“Who? Nobby or the dodgy TV box guy?” replied Craig.
As they continued their argument, Andy’s attention was drawnaway from Kay and Kent, who hadn’t said anything for the past couple ofminutes. He was just standing there with a resigned look on his face, shakinghis head slightly at the usual pointless banter going on all around him.
Kay glanced towards the front window of the pub where therewas a small table with two chairs free. Two teenage girls were getting up fromthe table, draining the last of their drinks and putting on their coats. Thetable wouldn’t last long, not on a Saturday. She needed to make a beeline forit before anyone else grabbed it.
“Just ignore them,” said Kay. “Come on, Richard, come overhere for a minute. I want to ask your advice on something.”
She saw him looking at her and hoped that he would take herseriously. She wasn’t drunk yet, after all, and hadn’t acted like thedesperate, middle-aged tart she had probably come across as in the recent past.
“Come on, then,” he agreed. “I could do with a break fromthis idiot.”
They managed to get away from Andy unnoticed, as he wasstill trying to wheedle money out of Craig. Their getaway was timely, as thepunky barmaid had decided enough was enough and had intervened between Craigand Andy, desperate to try and get Craig to serve some customers. Kay hadnoticed that the landlord didn’t seem to be that bothered with doing much inthe way of work recently. His heart really didn’t seem to be in the placeanymore.
They made it to the table, just before a couple of fatblokes in Oxford United shirts bagged it and sat down.
“What’s all this about, Kay?” asked Kent, looking a littlewary. “I don’t want those two up there gossiping about us. If it gets back toDebs it’ll be my chestnuts roasting on an open fire this Christmas.”
“Relax,” replied Kay. “I’m not after your body. Well, not inthis universe anyway.”
Kent noticeably perked up at this. “What do you mean bythat?” he asked. She had clearly caught his attention.
“Well, the thing is,” she began. “I’ve been thinking aboutthat conversation we had a few weeks ago about the end-of-term ball. Do youremember? When I told you how Glen tricked me into letting him take me to theball instead of you?”
“Yes,” replied Kent, leaning forward intently. “Go on.”
“Well, I know it was all a long time ago,” she said. “Butyou must remember that night.”
“As it happens, I remember it better than you can possiblyimagine,” said Kent. “But perhaps not in the same way that you do,” he addedcryptically.
Now it was Kay’s interest that was piqued. What did he meanby that? she wondered. It was an odd remark, but she decided to put it to oneside for the moment and press on with what she wanted to say.
“Well, have you ever considered how different our livesmight have been if things had taken another path?” she asked. “What would havehappened if you had taken me to the ball instead of Glen?”
Now he was looking extremely interested. He looked herintently in the eye and paused to consider his words before he spoke again.
“I have thought about it a great deal, as it happens,” hereplied. “More than you can possibly know. But what I’m more interested inright now is your sudden interest in the subject – in particular, why?”
She hadn’t expected him to show this much interest.Encouraged by it, she continued on, eager to see what his response would be toher next question.
“Well, let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that I could goback in time to that day, ditch Glen and go to the ball with you instead. Doyou think we would have got it together? I don’t just mean on that night, butafterwards, too. Like boyfriend and girlfriend? I know if you had wanted to, Iwouldn’t have said no.”
“I can’t believe you’re asking me this,” said Kent, the lookon his face now bordering on the incredulous. “It’s just too big acoincidence.”
“What is?” asked Kay.
“What you are talking about doing – going back in time. Whatput that thought in your head? Or should I perhaps say who? Someone who mayhave offered you a chance to go back? Someone like a friendly angel, perhaps?”
Kay couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“How could you possibly know that?” she asked.
“Because I’ve met him, too,” replied Kent.
Chapter Eight
December 2018
“Him?” asked Kay. “Don’t you mean her?”
“Of course,” said Kent. “He would be a she in your case. Ifit’s anything like what happened to me, he, or rather she, will appear as ayounger version of you.”
“Yes,” said Kay, overjoyed to hear that she wasn’t the onlyone. “That’s exactly what happened. I have met her and she looks like I waswhen I was about nineteen. She’s offered me the chance to go back in time andrelive some past days. I’ve been back once already.”
Over the next few minutes, Kay excitedly poured outeverything that had happened so far. When she had finished, Kent confirmed thathe, too, had met the angel, been given the same offer, and already completedhis six trips back through time. He was just as excited as she was to findanother time traveller and was now eager to share some of his experiences withher.
“I’m so glad to find out I’m not alone with all of thisanymore,” he said. “I didn’t feel able to speak to anyone else about this,either when it was happening, or since. How could I have done? People wouldhave thought I was going mad.”
“That’s what I thought, too. But it’s alright now,” saidKay. “We can talk to each other. You must tell me all about it. How long agodid it happen?”
“It was only about a month ago,” said Kent. “It started theday I lost my job. I was feeling pretty suicidal at the time and couldn’t seethe point of carrying on. I was up on the roof of Sainsbury’s car park andthinking about jumping off. Then the angel
