when it happened, I can tell you.’
Bob laughed, softly. ‘And when was that?’
‘Tuesday. Around midnight, when I realised that I didn’t really want you to sleep in that spare room.’
As he looked at her, astonished, she swung herself off the couch to sit alongside him on the floor, and took the letter out of his hand. ‘Let’s see, shall we, what Sarah is really saying to you.’ She read quickly, then reread the final section.
‘She’s confused, she’s guilty, she’s hurt, she’s bitter and she’s angry with you,’ she murmured, as she read, ‘but through it all, you know what she’s saying, don’t you?’
Bob gazed at her, still slightly stunned by her frankness, and shrugged. ‘You tell me.’
‘She’s asking you to knock down your wall, to put everything else to one side, and to go out there and get her!’
‘But am I like she says? Do I have that impenetrable wall around me?’
She looked at him appraisingly. ‘Maybe you do, but I can’t see it. When I look at you, all I see is the Eagle. I see you. I’m a little in awe of you, but I’m not afraid that if I touch you I’ll break.’
‘So where should the old war-bird land, do you think, Pam?’ he asked her, hesitantly. ‘Should it be America?’
‘I’m not the one to tell you,’ she said. ‘Only you can answer that question.’
He reached out and took her hand. ‘I know that, Pam, love, I know. But the trouble is, I don’t know if this Eagle can fly that far.’
‘Maybe, for his own sake, he has to try,’ she said, smiling, as their eyes met, and locked.
‘But it doesn’t have to be tonight.’
