And, that was why she was so sure he'd be there. She knew he could wait for her until the end of time, if that was what it was going to take.
In the evenings, they moored up and cooked dinner. James was a good cook, better than either of the women. They deferred to his superior skills in the kitchen, sitting together at the table planning their route for the next day and rejoicing on how far they'd travelled.
Anita cut her fingernails short and removed her nail polish with some remover she'd found in the main cabin. She re-braided her hair and plucked her eyebrows. They flicked through magazines, played yet more scrabble, talked about music they liked and books they'd read, films they'd watched and their favourite TV programmes. They told stories of before, stories of family, friends and lovers. Good stories, warm stories, memorials for people and times past - people who now felt hundreds of miles away, times that felt like lost history. The fear of the horror beyond faded a little, concealed for a time in both mind and eye by a thin veil of normality.
But at night, it would reappear. Up on the roof alone, when it was Lisa's turn to watch, reality furtively crept back in, stealing away the bewitching ordinariness of the evening. Watching and listening, alert and ready, searching the darkness for hostile shapes in the bushes, unexplained ripples in the water or unnatural sounds, the cold fingers of unease and dread would slowly return. But looking up at the night sky, where the moon and stars traversed the heavens like they had every night before, and would continue to do every night after, it was still possible to pretend, if only for a moment.
Anita and James were sharing the main cabin. Lisa imagined them snuggled up together, arms wrapped around each other, legs entwined, faces close, lips touching. She longed for that intimacy again. Before, it had been the part of each day that she looked forward to the most. When the day's tasks were complete, all jobs done and lists duly ticked off, she liked to treat herself with moments of closeness.
During the evenings, when they were watching TV or reading on the sofa together, she would rest her legs across Neil's thighs as he absent-mindedly massaged her feet, and she'd puppy nudge him for more every time he stopped. She never grew tired of slipping under the bed covers and moving her body as close to his as she could get.
She was always first to suggest that they went to bed, hurrying upstairs, brushing her teeth and jumping under the sheets as quickly as she could, then waiting impatiently for him to join her. Invariably, he would dawdle for a bit, flicking through the TV channels, fixing them a drink or deciding to take a last-minute shower.
She would lie awake frustratedly waiting for him, willing him to hurry up, then reproaching herself for getting irritated. She knew he had no idea that she was waiting for him. He'd have been mortified if he'd known.
Now, when it was her time to rest and she had climbed into her cold, empty bed like a lonely, single woman, it struck her that something subtle had changed in the dynamics between her and Anita since James had come along. She couldn't quite decipher it … couldn't explain it, nor even give it words. It was something to do with the sense of self, and how it changed when you became part of a couple. Before James, that aspect of self-identity had been stronger in Lisa. Now, it seemed stronger in Anita. Lisa felt as though her perception of herself as one half of a couple was becoming weaker, fragmented.
But she was overthinking things again! This is when Neil would have told her to stop and get a grip. Of course, she was part of a couple. They were still a couple. Always had been! Always would be!
She turned over, shut her eyes and waited for sleep to come.
It was on Thursday, exactly 14 days since Lisa had been heading home from London, when they approached Attwood Common for the second time. They'd successfully negotiated the Lapworth locks, and had made it just past Hockley Heath, when Anita and James suggested it was time to stop for the night.
"But it's not far now! Just a few more miles!" Lisa was agitated.
"It's going to be dark soon, Lisa," Anita said.
"I know but we're so close."
"But you're the one who said we shouldn't travel after dark. We all agreed right from the start that it was too risky."
"But I know the way from here. I know it really well! Neil and I used to walk this part of the canal. We could use the tunnel light."
"You said the tunnel light might attract the infected. What are you saying now?"
Anita sighed in frustration.
"Oh God! I don't know! We could get there tonight. I can't wait till morning. I just can't!"
"Look! Think about it! Tomorrow is going to be a big day. The biggest! We need to rest and be ready for … whatever. After all we've been through, why would you take the risk of losing everything now?"
"She's right, Lisa!" James added his support. "You know she is. What difference will one more day make when you've been travelling for so long? We don't want to arrive at night. Who knows what sort of situation we'll be going into? We need to be able to see where we're going, who we're facing and what we're doing."
"I know. I know. It's just that we're so close.
