed to choking point.

Claudie frowned, not quite knowing where to suggest. She didn’t have a car and Daniel had never owned any form of transport other than a motorbike. He’d had a whole series of them, all of them sold in moments of extreme poverty, of which there’d been quite a few.

She watched as he buttered another round of toast and polished it off in seconds.

‘We can visit Staithes, if you like,’ she suggested. But we’ll have to go shopping first.’

‘Okay,’ he said, ‘I’m always up for a bit of shopping.’

To say Claudie took advantage of having Daniel in a supermarket with her would be a slight understatement. Where she usually bought one carton of orange juice, she bought a family pack of four. Where she usually selected four single potatoes, she chose a big economy bag. What would have had Claudie keeling over into the harbour with the weight, didn’t make an ounce of difference to Daniel. And he certainly had an air about him. He strode up and down the aisles as if it were his natural territory. The only man in Whitby stupid enough to wear a T-shirt in April. But he didn’t seem to feel the cold.

And he knew how to turn heads. With his great lolling walk, and arms the size of legs, the women of Whitby didn’t stand a chance. Claudie could see the way they looked at him: peeping at him from behind the Persil, batting their eyelids from behind the beans. Claudie briefly wondered if she should link arms with him in an attempt to fend them off, but she was finding the whole thing far too amusing to put a stop to it, and Daniel was obviously enjoying the attention. Claudie suspected it was because he was probably nothing out of the ordinary in London. It was hard to be special in a capital but, at eleven o’clock on a Tuesday morning in a Whitby supermarket, a six foot two guy with long jet hair and blinding blue eyes was like finding a Tiffany diamond inside a Christmas cracker.

However, the amusement stopped when they got to the checkout. During the last few months, Claudie had slowly got used to shopping for one again. That had also meant budgeting for one. But today’s trolley load was three times the cost of her usual weekly shop, and Daniel obviously didn’t have any money on him. He was conveniently placing their goods into carrier bags when the till assistant said the amount, and Claudie was forced to use her credit card.

All the way home, she wondered what had cost so much. It definitely wasn’t the budget box of tissues which would probably disintegrate as soon as you threatened to sneeze on them, nor was it likely to be the dented tins she’d chosen in an attempt to save a few pennies. And she hadn’t even dared to look at the magazine rack.

It wasn’t until they were unpacking at home and Daniel surreptitiously placed the cans of lager and bottle of wine in the fridge that she realised. How had he managed to sneak those passed her?

‘Just a quick bite to eat before we go, eh?’ Daniel said, making free with one of the two loaves of bread before she even had time to think about putting them in the cupboard.

Claudie blushed as he winked at her, and watched as he proceeded to cover four slices of bread with a thick coat of butter. Who would ever have thought that this was Luke’s
little
brother?

Claudie couldn’t think of a single thing to say to Daniel. They’d virtually covered all the normal topics of conversation on their short journey to Staithes and, now they were walking down to the little harbour, she couldn’t think of anything else to talk about.

Just what do you say to someone whose brother’s just died? There were no words adequate for the job. And what could he be expected to say to her? The only thing they’d had in common had been Luke. Yet the silence between them wasn’t awkward at all. They seemed perfectly at ease with each other, as if the grief they shared cemented them together in silent friendship.

They walked down the deserted street in between the rows of fishermen’s cottages. It reminded Claudie of a Western before a shoot out, it was so quiet. Did anyone live here at all?

‘The tourists haven’t arrived yet, then?’ Daniel laughed, as if reading her thoughts.

‘No,’ Claudie said, but, peering up at the sky, which had slated over, it wasn’t surprising. People didn’t visit Yorkshire before June if they knew what was good for them.

When they reached the beach, they stopped for a moment. The tide was out and they decided to walk over the damp sand. Claudie usually loved visiting Staithes. Although she saw the sea every day, there was something rather magical about this particular stretch of coastline. But today, it looked intensely sad, as if all its vibrancy had drained away. The sea was the same hopeless colour as the sky, and the sand looked washed out and unwell. The whole scene looked as if it should be tucked up in bed and fed hot soup and affection until it was restored to health. Perhaps they should have just stayed at home and watched old films, Claudie thought. At least there was plenty of colour in an MGM musical.

‘Claudie,’ Daniel suddenly said in a tone which made her panic; a tone which sounded pensive and forced. She could feel what was coming, and it was what she’d been dreading.

‘I’m sorry I haven’t seen you. You know,’ he paused, ‘since the funeral.’

Claudie stopped walking and gazed down into the sand as if she meant to bore a hole into it. Daniel stopped beside her and, for a moment, she stared down at his cracked leather boots speckled by sand. ‘It’s all right,’ she said calmly.

‘I meant to. It’s just - I didn’t know what to say.’

She looked up at him and nodded. ‘I should have called
you
.’

‘I don’t know where the time’s gone,’ Daniel said. It was the kind of statement that would have sounded lame coming from most people, but Claudie didn’t hear it that way. She knew what he meant. Time was doing funny things with her too.

She’d become obsessed with time since Luke had died. The first couple of months had been the worst. Time had tortured her with sleepless nights and endless days, and she’d kept on turning the clock back in her mind to when he’d been alive, desperately trying to work out what they’d been doing, and if they’d made the most of things. Had they loved enough? Lived enough? Could there have been more if they’d known how little time was left?

Two years ago, she’d remembered that they’d been house-hunting together. A year ago, they’d got engaged and were in the throes of planning their wedding. Just a year ago. How many hours was that? She’d worked it out once. The world had been complete then; a safe, comfy haven where unhappiness happened to other people, and death was a word you didn’t associate with those closest to you.

‘Your mother stayed with you, didn’t she?’ Daniel asked, breaking into Claudie’s thoughts.

Claudie nodded, noticing how Daniel had so aptly used the word
mother
instead of mum. It was something that Claudie had long acknowledged; that her mother had never ever been a
mum
.

‘She stayed for ten days, then she handed me over to Kristen,’ Claudie said, staring up at the cliffs which looked almost black today. ‘She wanted to get back to France. She’s useless anywhere else. And it was better that way, really. We’ve never exactly been close.’

Daniel shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked the heel of his right boot into the wet sand. ‘And you’re all right?’

Claudie turned to look at him. ‘Not many people dare to ask me that.’

‘I know what you mean,’ he confessed in a low voice.

‘In case the flood barriers break.’

He nodded, and, from the look of him, Claudie could see that it was something he’d had first-hand experience in too.

‘But,’ she continued, ‘what people can’t handle is the fact that I’m so quiet. I think they actually
want
me to explode or physically crumble in front of them. But I’m not like that. I don’t do public performances.’