Whether it had been her constant denials to Peter that she was fine and unaffected by her experience that had convinced her, or the first little “rebellion” of dreaming of an exotic holiday that she’d never be able to take, she managed to find the bravado needed to make a trip back into town to retrieve her lost brochures. Despite her determination though, she still managed to procrastinate, putting off the possible moment of bumping into Daniel.

On a whim, she picked up some stale bread out of the kitchen bread bin, deciding to feed the ducks on the way through the park. A decision that at least pleased the waterfowl she graced with the extra food. Not that any of them looked like they were in any imminent risk of starvation. She loved hurling the lumps of bread into the morass of ducks, watching them quack loudly and coquettishly wiggling their tail feathers in an attempt to gain her attention and throw some of the Hovis goodness their way. It made her cross though to see so much litter around and in the pond – floating over by the other end appeared to be a bright purple spray paint canister, bobbing up and down in the slight breeze. No doubt she would see fresh examples of the vandal’s work on her way into town – what possible joy or satisfaction could they achieve from daubing walls and fences with such illegible squiggles?

She wandered slowly on, making the most of the November sunshine, knowing that rain was forecast for the next few days. All too quickly, she found herself outside the caf? and with a sudden attack of nerves wondered whether she should go in. Maybe it would be easier just to go back to the travel agent and collect some new ones, although she’d feel rather silly doing it.

No, this was daft. She was doing nothing wrong – she was just collecting her belongings which she had accidentally left behind yesterday. She ignored the little voice in her head which asked, if that were true, why did she not mention either the brochures or Daniel’s help to her family when they were discussing it last night. Which did she consider the greatest betrayal? The planning of a fictitious trip without them all, or finding a complete stranger good company? She pushed open the caf? door.

With a mixture of relief and disappointment, she noticed that Daniel wasn’t visible, so she approached the girl behind the counter.

“Oh, good morning. I wonder if you can help me. I left some travel brochures in here the other day by mistake; I don’t suppose they got put to one side at all?” Shirley hoped that they hadn’t simply been thrown away after all this.

“Hang on, I’ll just go check out back.” The girl’s smile was genuine and helpful, and she returned within a few minutes clutching an armful of travel catalogues. “Are these the ones?”

“Yes, they look like them! Thank you so much!” The relief finally helped her to relax a little.

“There you go.” The girl hefted the pile over the counter. “Can I get you anything while you are here?”

Warning bells rang in Shirley’s mind, but it would be a bit churlish after the girl’s help not to buy anything. Especially as she still owed for her drink given to her yesterday. “I’ll have an earl grey please, no milk. Do you have slices of lemon?”

“Sure! Would you like to sit down, and I’ll bring it over.”

Shirley found a seat and started to leaf through one of the Mediterranean cruise brochures while she waited. She looked up to see Daniel holding her cup of tea.

“Hello! I thought I heard your voice out here! How are you feeling now? A little less shaken I hope.”

“A lot better, thank you.” She felt awkward staying there now he was here, but then she could hardly make a runner for the door. Good job she was able to drink tea fairly hot. Five minutes, and she could make her excuses and leave.

After placing the cup carefully on the table, Daniel nonchalantly peered over her shoulder and smiled. “Planning to go somewhere nice?”

She shuffled awkwardly in her seat. “I wish. To be honest, the only holiday that would keep my family happy would be a week lazing on the Costa del Sol. This is strictly a ‘winter nights closing in, idle fantasy of somewhere exotic to escape to’ sort of deal.” Why had she admitted that? Now she would just seem foolish.

Instead he grinned wryly at her. “I can appreciate that. This place keeps me fairly busy most days and when I do get the opportunity to take a break I like to take my kid somewhere. An eight year old dreams of Disney, not of cruises.” He paused, looked around at the near empty caf? and came to a decision. “Can I buy you lunch?”

Shirley’s mouth dropped and she blushed furiously – oh how she wished her face wasn’t quite so easy to read. “Erm… I really don’t think… it’s just… I’m married,” she blurted out, feeling very flustered.

It just made him laugh. “I had noticed the ring and I wasn’t planning anything inappropriate, I promise. It’s just, I’m not very busy, you seem good company… I tell you what. We’ll eat right here (I can really recommend our baguettes, by the way), we can sit at the table by the window so the whole world can know we’re not guilty of any impropriety. Unless you’ve got somewhere you need to be, of course?”

There was her get out, should she need it, but then what else was she going to do? Again, the whole day stretched ahead of her with nothing available to fill it. Against Shirley’s better judgement, she agreed.

Once their order had been placed and their table mood, Shirley attempted to hide her awkwardness with small talk. “You mentioned you had an eight year old?”

“Yes. A daughter. Hang on, I think I have a picture of her here somewhere.” He rummaged around for his wallet and drew out a small passport sized photo of the two of them. “Amy’s a great kid, but then I think eight is a fantastic age to be, don’t you? Old enough for decent discussions and more ‘grown-up’ activities, but still before any of those god-awful hormones kick in and they turn into monsters!”

Shirley laughed. “I know all about that. I have two girls. The eldest, Clare, is sixteen going on twenty and Michelle will be fourteen in January but already wants to be able to do everything her sister does. Actually, that’s unfair – they’re actually very responsible.”

“For teenagers?” Daniel added cheekily.

“Exactly.” For some reason, Shirley had a sudden urge to find out if Daniel was married. She tried to catch a glimpse of his left hand, not that that was a sure sign with men.

“Divorced.” He’d noticed her glance and correctly interpreted it. “Amy lives with her mother up in Birmingham,” he added by way of explanation.

Their baguettes arrived and they duly tucked in, creating a lull in conversation. Eventually, with a few delicious mouthfuls lining her stomach, Shirley continued where they’d left off. “Gosh, that’s a long way for visits. It must be hard on you. Why did you split up?” Shirley realised she was now possibly crossing the bounds of decency. “I’m sorry, that was a very personal question.”

“That’s fine. To be honest, we married pretty young and we grew apart gradually over time. Our relationship was already fairly strained when we finally decided to have kids. In retrospect, it was a daft decision. Maybe we both thought that a baby might bring us closer together again, give us something in common. In practice, it just drove us further apart – well you know how much stress a newborn puts on a relationship.”

Shirley nodded sympathetically. The broken nights, sleep deprivation, being thrown into new roles that you had no hope of preparing yourself for, the feeling that your own identity had been erased overnight – she remembered them well even though those times were now long passed.

“In many ways, we have a better relationship now we don’t live together. We’re good friends, which is all the better for Amy, of course. Two years ago, she met her current partner and had to move away with his job. It’s been tough, but I go up every other weekend and spend it with Amy and I take her away somewhere each school holiday for at least a week – even if it’s just somewhere in the UK. We do pretty well, all things considered.”

“She’s lucky to have such a dedicated and amenable dad,” observed Shirley. “All that travelling about must be exhausting.”

Daniel laughed. “Better me getting tired from travelling than Amy, I suppose. Staying in a flat above a caf? isn’t the best place for an eight year old to grow up, either. Especially as weekends are our busiest time – it would be too tempting for me to hang around to check everything was going okay. Far better that I remove the temptation and go up there. Anyway, enough about me. What do you do when you’re not being mugged outside travel agents?”

“Not a lot. I’m a housewife – not very glamorous and quite boring.” Shirley was dismissive, she had been enjoying finding out more about Daniel.

“Wow. I’m impressed. I’m not very good at filling in time when I’m not here, I can’t imagine trying to fill whole days. What did you do before having kids? Did you ever consider going back to work?”

Shirley looked wistful, an expression that didn’t go unnoticed. “I used to be a secretary. Not great money, but I quite enjoyed it. When the children were little, it was an obvious decision to stay at home and look after them. Once they started going back to school, Peter, that’s my husband, was still keen for me to stay at home – it was important to him… well, us really… that I was there for them when they got in from school and at holidays. I didn’t really mind when they were younger. I got heavily involved in their school PTA and fundraising committees. As they’ve got older though, that’s taken up less and less time. Friends on the committees have left to do other things and I don’t know the new people as well. I don’t really have much interest in it all any more.”

Daniel frowned. Her face was easy to read, he could tell she was unhappy. Why didn’t her husband see it? “Have you thought about volunteer work – maybe at a school so you’d still be around in the evenings and school holidays? Most are crying out for extra admin staff but can’t afford to pay them. You’d brush up on your skills in the process and perhaps if a paying vacancy did come up you’d be in for a good chance. It would help fill up some time anyway.” He paused, feeling a bit guilty for his outburst. “I’m sorry, it’s really none of my business.”

“No, you’re right. Something like that would be a good opportunity.”

“But?”

“How did you know there was a ‘but’?” Shirley smiled. “I’m just not sure Peter would be too keen.”

“Why ever not? It’s hardly going to affect him – you’d still be around, you’d still be there for your family when they needed you and you’d stop yourself going stir crazy as an added bonus. It’s only a shame that your girls haven’t left home,” he grinned cheekily, looking pointedly at her still open travel brochure, “or you could have applied for an admin job on a cruise ship and seen the world at the same time!”

Shirley lost herself in the allure of azure seas. “Yes, a very great shame,” she said dreamily.