Case Histories

She went up to London for the day (she was beginning to hate everyone for having left Cambridge for the summer). She visited the British Museum and then went and bought some new clothes, but it wasn't much fun on her own. She didn't see him getting on at King's Cross but she saw him walking into her carriage about ten minutes after the train had pulled out of the station – she was sure he was looking for her, even though when he spotted her he tried to look surprised. Luckily, there were no empty seats round about her, but when she got up at Cambridge he followed her down the carriage and stood at the door with her and spoke for the first time, saying, "Are you getting off here?" which was a bloody stupid question as it was obvious she was, but she just said, "Yes," and then when they were on the platform he said, "Can I give you a lift home? My car's in the car park," and she said, "No thanks, my Dad's meeting me," and hurried away from him. And she remembered his name was Stuart. Kim was right, he was pathetic. She couldn't go and see Kim anymore because that would probably mean seeing Mr. Jessop. She phoned the house a couple times and he always answered and she put the phone down and said nothing. The last time, he'd shouted into the phone, "Kim – is that you? Where the fuck are you?" so she figured things couldn't be too good between them.

Her last night in the bar and he came in and sat in the corner and made his one half-pint of lager shandy last an hour. When he got up to leave he said to her, "I don't know why you're ignoring me," and she said, "I don't know what you're talking about," and he said, "You know there's an incredible bond between us, you shouldn't deny it," and she was suddenly furious (the guy was a fucking nutter, for God's sake) because she'd been feeling sorry for the guy but really he was just intruding into her life uninvited -just like Mr. Jessop – and she said, "Look, just leave me alone, will you? My dad's a solicitor and he could make real trouble for you if you keep turning up like this," and he said, "Your father can't stop our love," and then he slunk away, and the bar manager said, "Everything okay?" and she said, "Yeah, just some guy who can't hold his drink." Of course, she would never have told her father. He would have worried himself to death. And anyway Stuart Lappin was harmless. He was a total freak, but he was harmless.

The good thing about working in the bar was that she only worked the evening shift and had the day to herself. It was going to be a real drag being stuck in an office all day for the rest of the summer. Dad was so happy and he was upset that he had to go to Peterborough instead of being there for her first day.

She made him promise to walk to the station because he was (supposedly) on a new, healthy regime after he'd been to the doctor.

"Don't forget your inhaler, Dad," she'd said to him as he was leaving the house, and he patted his jacket pocket to prove it was in there and said, "Cheryl will show you the ropes. I'll be back in the office before lunch, maybe we can go out?" and she said, "That would be nice, Dad. And then she saw him off at the front door, kissing him on the cheek, saying, "I love you, Dad," and he said, "Love you too, sweetheart," and she'd watched him walk down the street because she suddenly had a horrible feeling that she wasn't going to see him again, but when he got to the corner and turned back to look at her she gave him a cheerful wave because she didn't want him to know that she worried about him because he worried enough for the two of them.

She watched him disappear round the corner and felt her heart fill up and she wondered if she'd ever meet anyone she loved as much as her father. And then she cleared the breakfast table and loaded the dishwasher and made sure the house was clean and tidy for them both to come home to later.

Chapter 26. Amelia

No more slaters, no more Garys and Craigs and Darryls. No more Philip and his yapping Pekingese. No more Oxford. No more old Amelia. A fresh start, a new person.

She had thought it might be an orgy, but it really was just the barbecue they had promised ("Oh, do come.") and the conversation was about the difficulty of finding a good plumber and how to keep snails off delphiniums ("Copper tape," Amelia offered and they all said, "Really? How fascinating!"). The only difference was that they were all naked.

When she arrived on the riverbank (feeling overdressed and terrified), Cooper ("Cooper Lock, erstwhile history professor at St. Cat's, now a ne'er-do-well,") strode toward her, his balls swinging, and said, "Amelia, you came, how wonderful," and Jean ("Jean Stan-ton, lawyer, amateur rock climber, local Conservative Party secretary") rushed up, all smiles and small bouncing breasts and said, "Good show. Everyone, this is Amelia Land. She's so interesting."