Page 97 of Loving Netta Wilde

He pulled away first, his eyes searching her as if he’d just seen her for the first time. ‘Ah, Netta Wilde. The things we could have done. The people we could have been.’

54

A DAY OF SECOND CHANCES

Colin hung around the allotment gates for a while hoping to catch someone’s eye, but he was out of luck. It was going to have to be another climb over. Fitting, he supposed, since that was the way of his last exit.

He was halfway over when a car pulled up. Clyde was in the driving seat, and he did not look happy. Colin climbed back down again and hung his head like a guilty schoolboy. Typical to be caught in the act when he was trying to do the decent thing.

Clyde got out of the car and let Colonel out. ‘What do you think you’re doing? Climbing over gates, a man in your condition. You think Arthur will be happy about that? And what about Geraldine? She’ll do her nut.’

‘You could always not tell them.’

Clyde sucked air between his teeth. ‘You vex me bad sometimes, Colin. You know that?’

‘I do, and I’m sorry, Clyde. I have a habit of vexing people. I don’t always mean to. It just happens. I am actually trying very hard not to do any kind of vexing at all.’

‘I’m thinking you need to try harder.’

Colin nodded his head. Words were unnecessary, and probably pointless when it came to Clyde.

Clyde unlocked the gate. ‘Come on, Colonel.’

Colin could have sworn the big dog gave him an eye roll as he loped past him through the hallowed gate.

Clyde jerked his head a touch. ‘Well come on then, if you’re coming.’

He quick-stepped through before the old man changed his mind. ‘Are you going to tell Arthur?’

‘I’m still thinking about it. What you doing here anyway? We’re all finished up there.’

‘I wanted to see it now that it’s been done. And I er, I was hoping to see Ursula.’

‘You going to be upsetting her again?’

‘No. Quite the opposite, I hope.’

‘You better not be. Otherwise I am definitely telling Arthur. And Geraldine. She’ll be the first to hear of it.’

‘Understood. Can I go now?’ That sounded sarcastic and Colin was trying really hard not to be either sarcastic or vexing. He added: ‘Please’ in an entirely non-sarcastic, non-sneery, non-vexing way. At least he hoped that’s how it came across.

‘Okay. But remember, I’m keeping my eye on you, and I got Geraldine’s number on speed dial.’

Wasn’t everybody’s number on speed dial these days? He decided not to point that out.

Colin tried Ursula’s allotment first, but she wasn’t there, and the shed was locked up. Disappointed, he turned towards the hedge which had been cut back even further. Its height had been halved too, so that you could actually see most of Samuel’s shed. The wicker chair was still outside. A small piece of green paper had got caught up in the cane. As he got closer to it, more coloursemerged, and Colin recognised it as the Jamaican flag. It was held in place by a stick, a bit bigger than a toothpick. Doogie had brought Samuel’s widow here yesterday. She may have left it. He sat down in one of the other chairs. The flag made it wrong to sit in Samuel’s seat. As if you were sitting on him.

With the weeds all gone, the space looked bare and vacant. Colin rather liked it that way. It fitted his current state of mind. The sun came out from behind a blob of cloud. That type of cloud had a name, but he didn’t know it. His dad would have known. He was something of a cloud specialist. Which was precisely why Colin refused to remember any of them.

He closed his eyes. After too many days in bed, his busy morning had tired him out. Probably all those months of neglect and stress didn’t help either. Still, he’d had a good talk that morning with Netta. She’d told him she’d loved him once which had made him a bit sad, but mostly deliriously happy. Rather ashamed too about all the other things. He wished she’d given him the chance to say sorry properly, but she’d given him a different kind of chance. A second one. She’d forgiven him and now his happiness was off the scale.

The sun on his face felt good. It felt optimistic, if he dare use such a word. ‘Are you getting this too, Samuel?’ So he was talking to ghosts as well as dogs now? He was officially off his rocker. He smiled. Yep, completely lost it.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a shot of red over the top of the hedge. Ursula was wearing a new dress. She looked quite stunning.

‘I like your dress,’ he said when she was near enough.

She answered with a smile, but it was her eyes that gave away all that Colin needed to know. She knew everything about his breakdown. Everything about him and Arianne too, probably. She had some flowers in her hand. ‘Sweet peas. Samuel’s favourite flower. I promised Priscilla I’d lay some for him.’ Sheput them on the wicker chair and shut her eyes for a spell. Then she took the seat on the other side, so that it felt like Samuel was between them.

---