‘We get in twenty minutes before you do if that’s the case, so we’ll wait for you to make sure everything’s OK,’ she insisted. ‘Come home with us and have a bite to eat and I’ll drive you home.’
‘What would I do without you?’ He smiled across at her and raised his glass.
‘You would do the same for me.’ She raised her glass back at him and felt so sorry for him when she saw the sadness in his eyes and the air of desolation that was once again enshrouding him.
‘Safe journey, see you later,’ Hilary said when they had all hugged Jonathan before escorting him to the foyer to check out. Hilary too was settling her bill and they stood side by side while the attentive receptionists, Ailine and Tyrone, settled their accounts and asked had their stay been satisfactory.
‘As ever,’ said Jonathan warmly. ‘It’s a superb hotel.’
‘Ditto,’ said Hilary. ‘My girls loved it. We’ll be back.’
‘Very friendly staff,’ Jonathan remarked, walking over to the couches where the two girls were sitting waiting for them with the luggage. They had got up early and gone clothes and make-up shopping and all the cases were bulging.
‘Time to go our separate ways. See you at Dublin Airport. Wish me luck. Do I look OK?’ he asked anxiously.
‘Ammaaazzing! That leather jacket is dead cool and those winkle-picker shoes, way to go, JH,’ Millie approved.
‘And I love the D&G shirt,’ Sophie declared. ‘Weep into your cornflakes, Leon, you idiot,’ she added, knowing how Jonathan was feeling about seeing his erstwhile friend at Stansted.
Jonathan laughed and turned to Hilary. ‘See ya soon. Thanks for everything. I love ya!’
‘I love you too, now go and swan through Stansted as though you hadn’t a care in the world and we’ll meet you at the other end.’
‘Will do!’ he promised, taking heart from her words as the doorman hailed his taxi. As they detoured past the elegant mansions of Belgravia, because there was a delay at Hyde Park, his courage began to fail and a terrible sadness seeped into Jonathan’s bones. He should have ignored his pride and booked a flight home with Hilary and the girls. By the time they drove along the Embankment he had almost persuaded himself to tell the driver to drop him at the nearest tube so he could make his own way to Paddington and get the Heathrow Express and try and book a flight with Hilary. When he saw the pale-brick, glass-canopied building of Liverpool Street Station loom into view and the driver pulled up to the rank beside Platform 10, he was ready to puke. With shaking hands he paid his fare, grabbed his luggage, plonked it on the ground and stood in the fresh air gulping deep panicky breaths.
Do not have a panic attack here. DO NOT HAVE A PANIC ATTACK HERE! he ordered silently. He stood gathering his composure and decided to buy a bottle of water and some sucky sweets because his mouth was so dry. Resolutely he set off to WH Smith where he added a copy of Homes & Gardens to his purchases. There was a train waiting at Platform 10 although it wasn’t scheduled to depart for another ten minutes. He wondered was Leon already on it. He stared straight ahead and walked down towards the middle carriages, stowed his luggage in the baggage rack, got a seat at a window and heaved a sigh of relief as a young woman came and sat beside him. Even if Leon did see him, the carriage was fairly full. When the train pulled out, Jonathan didn’t know whether Leon was on it or not.
He saw his former friend before the other man saw him. Jonathan was heading airside after checking in his luggage, and he saw Leon strolling across the concourse. Jonathan quickened his step. He had no desire to spend any time with the man and he hurried onto the transit train to get to departures and find a quiet spot in a bar to wait until his flight was called.
He ordered a beer, opened his magazine and forced himself to concentrate on what he was reading. He left it to the last minute to join the queue for boarding and he could see Leon up ahead scanning for him. Leon saw him and waved for him to go up to him but he stayed put. He wasn’t going running just because Leon waved at him.
As the usual mad scramble began, Leon shouted to him, ‘I’ll get two seats.’
Don’t bother, Jonathan thought, annoyed that Leon would even think Jonathan would want to sit beside him.
Making his way down the plane he could see Leon midway along standing up and stowing his bag. Jonathan saw an empty seat in row five, between a man and a woman, and he stopped and hefted his carry-on bag into the baggage bin overhead and excused himself and sat in between them. He hated sitting in the middle seat normally but he was damned if he was going to make polite conversation with Leon for the duration of the flight. And he’d be off the plane before him too.
One thing he had to say about Ryanair, they were generally on time if not early, he thought gratefully when the Boeing thumped down onto the runway at Dublin and taxied to the gate. Without a backward glance Jonathan stood up, got his bag and was ready to move as
