CHAPTER 69
We didn’t see much of Pete for a while, and before I knew it Easter and its rush of tourists was on us. The older I got, the faster the years went, like water down a plug hole. Darren was looking at his approaching exams as well, so I ended up spending far more time on my knees in a boat than sat in the office. That bit was covered by Susie and Doreen, of course, a hand-painted name-plate prominent on one desk, but in the end I couldn’t put the hours in that were needed, as my knees simply couldn’t take it.

Ashley was the surprise there, for when I mentioned it to Pete during one of those Sunday dinners where half the pub seems to be filled with your own people, the lad simply held up his hand.

“Mr Barker, gaffer here’s got a proper manager in now, Mr Soames. Happen I know enough about diesels, if you want hand at weekends”

I looked at Pete, who was nodding, and gave the boy my hand.

“I’d want to pay you, lad”

He laughed. “Aye, I were hoping for that. Me and the lass, we’re trying to get deposit together for a house, and a bit extra would be right handy”

Pete reached out to squeeze Ashley’s shoulder. “Yeah, he’s a good worker, is our Ashley. What do you run?”

I thought for a few seconds. “A few Bolinders, some Cummins, a lot of Perkins and Leyland”

“Volvo?”

“Never actually seen one, but some of private craft we get for repair can be a bit, well, people find their own ways of doing things”

Pete laughed out loud at that one.

“Indeed, don’t I bloody well know it! Some of the bodges his brother’s told me about, bloody hell. Works in a motorbike shop. There was this one time where…”

And off he went into a long series of anecdotes about the mechanically subliterate. Not ‘illiterate’, because the culprits had clearly had some mechanical knowledge, just lacking such things as empathy, or even common sense. One of those spring days where the world is at ease and the smiles come without effort. Susie took Ashley to one side so they could agree terms, Andrew sat and smiled at her, and Val grilled Pete again.

“Yeah, he’s doing far better now. At some point, they’re going to move out of Lucy’s. Oh, sorry; should have said. She took him in, did the place up for him, wheelchair ramp, whole lot of stuff”

Val’s voice was soft. “You never let go of hope, do you?”

He looked down, shamefaced. “I let it go for far too long, Valerie. We both did, you and me. This is a better world than we thought, isn’t it?”

A sigh. “Aye… Now, that lad of yours? What’s he doing about lass? And what are YOU doing about his mam?”

Something happened just then that astonished me, and it was Pete’s face swiftly turning pink. Val crowed with laughter.

“I were right, then! You ARE a randy old sod!”

He shrugged at his embarrassment, but there was obviously more.

“Yes, Val, but no more questions on that, yeah? Too much pain still there, too many years wasted. Look, Laura’s stopped hiding now. Got some more pics, if you want to see?”

Susie looked up at that. “Oh yes indeed! Ashley, we’ll sort it out proper and get contract done to keep HMRC off case, but we’ll have to ring Ty Glas some time and see if there’s owt else they need. Pics, love?”

Pete pulled his laptop out of the bag again, warmed it up and started scrolling through the picture files till he came to a series of shots of what looked like a restaurant, quite a few people clearly in a good mood, with plenty of evidence of refreshment.

“Now… yeah, that’s Laura’s boss, Howard. And her best mate, I’d say, Dave, Forbes I think. His missus Sharon…”

He looked up from the laptop. “Something I should explain, really. Laura wasn’t herself for a long time—you’ve seen the evidence and yes, Val, I’ve deleted it. I gather she was more than a bit annoying for a while, but that man there, Dave, and his wife, they stuck with her even though they had no idea what was going on. Can’t say fairer than that, couldn’t really be a truer friend. He said something just then, that evening, about finding out why his odd mate was odd, and then finding out she was lovely…”

Susie had a tissue for him this time.

“Thanks, love. That’s the thing, you see: all those people there, they must have felt something about her to stick with her, even when she wasn’t, well, ‘her’”

Andy shook his head. “No, Mr Hall. I think you do folk down. Most people are sound; it’s just that the idiots make a bigger impression”

“Yeah? Well, I still say everyone at that meal was special. That’s Martin; he looked after the boy for the Legion, that’s Mary, the shrink who turned her round—“

“Pete”

“Gerald?”

“You’re doing it again. What turned her round is sat in wheelchair in that picture, if I’ve got it right. And it’s two-way street. That smile on lad’s face is best I’ve seen from him in ages. What were dinner for?”

“Oh, a couple of things. I’ll try not to give the punchline while you’re drinking, so… John, as was, Laura as is, had a student, a girl. She tried to get higher grades off him, better marks, and according to Dave she was really obvious about how she intended to, ahem, reward him”

Susie laughed out loud again. “But she’s bloody well straight!”

He nodded, with a truly happy grin. “Yes indeed! In fact, that dinner was for their engagement, her and Pete”

I almost lost the thread after that, because suddenly everyone wanted to congratulate, hug, shake hands, but I waited until they had calmed down.

“Pete?”

“Yeah? Oh, right! The funny bit. I didn’t see it, but Howard there, and that woman, er, Harriet, and the black lad there—can’t remember his name, they were on a panel. The girl only turns it round, doesn’t she?”

Susie snorted. “It was him pestering her for nookie? Play hide the sausage or get bad grades?”

Pete was nodding, a real twinkle in his eyes. “Absolutely! So, they get her in, and she says her bit, and then Howard and Harriet say ‘shall we ask Doctor Evans to step in?’ and—well, this!”

He clicked open another picture, this time of Laura in an impeccable business suit of skirt, jacket and shiny heeled shoes. Val’s mouth dropped.

“Oh my god! So she just walks in? Looking like that?”

“Yup, and Howard points out she’s straight, and Harriet mentions engagement, and, well the student really lost it. Lots of swearing, all that. Looks like she’s off her course now”

Susie shook her head. “THAT is the one you should have had a bloody video of, Peter Hall!”

She narrowed her eyes. “There’s more, though, isn’t there? Agreed, Mam?”

Val stared at him for a moment. “Aye, love. Think you’re right on money there”

Pete shrugged. “Not much more to tell, really. Boy’s finally given in and asked—that lad there, he’s his physiotherapist at the Royal Navy hospital there. He’s asked him to start the process of getting a new leg”

He looked round our table, eyes challenging. “Says he’s walking down the aisle when they get wed, not rolling. Laura’s told him that as well. She’s got a lot of strength in her, that girl”

Andy was pensive. “Not being funny, but he’ll have a few problems there, what with it being gone above knee. I did some drawings for mechanics once, for prosthetics company. Bloody complicated spring system up there”

“Yeah, mate. That’s the thing. Ollie was clear that it’s not just technically hard but physically, too. That’s what’s got me so proud of that girl. I suspect I might have lost my son altogether without her. I… I had a quiet chat with Martin, the lad from the Legion, and he was quite open about it. They take their broken people in, but some of them leave feet first. Nobody outside the ones that are directly affected seems to give a shit”

How well I knew that. “Tommy Atkins, pal”

“Yeah, Gerald. Spot on. Anyway, look at that picture. All those people, all pulling hard for my boy. How can he fail now?”

Val patted his hand. “So, when’s the wedding?”

“What, the boy’s? Oh, all sorts of crap to get through before then. Laura needs to get officially recognised as a woman. Pete needs to get his new leg sorted out. There’s sorting out where to live, and of course Pete’s still got his degree to work for. It’ll be a while before the happy day”

Ashley was the one grinning now. “Boss, do us all a favour, aye? Nobody sat round this table is stupid, and I’ve been watching the ladies. Susie, Val? Am I right?”

Val chuckled. “If you are thinking what I think you are, lad”

She turned back to Pete. “Lad let it slip, love. Mr Soames, aye? That’ll be Roger Soames, as were at bus company?”

“Yeah, that one”

“New manager, this one tells us. So you can tell us the rest”

“Which is?”

She gave her daughter a wink.

“What date have you set for wedding Laura’s mam?”