“No need to make a fuss in public,” says Steve. “I’ll get him. He was playing golf with an old Cockney bloke who looked like a talker.”
Adam nods. “And where’s François Loubet?”
“ ‘Where’s Loubet?’ isn’t the question,” says Steve. “The question is ‘Who’s Loubet?’ ”
“Okay,” says Adam. “Who’s Loubet?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” says Steve.
The two men sit in silence for a while longer. Every time Steve thinks of something to say, he gets embarrassed. What does Adam want to hear? They occasionally give each other a little smile and nod. Adam is having the same struggle, Steve can tell. Perhaps, one day, he should talk to Adam about Deb—
“I might hit the hay,” says Adam. “Long day.”
“Good idea,” says Steve. Great idea. Problem solved. “I’m going to see if there’s anything on the telly.”
“Yeah,” says Adam.
Adam stands and salutes “Good night.” This is to avoid a hug both of them would be too embarrassed to have.
“Night, skipper,” says Adam. “There’re towels in the airing cupboard.”
Maybe they should talk about Debbie? But how? How do you raise that sort of thing? It’s just too much. Adam reaches the door.
“Stegosaurus,” says Steve, taking himself by surprise.
Adam turns around. “Stegosaurus?”
“That was your favorite, wasn’t it?” Steve says. “Stegosaurus. And you liked a triceratops too.”
Adam nods. “Didn’t mind a triceratops. To be fair.”
“Triceratops,” repeats Steve.
“Diplodocus,” says Adam.
The two grown men look at each other, both waiting for the other to say something more. Steve finally cracks.
“Can I ask you another question?”
“Of course, Dad,” says Adam. “Anything.”
“What are you supposed to wear in a sauna?”
The pause suggests that this wasn’t a question Adam was expecting.
“In a sauna? Nothing,” says Adam. “Just a towel.”
“I feared as much,” says Steve.
He nods at his son, five feet from him but so far away.
“Airing cupboard, yeah?”
“Airing cupboard,” says Adam. “Night, Dad.”
85
In the end, Bonnie Gregor spent just over three hours in Costa Coffee. She was about to leave after ninety minutes, because she thought the nice Albanian girl behind the counter was judging her for spending so long over a single cup of coffee, but then the shifts changed, and she was replaced by a girl with glasses who read a book when she wasn’t serving. Bonnie also bought a lemon-and-poppy-seed muffin, because she is aware that Costa Coffee is a business, and business is tough these days.
She sent the email to Felicity, because manners are important, and also because it is better safe than sorry, isn’t it?
Check-in for her flight has finally opened, and she has returned to kick-nudging her leather holdall through the queue. Waiting had given her plenty of time to think. Working for brands like Forest Paints is all well and good, but it’s her own brand she really wants to work on. So perhaps she can put some of this twenty thousand toward some new equipment, new stock, stronger ideas? She knows she makes people smile, and the more people smiling in the world, the better. Would Felicity help her? As soon as she is back from São Paulo, Bonnie will go back to Letchworth and they can start working on next steps.
Bonnie reaches the front of the queue. The same woman is still working on the check-in desk. She flashes the same smile.
“Don’t tell me,” she says. “São Paulo, business, just bankrupted yourself in Costa?”
Bonnie laughs along with her, and hands over her passport and boarding pass.
“And the two bags?” the woman says. “Just pop the case up here for me, m’darling.”
Bonnie heaves the case with the wonky wheel up onto the belt.
“And you packed this yourself?”
Bonnie nods. She actually did pack this one herself. Well, with her mum’s help. The woman ties a sticky label around the handle.
“And the other one, m’dear.”
