Page 97 of My Year of Saying No
George waved as he headed back towards the cash desk, where a customer pushing a cart full of produce was just approaching. ‘See you soon, Lottie!’ he called.
* * *
‘It’s really nice round here.’ Seb glanced around as we made our way back to the house. ‘I mean, not just pretty, but there seems to be a real sense of community too. I can see why you like it.’
‘Yes. It’s like a little pocket of times past, this tiny clump of villages. It feels like people still care about the place and each other. You don’t seem to get that a lot now.’
‘No. You don’t.’
‘Do you like where you live?’
‘It’s all right. Nice enough.’
‘Hmm, I can really hear the passion behind that.’
He smirked at my sarcasm.
‘I assume your family are close by though?’
Seb cleared his throat a little. ‘No. Not especially.’
‘Oh.’ We walked on a few more steps. ‘Where do they live then?’
‘About half an hour from here actually.’
‘Seriously?’
He nodded.
‘Did you live up where you are now with your ex then?’
‘Nope. We didn’t actually live together. One of those things we’d never really got round to, although obviously we spent a lot of time at each others’ places. In the end, that made it better for her. She was able to make a clean break when she needed to. It was one thing I didn’t have to be thinking about either. Selling a house so that she could get her equity out, et cetera. It worked out well in the end.’
‘So, you had a place then?’
‘Yep.’
‘Where.’
‘Near where my brother lives now.’
‘And you sold it?’
‘Yep.’
‘And moved two hours away?’
‘Yep.’
‘When?’
‘A little while after I came out of hospital.’
‘Why?’
‘Why what?’
‘Why did you sell? Was it memories?’
