Page 25 of A Christmas Celebration
Having achieved my goal, at that point, I could have escaped the weather and headed back to the Land Rover, but my intuition kept me rooted to the rain-soaked spot. It had been a while since I had acted on it and, given the temperature, my timing couldn’t really have been worse.
‘I don’t suppose I could trouble you for those directions now, could I?’ I asked.
‘You don’t mean to say you’ve been lost all this time?’ the man asked suspiciously, his bushy eyebrows shooting up as he narrowed the gap in the door again.
‘Not exactly,’ I said, as my soaked hair began to plaster itself to my head, ‘but I never did find my way to where I needed to go under my own steam and I’ve got to try and go back there next week.’
It suddenly felt imperative that I made it over the threshold. This man was clearly ailing and, even though I had told Kathleen and Archie I didn’t want any sort of responsibility, and in spite of the fact that I didn’t have a spare second in my schedule to do another thing for anyone else, I felt an overwhelming desire to properly check that this man was all right.
‘I suppose you’d better come in,’ he eventually muttered. ‘But I can only give you five minutes. I’ve got something very important I need to be getting on with.’
‘Thank you,’ I said, shivering my way into the cottage and closing the creaking door behind me.
If anything, the action served to keep the cold in and the marginally warmer air out. The door led straight into a sitting room and it was absolutely glacial, bone chillingly cold. I could see the open fire was laid and that there were radiators on the walls too, but neither source of heat was being used and clearly hadn’t been for quite some time.
‘Stay where you are,’ said the man, pointing at the doormat. ‘And try not to drip.’
I nodded and folded my arms across my chest.
‘I’m Paige, by the way,’ I told him.
‘Albert,’ he said in response, pulling his coat tighter around him, like a protective layer. ‘Albert Price.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Albert.’ I smiled widely, but he didn’t return the gesture.
‘So where was it you were trying to find?’ he frowned.
I reeled off the address and he gave me concise directions which thankfully I didn’t really now need to remember, because I was struggling to think of anything beyond how cold I was. While he talked, my eyes scanned quickly around the room. I took in the piles of unwashed dishes, abandoned clothes and stacks of old newspapers. Beneath the general mess there was the evidence of what had once been a comfortable and, had the heating been on or the fire lit, cosy room.
‘So, what will you be going there for?’ he asked, once he’d told me how to get to the destination I had used as an excuse to gain entry into his glacier cave. ‘What would old Franklin Duckett who lives there want with you?’
I told him about the delivery round and the sort of things I dropped off. If anyone should have been on Kathleen’s list, it was Albert Price.
‘I’m going to be passing your place a lot in the run up to Christmas,’ I said, ‘so you must let me know if there’s anything you need bringing from town or even taking in.’
‘Christmas,’ he tutted dismissively, ignoring my offer.
I half-expected him to say ‘humbug’ next, but he didn’t.
‘I can drop off prescription requests and collect all sorts of groceries,’ I reiterated but he impatiently waved my words away.
‘Not for me,’ he frostily said. ‘I can manage well enough on my own.’
Managing was the last thing he looked like he was doing.
‘And who is this?’ I asked, deciding not to push the issue as I nodded at a scrappy looking little cat which had curled itself into the tiniest ball on one of the armchairs.
Albert squinted in the general direction.
‘That must be Bella,’ he said huskily. ‘She was my sister’s cat.’
From the change in his tone, I guessed his sister had either left or died. I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
‘Shall I write my phone number down for you?’ I suggested brightly. ‘Just in case you decide you do need something from town, or even a lift in. I’m happy to chauffeur too.’
‘There’s no need,’ he said, trundling off towards the bureau in the corner of the room and scrabbling about for a piece of paper. ‘But do it, if it’ll get you back out the door quicker.’
I had clearly outstayed my welcome, but I would leave my number.
