The beep of a new call sounded through the headset and I straightened myself in my chair. I took a breath, donned my calm and reassuring tone and accepted the call.
‘Hello, you’re through to Healthy Minds. Can I ask your name?’
The only response that came was a slight whoosh of wind as it brushed against the mouthpiece. I waited a second or two before trying again.
‘Hello? Are you there?’ I heard someone inhale. ‘Hello?’
‘Hi.’ The voice came from the other end of the line.
‘Hi there. How are you doing?’ It was a regular question, one that was asked every day out in the world and very rarely was it answered truthfully. But here, in this office and all the other offices like it, the prescribed answer wasn’t necessary. Here we always strived to get the truth.
The line crackled, the connection fizzing in and out of clarity.
‘I-I don’t —ow —ed.’
‘I’m having trouble hearing you. Is it possible to move around a little to see if we can get a better connection?’ I scrunched up my face, as if this would somehow help, and pressed my earphones against my ears.
I heard movement and a moment later the voice came through clear.
‘Hi, can you hear me now?’ he asked and something landed in my stomach like a lead weight.
‘Yeah, I can hear you,’ I replied. ‘How are you feeling this evening?’
‘I’ve had better days I’m not gonna lie to yer,’ the man answered, his Irish accent sending a shiver through me. Could it really be him? No, surely not. There had to be more than one Irishman living in Birmingham, hadn’t there? But he sounded so very like him.
What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t let him unload his woes onto me without letting him know who I was, could I?
‘Your name wouldn’t happen to be Charlie, would it?’ my mouth asked before my brain had signed off on it.
‘Erm … yeah,’ he responded, nonplussed. ‘Do I, err, do I know yer?’
‘I think I may have thrown my lunch at you yesterday.’ I chuckled through my words nervously.
‘Nell?’ he asked. ‘From the café?’
I laughed through a nervous breath, a little chuffed that he’d remembered my name, and nodded even though he couldn’t see it. ‘What a small world, hey? Although, we both do live in the same city and only ran into each other yesterday, so maybe not so small and, for the love of God, I should stop talking and let you say what you rang to say. That’s if you even want to talk to me. I could put you on to someone who doesn’t have an aggressive sandwich-based history with you, if you’d like.’
‘Jesus, you really weren’t lyin’ about that verbal diarrhoea, were yer?’
‘Not even slightly, no.’ I chuckled nervously again. ‘So, what made you call today?’
‘Erm …’ He took a deep breath and the sound of his feet pacing found my ears. ‘I feel like an eejit doing this, but I just called because I’m worried about my uncle. He’s been a bit weird lately.’
‘Weird how?’ I questioned, my brain quickly switching from giggly flirtation to serious counsellor.
‘Oh, you know, gettin’ distant, closed off, that kind of thing. He used to talk so much that you’d be offering him money to stop, but lately it’s been nothin’ but one-word answers.’
‘What’s your uncle’s name?’ I asked.
‘Carrick.’
‘Has he spoken to you about this or are you just picking up on his behaviour?’
‘They’re just observations,’ he replied. ‘Thing is, I’m terrible at this kind of thing. I’d probably just end up makin’ it worse, so that’s why I called yer.’
I opened my mouth to ask if Carrick might consider talking to me and agree to a call with both of us, but before I could get the words out, Charlie was speaking again. He scoffed in disbelief. ‘I-I just don’t believe this,’ he said, sounding slightly embarrassed. ‘What are the odds that it’s you who picks up my call?’
‘I know.’ I’d spent all day cursing myself for not being brave enough to ask for his number and I felt like I couldn’t let a second chance slip away from me without at least trying. I looked around, checking that Ned was on a call before pulling myself right up against the edge of my desk, lowering my head to the surface and hushing my voice to an almost whisper.
‘This is gonna sound a little … odd. But, what would you say if I suggested that we carry on this conversation … not over the phone?’
‘I’m listening.’ I thought I heard the inclination of a smile in his voice.
‘Well, I should be finishing work within the next half hour and I wondered if you wanted to, you know, carry on this chat in person? Feel free to say no and to forget that I ever spoke, because I’m pretty sure I could get fired for asking you this, but I really enjoyed speaking with you yesterday and I’m getting kinda hungry and I know you wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to see me eat again.’
‘How could I possibly pass up that opportunity. Where shall I meet yer?’
‘Really?’ I asked, astonished. ‘That was easy.’
‘Hey now,’ he said suavely. ‘I won’t have yer running all over town tellin’ everyone I’m easy, okay? I’ve an untarnished reputation to uphold. So, shall I meet yer at work?’
‘Sure,’ I said and gave him the address, my face so close to the desk to avoid being overheard that the heat of my breath bounced back onto my face.
‘I’ll see yer soon then, Nell.’ The sound of my name on his voice made me grin from ear to ear.
‘See you soon.’ The line went dead and I breathed an excited laugh into the desk.
‘What’s got you going all giggly?’ Ned’s accusatory voice made me jump and I flung myself around
