Page 27 of The Cruise

Jane was surprised that Selwyn had remembered the dinner table conversation when Bridgette had also admired her new clothes. What a bonus that trip had been. Auntie, as promised, sent Errol to the ship that evening to deliver a fabulous range of outfits that fitted Jane perfectly, including the loose and flowing trousers and matching top she was wearing today.

She sipped her tea and, peering over her cup, studied Selwyn as he drank a coffee and ate muesli topped with fresh fruit. Jane thought he was a very dapper dresser. Dark dreadlocks tumbled across the shoulders of his pale blue Oxford shirt and he wore bright red braces. He looked good in jeans that Jane suspected had a designer label. Selwyn smelt of spices, as inviting as the taste of an exotic dish, and Jane felt the now familiar twinge of unease that always unsettled her when he was near. Glancing at his dreadlocks again, she raked her fingers through her short crop and wondered what it would feel like to have hair as long and heavy as Selwyn’s.

Noticing a small badge pinned to his lapel, Jane squinted as she studied it.

‘You’re wondering why I have the Jamaican flag on my lapel?’ Selwyn pushed his bowl to one side and reached for a croissant.

‘Well, not really … er … yes?’ Jane stammered and gulped her tea. She was cross with herself for being caught out and felt her cheeks burn.

Selwyn smiled. ‘You’re very pretty when you blush.’

Jane was mortified. She wanted the floor to open and swallow her up, away from this man who completely unnerved her. Battling to stay calm and not appear rude by leaving the table, she decided to ask him about the badge.

‘It represents my heritage,’ he replied, pausing between bites of fluffy pastry. ‘My parents came from Jamaica, arriving on theEmpire Windrush, in 1948. They arrived at Tilbury docks and settled in Lambeth.’

Jane forgot her discomfort. She’d heard about the passage of West Indian people who bravely left their homes to find a new life in Britain and was keen to learn more. ‘Were you born in Lambeth?’ she asked.

‘Yes, in the 1950s, along with my siblings. We grew up in a very cramped two-up and two-down terraced house, but despite the lack of space, it was a very happy family.’

‘What did your father do?’ Jane shuffled in her seat and sat forward.

‘He managed to find work as a bus driver and my mother trained to be a nurse.’

‘You must be proud of them. It was a very courageous move to come to a strange and perhaps, at that time, a not so welcoming country.’

‘My father had been a gunner in the RAF during the war, he thought Britain would be the promised land.’ Selwyn nodded his head.

‘And was it?’

‘In many ways it gave them a better life than they might have had in Jamaica, but they never strayed far from the community that had settled in Lambeth.’

‘Is that where you live?’

‘Yes, born and bred.’ Selwyn laughed. ‘I married young and worked for London Transport, eventually becoming a tube train driver.’

‘That’s a good job.’ Jane sat back and placed her hands on her lap. The remains of her toast lay uneaten.

‘Not really, under the ground in dark tunnels all day isn’t the best place to be.’

‘I didn’t think of that, but I’m sure you’re a very capable driver.’

‘I was. I’m retired now. My parents wanted better for me, but our first daughter was on the way, and I needed to provide for my family. The years somehow seemed to slip away without me realising that life was also passing me by.’ Selwyn ate the last of his croissant and wiped a finger across his lips.

‘Did your wife have a job?’

‘Yes, Flo worked for the council, she was a domestic operative.’

Jane saw Selwyn smile again. He had a twinkle in his eye.

‘That’s a cleaner to you and me.’ Selwyn sighed. ‘She liked her job, but the church was her life. She died a few months ago.’

‘Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to pry or upset you.’

Selwyn turned and looked directly at Jane. ‘You haven’t,’ he said.

Jane wondered what Flo was like and surmised that they must have been together for an eternity if they had married when they were young. What sort of woman would Selwyn have spent his life with? She was keen to hear more, but before they could further their conversation, Kath and Anne appeared and stood by their table.

Neat and cool in white shorts and a shirt with the sleeves rolled back, Anne said, ‘Good morning, Selwyn, we’re here to steal Jane away, and are off to discover St George’s.’

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