This was true, up to a point. Guest Toothbrushes already had relationships with most of the major pharmaceutical retailers – including the supermarkets – and orders were usually taken in bulk, online or over the telephone. However, Alan had still told me that, were I to chance upon any independent outlets, I should take the opportunity to drop in and show them some of the merchandise. This was one aspect of my journey that I wasn’t looking forward to. It was a long time since I had done any cold-calling.
‘It’s a beautiful piece of design, all right,’ he said. ‘We should really get a couple of these ourselves.’
‘Oh, well, in that case,’ I said, reaching inside my jacket pocket to produce another one, ‘take these as a gift. Please. With the compliments of Guest Toothbrushes.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Well, that’s splendid. Isn’t that splendid, Sue?’
Mrs Byrne nodded abstractedly, but her mind was on other things. First of all she handed out the cups of tea and the home-made scones, and then she said, ‘So you have to drive all the way to Aberdeen?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Well, you should really call in on Alison. She’d love to see you.’
‘Oh, be quiet, Sue,’ Mr Byrne said, tutting. ‘He doesn’t have time to call on Alison. Tell me, Max, is Harold renting out the flat in Lichfield now? Because we haven’t been up to check on it for a number of years, and the last time we spoke to him, that’s what he said he was intending to do.’
‘Well, I really don’t see why not,’ said Mrs Byrne. ‘Even if he just dropped in for a cup of tea, that would be something, and surely he will be going right through Edinburgh if he has to get to Aberdeen.’
‘I don’t believe Dad’s rented it out,’ I said to Mr Byrne; and then, turning to his wife: ‘I think there’s a ring road, so I won’t actually be going through the centre.’
‘He’s missing out on a fair bit of rental income, then,’ said Mr Byrne.
‘Yes, but you can easily get to Alison’s from the ring road,’ said Mrs Byrne.
‘I’ll go and get the keys, anyway.’
‘I’ll go and fetch the street map, and show you exactly where she is.’
While they departed on these errands, I sipped my tea and munched on my scone and looked out over their back garden. It was a lovely big garden, stretching down to the edge of the reservoir in a series of falling terraces. Beyond their fence I could see the path that led around the reservoir. You could walk this path in about thirty minutes, I seemed to remember. I had done it with Alison once. I would have been about fifteen. It was not long before our families went to the Lake District together. I’d probably come round to see Chris but somehow I’d managed to end up walking round the reservoir with Alison, who was a couple of years older than me, and with whom I’d always had an odd, not-quite-flirtatious friendship. (I somehow felt that I was meant to find her more attractive than I actually did, if that makes sense.) Should I go and see her in Edinburgh? Drop in for a cup of tea? I hadn’t seen her since Chris’s wedding, more than fifteen years ago. It couldn’t do any harm, I suppose …
Mr and Mrs Byrne returned at the same time, their minds still running on parallel tracks.
‘When do you have to get to Shetland, exactly?’ Mrs Byrne asked.
‘Here they are,’ said Mr Byrne, handing me a set of keys. ‘By the way, is that your Prius outside?’
‘I suppose it doesn’t matter much, as long as I’m there by the end of the week,’ I said to Mrs Byrne. ‘Yes, it is,’ I said to her husband. ‘Only for this trip though.’
‘Well then, why don’t you have dinner with Alison and Philip tomorrow night?’
‘How are you finding it? Is it a good drive?’
I assumed that Philip was Alison’s husband. The name seemed vaguely familiar.
‘That won’t work, I’m afraid. I’m seeing Lucy – my daughter – tomorrow night. In Kendal. Yes, I’m loving it. Do you know I averaged sixty-five miles to the gallon on the way here? And the SatNav is amazing.’
‘Kendal? What’s your daughter doing in Kendal?’
‘Sixty-five isn’t bad. Mind you, there are some small diesel cars which can manage almost that, these days. How big’s the engine?’
‘Well … Caroline left me, you see. About six months ago. She and Lucy are living in Kendal now. I don’t know how big the engine is, sorry – it probably says in the manual.’
‘Oh, Max – I had no idea. You must be devastated. Why didn’t Chris tell us about it, I wonder?’
‘I heard that the acceleration is rather poor. Not much power if you want to overtake in a hurry.’
‘Yes, it’s been a … disappointment. The biggest disappointment of my life, in fact.’
Mr Byrne stared at me in surprise, until his wife tapped him reprovingly on the knee.
‘He’s talking about the break-up of his marriage, not the acceleration on his car. Can’t you listen?’ She turned to me and said: ‘A lot of relationships go through a blip, Max. I’m sure it’s only temporary.’
‘I don’t think so,’ I said. ‘They’ve moved to the other end of the country. It feels pretty permanent to me.’
‘Did you try counselling, and so on?’ asked Mrs Byrne.
‘Were you shagging around or anything?’ asked Mr Byrne.
‘Donald!’ said his wife, exasperated.
‘Yes,’ I answered. ‘I mean yes, we did try counselling, and no, I wasn’t shagging around.’
