Lara concentrated on painting right into the corner. She was clearly wrong about him not being chatty. She thought he’d got the message that she didn’t do families. ‘I just don’t want to.’
‘They’ll like you, you know. In fact, they’re dying to meet you.’
Lara wriggled uncomfortably.
‘My sister says she’s not sure you really exist. She says you sound far too good for me, and how come they’ve met every other girlfriend and not you?’
‘I’m not your girlfriend,’ said Lara quickly.
‘Not officially, but I was kind of hoping.’
Mick looked at her, so calm and serious, and she was almost tempted all over again. Which was stupid. She knew things wouldn’t work out between them, she needed to hang on to that thought.
She shrugged, which unfortunately seemed to give him encouragement to continue.
‘It’s lucky my parents’ve moved to Ayr, or you’d see just how nosy they are. But they mean well. And for all my sister’s complaints about them, the old folk are a great help with her kids. And she was there for them when Dad wasn’t well. That’s the way it should be, isn’t it?’
‘Hmm,’ said Lara. She had enjoyed the week her mother had spent in Loreburn, but had seen nothing of either of her parents since then. They were busy in Devon and although they had invited her down no firm plans had been made. That was the way it always was, which was fine. She concentrated on pouring more paint into the roller tray and hoped that if she said no more conversation with Mick might languish.
She hoped in vain. ‘I’d really like you to come,’ he said quietly.
She stood the paint tin back on the floor and turned to face him. ‘I don’t know why.’
‘I’ve told you, they’ve met all my other girlfriends. Why not?’
‘Because …’ Because she couldn’t believe he was really, seriously interested in her, although she would always be interested in him. His interest wouldn’t last, so better to finish now. She stood up and said abruptly, ‘Alex and I are thinking of moving in here in the next couple of weeks. The house will be liveable as soon as the bathroom is finished.’
‘You’re … what?’ He stared, eyes narrowed. ‘Where did that come from? You’re moving out because I ask you to visit my parents with me?’
‘No, it’s not that, don’t be silly. We’ve been thinking about it for a while. We’ve really taken advantage of you, and now we don’t need to. I think we should leave you in peace.’
‘You’re being ridiculous. You know I wouldn’t complain if you stayed another six months at my house.’ He put down his paint roller to concentrate the better on the conversation. He had a smear of white on his cheek and a hard look in his eyes. ‘Come on, Lara, what’s going on?’
‘Nothing. I just think a relationship between us won’t work.’
‘Why on earth not?’
‘We’re … we’re not really compatible. I’m so serious, boring, and you’re … not.’
‘Who says I can’t be serious?’
Lara wriggled her shoulders uncomfortably again. She really wished they weren’t having this conversation. Now she looked longingly through the window, wishing Alex would come and interrupt them. ‘You aren’t,’ she said quietly. ‘You like to go out with your friends and do all your usual things, have fun. You aren’t interested in buying houses and doing them up and spending all your evenings marking and … Oh, we’re just different.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with different. What you’re trying to say is you not interested in me. Come on Lara, admit it.’ Now he sounded annoyed. ‘If you don’t want to get into a proper relationship, then say so.’
This was it, then. The end before things had really got going. Just what she’d intended. ‘I …’ she said.
‘So that’s what you want? Just friends?’
Lara felt as though the world was slowly falling to pieces around her. Now he had said the words out loud she knew this was the very last thing she wanted. But she had to do it. It was only fair to him. She opened her mouth to frame some kind of sensible reply, but her lips were shaking so much she couldn’t speak.
Mick was glaring at her, hands on hips, waiting grimly for an answer.
‘If that’s what you want,’ she said, in little more than a whisper.
‘No, it’s not what I want. For goodness sake, Lara, what is this about? I don’t understand you. I was trying to take things slowly but I thought you quite liked me, and now …’
Lara could feel the tears begin to roll down her cheeks. She hadn’t meant it to be like this. ‘It would never work.’
‘Why not?’ he demanded, running his hands through his hair so that it stood up in all directions. ‘Look, I thought we had a chance of something here. I thought we maybe had something … different.’
‘But I don’t do proper relationships. Meeting the family. Getting serious.’ Lara took a deep breath and added, because she’d heard this often enough from other people. ‘And nor do you.’
‘I don’t understand you.’
Lara gave him a watery smile. She mustn’t let him know how much this was hurting her. ‘Well, then it’s better to end it now. OK?’
‘No, it’s not OK. You mean you don’t want to get into a relationship because you think that I’ll break up with you at some unspecified time in the future?’
Put like that, it did sound ridiculous. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. Lara said, ‘I’m sorry. I told you I wasn’t very good at relationships.’
‘I don’t understand you.’ Mick ran his fingers through the tumbled hair. ‘Can’t you just give us a chance? Why all this soul-searching?’
‘Because that’s the way I am,’ said Lara sadly. She found a tissue and blew her nose. ‘I’m sorry. I’m not light-hearted and easy-going like you. You said yourself I’m too serious. And … and I really think we should cool things off.’
‘When did I say you were too serious? I think you’re mad.’
‘Then you’re better off without me, aren’t you?’
Lara could see that she had annoyed him, but she was doing the right thing. He hadn’t contradicted her over the essentials, over the fact that they would break up one day so best not to get involved. She had been right about that all along.
‘I’d better see how Ryan is getting on,’ she said, desperate to get away from him. She ran down the stairs two at a time and hid herself in the little pantry, so she could sob her heart out in peace. There. It was done. Now the quicker she moved out of Mick’s house and started her new life at Ladybank Row the better.
Chapter Twenty-Three
A few days later, Lara woke to brilliant sunshine, totally at odds with her mood. It was going to be hot again. There was a haze over the town and the humidity was heavy in the air. She hadn’t slept well and had a quick shower to wake her, but she felt no better after it. Mick was still at his parents, so at least she didn’t have to face him.
She climbed slowly into her car and drove to Ladybank Row. She parked in her usual place at the end of the cul-de-sac and climbed out. And smiled for the first time that morning. The sight of the houses raised her spirits, even today.
She stretched and nodded approvingly at them. Number One was starting to look different with its new front windows and the chipped-off harling. It really wouldn’t be long before she and Alex could move in. The front door was open, which must mean Alex, who had walked over, was here already. Excellent.
They worked hard until about eleven, when Lara insisted on stopping for a coffee. It was whilst they were sitting on the battered garden bench in the little front garden that the police car drew up.
Lara and Alex looked at each other.
‘We haven’t been having any problems, have we?’ said Lara, worried.
‘Not as far as I know.’
Then their attention was caught by a movement at the far end of the row of houses. Ryan had been working on stripping out the fittings in Number Four. They had invited him,
as always, to join them for coffee. As always, he’d accepted a mug but sloped off to drink it alone. Now it appeared he had seen the police – and run. Lara had barely realised it was him before his slim form vaulted the fence that hid the railway line and disappeared down the banking.
The policemen had clearly seen this too. One made a move to follow the youth but the other put a hand on his arm. After conferring for a moment they came over to speak to the girls.
‘I presume that was Ryan O’Donnell?’ said the older of the two.
‘Ye-es,’ said Lara reluctantly. She hated to think of Ryan in trouble. He had been working well and she was starting to have hopes of finding him a ‘real’ job once this was finished.
‘How can we help you?’ asked Alex in her pleasant way.
‘We were hoping to have a word with Mr O’Donnell, but I suppose that’s not going to happen now.’ The man took off his cap and mopped his forehead. He suddenly looked much friendlier.
‘Ryan’s not in trouble, is he?’ asked Lara. ‘He’s a good boy at heart. He’s been working really well here.’
‘We just wanted a word with him,’ said the man again. ‘I don’t suppose you know any of his associates, do you? Or his brother, by any chance?’
‘No, we don’t,’ said Lara honestly. She presumed Mick did but they had never discussed it. She knew Ryan came from a difficult background but she was determined to take the boy on his own merits.
‘He’s not doing himself any favours, running off like that.’ This time it was the younger police officer who spoke, the one who had wanted to run after the boy. His foot was tapping and he seemed far less sympathetic.
‘He’ll be back,’ said Alex quietly. ‘Do you want us to try and get him to come down to the police station and see you?’
Lara stared at her. It had taken Ryan weeks to return to Ladybank Row after the problems with SEPA. She suspected a possible brush with the police might put him off for ever.
‘That would be good. You see what you can do.’ The older police officer nodded approvingly.
After a few more words, the two took themselves off and Lara was free to demand of Alex, ‘Why on earth did you say that? We don’t even know where he lives.’
‘Yes we do,’ said Alex. ‘I gave him a lift home one day when you had lent me your car. Shall we go and look for him now?’
‘No, give him a chance to come back himself. If he doesn’t turn up tomorrow we’ll go and look for him.’
Mick returned to Loreburn after only few nights at his parents’ place. It had been a mistake to go, although after that awful argument with Lara he hadn’t known what else to do. Now he was desperate to see her again and try to make her see sense.
The bus route from Ayr was a meandering one and it was early afternoon before he arrived at the Whitesands. The river was low, flowing sluggishly over the wide weir. Families clutching ice creams and teenage girls showing too much flesh meant that summer was well and truly here. In fact, it was a scorching day. He slung his backpack over one shoulder and prepared for the walk home. He decided it was good to be out, on his own. It might clear his head and help him decide what he was going to say to Lara when he saw her.
If he saw her. He had a sudden fear that she would have disappeared in his short absence. He quickened his pace. What a fool he had been to leave her alone. He should have stayed around, challenged her on all these weird ideas she had. At first he had been too surprised and, he had to admit, too hurt, to know what to do. Now, after only three days away from her, he knew he couldn’t give up so easily. He missed her like a cold ache in his chest. He needed her. This cool, contained, beautiful woman had got under his skin like no one else. He knew now he really was serious about her.
The only question was, could he convince her of that? Even if she felt the same way, and he was far from sure that she did, he suspected she would deny it to her last breath. For someone who was so brave and capable in many ways, she was a coward when it came to emotions.
The house was empty when he arrived. The girls would be working over at Ladybank Row. That was why it was so quiet, wasn’t it? He ran upstairs and after a quick knock opened the door to Lara’s room. He never normally went in here without her permission but he had to know if she had moved out. And she hadn’t. The room was as tidy as ever, but even Lara left a few clues to her occupation: the book on the bedside table, the shoes neatly lined up beside the wardrobe. Heaving a huge sigh of relief he slung his rucksack into his own room and went back downstairs to work on his plan of attack.
He switched on the kettle and began to glance through a copy of the Loreburn Standard, the local paper, which was lying on the table. Someone had folded back the front page and circled a small article, putting an exclamation mark in the margin beside it. If they hadn’t, he wouldn’t have given it a second look. Now he read it over once quickly, and then again more slowly.
As part of their recent crackdown on house crime, police have arrested a number of men on suspicion of breaking and entering or for handling stolen goods. Sergeant Docherty of Loreburn Constabulary reported there has been an upsurge in activity in this area and said they are determined to crack down on it …
Then there was a list of names, amongst them Sean O’Donnell. Mick had never met any of Ryan’s family but he knew he had a brother called Sean. Oh no. Was Ryan involved in this too? He scanned the article again. There was no mention of Ryan’s name or of minors being involved in the crimes, but Mick still felt a sense of foreboding.
Why had one of the girls circled the article if it didn’t have a connection to them? He had to get over to Ladybank Row, fast.
He arrived to find a very unusual sight. Ryan was seated on the dilapidated garden bench and Lara and Alex were standing over him, both speaking at once. Alex had even raised her voice. And Ryan was saying nothing, not swearing back as he would have done at Mick, not turning and running as he had done so often when in trouble at school. He just sat there and took it.
As Mick drew closer he could hear what was being said.
‘Don’t you understand that if you’re not guilty, you’re not guilty?’
‘It makes no sense to run. You have nothing to fear.’
‘We’ll come to the station with you. The sooner we go the better.’
‘It’s a good job you turned up today, we’d begun to think you’d run for it. Permanently, I mean.’
It was Ryan who spotted Mick first and the jerk of his head alerted the girls. Ryan looked back down at the ground, his face pale and possibly tear-stained.
‘What’s going on?’ said Mick to the boy. ‘Are you in trouble?’ He had thought Ryan really had a chance of sorting his life out. And he couldn’t bear it if he’d involved the girls in trouble through introducing Ryan to them.
‘I didn’t do nothing,’ said the boy.
‘He’s not in trouble, that’s what we’re trying to tell him,’ said Lara, her voice loud with frustration.
‘But he does need to go and see the police. Running away when he sees them isn’t a good idea. They want to talk to him about … things, and the sooner he gets it over with the better.’ It was Alex who said this. She must feel strongly about it to speak at such length. ‘He just needs to make a statement.’
‘I don’t know anything. What can I tell them?’ Ryan’s words were belligerent, but the tone was defeated.
Mick couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. ‘They’ll want to talk to you about your brother, I presume? I saw the article in the paper. You’re not obliged to tell them anything that will get him into trouble, but hiding from them won’t do you any good. Come on, I’ll walk round to the police station with you now.’
‘Excellent idea,’ said Lara, actually smiling at him.
‘And make sure you come straight back here afterwards,’ said Alex to Ryan. ‘You know we’re relying on you here?’
‘You don’t want me back after this,’ the boy said sullenly. ‘I just came to get my stuff this morning, then I�
��ll be gone. I didn’t do nothing, like I said, but no one ever believes me.’
‘We believe you,’ said Alex firmly. ‘And we do want you back. We need you.’
Ryan looked at her, bewildered. Mick wondered if anyone had ever told him they needed him before. He patted the boys shoulder. ‘Come on, the sooner we get this over with the better. I won’t leave you, I promise.’
Very slowly the youth rose to his feet. Mick was surprised to see how tall he had grown over the summer, still thin and gangly, but actually not so spotty. He was growing into a young man. If Mick had anything to do with it he would grow into a young man with a life to look forward to.
‘Thanks, Mick,’ said Lara. He was pleased to have her gratitude, but just now he had to concentrate on the boy.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lara didn’t like phone calls. They never seemed to bring good news. So when Alex called her to the telephone early the next morning she came down the stairs sure that, whoever it was, she wouldn’t want to talk to them.
‘Lara, is that you? Sorry to call you at home during the holidays.’ It was Mr McIntyre, possibly the last person she would have expected to hear from.
‘Er, no problem.’
‘I hope I didn’t wake you? I know that not everyone is up early in the holidays.’
‘No, it’s fine, I was up.’ Lara was wracking her brains for a reason for his call.
‘I was just phoning to remind you the closing date for applications for Mark Frazer’s job is the end of this month. I wondered if you’d like to come in and talk it over. You are going to apply, aren’t you?’
For a moment, Lara was lost for words. She had put the possibility of this job so firmly out of her mind she had actually managed to forget it. ‘Oh. He’s definitely leaving, is he?’
‘Yes, as I confirmed at the end of term. I managed to get the job advert out pronto. I expect you saw it in the latest Educational Supplement.’
‘I’ve, er, been rather busy.’
‘How about coming in for a chat? Would later today suit you? I’ll be in and around the school until four; always something here to keep me busy. Pop in whenever you like.’
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