Page 79 of When We Are Old

“Is that Matthew’s dad?”

Lynn shrugged. “Or him?”

I stared at the older man, looking for my Matthew in the shadows and lines on the man’s face. I couldn’t see him, but then I’d only just managed to realign the grown-up Matthew with the teenager of my memories. There was little chance I’d see him as an old man for at least a decade.

A flicker of satisfaction bloomed in the pit of my stomach that he was mine and that a decade would have nothing on us.

I turned a few more pages. “I can’t believe how sharp his skills are considering he hasn’t drawn in so long. It’s a shame he’s not in the market for a job; I think he would challenge my head designer.”

“Ah the infamous Fred.”

I groaned but laughed. “You know about Fred?”

“Oh, Ronnie, love, we all know about Fred.”

“From this week, when Matthew saw Fred trying to hold my hand?”

Lynn howled. “Oh, that explains the two-day sulk.” She chuckled and shook her head. “No. When he first went back to London to find you, to ‘get the branding done’." She air quoted the words. “He was in a foul mood that the head designer seemed like a prick.”

“He said that?” I snorted a laugh.

“Amongst other observations.”

Lynn backed away from the pictures leaving me to leaf through them. It felt a bit like rifling through someone’s hopes and dreams. I wish Matthew had brought me here earlier and shown me them himself. Still, I guess he knew we had a whole week together.

“You know it’s funny, Jack and Ewan have hardly mentioned their mother at all today.”

“Well, they’ve been with Matthew all week, and they really don’t like Julie’s parents. McStandish is an oaf. He thinks that throwing money at a situation will fix it, but those boys have got their heads screwed on. They can tell when they are being palmed off.”

“Do you wish he hadn’t married her, even if it meant that you didn’t get to keep this shop?”

Lynn laughed, but it rang hollow in the empty space. “I told you before, Ronnie. This shop has been nothing but a curse.”

“But look at what he wants to achieve.”

“But why? And at what price?” She glanced at her watch. “Right, he hasn’t come to pick us up; let’s start walking back and maybe he will find us on the way. I can’t leave them all unattended for too long, they tend to break my furniture.”

I stole a last glance at the old man on the sketch pad and then flipped the cover closed. I’d have to tell Matthew his mum had shown me it all. Damn it. I kind of wished we’d waited. I felt like I’d seen secrets I wasn’t meant to know yet.

A knock on the window made me jump out of my skin. Lynn laughed and grabbed the keys. “I think that means he’s waiting.”

My heart rate picked up, even knowing he was the other side of a pane of glass made me warm and tingly all over.

“Why doesn’t he come in?” I stared back at the big sketch pad, my brain ticking over with ideas and prospects—what could be, what had been hidden—Matthew’s talent hadn’t diminished over the last fifteen years. Why hadn’t he used it?

“Hugo would wreck the place.”

“What? Why?”

Lynn laughed and pointed to the door. “Good luck this week with that thing in the house.”

Unsure what she meant, I followed the sound of barking outside.

Belnded

Matthew

“Daaaaad!”