Page 13 of Teacakes & Tangos
‘Oh.’ I smiled. ‘So no garden supplies?’
‘I’ll go there afterwards.’
‘Well, you look really smart. I haven’t seen that jacket before,’ I teased him.
He was also wearing his favourite black jeans – to give him confidence, I guessed. He’d bought them in the south of France one summer when he and mum were there celebrating their wedding anniversary.
I’d heard the story many times. They’d been wandering back to their hotel after dinner when Mum had spotted them in a shop window and joked that they were definitely meant for him. She’d dragged him back to the shop the following day and he’d tried them on and really liked them. They’d been black originally, with the shop’s distinctive orange logo on one of the back pockets, but they’d faded quite a bit over the years to a dark charcoal grey.
‘Phone? Where’s the phone?’ He looked around in a panic then he checked in his pocket and nodded. ‘Got it.’
‘No, it’s here, Dad.’ I reached behind the fruit bowl, held up his mobile and placed it on the edge of the table for him. ‘Where are you meeting her?’
‘Café. Just for a coffee,’ he said, heading out. ‘Better go or I’ll be late.’
‘The Little Duck Pond Café?’ I asked.
He nodded and ducked into his car.
‘What’s her name, Dad?’ I called after him, but there was no reply as the engine burst into life. Either he hadn’t heard me or he was fed up with my twenty questions.
I stared after the car as he drove away, wondering what I thought about this new development in our lives.
We’d been trundling along, relying totally on each other since Mum died. I didn’t know how I would have coped with my broken engagement if Dad hadn’t been there for me... making me smile in spite of everything, cooking my favourite food so I wouldn’t waste away, and telling me that Les was nowhere near good enough for me anyway.
My experience of romance had left me cynical – and convinced that the single life was probably best. It was far less stressful.
But now things were changing for Dad and I wasn’t really sure how I felt about that.
He’d met someone he liked, although it was clear he felt bad about it... worried maybe that I wouldn’t approve of a ‘mum replacement’ in my life? Which was ridiculous, of course, because no one would ever replace Mum. And it was right that Dad should move on with his life.
I was really pleased for him. But at the same time, a panicky feeling was fluttering inside me.
Was I reallyreadyfor Dad to move on?
It was only when I walked back into the kitchen that I noticed his mobile phone was still lying on the table. I shook my head slowly and smiled to myself. He must be very nervous about his date to have forgotten to pick up his phone.
*****
Half an hour later, I was heading into Sunnybrook myself.
We’d almost run out of milk and I really wasn’t human until I’d had my first cup of tea in the morning, so I’d decided to walk the mile or so into the village and pick up a few groceries. It was the perfect day for it. Sunny and warm with just a light breeze.
I’d almost reached the high street when my attention was caught by a cluster of people up ahead – four or five of them – standing outside one of the shops. It looked to be the jewellers, I decided. What was going on? Had there been a fire alarm?
Then, as I drew closer, I saw several people – men in black balaclavas – burst out of the jeweller’s shop and run towards a dark-coloured van parked in the side street next to the shop. Two of the men dived into the back seat of the vehicle, but the third, presumably heading for the driver’s seat, got tangled up in the little crowd of bystanders. And as I stood there, frozen with shock, I saw him bump roughly into an older woman with white hair. The impact knocked the woman and her shopping trolley right into the road.
I started hurrying towards the chaos and people were rushing over to help the poor woman. She’d managed to get up and was moving towards her shopping trolley, further over the road – and next second, I noticed a white van speeding along the high street towards her, doing well over the limit.
I stared at it in horror.
The van driver wasn’t even slowing down!
‘Oh, my God!’ I gasped, my hands clamped over my mouth as I realised it wasn’t going to be able to stop in time. The woman was going to be knocked over!
And then in a split second, it happened.
A man dived into the road and somehow managed to pull the woman clear a second before the white van hurtled past. It eventually screeched to a stop a hundred yards further along the road.
