tone upbeat.
‘Not a forensic scientist, then?’ That had been his dream.
‘Never happened, sadly,’ he said. ‘I’m working on a trial drug at the moment.’
‘Sounds interesting.’ Her eyes were back on him.
He shrugged. ‘Not really. Not as interesting as travel writing.’
She stared, narrowing her eyes. ‘You know I’m a travel writer?’
He smiled. ‘I guessed.’ He nodded at her camera. ‘You wanted to be the next Martha Gellhorn.’
‘You remember that?’
He nodded, entwining his fingers on his lap, eyes darting over her face. ‘You haven’t changed,’ he said again.
She knew she had. Her blonde hair came out of a bottle these days, and there was no doubting she was different on the inside. She looked away again, through the window where fields were blurs of green.
As seconds became minutes he said, ‘Maybe we could catch up some time. Now we’ve found each other again.’
Words bounced around her head, as a prickle of sweat settled on her forehead. She didn’t want to be unkind, but she was with Jack, and even if she wasn’t, there was nothing there – not even a spark.
She turned to see his cheeks glowing red, and an urge to say sorry for hurting him all those years ago rose once more. ‘I’m with someone,’ she said instead.
‘That’s cool. Me too,’ he said, with what seemed like a genuine smile. ‘I meant as friends, that’s all.’ He pulled out his phone, the yellow Nokia he’d had at university. ‘We could exchange numbers.’ His shoulders rose in a shrug, making him look helpless. ‘It would be good to meet up some time.’
***
Triple-glazed windows sealed against the noise of heavy traffic rattling along the road outside, and a whirring fan that was having little effect, meant the apartment felt even hotter than outside. Isla hated that she couldn’t fling open the windows to let the fresh air in. Sometimes she would grab her camera, jump into her car, and head to the nearby fields to snap photographs of the countryside: birds and butterflies, wild flowers, sheep, horses, whatever she could find – pictures she would often put on Facebook or Instagram.
‘Can you open that, please?’ She plonked the chilled bottle of wine she’d picked up from the off-licence in front of Jack on the worktop. ‘I desperately need a shower.’
He looked up from chopping vegetables. ‘Well hello there, Jack, how was your day?’
‘Sorry,’ she said, tickling their cat, Luna, under the chin before stroking her sleek, grey body. ‘I’m so, so hot. Sorry, sorry, sorry.’ She disappeared into the bedroom, stripping off her clothes, and dropping them as she went.
Fifteen minutes later she was back, in shorts and a T-shirt, damp hair scooped into a messy bun. She picked up the glass of wine that Jack had poured. ‘God, that’s better,’ she said, taking a swig. She smiled, and touched Jack’s clean-shaven cheek. ‘Well, hello there, Jack, how was your day?’
He laughed, and plonked a kiss on her nose. ‘Well Tuesday’s done. I’ll be glad when I’m over hump Wednesday.’
‘Wednesday’s the new Thursday, and Thursday’s the new Friday.’
‘Must be the weekend then.’ He raised his glass. ‘Cheers.’
She pulled herself onto a stool. ‘I saw an old boyfriend on the train home. Trevor Cooper.’ The guilt of talking about the appeal made her want to tell Jack.
‘The bloke you went out with at uni?’
‘Aha.’
‘Should I be jealous?’ he teased.
‘God no.’ She took another gulp of wine, before adding, ‘He was suggesting I meet with him some time.’
Jack’s eyebrows rose, and a playful smile dimpled his cheeks. ‘Do you fancy him?’
She shook her head. ‘Of course not.’
He laughed as he put chicken onto plates. ‘Well, go ahead then; you have my blessing.’
‘I’d go without it, if I wanted to,’ she said, with a laugh. They’d been together two years. He should be able to trust her. ‘To be honest,’ she continued, ‘I’m not sure I want to meet up with him. I’ll think of an excuse if he texts. Maybe come down with something contagious.’
Jack smiled and shoved a plate of delicious-looking food in front of her. She picked up a fork and began tucking in, making appreciative noises. ‘I probably shouldn’t have given him my number.’
‘And you did, because?’
She shrugged, remembering. ‘I suppose I didn’t want to hurt his feelings again.’
There was a clatter, and Luna, green eyes flashing, jumped off the worktop with a huge piece of French bread in her mouth.
‘Luna, you little sod,’ Jack yelled, diving from his stool. ‘Has that “how to train a cat” book arrived yet?’
Isla didn’t respond, deep in thought.
‘If you don’t want to meet him, Isla,’ he said, long legs leaping after Luna, ‘just ignore him if he texts.’ He grabbed the cat, wrestled free the bread, and chucked it in the bin. ‘Simple.’
‘Maybe,’ she said.
Later, Isla sat on her mobile phone watching cute cats on YouTube, as Jack watched a documentary about Jack the Ripper.
Her phone buzzed. Trevor had sent her a friend request on Facebook, and a message saying how great it had been to see her again. She stared at the screen for some moments, and then looked at Jack sprawled full length on the sofa. Trevor was just being friendly, and anyway, her conscience wouldn’t allow her to ignore him. She had loads of friends she barely knew any more on Facebook. What harm could another person do?
She added him as a friend.
Three months later
Tuesday, 25 October
Isla dashed towards Heathrow Airport’s luggage claim conveyors, and eased her tired body between a heavy man in his fifties with a mobile pinned to his ear, and a family with two teenage daughters staring at phone screens. She sighed. Just a solitary red case was going round and round and round. The cases hadn’t been released yet.
Heavy-man turned and flashed her a smile. He’d sat next to her on the plane, taking up part of her seat as well as his own, his sickly aftershave making her head throb.
‘Hold this,’ one of the girls said, handing her sister an energy drink and stomping away, eyes still on her phone. ‘I need the loo.’
Isla closed her eyes. Her head ached worse than it had on the plane. Drinking several small bottles of wine hadn’t been a good idea. Her mouth was dry, as though someone had installed a dehumidifier on her tongue.
Thirty-six hours ago she’d been snapping incredible photographs from a train window. The ice-capped peaks and remarkable alpine lakes of the Canadian Rockies had been just two of the many things that had made the leap of faith to jump on a plane alone worth it.
‘I landed about an hour ago, Sean, mate.’ Heavy-man’s tone jarred. ‘Should be at yours by ten if the traffic isn’t shit.’
A trolley bumped her ankle.
‘Fuck,’ she muttered under her breath, turning to give the culprit her best cross look. But the man was elderly with white hair and wire glasses, reminding her of her granddad. She