He drained the last of his pint and got up from the chair,eager to replenish his glass.
“I’ve often imagined what it would be like if we were,” saidKay, instantly regretting it when she saw the irritated look that crossedKent’s face.
“Look, Kay, we need to get one thing clear. Whatever mighthappen in the trip you are about to take to the past, it’s not going to changeanything here. I’m happy to be your friend, especially now we’ve discoveredwhat we have in common, but you must stop thinking we might get together in thefuture.”
“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry. I just keep thinking abouthow different our lives might have been if it hadn’t been for Glen wrecking ourchance all those years ago.”
“Look, just go to the day of the ball and enjoy whateverhappens. That’s all you can do. Seize the moment.”
Kay agreed and the two of them returned to the bar. They hadnothing to worry about where Andy was concerned. He was still perched on hisstool, now boring a couple of young women who were waiting to get served withhis usual fabricated tales about his non-existent rockstar past.
Kay didn’t linger in the pub for once, wanting to get adecent night’s sleep. She also didn’t feel like getting out of her skull todrown her sorrows, as for once she didn’t have any. Instead of needing to blotout the misery of her seemingly futile existence, there was suddenly plenty tofeel enthusiastic about. She was going on a series of adventures through herown past and life seemed full of possibilities again.
She still felt sad that her crush on Kent seemed destined toremain unrequited, but she had to be realistic and do the right thing. She hadvowed she wouldn’t mess around with married men: his wife didn’t deserve it,and neither did his kids. It was time to accept that they had no futuretogether.
But she had a chance to get this particular monkey off herback in the past. He had more or less given her the green light to go ahead andmake the most of the opportunity, and she planned to wring every drop ofenjoyment from it that she could.
She was relieved on returning to the chip shop to see therewas no sign of the dreaded McVie. She was still hungry so she got herself a bagof chips. She fancied some fish, too, but didn’t have enough money for cod. Afresh batch of fish cakes had just been put out, so she ordered one of thoseinstead, before going up to her room to think about the day ahead.
After she had eaten her supper she got into bed and wrappedthe duvet around herself. It was still desperately cold in the room.
She flicked on the TV to see if there was anythinginteresting on, but there was only Match of the Day on BBC1. She wasn’tinterested in football, so flicked across to BBC2 which was showing a rerun ofan old panel game. She watched that for a while but it wasn’t long before shefell asleep, the TV still playing in the background.
In the morning, she woke refreshed, and even more excitedthan she had been the night before. She practically bounded out of bed, so keenwas she to get started. It was nearly nine o’clock and when she headed into thebathroom, the angel was already waiting for her in the mirror.
“Morning!” said Kay, full of the joys of spring despite thefact that her feet were like blocks of ice and the mirror had steamed up assoon as she breathed on it. “And what a fantastic one it’s going to be.”
The angel’s face was a little blurred through the mist, butshe could still make out that it had a disapproving look.
“Yes, well, before we get started, we need to get somethingclear.”
“What’s that?” asked Kay.
“Confidentiality,” replied the angel. “When I gave you thisopportunity, I hadn’t expected you to go straight down to the pub and startblabbing about it to all and sundry.”
“It was hardly all and sundry,” protested Kay. “I only toldone person and as it turns out, he knows all about you already.”
“I know,” said the angel. “But I would prefer it if youdidn’t tell anyone else about any of this. I offer these trips only to a veryfew selected individuals in the strictest confidence. If everyone started goingaround telling people about it, where would we be? There would be busloads oftime travel tourists, ghost hunters and all sorts of other weirdos turning uphere. I’d be bracketed with the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. Everyone wouldbe trying to get a glimpse of me.”
“I can’t believe you are worried about something like that,what with all the powers you claim to have,” replied Kay. “What are they goingto do, throw a net over the mirror? Anyway, you never said anything about nottelling anyone.”
“No, I didn’t. Perhaps I should have done,” said the angel.“I think it’s about time I started issuing a list of terms and conditions topeople before I let them loose in the past. Something to make sure they arecrystal-clear on the rules before we start.”
“Maybe you should,” said Kay. “So you don’t have to tick meoff again, is there anything else I should or shouldn’t be doing before wecarry on?”
“Just don’t tell anyone else,” said the angel. “And we willsee how we get on.”
“Fair enough,” replied Kay. “So can we get started now?” sheadded impatiently.
“We can,” said the angel. “This is the bit where I normallyask people where they want to go, but there won’t be any prizes for guessing inthis case. Would it be the day of the ball, by any chance? It’s all you’ve beenthinking about for the past day.”
“Got it in one,” replied Kay.
“This should be interesting,” said the angel. “Often I saywhen people go back that this will be version 2.0 of the day, but in this caseit’s going to be version 3.0. But then you already figured that out, judging byyour conversation with Kent last night.”
“You know it’s quite rude to eavesdrop on privateconversations,” said Kay, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the thought
