At the beep, the words poured out. She told him everything she wished she’d had the courage to say that night in the beer garden when she’d blindsided him with news of her sudden departure, that she loved him and always would, but it was time for her to find her feet on her own, to embrace new opportunities. She didn’t mention Jonathan, that would be cruel and unnecessary, she thought, and besides, there was nothing to tell, yet. But she was sorry to say her last goodbye, and she wiped away tears as she left him with her hopes that he would find everything he was looking for in life.
Making her way back to the inglenook, for a split second Kelsey was struck with the irrational fear that Jonathan would be gone, that he was surely too good to be true, that he was somehow a fleeting summer’s dream. But there he was, smiling and placid. She took her seat opposite him again, choosing to say nothing of the phone call she’d just made in case Jonathan thought it meant she expected something from him now.
Soon they had relaxed into each other’s company again, enjoying the luxury of uninterrupted time together with no distractions and no misapprehensions. They didn’t notice the pub slowly filling up as they ordered from the specials board and tucked into hot scampi and chunky chips with lemon wedges, minty peas, and fresh tartare sauce and they talked and laughed and sipped their ale. Kelsey could feel the cracks in her heart healing over.
Jonathan let her know again how much he loved her photographs and how he’d restocked his portfolio, ordering extra copies to send out to acting companies.
‘Are you looking for a new company?’ Kelsey asked.
‘I’m not sure yet. Maybe.’ He seemed reluctant to talk about the company and quickly veered away from the subject. ‘So, tell me about the exhibition you mentioned. Remember? The day we met?’ he prompted her with an encouraging nod.
‘You remembered that?’ Kelsey was impressed. ‘Well, OK. It was when I was an undergraduate, a million years ago, but I was really proud of it. My photography club rented a proper gallery space in Edinburgh and they displayed some of my landscape pictures. Some of them actually sold too, and not just to my grandad, though he did buy a couple.’
‘That’s very cool. I wish I’d seen that. So you’re going back to photography at the end of the summer? I’m guessing you don’t want to be a tour guide forever and you’ve got too much talent not to pursue it.’
She exhaled sharply, puffing her cheeks out. ‘I haven’t really thought about it. I have no idea. I know I don’t really want to go home, not soon anyway.’ A new light formed in Kelsey’s widening eyes. ‘Jonathan? Have you tried to imagine what Stratford might be like in the autumn? I have. I’ve been thinking about it a lot actually, wondering what the riverside will look like when the leaves fall and it’s all dewy and fresh. Do you reckon the pubs light their fires?’
Jonathan joined in enthusiastically. ‘I love the smell of wood smoke from the chimneys and bonfires when it’s all mixed up with the fireworks and the mist. Fall’s my favourite time of year.’
Kelsey sighed as her thoughts drifted to the colder months. ‘What do you think it would be like at Christmas?’ Her eyes grew wide as she imagined the ancient twisting streets, the thatched roofs, and the black and white beamed shops glimmering with silver frost and illuminated with twinkling lights.
Jonathan seemed to be thinking along similar lines. His deep, sonorous voice interrupted her thoughts. ‘What must those old street lamps look like glowing in the depths of a winter’s night, huh? And the river must be awesome when it’s halfway to frozen.’ He smiled dreamily.
‘So… where will you be when winter comes?’ Kelsey asked sheepishly, already afraid of the answer.
Jonathan’s pinched brows and slow exhalation cast a sudden frost. ‘The company moves on to Ontario for a Shakespeare festival in September, we’re performing Hamlet from our repertoire. And, uh… in October I’ll be jetting off on my own to California to take up my drama teaching residency for the winter.’
Falling into silence, he sat back, folding his arms. Kelsey couldn’t bear to think of the summer’s end any longer, so quickly tried to change the subject.
‘That sounds… really special, a whole winter of drama. Tell me about how you first got into Shakespeare.’ Leaning forward, she encouraged him to open up again.
The crinkle between his brows smoothed.. ‘Shakespeare’s in my blood – maybe literally. I do share a surname with Shakespeare’s wife’s side of the family.’ He was smiling now, his lips curling at the sides in the most appealing way. ‘My mother was an actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the eighties. She came out here from Oklahoma to try out for RADA and ended up onstage untrained and still pretty young. She was a real starlet for a while. But she gave up acting when she had me.’ Kelsey noticed the tiny flicker of tension in his jaw. ‘My father disappeared after he found out she was pregnant. He was… uh… someone in the company. She always said he didn’t matter and that I was hers and hers alone. So we went back to Oklahoma. She worked in the 7-Eleven, did some drama teaching, ran classes at the Y, all kinds of stuff to provide for me. Eventually she married a guy called Art. I was still real little then and I grew up thinking of him as my real dad. Then they had my baby sisters, four of ’em.’
‘Four sisters? You’re so lucky, I’d love a sister.’
‘Art always said that me and him were fated to be surrounded by beautiful women.’ Jonathan smiled with a distant fondness. ‘My folks gave me a great childhood. I’d love to try it one day, having kids I mean, a couple of little girls to run round after. Geez, they’d be so cute and I’d be such a sucker.’ He said this with an unflinching gaze that left Kelsey utterly at a loss for words.
Feeling suddenly overwhelmed, she wanted to cool the intense connection that had re-established between them; it was all too much. Thankfully, Jonathan came to her rescue.
‘Tell me about your family? You’re close?’
‘I can do better than that, I can show you them.’ Kelsey reached for the album in her satchel. ‘I started carrying this around a few days ago, I was getting a bit homesick.’
As she turned the first page, Jonathan effortlessly manoeuvred his long body around the table, coming to sit on the inglenook bench beside her. The heat from his closeness seared into Kelsey’s flesh. Thankfully she had her photographs to concentrate on.
‘I have lots of these at home. Sometimes I worry I’ll wind up living alone, a mad old lady in a house full of photo albums and no room for actual furniture. That’s the one problem with real pictures, they take up a lot of space.’
‘Yeah, but who wants their life’s memories stored digitally on a couple of memory sticks or backed up on an old hard drive that’s gonna break one day, anyway? I like albums. You just walk over to the shelf and there it is, your life, it’s all there.’
‘That’s exactly it!’ Kelsey turned to face Jonathan, amazed. In response, he reached an arm around her shoulders, pulling himself a little closer, making her heart soar.
She turned the pages. All of her memories were there at her fingertips, sealed behind the clear plastic leaves. There was little Calum standing by the front door holding his brand new lunchbox on his first day of school; her mum’s fiftieth birthday when they’d gone Segwaying in Fort William – Mari’s idea; her grandparents’ ruby wedding anniversary ceilidh when the extended ‘clan’ reunited from all over the world.
‘That’s my brother. He’s fourteen now.’
‘Looks like a cool kid.’ Jonathan seemed to think nothing of the fact that he was clearly a gangly teenager dressed in a mask, cape, and tights.
‘He is cool, and funny too. I guess being that much older than him and having to help look after him when Dad died meant we’ve never really had that typical big sister, annoying little brother relationship. He was so cute and tiny. He gave us all a reason to carry on when it happened. But there are hardly any pictures of Calum with Dad, they just didn’t get enough time together.’
Jonathan hugged her closer to
his side, his thumb rubbing gently over her forearm. She pressed on, turning pages.
‘This is Mum and Dad.’
Jonathan smiled at the images of the woman with a huge belly, her eyes shining underneath a permed fringe. Kelsey’s dad had his fingers spread out across Mari’s baby bump. Then there was a close-up of Lewis taken seconds later, giving the bump a kiss. Then, a few grainy ones on the maternity ward of the little family huddled together, perched on the hospital bed.
‘That’s me,’ Kelsey laughed. ‘I was so moody at that age, but I can remember trying not to burst with joy holding Calum that day. Mum looks so young.’ Kelsey’s vision blurred as she held back the tears.
The picture showed her parents huddled on either side of her, all of them gazing down at Calum who looked like little more than a bundle of blankets. The image was faded with age but clear enough to show Mari smiling through her exhaustion and her husband’s look of pride and relief with tears in his eyes and his heart in his mouth, the way good men feel when they see their family safely complete.
They pored over the next few snapshots of the family: Calum’s christening and one of them all together on the pier at Blackpool with Calum wrapped up in his little grey buggy, only five months old. Everyone was smiling despite the rain and the wind whipping their hair up. Kelsey closed the book.
‘And that’s it. A few precious memories preserved forever, and none of them are Calum’s.’
‘What happened?’ Jonathan said softly.
‘A car accident. It was just after Hogmanay. Calum was eight months old. A burst tyre on the motorway. I remember the police at the door and then the funeral and all the tears.’
‘God, I’m so sorry.’
‘It’s Calum I feel sorry for. He’s only just old enough to process the enormity of having grown up without his dad. I was lucky, I had a few years with him and I can actually remember him, enough to dream about him.’ Kelsey tried to smile, but a fat tear ran down her cheek. She didn’t have the composure to tell him how every night she’d close her eyes and hope that tonight would be one of the nights she’d see her dad again as she slept.
Drawing his hands up to her face, Jonathan wiped away the tear with his thumb and pushed her hair back. ‘Kelsey, that’s so sad.’
‘You know, it was Dad who brought me to Stratford when I was a kid? He wanted to encourage me to follow my interest in Shakespeare. That’s what Mum told me, anyway. It was as though he could see I needed steering. I’ve always drifted a bit. Maybe he was worried about me, even then. I do feel as though I’m finding my way, now that I’m back here.’
Jonathan simply nodded, listening closely.
‘We saw Romeo and Juliet when we were here. My first Shakespeare play.’ Kelsey sniffed back the tears and smiled. ‘Dad was holding Mum’s hand all the way through it. I was cringing at the time, you know, I was just a kid. I remember him raising her hand to kiss it. They were so in love. They were teenage sweethearts, actually. I suppose I came back here looking for a bit of that happiness, but since I arrived I’ve been a bit lost, if I’m honest.’
‘I’ve got you now,’ said Jonathan.
They tipped their foreheads together. Kelsey relaxed into the comfort of his slim fingers running through her hair. Turning her head she let her lips graze the palm of his hand before pressing a slow kiss into the root of his thumb. He inhaled with a hiss through his teeth. The electric energy buzzed between them again just as it had at the photo shoot – an undercurrent, a promise of what the future could hold. Jonathan slowly drew his face across Kelsey’s, circling the tip of his nose over hers but, tantalisingly, holding back from kissing her.
There was nothing Kelsey wanted to do more than take Jonathan’s hand and walk him straight out of that pub. Her mind flitted to her little white room, her white bed, the wine in the fridge, the stars up on the terrace. All she had to do was ask. The desire written across Jonathan’s serious, intent features told her he would follow.
Before she could speak, their cosy bubble was burst by a commotion at the pub door. Will Greville and the gang stumbled in with a loud flourish of hilarity and chatter.
‘We’re here! Let’s get this show on the road,’ Will called out in his familiar young Windsors way, clapping his hands together, as Valeria and Myrtle, howling with laughter, continued their conversation in the doorway behind him.
No one had yet noticed the intimate twosome secreted away in the inglenook. Kelsey wished with all her heart that it could stay that way as she discreetly removed herself from Jonathan’s embrace.
Will was making his way through the crowd of assembled tourists, busily ticking their names off his list, readying everyone for the pub crawl. Tonight’s guests were graduate students from all over the world in town for a big conference and obviously geared up for a wild night out after long studious days working in the theatre archives and listening to lectures. Spotting Kelsey in the inglenook, Will’s eyes flitted quickly towards her handsome companion then back to Kelsey with a sudden flash of determination. He pushed his way politely through the crowd and kissed her on the cheek.
‘Well, good evening, fair maiden. You look very lovely tonight. Are you going to introduce me to your friend?’ His emphasis was on ‘friend’.
What’s gotten into him? Tipping her head, perplexed, Kelsey made the introductions.
‘This is Jonathan Hathaway. He’s an actor. You might have seen him in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Willow Studios? Jonathan, this is Will Greville.’
The men clasped hands with what looked like warm accord, on Jonathan’s part, anyway. Kelsey could see something in Will’s eyes that troubled her.
‘Glad to meet you, Will. Are you our guide tonight?’ Jonathan was cordial and warm as always.
‘Yes, sir. I have the very great pleasure of accompanying you this evening as we embark upon our Bard Crawl.’ Will spoke loudly enough for half the bar to hear, gesticulating dramatically. ‘It’s always nice to meet a fellow actor,’ Will added, sizing Jonathan up and still clasping his hand, not wanting to be the first one to let go.
Jonathan seemed oblivious, politely smiling at Will. ‘You’re an actor?’ Jonathan asked with genuine interest. ‘That’s wonderful. You know, I was just about to tell Kelsey about the end of festival open-air gala. All the companies in town for the summer are putting on a night of drama and music. It happens at the end of every August apparently and it’s the biggest night in the theatre calendar. Everybody’s going to be there; all the actors and critics, and everyone who works on the plays. Oh, and lots of celebrities too. I heard Dame Judy will be making an appearance.’
Will dropped Jonathan’s hand. ‘Of course I know about it. I attend every year. Anybody who’s anybody in theatre goes,’ he said coolly.
Kelsey had never noticed this air of snobbery before, but there it was and it was not appealing. Seemingly undeterred, Jonathan carried on, turning towards Kelsey and smiling, occasionally looking up, careful not to exclude Will.
‘This year they’re calling the event Pretty Follies, and there are paying parts for amateur thespians up for grabs. I was going to try talking Kelsey into trying out for one of the fairies. Don’t you think she’d be great? Are you interested in trying out for a role too, Will?’
Will’s eyes glazed over with a strange darkness. ‘Amateur? What makes you assume I’m an amateur?’
Will quickly tried to regain his composure, but it was too late. Jonathan was already apologising profusely and offering Will a ticket to his play but Kelsey knew Will had no intention of letting him off the hook. Losing out on that London audition had clearly left Will feeling sore, and seeing Kelsey with this gorgeous American who made his living from the stage must sting too, but, Kelsey thought, there was no need to be rude. She squirmed awkwardly in her seat.
‘Will, I think it’s time to get started, right?’
‘Of course.’ He was calm again. ‘Can you gather the group and meet me out front?’ He smiled, raking his hair back off
his forehead, all politeness and poise. He didn’t miss the opportunity to place a hand on the small of Kelsey’s back as she stood up.
‘I’ll see you out there, Jonathan?’ Kelsey tried to smile back towards her date, but stumbled over a chair leg as she made her way out. She recovered quickly, ‘Right, friends and guests, the Bard Crawl has begun, please follow me. I’m Kelsey Anderson, one of your guides this evening.’
There were a few whoops from excited students as they filed out one by one into the warm summer’s evening.
Jonathan gathered their empty plates from the table and carried them to the bar which was now littered with abandoned glasses from the dispersing rabble. Will was by his side in a flash.
‘Jonathan, was it?’ he smiled.
‘That’s me.’
‘Jonathan, I don’t know if Kelsey mentioned me at all, but she and I have had a pretty sweet thing going on for a while now.’
Jonathan looked taken aback, but said nothing.
‘I don’t know how they do things in Iowa…’
‘Oklahoma,’ Jonathan interrupted.
‘Whatever,’ Will shrugged dismissively. ‘In England, it’s not the done thing to swoop in on another chap’s girl, especially when she’s still undecided about that chap, you know?’ Will was using his suavest voice. ‘How do I put this, Jonathan? You need to back off.’
The furrow in Jonathan’s brow set in again as Will confidently stared him down. There was nothing else for it but to simply nod in agreement and offer Will a polite handshake. He placed some money on the bar and walked abruptly outside.
Peering over the crowd, Jonathan caught sight of Kelsey at the far end of the street. She was laughing and whispering with Valeria. He looked his last before pulling up the collar of his light jacket and turning on his heel. Walking in the opposite direction, he stopped once he was out of sight to type the message on his phone.
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