Operation Eiffel Tower (8 page)

‘Look,’ Jack said pointing to the side of the frame. ‘Ring the doorbell.’

Lauren rang the bell and they heard a faint buzzing somewhere far behind the door. Jack felt himself grow more and more miserable. Dad didn’t belong here. It wasn’t fair.

The door opened. A woman with bright red hair and blue eyeshadow grinned at them. ‘Help you?’ she asked. Her voice was gravelly as though she smoked too much.

‘We’re looking for our dad,’ Lauren said.

‘Blimey, that’s a new one. Got a name, have you?’

‘Gavin. Gav Dempsey. He came here yesterday.’

‘Oh. Yes. Room four. Up the stairs, third on the left, past the loo.’

‘Thanks.’

Jack followed Lauren up the stairs. The carpet was red with big swirly patterns, but it had worn down to the brown threads on the edge of each stair. He breathed carefully, in and out. It felt as though there was a bird fluttering in his chest.

The third door had a black and gold number stuck right in the middle of it – ‘4’.

Lauren knocked.

When Dad opened the door, Jack felt such a rush of relief that it was hard to remember what he had been scared of. Dad’s grin was as wide as ever. He smelled of the same spicy warm smell that he always had. He was Dad. Jack tumbled into him. Strong arms wrapped round him in a bear hug.

‘Oh, you two are a sight for sore eyes,’ Dad said finally as he let them go.

‘Hi, Dad,’ Lauren mumbled.

‘Come in, come in.’ Dad stepped aside and they walked into his new room. Jack looked around. There was a double bed with a flowery pink cover, all ruffled from Dad sleeping there, a chest of drawers with a TV on it, a kettle, a few ugly glass ornaments, a wardrobe and two pictures on the walls, one of a boat during a storm, the other of a couple dancing on a beach.

Dad sat down on the bed. Lauren looked for somewhere to sit, but there wasn’t a chair. She went and stood by the window, looking out over a small car park at the back. Jack sat down on the bed next to Dad. Dad reached out and put his arm round Jack’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug. After a while, he whispered, ‘Good lad,’ into Jack’s hair. Then he looked up. ‘Cup of tea?’ he asked. ‘Or coffee? I’ve got little individual sachets of milk. But you’ll have to share a cup.’

Jack shook his head. So did Lauren.

‘Well,’ Dad said.

Lauren and Jack glanced at each other, then looked away quickly.

‘Well,’ Dad said again. ‘How is everyone? How’s your mum?’

‘OK.’

‘And Ruby and Billy? They couldn’t come with you?’

‘No, they weren’t allow—’ Lauren paused. ‘They couldn’t come. They were busy. They’ll come next time.’

Jack frowned. There were too many lies flying about the place, like midges, getting in his eyes and mouth. He wanted to spit.

‘They’re busy?’ Dad asked. He didn’t sound like he believed Lauren.

She nodded.

Dad didn’t say anything.

‘Is it OK here?’ Jack asked finally.

‘Oh, it’s OK. The breakfast was good this morning. It will do until I find something better.’

‘Are you coming back?’ Jack blurted. Lauren scowled at him.

‘I . . . I don’t know, son. Not for a bit at least. Me and your mum – well, it just isn’t working at the minute. Look, let me get you some tea.’

Dad stood up and started messing around with the kettle. He had his back to them and Jack thought he looked stiff and awkward, as though he didn’t know what to do with himself.

‘It’s complicated,’ Dad suddenly said softly. ‘Me and Caro, we just – I don’t know. It isn’t like it used to be, that’s all. When we were young, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, it was fun. We laughed a lot.’

Jack found that hard to imagine.

Dad squeezed a tea bag against the side of the mug and dropped it into the bin. He opened a tiny plastic carton and poured the milk in. ‘The day I asked her to marry me – it’s right up there in the top five days of my life. I got her this tiny diamond ring – it was all I could afford then. But she took it and wore it for a year before we’d saved up enough to get married.’

‘I remember,’ Lauren said.

‘Of course, sweetheart. You were my little princess then. You still are. You were so sweet in your bridesmaid’s dress. And Paul was a pageboy. Seems like a lifetime ago. That day was the number one day of my life. Your mum looked beautiful. And I swapped the diamond ring for a gold one and we danced the first dance in front of everyone. Then – do you remember, Lauren? – I got up with the band and sang to her. It was a surprise. She did most of the planning for the wedding but she didn’t know about that. I got up and sang ‘Love Me Tender’. It was an old song even then, but it was just right.’ Dad started singing the first few lines of the song, but his voice cracked and shook too much to hear the tune properly.

Jack looked at the dark brown tea Dad gave him. He didn’t want to drink it, but he didn’t want to put it down either. He just held the mug and stared. A film of grease floated on the top.

‘Look, Dad,’ Lauren said, ‘can we go for a walk or something? No offence, but it’s depressing in here.’

‘Of course,’ Dad said quietly. ‘We can take a walk on the front.’

‘No,’ Jack said suddenly. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he didn’t want to see the families on the beach today. He handed the mug of tea to Lauren. ‘Can’t we just stay here for a bit?’ he asked.

Lauren took the tea, then shrugged. ‘Fine.’

Jack wriggled off his trainers then leaned back on the bed. It smelled of Dad. He bundled the corner of the blanket into a ball and held it close to his chest. He was as bad as Billy with Teddy Volvo, but he didn’t care. He tucked his legs up to his tummy so that his whole body was wrapped round the bedclothes.

‘Tired, son?’ Dad asked. ‘We could stay here and watch a bit of telly. I get three and a half channels on this bad boy.’ Dad patted the old square TV at the end of the bed.

Jack wondered what they had talked about before, him and Dad, before Dad moved out. It was only a day ago, but Jack couldn’t focus. But he knew, he
knew
that it hadn’t felt like this. It hadn’t been awkward and uncomfortable. He had just thrown himself down on the sofa next to Dad and stolen a crisp or a biscuit and watched TV. Or he’d kicked a ball against the back wall while Dad mowed the grass. He had been like the moon and Dad was the earth – they didn’t need to
say
anything, they were just
there
together. Now the earth was out of orbit and Jack was spinning round nothing. He shouldn’t have to try to think of things to say to his own dad!

‘Yes,’ Jack said. ‘We could watch telly.’

Lauren came and sat up by the pillows, her trainers kicked off on to the floor. Dad sat at the end of the bed, fiddling with the channels. An old film came on. Posh-voiced men in uniforms talked about war, command chains and attack fronts. Jack’s eyes closed.

When he opened his eyes, the light in the room had changed. The sunlight was warm orange instead of bright white. Jack stretched, he must have fallen asleep.

He suddenly remembered the competition.

He sat up. ‘What time is it?’

Dad was sitting next to him, cradling a can of pop. He turned and smiled. ‘You back with us? Great visitor you turned out to be. You missed almost all of
Bridge on the River Kwai
.’

‘Why? What time is it?’

Dad passed the can of pop to Jack, then looked at his watch. ‘It’s a quarter to two.’

Fifteen minutes until the competition started. He just had time to get there, if he was quick. Jack slugged back some pop, it was a bit warm, but still fizzy. Better than another cup of greasy tea.

‘Where’s Lauren?’ Jack asked. She wasn’t in the room.

‘She’s nipped to the loo. The film’s not her kind of thing, maybe.’

On screen, the music was all tense. Someone was going to get shot any minute. ‘Dad,’ Jack said, ‘we have to go.’

‘But – but the film hasn’t finished.’

Jack couldn’t look Dad in the eye, he sounded too sad. ‘I know, but I have to go. There’s something I have to do.’

Dad took back his drink. ‘Will you come again tomorrow? Maybe bring Billy and Ruby?’

‘I don’t know. Depends what Mum says.’

Dad’s shoulders stiffened. ‘How do you mean?’

‘I don’t know if she’ll let them come. She . . . she didn’t want me and Lauren to come today.’

The bedroom door opened and Lauren walked in.

‘Is this right?’ Dad asked her. ‘Your mum doesn’t want you visiting me?’

Lauren flashed Jack a dirty look. Then she half-shrugged. ‘Yeah.’

Something in Dad’s face seemed to crumple. Jack looked down at his hands. He flexed his fingers a few times; his knuckles crunched.

‘We should go now,’ Jack said to Lauren quietly. ‘I’ve got that thing.’

Lauren nodded. ‘We’ll try and come again,’ she said to Dad. ‘We’ll try.’

There was a long pause, then Dad stood up. ‘OK, give me a hug before you go.’

As they said goodbye, Jack held Dad tight. But in the end he had to let go.

Chapter 14

‘How long have we got before the competition starts?’ Jack asked once they were outside. Lauren pulled out her phone and checked the time.

‘Ten minutes.’

Jack grinned at Lauren. ‘Race you!’

He started running, slowly at first to make sure that Lauren was running alongside him. Then faster, slamming his feet down as hard as he could. There seemed to be no sounds in the world except for his heartbeat and his footsteps, pounding in time. The world whipped past, colour and shapes just blurring like one of Billy’s paintings. He felt as if the wind was chasing all his thoughts clean out of his head.

He beat Lauren to the entrance by three paces.

‘You had a head start,’ she panted, clutching a stitch in her side.

‘Did not. I just beat you, that’s all. And I’ll beat you in the Open too!’

‘Me?’ Lauren’s eyebrows shot up. ‘I’m not playing!’

‘Yes, you are. If I come first and you come second, then we win seventy-five pounds. With the money from statues, that means we’d be more than halfway to our total.’

‘But I haven’t played for ages.’

‘Time you did then. Come on. I borrowed some money from the Paris fund so we can both enter.’

‘You did what?’

‘Lauren, you have to speculate to accumulate.’ Jack grinned. ‘Let’s go and check out the competition!’

Lauren followed him down to William’s hut. There were loads of people milling around – families and people in ones and twos. They all held scorecards and clubs.

William scowled when he saw Jack. ‘See how much extra work you’ve made. Look at all these people. Forty-one entrants so far.’

‘Well, it’s forty-three now with me and Lauren,’ Jack said, dropping four coins on to the counter. ‘And can I have my lucky putter?’

William sighed and reached for Jack’s favourite club. ‘Mrs Khalid has come down to help. Her nephew’s minding the shop. I’d have been in a right old mess without her. Though she says I need to hold heats and qualifying rounds next year. Next year!’ William shook his head in disgust.

Mrs Khalid had taken charge. She was handing out scorecards and smiling at everyone. At two o’clock she stood up on a crate so that everyone could see her. ‘Welcome,’ she said. ‘Here’s how this will work. You will play in groups of four or five. Everyone will begin by playing nine holes. You will record your own scores on a card, but the card must be signed by all the players in your group – that means no cheating.’ The crowd laughed a bit sheepishly. ‘After nine holes, we will see who has the best score. All players within ten points of the leader will go on to play the remaining nine holes. At the end of the competition, the winner will receive fifty pounds as a prize. Second place will receive twenty-five pounds. May the best player win!’

Mrs Khalid called out everyone’s names, dividing them into their groups. Lauren stood on the edge of their group, swinging her club at a blade of grass. Jack smiled at the two other people they’d be playing with – a girl and a boy. Jack guessed that they were somewhere in age between him and Lauren. The girl had mousy brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. The boy had black hair and dark eyes. He smiled at Jack.