Walking to the front of the building, where her trusty yellow Beetle was parked, Kate climbed in and looked at her watch. It was just after five and she knew that she’d have to go home and face her mother, who after the earlier call about the mouse dropping, would be waiting, and ready to pounce.
Unless of course, she’d deemed her house unfit to live in and had done just as Kate had suggested and climbed in her car and gone to Eve’s or maybe, just maybe, she’d gone back to York, where she belonged.
‘Kate?’ Ben’s voice caught her attention, just as she was about to drive off.
‘Yes,’ she carefully lowered her window and looked up at him. He looked tired and washed out. His crisp white shirt was undone at the collar, his tie had long since been abandoned and his hands dug deep down in his trouser pockets. The day had obviously taken its toll.
‘I… I owe you an apology,’ he blurted out, but then looked down at the floor. His face full of pain and emotion. Taking in a deep breath, Kate wondered what she should do. It was more than obvious that he was hurting, but she didn’t know why, all she did know was that if he was one of her girlfriends, she’d be offering them a hug right now. But Ben was not a girl or even close to being a friend, he was her boss, her colleague. There was a difference and deep inside, she had no idea how to handle a situation like this.
‘What are you apologising for?’ She smiled, turned off the engine and climbed out of the car.
‘Earlier. I snapped at you,’ he said, ‘I shouldn’t have done that.’ Leaning forward, he placed both hands on the bonnet of the car, looked as though he were doing all he could to hold it still. ‘It’s hard to explain,’ he whispered. ‘You see, I lost my wife… she died.’ Again, he paused. ‘It was four years ago… four years ago today actually… meningitis.’ He looked down at the floor and studied his shoes. ‘She was pregnant… I lost them both.’
Kate’s mind exploded. She’d known something was wrong; known that something had been on his mind, and it had occurred to her that Ben must have lost someone. What she hadn’t known was how huge and life changing it had been.
‘Oh my goodness.’ She felt awkward and quickly searched her mind for all the platitudes she’d been given after her brother had died, knew how useless they’d been. ‘Look, do you…’ she looked at the wine bar that stood next door to the office. ‘Do you want to get a drink?’ It had been all she could think to say and Kate found herself also looking at the floor, nervous of what his answer would be. All she did know was that she really hadn’t wanted to go home and by the look of Ben, he hadn’t wanted to go home either.
Looking up and into Ben’s eyes. Kate saw the sparkle that looked back at her. He had eyes that were full of tears that wouldn’t fall and a gentle smile that crossed his lips. The anger and frustration of earlier had gone and in its place was a tired, but peaceful expression.
‘Do you know what?’ he replied with a definitive nod. ‘I could murder a drink. Where do you want to go?’ He held out an arm and laughed.
‘Well,’ Kate said a moment later. ‘We could drive all the way into Richmond, there are great cocktail bars there, but then, it’d be a shame not to keep the business local, wouldn’t it?’ She pointed to the wine bar and laughed. ‘Think this place is a bit closer, don’t you agree?’
Ben laughed and they walked inside together.