better than you probably think.
“I’d rather stay here though, after all the driving it’ll be
a break. This is a lovely house, to be honest I don’t understand why you’d want
to be living in the woods, down south, in an awful shack, when you’ve got
this.
“Samuel could we not just hide out here for a while you know
till we see what’s going to happen. Then when it seems things are okay, well I
suppose you could just stay here in your home and carry on, and I could do
something?”
The little speech trailed off at this point. She would have
loved to tell him she could stay here with him for as long as he would let her,
but acknowledged it was too soon, far too soon in this new-born intimacy to
talk of any sort of future.
“There’s things you don’t know Sylvie, there’s reasons I
can’t be here.”
He looked down at her, tumbled and warmed by their morning
passion and he let his heart feel the pleasure, it was good. Sitting back down
on the side of the bed he took hold of her hand.
“Look, there’s stuff I need to tell you. It’s only fair and
afterwards you have to make a decision about what you want to do. I won’t try
to influence you and I’ll respect any decision you make, but let me do this
stuff first. We need to be ready, to get everything sorted out and carry on
with the plan to go out of the country, for a while at least. Come on get
yourself dressed.
“I’ll go and put the kettle on.”
She heard him moving around quietly downstairs and hugged
the wonderful normalness of it to her. This tiny little house in the beautiful
wildness of the Lake District was the best place she had ever been. Why couldn’t
he stay, if it truly was his home? She allowed herself a moment of daydream to
imagine them here, at peace, enjoying each other and him teaching her about
this place from his past, how she would have loved it.
She stepped lightly down the stairs, to find Samuel
inexplicably taking photographs with a digital camera. The toaster, the kettle
and the dishes in the cupboards all had his attention.
He heard her come to stand beside him and grinned at her
puzzled expression.
“No, I’m not losing it. I thought if I took pictures we can
make sure we put all the stuff back in the same place before we leave. It’ll
mean we can relax a bit more.
“Now, get your drink and I made some toast, there’s jam.
“We need to take a photograph for your passport. It would
be really good if we could change the way you look a bit, but there isn’t time
for much. You need to look just a bit different, but not enough so you feel
awkward, because you need to be relaxed for going through customs.”
“I can do that.”
She grabbed her hot drink and skipped back up the stairs
where he could hear her dragging her bag across the floor and then the bathroom
door opened.
He stood gazing out of the kitchen window which was
unobserved here at the back of the house. He had come close enough so he could
watch the ripple of the short grass as it moved before the breeze and the stiff
wagging of the gorse bushes. It was all still the same, unchanging and
ignorant of the rough tides which had driven through his life. The hills, the
dales and fells simply here and eternal. The memories were so strong, all the
dreams and the days and the loving and the laughter, here in this place but no
longer his, not any part of what he was now.
“Ta Da.”
He spun round. She had sprayed some dark red colour into
her blond hair, streaks of it along her fringe and in strands here and there.
She had then pulled it back and piled it high on her head, the difference was
surprising, her eyes looked larger and her neck, bare now was long and
elegant. She had a tiny glittering stud above her top lip and along her ears
were rows of gold coloured hoops, two in one and in the other he couldn’t count
them
“I’d rather stay here though, after all the driving it’ll be
a break. This is a lovely house, to be honest I don’t understand why you’d want
to be living in the woods, down south, in an awful shack, when you’ve got
this.
“Samuel could we not just hide out here for a while you know
till we see what’s going to happen. Then when it seems things are okay, well I
suppose you could just stay here in your home and carry on, and I could do
something?”
The little speech trailed off at this point. She would have
loved to tell him she could stay here with him for as long as he would let her,
but acknowledged it was too soon, far too soon in this new-born intimacy to
talk of any sort of future.
“There’s things you don’t know Sylvie, there’s reasons I
can’t be here.”
He looked down at her, tumbled and warmed by their morning
passion and he let his heart feel the pleasure, it was good. Sitting back down
on the side of the bed he took hold of her hand.
“Look, there’s stuff I need to tell you. It’s only fair and
afterwards you have to make a decision about what you want to do. I won’t try
to influence you and I’ll respect any decision you make, but let me do this
stuff first. We need to be ready, to get everything sorted out and carry on
with the plan to go out of the country, for a while at least. Come on get
yourself dressed.
“I’ll go and put the kettle on.”
She heard him moving around quietly downstairs and hugged
the wonderful normalness of it to her. This tiny little house in the beautiful
wildness of the Lake District was the best place she had ever been. Why couldn’t
he stay, if it truly was his home? She allowed herself a moment of daydream to
imagine them here, at peace, enjoying each other and him teaching her about
this place from his past, how she would have loved it.
She stepped lightly down the stairs, to find Samuel
inexplicably taking photographs with a digital camera. The toaster, the kettle
and the dishes in the cupboards all had his attention.
He heard her come to stand beside him and grinned at her
puzzled expression.
“No, I’m not losing it. I thought if I took pictures we can
make sure we put all the stuff back in the same place before we leave. It’ll
mean we can relax a bit more.
“Now, get your drink and I made some toast, there’s jam.
“We need to take a photograph for your passport. It would
be really good if we could change the way you look a bit, but there isn’t time
for much. You need to look just a bit different, but not enough so you feel
awkward, because you need to be relaxed for going through customs.”
“I can do that.”
She grabbed her hot drink and skipped back up the stairs
where he could hear her dragging her bag across the floor and then the bathroom
door opened.
He stood gazing out of the kitchen window which was
unobserved here at the back of the house. He had come close enough so he could
watch the ripple of the short grass as it moved before the breeze and the stiff
wagging of the gorse bushes. It was all still the same, unchanging and
ignorant of the rough tides which had driven through his life. The hills, the
dales and fells simply here and eternal. The memories were so strong, all the
dreams and the days and the loving and the laughter, here in this place but no
longer his, not any part of what he was now.
“Ta Da.”
He spun round. She had sprayed some dark red colour into
her blond hair, streaks of it along her fringe and in strands here and there.
She had then pulled it back and piled it high on her head, the difference was
surprising, her eyes looked larger and her neck, bare now was long and
elegant. She had a tiny glittering stud above her top lip and along her ears
were rows of gold coloured hoops, two in one and in the other he couldn’t count
them
Similar Books
