‘It looks high-tech. And pricey.’ He put down his pen and pushed his puzzles back. ‘Is that for Jamie’s fortieth? I thought we were going to fly him and the girls over to Portugal.’
Why on earth would she have bought a fuchsia-coloured multi-activity tracking watch for their poor, hen-pecked son? ‘No, love. It’s for me.’
Stu’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Oh? Taking up a new hobby are we?’ His eyes abruptly brightened as he clapped his hands together and laughed. Delighted. ‘Florence Joanne Wilson.’ He always called her by her full name when he was tickled about something. ‘Does this mean you’re finally joining the Algarve Oldies? I thought you’d eventually join in. They really rack up the miles, those girls.’
Flo stopped her lip from curling, forcing it into a twitchy smile. The ‘girls’ Stu was speaking about were the wives of Stu’s golfing buddies down at their gated golf community. They were nice enough women, but astonishingly dull. More so, because they thought they were right fascinating. The lot of them – there were about half a dozen depending upon the time of year and, of course, health scares – considered themselves daring and interesting because sometimes, instead of circumnavigating the pristinely manicured golf course, they sometimes … and only sometimes … rode bicycles into town for a coffee instead of having it, as they usually did, at the club.
‘No, darlin’.’ She resisted going back to her post behind him to fake strangle him again. Much of her frustration wasn’t with him, it was with all this time she had.
Faced with a completely blank week, she’d spent Stu’s tee-time filling in every waking moment she could. She’d made an appointment at the gym, one with her GP and, of course, she needed to head into the cycle shop a bit later. The only bicycle they had that was vaguely serviceable was Jennifer’s old trail bike that she’d left behind when she’d headed for London. Rather than the Halfords down at the shopping centre where the assistants didn’t give two figs about properly fitting a bike to the person, she thought she’d check out the adorable little shop on Sheep Street. They used an old-fashioned font on their shopfront that appealed to her. Perhaps she’d get a basket, too.
Then, of course, she’d have to meet up with Sue and Raven. Talk logistics, fundraising, and, of course, if they’d be willing to share a tent with her.
Not that she was sure it was camping or that she’d actually heard from the girls yet. She’d left things with them to marinate, half hoping they’d call her straight after watching Brand New Day on the Friday morning. They hadn’t. She’d kept herself busy over the weekend (dog walks, googling Hadrian’s Wall and, of course, the charity that they would be fundraising for). Now that it was Monday, and she’d not heard a word, she was feeling a bit edgy.
Without work as a means of casually running into them, pressing for information and enthusing them was trickier. Particularly as she’d forgotten to get contact details for either one of them. She could always pop in of course, with a housewarming present or something, but people didn’t really pop in anymore unless they were neighbours and even then … She’d check Facebook later. Or Instagram. She’d not yet got into the swing of Twitter, but no doubt she’d find them on one thing or another. Surely Raven would be on all of them, being so young.
She removed the watch from her wrist and laid it on top of Stu’s Sudoku. ‘Take a look. I bet you could navigate a plane with all of the microtechnology in this one.’ Flo needed Stu to take an interest. Partly because she’d be tromping in and out of the house with padded bum shorts on over the coming weeks and partly because she hadn’t figured out how to work the bloody thing yet. She also had some uncomfortable news to pass on.
‘What’s this for then?’ Stu took on his grandfatherly tone, tipping his glasses down to the end of his nose as he inspected the watch.
‘It’s for that charity ride I’ve been telling you I’ve signed up for. The one with Kath off the morning telly?’ She’d only registered on the weekend, but he didn’t need to know that. A bit presumptuous on her part seeing as she’d no clue if Raven and Sue were coming, but if it came to it, she supposed she’d be alright on her own. It wasn’t as if it would be just her and Kath, would it? That Idris Elba look-a-like’d be there. And, apparently, a bus driver would be bringing all of their luggage from site to site, so at least four of them would be involved. She handed Stu the instruction booklet for the watch. She never read the instructions on anything. That was Stu’s job. ‘Remember, love? The girls down at the call centre and I signed up for it together.’
Stu’s eyebrows dove together. ‘Hmm … remind me?’
‘The one along Hadrian’s Wall. For the charity?’ She left out mental health, as it was never a concept Stu could wrap his head round. Not in a mean way, he was just so ruddy logical, he didn’t understand how others could be pulled up short by life.
He began flicking through the booklet, pen making little marks at what he called Points of Interest. ‘Would you like me to do the settings for you?’
Flo smiled. This was more like it. Stu’s pen went down. Eyebrows furrowed.
Oh, dear.
‘Wait now. Hadrian’s Wall. Weather’s awful there this time of year. When exactly will you be away?’
Exactly when they were
