The Catch Up, page 7
“If it’s not what you want I’ll go,” he went on before she had a chance to wave him to the chair next to her. “I didn’t come here to hassle you. I’ve had enough of that to know how bloody awful it is.”
“I bet. Plant yourself,” she said, and grinned as he rolled his eyes at the awful expression. “I didn’t say plonk or bum, so I wasn’t totally uncouth.”
“Just as well, words change their meanings a lot. And thank you. I’m hoping that a certain someone doesn’t think of trying here to find me. I feel like a wanted man, and I don’t want to be wanted by she who wants me, if you get me.” He groaned. “Argh, what a sentence.”
“Lois? And what do you fancy to drink, the server is coming over.”
“The very one. I’ll have a pint, if you’ll join me?”
Jan laughed. “Don’t drink pints anymore, but I’ll break my habit of one glass only and have another sav blanc please.”
Thom gave the waitron the order and sat back to stretch his legs out in front of him. “Thanks,” he said briefly. “Both for letting me enjoy your company and for helping out. After you’d gone, Peggy hauled Lois off somewhere and I made my escape. I’m not needed until later today and around here of all places, so I thought I’d come early and find somewhere to hide out. Seeing you was a very lucky bonus.”
Jan laughed as their drinks were delivered and Thom paid for them. “A just-in-time one. I spy with my little eye…” She nodded towards the direction of the taxi rank.
“No?” Thom said in an incredulous voice. “Really?”
“Really,” Jan confirmed with a chuckle. “Though she’s with Alex and Sasha, so you may be spared.”
“I hope so. Are they coming this way?”
Jan glanced around. “Nope, you’re safe for now, they’ve gone towards the dragon boats.”
“How far can they go?”
“Not far enough to give you a long breathing space. Never mind, drink your beer, and then once they’re round the corner and out of sight we’ll make our getaway.”
“We will?” He downed his pint so fast it was a wonder he didn’t splutter. “Ready when you are.”
Jan laughed and resigned herself to not finishing her wine. She couldn’t knock it back and still be coherent. She packed her paper away and slung her tote bag over her shoulder.
“Come on then. We’ll sneak away like whatever it is that does that.”
“Ships in the night. Er, where are we sneaking to?”
“My home. But a roundabout way to make sure we’re not seen.” Jan considered her half-full glass of wine and threw caution to the wind. It was damn good wine and she hated waste. She drank it in three gulps, coughed and giggled. “If I’m bosky it’s your fault. I usually stop at one, and I sip it.”
“I’ll hold your head and wipe your brow,” Thom said as they moved away from the harbour and Jan began to lead him down side streets. “Wow this is all new to me, I’ve never explored around here.” He glanced around with interest. “I like it.”
Even though it wasn’t far from the busy waterfront, it was much quieter there, the buildings giving some well-wanted shade. Several open windows had bird cages in them, and the tweets of their occupants could be heard as they walked by. One or two cafes had every door and window open, and the sound of whirring fans could be heard.
Impulsively Jan tucked her arm through Thomas’. “I love this,” she said, and gesticulated with her free hand. “All of it. Even the smog, heat, cold, rain, storms. Typhoons. You name it. It’s great.”
“Never want to leave?” Thom asked with a queer note in his tone.
Jan peered up at him. “I never say never. In fact”—Sod it, I’ll have to tell him something—“the reason I said I’m not sure if I’ll be available later is because I’m headed away for…a holiday in a few weeks or so.”
“A holiday you don’t know the dates of?” Thom asked sceptically.
Damn it. Of course he’d pick up on that. Jan turned into a courtyard and smiled at the security man by the gate.
“Hi, Peter. This is Thom. He’s with me.”
“Okay, Miss Fraser.” He waved them by.
Jan waited until they were out of earshot and almost at the first of the five houses set around three sides of the courtyard. “This one’s mine. I rent it, of course. And my holiday is dependent on work. They’ll sort out flights if I have to change the dates.”
“And accommodation?”
“Of course. If it’s not my fault, they pick up the tab.”
“Good company to work for.”
“The best.” Jan didn’t mention why the dates might be changed. First she needed some information. She led Thom into the cool foyer of her house. Small compared to her parents’ Scottish home but large for local ones, downstairs had the kitchen-diner and lounge that overlooked a small but precious garden. Upstairs were two bedrooms and a tiny bathroom. Perfect for one or two, Jan thought, but how more people coped easily she had no idea. She accepted she was spoilt and appreciated it.
“A very good company,” she said as she ushered him into the lounge. “Let me open the doors into the garden and then I’ll…” She’d what? Her mind went blank. Thom had stretched and revealed just a tiny bit of taut abdomen as the hem of his T-shirt lifted. Sadly, she bemoaned, it hadn’t gone any higher. “Er, get us a drink.”
“Coffee please,” Thom said before she had a chance to list what liquid refreshment she could offer. “Or sparkling water. I might be running around later on. Coffee will give me strength, the water will refresh me.”
“If you say so. What about food?” Jan wasn’t hungry after her dim sum and her fish was earmarked for dinner. That reminded her, she needed to take it out of the coolbag she’d carried it home in and put it into the fridge. “I’ve not got a lot but could manage a sandwich.” She was running down her food stock on purpose before she headed to Scotland.
“Sounds perfect. Any filling you have will be fine. I never look a gift horse—or a home-made sandwich—in the mouth.” He made a funny face. “I just say thank you and wolf it down.”
“Cheese and ham?” Jan remembered his penchant for that. “That do?”
“With tomato ketchup?”
Jan almost shuddered. Not her taste, but each to their own “Of course.”
“Then you’re on, thank you.”
She nodded and headed into the kitchen. It was hard when they were chatting like old friends to remember all the angst and explosive arguments they’d had which had destroyed their relationship. Forever? At that moment, Jan had no idea. What she did know was that she was going to take things slowly if they ever did appear to be coming closer. She could see work-related problems on both sides and no way was she going to do all the giving and no taking. It had to work both ways. Jan grinned to herself. Wasn’t she getting a bit ahead of things? A drink, a meal and a bit part in a movie did not a relationship make.
Thom followed her into the kitchen and looked around with interest.
“Nice gaff.”
Jan laughed at his over-the-top cockney accent.
“Gee, thanks, gov. Ain’t bad, is it?” She put the fish safely into the coolth of her fridge, switched the house aircon on and got out the makings of his sandwich. It was just as well she’d nipped into a well-known UK store and replenished her bread stock a couple of days earlier. Bread for toast—and, it seemed, sandwiches for unexpected visitors—was a necessity. “Do you use that voice often?”
Thom shook his head. “Only when asked, but I couldn’t resist. This house is lovely. I saw it and wow. It was a true admiration moment. How did you find out about this?”
Jan nodded…she agreed with him.
“Word of mouth and a good company to work for. I love it.” When she’d been told the house was hers if she wanted it, she’d jumped at the chance. To live in Sai Kung had been a long-held dream, and after a couple of years in a tiny flat in Kennedy Town, she had been ready to move. She’d never regretted it, not even when she’d had to stand like a squashed sardine on the MTR or wait for a bus in the rain. To get home to her own little haven was worth any inconvenience.
She looked around the kitchen, trying to see the room through a stranger’s eyes. Tiny, not much more room than for the sink and drainer, her fridge-freezer, cooker, a couple of storage cupboards and a table big enough for two that was hinged to the wall, and two folding chairs. The washing machine and dishwasher were in what was described in the house details as the utility and she called a cupboard, albeit a quite large one. Painted in a soft greige, with a couple of good quality prints of her homeland on the walls it was, Jan had decided, perfect.
It appeared Thomas was of a like mind. “It suits you. I admire your taste in pictures.”
Jan laughed. “The Swilken Bridge in St Andrews and Ben Lomond.” She named the two places in her prints. “Saw them last time I was home and I couldn’t resist. A bit of a contrast to here, eh?”
“You were home?” For some obscure reason, that hurt. How come no one had told him? Probably thought it was none of my business. “When?”
“When what?” Jan put a plate of sandwiches next to him, added a bag of crisps and a bottle of sparkling water and indicated the garden. “Outside, or in the so-called lounge?”
“Outside please, and when were you home?” Gah, he sounded like a disgruntled and stroppy teen. “Hope you enjoyed yourself.”
“I did, thank you.”
Jan appeared a lot more composed than he did, he was sure. Was she going to mention when she was in Scotland or leave him wondering?
“Last time was for Christmas. I go at least once a year. Stock up on midge repellent—though not always Christmas obviously—along with enough tablet to bring home back and eat sparingly and stuff myself with haggis.”
Your mum’s home-made tablet? I loved the way she made that sweet. Soft, sugary and creamy. Yum.” The thought made his mouth water. “You go every year?”
“Of course I pack my HK stormproof rain jacket and go and be cosseted.”
At least he knew now, but Thom wasn’t sure he liked the sound of the cosseted bit. “Dare I ask by whom?” Try as he might, the whine in his tone was obvious.
“Well you obviously dare,” Jan snapped. “Whether I answer you depends on if you stop spitting the dummy out and grow a pair. Build a bridge and get over it and all that.”
Thom smiled, reluctantly, at all the old phrases for ‘stop being a pain’. She was correct, he was behaving like an idiot. “Bridge built, big-boy boxers pulled up, ass no longer has a pain associated with it. Attitude adjusted. Sorry.”
Jan peered at him so closely he felt like an insect under a microscope. “Really? Or are you just trying to placate me?”
“I mean it. I’ll be honest, though. Seeing you again brought back a lot of memories, good and bad.”
She wrinkled her nose, a gesture Thom remembered so well. He waited as patiently as he could and fought not to tap his fingers on the table or his foot on the floor. It rankled, but he understood why she was so cautious. He would have been the same in her place.
Eventually, just as he was about to tell her to forget it, she sighed and held her hand out. “Okay. Truce.”
Thom shook it more fervently than he’d thought possible. The sick and shaky sensation he’d experience disappeared, to be replaced by a sense of relief.
“Thank you.” He glanced at his watch. “Shit, I need to be back by the pier soon. Not for long hopefully, but no way can I be late.”
“Going Lois dodging?”
Thom groaned. “God, I hope not. It’s bloody wearing. What with her getting into the block of flats I live in and appearing like a lost penny everywhere I go, I’d love a few days’ respite. I pray she doesn’t come when we go…” he hesitated then guessed she knew anyway, “to Scotland next.”
“Is that when Moss joins in?”
So she did know more than she let on.
“He’s the star, so yeah. This bit is minor, and when we’ve finished won’t be much of the film, and he’s not in it here. Mind you, if it becomes the success everyone says and the series does materialise, there are hopes there may be more for both of us in Hong Kong. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. My beloved sister would love to come and annoy you.”
Jan laughed. “I know she would, she tells me at every opportunity. I’d have to take some holiday time. Not that that would be a problem except May would want to go about with us and work might be a bit off about us both being out of the office for a long while. Last time she and Arietta got on like a house on fire. Listening to the two of them belting Rod Stewart’s Maggie May out in karaoke and then doing the locomotion was a night to remember. Moss had to carry Ari to their accommodation and May’s husband booked himself and her into a hotel.”
“What about you?” Thom was amused by this small insight into his sister’s lifestyle. And Jan’s.
“I stopped early and watered the pot plants dotted about the place with gin and tonic and the finest Australian wine. I had a horrible feeling next time we went to that particular bar they’d all be dead, but it seems they thrive on alcohol. I had a few glasses of sparkling water and got a taxi home.”
Thom roared with laughter. “Probably their usual watery diet, plus the odd rum and Coke and martini.” He finished his sandwich. “I’d better think about moving.” He considered the woman in front of him. “Thank you for all this.” He touched her cheek briefly with his lips. Slowly, slowly. “I hope we can catch up again before I head off. I’ve a couple of weeks left. Sooner than I thought, as everything has gone so well so far.” He touched the wooden door frame. “Touch wood, and whatever is a good omen charm. Well, for the all-going-well good omen. Not for the heading off. Mind you, it might mean a few days’ holiday in Hong Kong if the early finish meant the next bit couldn’t happen straight away. I’d need someone to show me around.”
“You know your way around,” Jan pointed out.
Thom grinned. She’d followed his somewhat jumbled sentence with ease. It was a relief they had soon found their way back to easy conversation.
“Don’t over-egg it.”
Thom shrugged. “You got me there. Let me say it’s so much nicer with a willing and lovely companion.” He held his breath.
Jan did a pseudo-simper. “You mean Lois?”
“Rotter. Not at all.” Thom shuddered. “She might be bloody willing, but no way is she lovely. And I’d be damned unwilling. How about it, if I can swing it? Could you manage a few days off to sightsee?”
Jan bit her lip, a habit she’d told him she’d got from him all those years ago. “If I’m here.”
“What do you mean?”
She stared at the floor then over his shoulder until, finally, she brought her gaze back to him. “I can’t give you a proper answer, but I will if I can. I might not be in HK. I told you before, I’ve got a job to do elsewhere.”
Had she actually said that? Thom couldn’t remember.
“You have?” Where, why?
She nodded. “And sorry, can’t tell you where.”
“Fair enough.” No, it isn’t, but there’s nothing I can do or say without sounding a pain in the bum. “I understand about confidentiality. Just like all I can say is ‘we’re off to Scotland’. That bit is known already. Where exactly in Scotland isn’t.”
Did she appear sceptical?
“If you say so.”
Thom narrowed his eyes. “Do you know something more?”
Jan shook her head. “Why on earth should I.”
Which didn’t answer his question.
“Oh,” she added casually, “plus, I’m off to Portugal on holiday as well. But like I said, if I’m here I will.”
And with that he accepted he’d need to be content.
And make haste to the piers.
“Don’t suppose you’d like to accompany me? Stretch your legs?” he asked, more in hope than anything.
Jan tilted her head to one side and gave him a searching look. “Do you really want my company,” she said at last. “Or am I a Lois-foiler?”
Thom laughed. “Sussed it. A bit of both to be honest. It’s now known you live here, as I heard Peg telling Alex, so it’s ten to one Lois knows as well. If we strolled up together, or ran if I don’t get a move on, it would be good, because let’s face it, if we were an item, where else would I be except with you? Especially as you live here.”
Jan grinned. “Sweet talker. Okay, but I need to go to the loo first. I promise we’ll run if we have to.”
“And can I come back here after? Even if it’s just until the coast is clear.”
“You’re pushing your luck.” She didn’t sound too upset about it. “Always have to take that extra yard.”
“But can I?” He mentally crossed his fingers. Please say yes.
“Hmm.”
He did his best woe is me, hangdog expression. “Pretty please. With bells on and a bar of your favourite chocolate? A big one. Two big bars?”
Jan laughed. “It’s the chocolate that’s swayed it. Now give me three minutes.”
She was five, but he wasn’t going to mention that. She’d changed her skirt and sandals for thin floaty trousers and trainers and grabbed a denim jacket. Thom stared at her and raised one eyebrow.
“Season’s changed?” It was still hot and humid and there was very little breeze.
“The wind off the water is chilly later,” Jan replied defensively as she turned the aircon off then slung a bag over her shoulder. “I’m sure you don’t want a blue girlfriend, pretend or not.”
“That’s for sure. Not unless I’m in a sci-fi film. Er, were you thinking of stopping and watching for a while?” That would make life a lot easier if Lois happened to be around, and knowing her as Thom did, he’d not bet against it.
“Would you prefer it if I didn’t?”
“I’d love you to hang around,” Thom said honestly. “I didn’t want to push my luck any more. I’m conscious how much I owe you.” He didn’t dare think she was helping him out for any other reason than to do her friend a favour. “At the risk of sounding soppy or getting a slap round the face, I like being with you. And you are helping.”
