Leticia (20 page)

“
No
,
” she laughed
.
“
I’ve told you this
before;
he used to be one of the nicest people you could ever
have
asked to meet. He would have done anything for anyone. He was so good natured and warm hearted, so loving and affectionate. He could make anyone laugh you know, could cheer up the saddest person on earth in less than five minutes. Then he met
her!”

“Who?”

“
It
doesn’t matter, it make’s my blood bubble, you’ll have to ask him
.”

“I doubt he’ll tell me
.
”

“He will, just ask who Clara was
,
” she told me
.

“He said you’re all going out tonight
.
”

“Yeah, are you
coming?
”

“I don’t know yet
.
”

“It would be
nice;
you may even get to talk things out with Jackson
.
Tristan and I
sit at the side of the water, and he normally walks off. I think he feels left out – alone
.
”

“He’s a good looking
guy;
maybe if he didn't spoil himself by being a
jerk
he would get himself a girl
.
”

“I’m hoping he gets
you
.
”

“What?” I choked
.

“Don’t be like that, he’s
not
as bad
you think he is he just needs.... well, I’ll let you work that one out for yourself
.
”

We sat down to dinner together but nobody really spoke
. There
wasn’t a weird atmosphere or
anything;
it was
just that Nancy’s cooking was so nice that nobody wanted to do anything but eat. However, when
I would
look up I
’d
catch Jackson staring at me. I said I’d wash up since they were letting me stay there until Nancy pointed out the dishwasher. So I just helped her load it
and
went up to my room for a while. I put my new clothes away, then fell back on the bed, staring out of the window at nothing in particular.

There was a knock at my door and a moment later Nancy popped her head around.

“We’re going soon, are you coming?” she asked
.

“No thanks, I’m just going to stay here
. Sorry
.
”

“
Oh,
OK
,
” she said sadly
.
“Well if you change your mind, we’ll be leaving in about five minutes
.
”

She tried to smile at me before leaving the room. I wanted to go, but at the same time, I knew I’d only end up getting annoyed with Jackson.
Then
again, he
had
promised he’d tell me what was wrong with him. I jumped off the bed, grabbed one of my new jackets and made my way downstairs. They were in the hallway just about to leave.

“I’ve changed my mind
,
” I said joining them
.

“
Oh
good, good
,
” Nancy smiled
.

We walked outside
while
the guys locked up
.
I thought we
’d
have waited for them but Nancy
took my arm
and
we
started walking away.

“I’m so glad you’re coming, poor Jackson, he look
ed
absolutely gutted when I said you w
ere
n’t
,
” she said quietly
.
“What changed your mind?”

“What do you think?
”

She didn't answer she just smiled and squeezed my arm slightly. It was quite a long walk to the reservoir
.
Luckily
it was a nice night, and
still
rather warm. When we were half way there we all started walking together, then Nancy and Tristan fell behind. I didn't
speak;
I just walked until we got there. It was just like Nancy said, she and Tristan sat on the grass close to the water, cuddled up together giggling over something. Jackson walked a few feet away. I started to feel a little awkward, and decided to go for a little walk myself. I went straight past Jackson, towards the little wooden docks. I
leaned
against one of the wood
en
fences
and
stared
out at the water.

“It’s a beautiful night isn’t it
?
” Jackson commented as he appeared beside me
.

“Yeah
.
”

“Perfect for coming here
.
”

He was right
.
It
was
a comfortable temperature, clear skies
, the stars were out and
the moon was shining bright and reflecting off the water. It
was
beautiful.

“Nancy said you
weren’t
coming
,
” he said turning to face me
.

“I wasn’t going to
.
”

“What changed your mind?”

“I don’t know, I guess I just fancied a walk
,
” I lied
.
“
A
bit of exercise and some f
resh air to maybe help clear my mind
.
”

“Oh
.
”

“
You
don’t have to stay and talk to me
.
Do
whatever it is you normally do when you come here
.
”

“I don’t do
anything;
I just stare at the water. It’s peaceful here, Nancy and Tristan do their own thing and so do I. Sometimes I try not to come out with them, but they drag me
,
” he laughed a little
.

“Don’t you feel like a bit of a spare part
though?
”

“Yeah, but they don’t see it like that
.
”

“I did a minute ago, that
’s
why I came over here
.
”

“Come and walk with me for a little while
.
”

“Where? Why?”

“Just around the edge of the water so we can talk
.
I promise I won
’
t be off with you
.
”

“We’ll see
,
” I sighed as I started walking with him.

“
You
don’t think much of me at all do you, I know
it’s
my fault and....”

“Actually
you’re
wrong;
I
do
think a lot of you. I don’t know many people who would stick by their younger sister and her partner just so you know they’re safe. Who would help and fight for a stranger and invite her into
their
home. Who would put himself in danger to help her
.
”

“
Like
I keep say
ing
we look...”

“After our own, yeah you
do
keep saying it
,
” I interrupted
.

“It’s not just because of that
.
”

We were a good distance away from Nancy and Tristan now, far enough away that we could talk without being heard. We sat on the grass in silence for a moment.

“This started about twenty years ago
,
” he began
. “We were living in Bath at the time
, in a nice cottage just on the outskirts of town. We’d been there about six months when I met her
.”

“Clara
?
”

“How did you know?” he
asked
,
his eyes wide
.

“Nancy said she wouldn’t tell me what was wrong with you, but to ask you about
her
.
”

“
We
met one day
while
taking a walk
in the
nearby
park
.
It
started to rain quite heavily and we both ran to take cover under some of the trees. The rain lasted a good few minutes and we got talking. She was so pretty, long light brown hair, big brown eyes
.
She
had such a lovely and contagious smile. She was only little, and curvy, her personality was fantastic. We instantly clicked
.
”

“Love at first sight?” I asked
.

“No
,
not love, not then, just an attraction, but a strong one. We met up regularly and got to know each other quite well
.
We
had lunch several times and in the end we spent most of our free time together. I remember I used to get butterflies in my stomach when I knew I was going to see her
;
and when she kissed me, I was the happiest man on earth
.
”

“So you loved her
?
”

“I was falling for her, but I wasn’t
in love
with her
.
”

“Oh, so what was the problem, what....”

“Her father was ill, so sometimes she had to cancel on me, but I understood
.
She
was helping her mother nurse him. Or so I was told and was stupid enough to believe
,
” he stood up and stared out at the water
.
“
We’d been seeing each
other
for
over six months when I decided to buy her a necklace she’d wanted for weeks, but couldn’t afford. I went into town and was about to walk into the jewellers, when I saw her.
..
I was just about to make my way over when a man stood beside her, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. I think my jaw nearly hit the floor, my heart and stomach sank. I walked over to her, when she saw me she panicked and I saw her fumbling with something on her finger
.
”

“What was
it?
”

“Her wedding ring
.”

“What
!
” I gasped
.

“
Yeah
.
”

“
Did
you tell her husband
?”

“He already knew
,
” he said in disgust
.
“
They
knew I had money and they wanted it. I’d showered her with some of the most expensive gift
s
you could b
uy
, and what had she done? Either managed to return the items and get the money
for
them or sell them. That was all she wanted me for, all
they
wanted me for
.
”

“What did you do?”

“I knocked ten bells out of him right there in the middle of town. I called her a number of horrible things
and
went home. Nancy was fuming, she’d liked and trusted Clara, Tristan just wanted to drain them both
.
”

“I don’t blame them
.
”

“We couldn’t do anything though, not unless we wanted to risk exposing ourselves, so we moved. In fact over the fifteen years that followed we moved a number of times, until finally settling here about six years ago. I haven’t been involved with anyone since, I just think
,
what’s the point, it’s not that the girl would love
me
she would just love my bank account and what I could buy her
.
”

“
Wow
, that’s an awful thing to do to someone, I don’t know how people like that sleep at night
,
” I said shaking my head
.
“
They
really piss me off
.
”