CATHERINE GEORGE - Husband For Real

NEXT morning Rose woke before the alarm went off, deeply depressed to find rain streaming down her window. Moving quietly to avoid disturbing the others, she got into her running gear, collected a yellow slicker from the hook behind the door, picked up her bag with the change of clothes, then shut herself in the bathroom for the rest of her preparations. She hurried out eventually into rain so heavy she was sure Sinclair wouldn’t bother to turn up. But when she got to the stadium he was there before her, tall and faintly menacing in hooded black until his teeth showed white in the smile she was beginning to know so well.

‘Hi. I didn’t think you’d come.’

‘I had my doubts,’ she admitted, smiling cheerfully in response. She eyed the water-covered track with apprehension. ‘Can we run on that?’

‘I vote we don’t in this weather.’ He took her bag. ‘I’ve got a suggestion.’

‘Bacon sandwiches with no run for starters?’ she said hopefully.

‘Something like that. But there’s a problem. The café doesn’t open this early on Sundays.’

‘Oh. Never mind,’ said Rose, swallowing her disappointment. ‘Some other time, then.’

‘I live in digs in the town,’ he said quickly, the faint trace of Scots in his accent more pronounced. ‘And I make a great bacon sandwich. My landlady’s away this weekend, babysitting, but she gives me the run of her kitchen.’

‘Does she do that for all her boarders?’

‘I’m her one and only.’ His expression was hard to make out in the gloom. ‘Will you join me for breakfast, Rose?’

Excitement swept through her like a tidal wave. ‘Yes, I will. Thank you.’

He smiled. ‘Come on, then, let’s make a run for it. We’ve got a way to go before you get anything to eat.’

‘And I thought I was let off for today!’

By the time they reached a crescent of solid Edwardian houses they were drenched. Sinclair unlocked the door of a house halfway along and hurried her into a mosaic-tiled hall, switched on lights and yanked off her dripping slicker.

‘Take your shoes off,’ he ordered, ‘then go straight up the stairs to the bathroom and get into some dry clothes.’

‘How about you?’ She panted.

‘I’ll strip off in Mrs Bradley’s bathroom down here—go on, hurry up. I’ll start grilling the bacon while you change. My room’s first on the right. Wait for me there.’

Wishing she could avoid getting sweaty and red-faced just once now and again in Sinclair’s company, Rose stripped off her outer clothes in a blessedly warm bathroom, then pulled on dry socks, old, comfortable denims and an outsize baggy white sweater which grew larger every time she washed it. She dismantled her damp plait, rubbed her hair dry with her own towel, rather than mar the immaculate ones on the rail, used a hairbrush vigorously, then added the usual token touch of lipstick to her mouth and packed her wet things in the bag.

Rose felt like a trespasser when she ventured into Sinclair’s room. There were piles of books everywhere. The sizeable table he used as a desk had obviously been cleared of them to make room for a large wooden tray set with tea-things, but books lay in stacks under it, and on shelves and on the floor either side of a big sofa. To her relief there was no bed. He obviously slept somewhere else. Through the rain sluicing down the big window at the back of the room Rose could see a drenched garden backing onto gardens in the street behind. Pleasant on a better day. And she envied him the room, which was three times the size of hers at the flat. She put her bag down and went to look at his books. Her aunt maintained that you could tell a lot about people from their taste in reading. But there was little to be learned from Sinclair’s collection, which was all textbooks, bar a couple of volumes on fly fishing.

Rose turned guiltily as Sinclair came in with a platter of sandwiches. ‘You were quick!’ she exclaimed, hoping he couldn’t tell how shy she felt now they were alone together.

Sinclair switched on a couple of lamps and plugged in a kettle. ‘I put everything ready before I went out. I just had to light the grill and abracadabra, everything was ready in no time.’ He handed her a length of kitchen paper in lieu of a napkin, and gave her a plate with two sandwiches on it, then made a pot of tea and sat down on a straight chair at the table and began to eat. Rose munched in silence for a lengthening interval, wishing she could think of something brilliantly clever to say.

‘What’s the matter, Rose?’ he asked bluntly.

Her eyes met his with candour. ‘I was just thinking that this isn’t what I expected when I started out this morning.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’d prefer the transport café?’

‘No, of course not.’

‘Then don’t look so scared. I’m perfectly harmless.’

She grinned involuntarily. ‘So I’ve heard.’

He glared, his eyes suddenly wintry. ‘And just what have you heard, little girl?’ he drawled, ice in every word.

Rose blushed to the roots of her hair. ‘Only that you’re more interested in getting a double first than chasing after girls.’

His eyes softened. ‘True enough. My surplus energies expend themselves on the track and the rugby pitch. The rest goes into this lot here.’ He waved a hand at the encroaching books, then gave her the slow smile which made her insides dissolve. ‘The rumours about my sexual preferences are false, by the way, in case you’re wondering, spread in my first year by a female who resented my lack of interest.’

‘I wasn’t wondering,’ she assured him blithely, and began on her second sandwich with more relish.

‘Why not?’

Rose regarded him steadily. ‘Because it’s none of my business.’

Sinclair stared back in surprise. ‘You’re very blunt. Want some tea?’

‘Yes, please.’ He filled a beaker, added a splash of milk and handed it to her, pleasing Rose enormously because he’d remembered how she liked it.

‘So you don’t care whether I’m gay or not?’ he demanded.

‘No.’ She shrugged. ‘I fail to see why race, religion or sexual leanings should matter when it comes to friendship.’

Sinclair leaned forward, his hands clasped between his knees as he peered down into her face. ‘You really mean that, don’t you?’

‘Yes.’ Rose gave him a crooked little smile. ‘Wet behind the ears I may be in your eyes, but I have my beliefs.’

‘Your parents fostered them?’

Her face shadowed. ‘They began the process, but they died when I was fourteen. I live with my aunt. Minerva holds strong views on everything, so I suppose I’ve taken some of them on board myself without even realising it.’

Sinclair got up, seeming taller than usual to Rose from her seat on his sofa. He took her mug and plate from her and put them on the tray, then to her astonishment he sat beside her and took her hand.

‘Would you like to tell me about your parents?’ he said gently.

Rose gave him a startled, sidelong glance, deeply conscious of the hard, warm hand grasping hers. Then after a moment’s hesitation she told him about the joyrider who’d put an end to her parents’ lives one afternoon on a narrow country road in Warwickshire.

‘They were on their way to fetch me from school.’ Rose bit her lip. ‘For a long time I just couldn’t accept that they were gone, even after I went to live with my aunt. Minerva owns a bookshop in a small town in the Cotswolds, and after—after the accident I moved into the flat over the shop with her.’

‘Poor little kid,’ said James quietly. ‘It must have been tough for you.’

‘I won’t pretend it wasn’t. But I’ve been fortunate, too. My father was a lot older than Minerva, so I look on her more as friend than aunt now I’m older. And I still have my memories of a happy childhood, and the holidays I spent with Mother and Dad.’ Feeling horribly guilty, she recalled herself to the matter in hand. ‘We even went to Scotland once, to Skye.’ The last bit, a vital part of Con’s strategy, was her first real lie, and she gulped down some tea to cover the rush of guilty colour to her face.

‘Skye!’ exclaimed Sinclair. ‘When my father was alive we went there once a year. I love it there. How about you?’

‘I don’t remember much about it. I was quite young, and it rained a lot,’ said Rose, deliberately vague. ‘My father went fishing, and Mother and I visited woollen mills.’

‘Did your father do much fishing?’ he asked with interest.

‘Yes. When he could. Trout, like you.’ She went cold for a moment. ‘I saw the books on your shelves,’ she said hurriedly, and went on talking to cover her blunder. ‘Dad made the most beautiful flies. He’d sit with a special little vice at the kitchen table, listening to opera tapes while he created tiny works of art. I still have some of them. The fishing flies, I mean. His rods were sold.’

The grasp tightened. ‘You still miss him.’

‘I miss them both.’ Rose hesitated. ‘But it comforts me to know that they’re together.’

‘You really believe that?’

‘Yes.’ Her chin lifted. ‘Because I need to believe it.’

There was silence between them for a while.

‘My father died when I was twelve,’ said Sinclair abruptly.

Rose sat perfectly still, hardly daring to breathe. In her wildest dreams she’d never imagined he’d confide in her in return.

‘He died in his sleep,’ he went on. ‘When my mother woke up one morning he was just—gone. Dad was a workaholic with a heart problem. Fatal combination.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Rose tightened her fingers in sympathy.

‘When I was eighteen my mother married again. He’s a good man, and they’re happy together. But…’ he paused.

‘You feel left out?’

He frowned thoughtfully. ‘I’ve never thought of it in quite those terms, but, yes, I suppose I do. That’s why I applied for a college down here. I could have gone to Edinburgh or St Andrews, but I opted to get right away to leave the newlyweds in peace. I even took off for a year between school and college. Went backpacking round Australia.’

‘Sounds wonderful. I’ve never done anything adventurous like that,’ said Rose enviously. ‘Do you mind? That your mother remarried, I mean?’ Then she held her breath, afraid she’d trespassed.

But Sinclair shook his head. ‘No. I don’t mind at all. She waited until I was ready to leave home, though Donald would have married her long before then from choice. My mother was only fortyish when they finally tied the knot. And even in a son’s eyes a very attractive lady.’ He gave her a wry look. ‘Donald’s a successful advocate, and a very self-contained sort of bloke, but it was obvious, even to me, that he was mad about my mother from the moment he met her. Still is. Mother sold our home when she moved in with him. His house is a big, rambling place, and there’s a room in it kept solely for me, but I can’t help feeling like a visitor there—’ He stopped dead, shaking his head.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘I can’t believe I’m telling you all this stuff. I don’t usually bore people rigid with my life history.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘You must be a very good listener, young Rose.’

Now, she thought reluctantly, would be a good time to leave. She detached her hand gently and got up. ‘I’d better leave you to your books. Thank you for breakfast, and—and for talking to me.’

Sinclair got to his feet and stretched, suddenly so overpoweringly male in the small room Rose felt a sudden urge to run, like an animal scenting danger.