“This place is great, how did you find it?”
“It’s one of my favorites,” said Cherry casually, as if she spentnumerous nights hanging out there and was now sharing it with him. They were drawn in by the singers, a young white guy with a prominent Adam’s apple and a statuesque black woman in a purple sequined dress. She was in her late fifties, but her voice was strong and defiant. The young guy would occasionally flirt with her on stage and she’d treat him with dignified disdain. This amused him and between them they had an electrifying presence together.
Cherry glanced at Daniel and looked for signs that his mother had been in touch since she’d seen him that morning. Laura would’ve found out about the nonexistent ITV meeting hours ago, and no doubt she’d be extremely suspicious of who’d actually sent her there, and had probably worked it out. She’d likely panicked, wanting to talk to Daniel, but so far he’d not mentioned anything. He was still behaving as if he hadn’t spoken to his mother, which meant he didn’t know about how she’d threatened Laura the day before. In fact, Cherry wasn’t all that worried: If Laura did bring it up, she would just deny it. It was all rather melodramatic and far-fetched and Laura was the one with the record of grotesque lies. In fact, instead of being a worry, Cherry felt sure she could make it look as if Laura was behaving worse than ever and this would push Daniel to her even quicker. She’d wasted enough time and was sick of being down and out. Thankfully, Daniel had paid the cab and put his card behind the bar for the drinks.
The band changed songs and the woman started up something feisty and proud and her voice filled the belly. Murmurs of appreciation went around the room and Daniel impulsively stood. He held out his hand and led Cherry to the other couples in the small dance area. She smiled. The ice was well and truly broken. There was no going back.
* * *
As he held her hand and spun her around the floor, Daniel thought again how lucky he was that Cherry had decided to make an unplanned visit to his parents’ house that morning. And how lucky his shifts had worked out so he’d been in at the time. He’dbeen given something back from all that had been taken away from him after the accident. He got a stab of hurt when he thought about his mum and how quickly he’d moved out, but he quickly quashed it.
The flat had smelled musty. He immediately opened all the windows and ran all the taps, which gurgled with air locks. His old electronic travel card was lying on the coffee table, put there after he’d returned from work the day he and Cherry took the trip to Wales. It had been lined up neatly with his work ID and all his old mail. He checked through the postmarks. They stopped sometime around early November, probably when his mother had managed to get hold of most people to tell them he was in a coma. He quickly looked through, but they were all junk mail, bills, and so on. He chucked them all in the trash. Then he opened the fridge. It was empty. He had a sudden urge to fill it and make the place feel more like home, so he left his rucksack lying in the hall and headed out. When he came back, he turned up the music and made himself some lunch. The place felt better already, but what he couldn’t get rid of was the ache in his chest. And for the first time he felt angry. He’d been cheated out of something he cared about. All those months when he could have been with Cherry, the girl he loved. Why? Why had his mother gone to such lengths?
* * *
The vibrant music and powerful singing released something in him and made him feel free. The singer finished on a heartfelt note and a small outbreak of applause rippled around the room. Daniel led Cherry back to their table.
“Quite a mover.”
She blushed. “No . . .”
“Did we ever go dancing?”
Her face clouded over. “Don’t think we had time.”
“What else didn’t we do?”
“Swim with dolphins.”
“Which couples swim with dolphins?”
“It’s an option. Have our portrait painted.”
He smiled. “Buy matching T-shirts.”
“Throw a dinner party.”
“Have ‘our’ song.”
“Argue.”
He considered. “No, we didn’t, did we?” In fact, he realized, they’d never had more than a healthy debate. It was a nice thought.
“I’ve moved back to the flat.”
She stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“It was left empty. Ever since the accident.”
“What did Laura say?”
“I haven’t spoken to her yet. I left her a note back at the house. It just seemed like it was never going to be an easy conversation and I needed some time to think.”
Cherry nodded. “Was that today? After we met up?”
“Yes.”
She could tell he was still hurting. She put a hand on his, then raised her glass. “Happy new home,” she said warmly, and clinked.
