Page 37 of The Midnight Bakery
‘You had me at a shower and breakfast, Beth. You really don’t need to explain any more.’ He smiled. ‘But I’d like that. I’ve shut down a part of my life, too, and perhaps it’s timeIrevisitedmine. We always think the ghosts of our past are out to get us, don’t we? But we forget their haunting can also be benign…’
Beth frowned, not entirely sure what he was talking about. ‘So, would you like to come now?’
Tam wriggled his legs out of his sleeping bag. ‘Give me two minutes and I’ll be raring to go.’
Beth was halfway home before she realised that she ought to have spoken to Jack first before springing this surprise on him. He wasn’t usually bad-tempered of a morning, but if he hadn’tslept well, or was in pain…But it was too late now; Tam was only three cars behind her. One of these days she’d stop making mistakes and get something right for once.
She turned up the track to the farmhouse, pausing a moment to make sure that Tam was still with her. The turning was easy to miss if you weren’t familiar with the road, even though Tam assured her that he remembered where it was. Minutes later, he pulled up alongside her.
A steady rain had begun to fall, and Beth hurried them both indoors.
‘Come in, come in, at least it’ll be warm in here.’
She led Tam through to the kitchen, feeling a little embarrassed to be back in the place where she’d been so rude before. This time, she would make it up to him. And Jack.
‘Would you like a drink while I go and get Jack sorted?’ she asked, heading for the kettle.
Tam waved her away. ‘I can do that if you like,’ he said. ‘As long as you don’t mind me rummaging for stuff?’
‘Rummage away,’ replied Beth. ‘I won’t be long.’
At first, her brain couldn’t take in what she was seeing. She stood, staring at the bed in confusion for what seemed like an age before the meaning of it kicked in and spurred her into action. Because the bed was empty. And the bed shouldn’t be empty. It should be full, of Jack, who couldn’t get out of bed unaided…
She rushed to the bathroom, and back again. Stood in the bedroom as if Jack had somehow managed to hide himself on the floor and, even though she knew it was stupid, she lifted the bedclothes to check. And that’s when she realised that his wheelchair was also missing.
Her first thought was that he’d left her. That, somehow, he had engineered a way to leave their life and he’d gone. But he would have needed help to do that, and who would he ask? Howwould she not know? Sobs rose in her throat. They’d had an argument, a horrible one, but things weren’t this bad, surely? They were talking, they were putting things right. She whirled around, checking the room, but nothing was obviously missing, none of the things he would want to take with him. Even his clothes were still on the chair where she had left them the night before. So, where the hell was he?
‘Tam!’ She yelled his name before she was even back in the hallway and yelled twice more before she arrived in the kitchen, heart beating frantically, fear draining the colour from her face. She skidded to a halt. The kitchen was empty, too. Only the back door swaying in the wind gave her any clue as to where Tam might be.
She wrenched the door wider, looking out into the falling rain and the mud-slicked yard beyond, scanning for any change to the landscape. As she peered through the gloom she spied two figures over by the furthest gate – one in a chair and one standing. It should be impossible, but it wasn’t a trick of the early morning light, nor were her eyes deceiving her. Somehow, Jack had managed to get himself out of bed, into his chair and out of the house. What the hell did he think he was doing?
Beth crossed the yard in seconds, immune to the puddles which splashed muddy water over her shoes and up her legs. Even from some distance away she could see that Jack was soaked through. He was also furious…she could tell by the way he held his head.
‘Jesus, Jack, what are youdoing?’ She took in his bedraggled appearance, and the state of his chair, the wheels of which were thick with mud.
‘Nothing much,’ he replied. ‘I should have thought that was obvious.’
She flicked a glance at Tam. ‘But how did you even get out here? You can’t—’ She broke off at the look on Jack’s face. ‘Well,clearly you can, but for goodness’ sake, what were you thinking?’ Her shock was rapidly turning to anger. ‘You’ll catch your death out here, you’re still in your pyjamas.’
Jack’s mouth was a grim, hard line. ‘Yep,’ he said. ‘Maybe no bad thing…’
Beth ignored his comment. ‘How long have you been out here? Why didn’t you wait until I was home, I would have?—’
‘I think, perhaps, we should get back inside,’ said Tam, shooting her a warning look. ‘And maybe save the questions for later?’
She ignored him too. ‘You’re soaked through. Why didn’t you wheel yourself back inside, for heaven’s sake?’
Jack’s glance was withering. ‘Because I’m stuck. And because I can’t pull both levers to disengage the drive motor and make this thing manual. I can do this side…’ He waved his good hand. ‘But I can’t reach the other, so after damn near dislocating my shoulder trying to do so, I decided to wait for you to come to my rescue. Again.’
Tam moved to the front of the wheelchair, dropping to his haunches. He tilted his head to one side, then the other, clearly trying to work out the arrangement of levers which Jack had just spoken about.
‘May I?’ he asked.
He eased the lever forward and, returning to the rear of the chair, grasped the handles and began to push.
The return journey across the yard was made in absolute silence.
The back door was still hanging open, and a pool of water had gathered on the flagstones where the rain had blown in. It was the least of Beth’s worries. She scuttled inside.
