Twenty Five

I jumped into the passenger seat and fastened my seatbelt. Dad appeared back from securing the house and got in the driver’s seat. Mum was off somewhere shopping, it was just me and Dad.

“Where shall we go?”

“Anywhere you like Dad. Out into the country is favourite.”

Dad knows loads of little roads up in the hills where you hardly ever meet another car. He guided the car out of the town and into the fields and moors. I wound the window down and let the wind blow my hair. This was exactly what I needed after the last few weeks.

“How did you know Dad?”

“Know what, Poppet?”

Oh my! Dad hadn’t called me that for years. I rallied. “That I needed to unwind a bit.”

“Don’t know. Just seemed like a good idea. So I done good?”

“Yes Dad, you done good.”

I was looking across at him, smiling at him as he fiddled with the pedals and the gears as we climbed further into the hills, when it hit me. I could drive the car! Dad was thinking carefully about it - and suddenly so was I! Dad noticed something almost at once, my smile must have slipped or something.

“What’s wrong? You’ve gone all serious. Problem?”

I put the smile back. “No Dad, not a problem. I think I’ve just learned to drive.”

Dad isn’t stupid. Mad sometimes, but not stupid. “You’ve learned from me haven’t you? Like you did with guns and other stuff.”

“Yeah. Sorry Dad.”

“Hey, don’t be sorry. If you’re right, you’ve just saved me a fortune in driving lessons.”

“Oh Dad! Trust you to think of it like that.”

“Well, you’ll be seventeen in a eyeblink or two. You’d have been wanting to learn anyway - or perhaps you wouldn’t.”

“You mean because I can fly Dad?”

“Mm. What good is a boring old car to my wonderful daughter? Next thing you know, you’ll be teleporting yourself all over the landscape, even less use for a car.”

“Not so sure about that. I think we need to try to maintain a low profile. Using a car might be quite a good cover. A bit of misdirection.”

“Time for all that later.” He pulled the car into a sort of wide bit of the little road we were on and stopped. “Want a go?”

Hadn’t thought of that. Still, why not. “Ok, Dad. You can criticise.”

“What? Criticise a woman’s driving? Have you gone raving mad?”

I fell against him laughing. “This is being such a good day. Thanks Dad.”

“Don’t thank me. Not my doing. Come on, get off me and swap seats.”

I got out of my side, he got out of his, inevitably we met round the back. To pass each other meant we had to move to the side. We both moved the same way, then both moved back again, then collapsed in more laughter as we were still facing each other. With that sorted out, I got into the driver’s seat. I’d sat here before, many times, but never with the prospect of actually controlling a moving car. It was easy. Foot on clutch, shove stick into first gear, clutch pedal up, accelerator pedal down - and we were off.

Dad was a little anxious for the first couple of minutes, then he relaxed and let me get on with it. If you’re going to practice driving, little roads up on the hills and moors are the places to do it. There were constant gear changes and corners, it was brilliant. I found I had no problem coordinating hands and feet, I enjoyed myself immensely.

Mindful of a certain lack in the driving licence department, I stopped well before we got back onto anything approaching a normal road. “Your turn again Dad. Time for lunch when we get home methinks.”

He grinned, but swapped round again. We three girls might be important people to the government, but our local police? No point taking chances. Dad drove us back.

“Hello you two. Been for a drive? Where did your father take you?”

“I didn’t take her anywhere. She took me.”

Mum is quick. She figured out what Dad meant right away. “Read your poor old dad’s mind then have you?”

“Yep. Just need to figure out what he does all day at work and that’s him able to retire with his feet up.”

“I like that idea. Think Jody could keep us both in the style to which we’ve become accustomed?”

“John! That’s unfair.”

“Why Mum? Maybe only true. I did tell you how big the bill would have been to fix that submarine, didn’t I? The government owe us, big style.”

“They do pay you don’t they? We’d have to ask Phil.” Phil is Lisa’s dad, and unofficial treasurer.

“They do when Beth remembers to send the invoice,” I said darkly. “Angel saw it on Beth’s desk.”

“Angel saw it?”

“Yeah. When we merged, the Holly part of Angel saw it on Beth’s desk, remember, I did tell you.”

“Hm. So you did. Never mind, come and get lunch.”

“You forgot, Mum, didn’t you.”

“You’ll have to forgive me, dear. So much has happened to you three over the last few months ...”

I ran to her and gave her a hug. “Thanks Mum.”

“Why? For forgetting stuff that you’ve told me?”

“No, silly Mum. For being here for me, for understanding,” then I grinned. “Mostly anyway.”

Mum grinned with me, then dragged me to the kitchen table and lunch.

After lunch, Mum and Dad had to go out. I said I’d be fine, I had some schoolwork to do anyway, a bit of quiet time would be welcome. Didn’t happen like that.

About half an hour after Mum and Dad had left, the doorbell sounded. Standing orders are to lock the door when I’m in on my own, and this had been adhered to rigidly. Our front door has little glass patterns in it. If you get your eye just right, you can see out. I saw out. What I saw was Mike!

I flung the door open. “Mike!” I’m afraid to say it came out as more of a squeak than a word. Didn’t matter. I dragged him inside, shut and locked the door - and flung myself at him!

He did exactly what I wanted him to do, he put his arms round me and held me tight. I was almost in tears, I had to sternly tell myself off for being silly. My head was resting on his chest.

“You didn’t come to me, so I’ve come to you,” he said.

“Oh Mike ...”

“Wonderful though this is, is there any chance I can sit down? You might be able to fly halfway round the world at umpteen times the speed of sound, but it’s taken me a couple of hours to get here. I’m worn out.”

I pulled myself together. “Yes, yes. Come on, kitchen. Nice and near the food, that’s what you need, that and a drink.”

With Mike sat on a kitchen chair, I raided the fridge and stuff and produced a large pile of sandwiches. That and a couple of glasses of coke should sort him out. I sat opposite him with my elbows on the table and my chin in my hands, looking across at him as he tucked into the snack I’d made him.

“What? What are you looking at?”

“You, silly. I’ve been so stupid.”

“Stupid? You? You’ve lost me.”

“I’ve been worrying about us, you and me. About what I should do, whether you felt the same as me - and that’s been changing by the day as well.”

“Oh you shouldn’t worry ...”

I interrupted him. “It’s not worry, wrong word. The right word is scared, or maybe frightened. There - I’ve said it.”

“Frightened? What of?”

“You, me, us. Where we’re going, what we might do, what we’ve already done.”

“Sounds like a good job I came. Look, you were pleased to see me. I could tell, you nearly knocked me over. What’s with all the rest of it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I should feel.”

Mike abandoned his sandwiches and dragged his chair round the table to sit next to me. He put his arm round me. Without really thinking about it, I let my head rest on his shoulder.

“Perhaps I should tell you what I feel,” he said. Those were the last words he spoke out loud for some time.

“This is what I feel,” he ‘said’. Instead of words, what I got from him was a tremendous feeling of - love. Couldn’t be anything else. It wasn’t the same as the love I got from Lisa and Holly, that was a whole different thing, and it wasn’t what I’d felt with Mum and Dad just that morning. This was sharper, more focused. At the same time, it had extra bits attached which I recognised as respect and admiration.

“Mike, that’s wonderful,” I ‘said’. How can I even live up to all that, let alone return it.”

“Just think about it, think it through.”

As I did as he asked, I realised what I was scared of. It was so simple I almost laughed out loud. I wasn’t scared of what might happen at all. What I’d been scared of was telling Mike what he’d just told me - and having him reject it. I’d been scared of him rejecting me. He was ever so much stronger than me. He’d had the courage to tell me what he felt. I wasn’t sure I could have done that. But now that didn’t matter. Thank you Mike.

“Thank you, Mike.”

“You are more than welcome Jody Kenyon. Believe me when I say that.”

Most of me was trying to come to terms with what Mike was telling me. There was a little bit of me though, working away in there, trying to figure out just how he was doing this, how he was able to send emotions this strongly. The three of us girls could only do it when closely linked. The answer, when it came, was surprising, and yet not at the same time.

Mike wasn’t sending emotions. We’d linked. If I returned his love, he’d feel it, just like I was feeling his. I let myself feel all the emotions I’d been keeping locked away, they flowed out across the link, just like they would have with the girls.

I got back a gentle feeling of - triumph - of a job well done, a sense of achievement. That didn’t last long, then there was just the love.