Page 95 of The First Time I Saw You
‘Did it ever occur to you to wake your father? To wake me and tell me what you were up to? Anything could have happened to you, swanning around London. You’ve got to have eyes in the back of your head when you’re in a city like that, and your ones in the front don’t even work. I could string you up, so I could!’ I put my ear closer to the phone receiver and grimace at the man behind the counter frying fish and chips, hoping he can’t hear Mam’s voice through the payphone.
‘Mam, where’s Da now?’
‘Where do you think? On his way to find you and your Sophie, that’s where! And why haven’t you answered your phone? Is it too much to let your mother know you’re alive and well?’
‘I’ve lost it.’
‘Fecking marvellous!’ I wince at the sound of Mam swearing. A sign that I’m well and truly in the doghouse.
‘Mam, I’ve got to go, the taxi is here.’
‘Wait! What do I tell your father?’
‘I’ll call once I’ve spoken to Sophie, OK? Has his flight landed yet?’
‘I’ve not heard from him, like father like bloody son. And God only knows how he’s going to find his way to the train station!’
‘He’ll be fine, Mam, he’s a big boy. Look, I’ll be in touch. Tell him to check in to the same B&B as last time and I’ll meet him there later. If his flight has only just landed, he’ll be at least three hours away. By the time he gets to Wales I’ll hopefully be able to introduce him to Soph.’ The taxi driver hits his horn.
I slide into the back seat of the taxi and give Sophie’s address. It takes me a while to find the seat belt; to hear the click as it locks into place. The driver sighs his impatience.You think you’re in a hurry?I almost say. I’ve been stuck in this town for four hours, the roads only now beginning to clear.
‘Quite a storm, eh?’ His accent lifts and turns. ‘Where by you?’
‘Sorry?’
‘Where do you live? Ireland, is it?
‘Yeah, Derry.’
‘Storm Russell hit it bad, I heard. Seems to be easing off now, though?’ he replies, each sentence sounding like it’s a question. He leans forward and looks through the window. ‘Are you visiting?’
The word ‘visiting’ sounds like visit-ten. I smile and shake my head. How did I not recognise Sophie’s accent? ‘I was wond’ren,’ she had said, ‘why did you stop playing rugby?’
‘I wasn’t good enough. I was better lining up numbers than standing in a line-out,’ I’d replied as she rolled on to her stomach and traced the bump in my nose with her finger.
A bump in the road brings me back. ‘Yes, I’m visiting my girlfriend,’ I answer.
‘Ah, love, is it?’ I notice that the ‘it’ sounds like ‘et’. I laugh and nod.
The rhythmic sounds of the wipers and the heat inside the taxi are lulling me to sleep, my eyelids drifting down, my head leaning back against the headrest.
‘Ah, no can do, mate.’ My eyes fly open, the darkness filling my vision. The taxi has pulled on to the side of the road. ‘The road across is still flooded. Pain in the behind, this dip is, they need to get on and sort it. If you were coming from Aberystwyth way, you’d have made it.’
I look up at the sky and fate shrugs its shoulders.Really?I ask it.Is there anything else you can do to stop me from getting to her?‘We’re not too far away, though, if you fancy a bit of a hike?’
I stare out of the window, the edge of the tunnel, wet and grey, and the pinprick of vision is filled with greens and browns. Michael taps against my leg.This is a bad idea, he says. I hear the driver’s seat belt unbuckle and the fabric in his denim fold and crease. The air in the taxi changes as he notices Michael.
‘I can take you back to town if you want? No extra cost. Best wait it out, I reckon.’
‘How far away is it, you know, if I walk?’ I ask, ignoring Michael who faces the other way.
‘About twenty minutes, give or take. Just follow the path, but it’s quite a steep incline through the trees, and the ground—’
‘I’ll be fine. I’ve been here before.’
‘But—’
‘I’m not completely blind, this is just for a bit of help.’ I smile my reassurance at him. ‘Honestly, I’ll be grand.’ I don’t tell him that I can hear the turn of the cement mixer as another brick has been picked up, slotted into the wall, tapped into place: the tunnel is almost closed. What if I go back, and by the time I return, the last brick has been laid, the tunnel sealed? She’s twenty minutes away. I can do this.
