Ran picked Bo up in his van and drove her home. The storm clouds had gone, replaced with a grey sky and a stiff breeze. It felt as if summer had already fled, and today marked the start of the long but inevitable slide into autumn.
Tired and worried about Angel, Bo’s spirits sank further, although she was grateful to see a familiar face.
‘Thanks for coming out, though I could have ordered a taxi.’
‘At this hour? In Falford?’ He shook his head. ‘It’s no trouble to me. I was up before dawn anyway because I wanted to make an early start. We’ll definitely be going ahead with the dive trips today. Besides, I’m guessing you had a rough night and might have wanted a friend to talk to?’
She didn’t know how to reply at first, surprised and touched at his concern. ‘Not as rough as Angel. I don’t like leaving her but she’s going to call her children so I hope one of them can come over and look after her.’
Bo relayed some of what had passed including the skipper’s cryptic comments and Tommy’s note.
Ran focused on the road, occasionally letting out a sigh or a quiet swearword.
‘You haven’t heard anything on the grapevine, I don’t suppose?’ she said. ‘Not that you listen to gossip.’
‘Normally, it’s pretty impossible to avoid it entirely in Falford,’ he said. ‘Though I have a choice whether to take any notice. I hadn’t heard anything about Tommy, if you mean in terms of him getting up to no good or having an affair …’
‘But?’
‘Nothing specifically about him, and this is only my opinion, but I thought Angel was … under-appreciated. The couple of times I’ve met her husband, I thought he took her for granted.’
‘I’ve thought the same but they seemed happy enough. It’s their thirtieth wedding anniversary on Christmas Eve, or was meant to be. Imagine it all going wrong after thirty years. How do you ever deal with that?’
‘Maybe you don’t deal with it,’ he muttered.
His comment marked an end to the conversation. Ran drove through the ford faster than she would have, throwing up muddy water over the windscreen. The wipers swished it away and soon they were climbing the narrow lane that led up to Bo’s cottage above the post office.
Finally Ran spoke again. ‘Angel’s a nice woman. She doesn’t deserve this.’
‘I’ll call her later after I’ve got changed and opened up the Boatyard Café.’
He stopped the car. ‘She’s lucky she has a friend like you.’
‘Thanks, but I’m not sure how much I can do in this case. I feel so helpless.’
‘Just be there to listen. You’re good at that, Bo.’ He stared out of the windscreen. ‘It matters.’
Bo didn’t know how to reply, but his kind compliment gave her some comfort. It didn’t lessen the concern she had for Angel, but it made her feel she at least could do something.
‘Thanks.’ Bo got out and was about to close the door when he leaned over the passenger seat. ‘Let me know how she is and if I can do anything. God knows what.’
‘I will.’
‘With all the drama, we never finally decided on the music last night,’ he said. ‘Though it seems wrong to talk about that now. I suspect neither of us is in the mood for jollity and Christmas festivities.’
‘No.’ Bo heaved a sigh. For Angel, the season of goodwill was looking very bleak indeed, unless Tommy changed his mind and came back. How Angel would react to that, Bo had no idea – but it didn’t seem very likely.
‘Then again, music can be a consolation,’ Ran said.
Or the opposite, Bo thought, remembering Hamish’s expression as ‘Blue Christmas’ had played. He’d groaned and hid his feelings with a sarcastic joke at the time. In reality, he’d been overwhelmed by regret and longing for his ex. For the first time, Bo felt sorry for him. He’d used her to try and escape, and hurt her, but he probably hadn’t thought he was doing anything wrong; maybe he’d genuinely believed he could simply sweep the loss away by hooking up with her and having loads of sex.
If only life was that simple, she thought.
‘If you want to come over and discuss it, let me know,’ Ran said. ‘And not just the music. Last night must have been intense. I may not be your first choice of shoulder to cry on, but I’m always here if you need me, with a glass of wine and an unlimited supply of maudlin tunes.’
For the first time since they’d overheard that the Briar Rose had gone down, Bo laughed. She was surprised that he’d invited her at all, although even in the past half an hour, he’d revealed there might be much more beneath the cynical exterior.
She could refuse, of course, but after he’d made the offer, it would seem rude and standoffish. She didn’t want to reject his first attempt at friendliness.
‘I’ll hold you to that,’ she said, bidding him a farewell in front of the cottage. The postmistress was out walking her dog and stared. Even from this distance, Bo imagined her eyes were out on stalks at seeing Ran drop Bo off at such an early hour. Bo waved. ‘Morning, Meera!’
The postmistress lifted a hand and muttered something inaudible.
‘Oh dear. I think I’ve caused some gossip of my own,’ she said.
His mouth lifted at the corners. ‘Perhaps that’s no bad thing. It will deflect some of the flak from Angel.’
Bo smiled, a little surprised he seemed so unperturbed at the prospect of creating a stir in the village.
‘See you later,’ she said, the image of his face lingering in her mind. It had been an image that had intruded, more than once, into her thoughts about Angel and Tommy, and had provided some much-needed light relief.
He drove off, leaving Bo contemplating the contrast between that smile and the bitter edge to his comment about never getting over the end of a long-term relationship. Still waters ran deep – definitely with Ran – but she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out what lay below the surface if it meant getting closer to him.