Bill looked him up and down scornfully. ‘Tell you what, we’ll split up the group. You take half of them your way, and we’ll go the right way. We’ll meet at the café by the station and see who gets there first. Losers pay the bill.’
Nick felt like he had no other choice but to accept. Now all he had to do was make sure that all the less able people in the group somehow came with him. What had meant to be a fun day out had suddenly turned into a stressful situation, but that was OK. Growing up in the mountains had got him used to dealing with what the weather threw at you. If only dealing with people was so easy.
The group split fairly amicably into two. Nick was happy to see that the two without proper coats were coming with him. Or had Bill and Tony engineered that specially? He didn’t want to think about that possibility. Best just to believe the best of people. It was always his approach to life.
During the walk back the clouds cleared, but a stiff wind started up, and Nick was glad when they got to the café and he could have a hot cup of tea. There was no sign of the others though. Not that he should have been surprised. He couldn’t feel elation at the fact he was right. Not when half the group was still out on the mountainside somewhere.
It was almost an hour and a half later when the other half of the group trudged in, looking weary and very muddy. However, some seemed excited by the experience, talking about massive bogs they had been forced to cross and fences that had to be climbed. Bill and Tony just sat in a corner with their coffees, not looking at Nick. He decided he would leave and let them get on with it. It was their group after all. But not before a couple of people gave him hugs and thanks and said they would post their pictures on the group site.
That night he considered the experience. Not great, he thought, but not a disaster. He found himself suddenly looking forward to the next walk. It was a bit of an eclectic group, but they were all very nice. Even Bill and Tony had just made an honest mistake. He reached for his phone. He would just see if anyone had posted any pictures yet.
But for some reason, he couldn’t get into the group. He could see it, but he no longer seemed to be a member. He sank back on the couch in bewilderment. It must be Bill and Tony.
A message to the website support returned the information two days later that he had been blocked from the group for ‘inappropriate behaviour’. The email that he received gave the impression that he had been lucky not to have been blocked from the entire site, so heinous was the nature of his supposed crimes. When he saw the email, he felt a surge of anger and his hands clenched. He started putting together an angry reply to the site moderator. But then the anger died away, and he felt a wave of sadness wash over him. If they didn’t want him, then he would just move on. Find something else to do with his time.
He did have a look for other walking groups online, but there didn’t seem to be anything else that was really what he was looking for. His experience with the first one had made him cautious of anything that seemed even vaguely competitive. And as the winter blew in then it didn’t really seem to be something that anyone wanted to do anyway.
* * *
The thought of meeting Jade sustained Nick through work all week. When Saturday came he was so desperate not to be late that he took an earlier train and got there twenty-five minutes ahead of time. A bitter wind forced him into a cafe not far from the station, where he kept repeatedly checking his watch, paranoid that he would miss her.
He needn’t have worried. At precisely one minute to ten she strolled up, dressed in her usual red coat. There was still no hat, but her hair was tamed into a beautiful long plait that ran half-way down her back. The sparkly green flashed in and out of the braid at surprising intervals.
‘Wow, you look half-presentable,’ he joked, suddenly feeling nervous. ‘Are we going somewhere special?’
Jade gestured in the direction that she wanted them to go and linked her arm through his as they walked, a move that surprised him. She had seemed so remote the day when they first met. Almost alien.
‘Lily likes to see my hair like this.’ She looked up at him with a smile, touching it with her other hand.
It was the first time he had seen her properly smile, he realised, and he was completely blown away. He knew it was a cliché, but it really did transform her face. She did look better than when they first met, he thought, sneaking a glance at her when she wasn’t looking. The dark smudges under her eyes were less prominent, and there was a bit of a glow in her cheeks. Although she could just be wearing makeup. Was that a hint of gloss on her lips?
‘So who’s Lily?’ he asked, suddenly remembering what Jade had said.
Jade smiled again. ‘You’ll meet her. Today. We’re going to see them all.’
‘Them?’ Nick couldn’t help feeling a bit lost. Or was he just distracted by the woman walking along beside him?
She just laughed, squeezed his arm and increased her pace, dragging him across a junction and down a side street. She stopped in front of a large two-storey brick-built building.
‘Sunnyside Retirement Home,’ Nick read off the sign.
‘I started coming here a couple of years ago. It started just as a way to give a bit back to the community. And then I met Lily.’
‘She must be someone pretty special.’ Nick could see the faint smile that played over her mouth and made his deductions from that. ‘I’m looking forward to meeting her.’
‘Oh, you will.’ Jade took his elbow and steered him through the double doors. ‘But I also want you to meet Archie.’
‘I think I’m just going to go with it and not ask any more questions.’ Nick couldn’t help a smile starting on his own face.
A friendly woman dressed in pink hospital scrubs greeted them from behind the reception desk. Nick noticed that she was wearing fluffy pink earrings to match. Despite her clothes the entrance hall looked nothing like a hospital. Two big blue comfy chairs stood ready for anyone who was waiting, and there were modern-looking photos of Glasgow landmarks around the walls. It smelled clean and fresh, and there was no hint of disinfectant.
‘Hi Sandra, this is Nick,’ Jade said. ‘I’ve brought him along to help out today.’
The woman looked him up and down in an appraising manner, but not unkindly. ‘Hope you have big muscles,’ she said. ‘Clive’s just called to say he’s got the flu, so we’ll be needing someone to push Archie.’
Nick was really starting to wonder what kind of crazy scheme he had got himself in for. ‘Just what is it we’re supposed to be doing today?’
‘Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you.’ Jade was unrepentant. ‘We’re taking a group of these people to the Riverside Museum.’
‘And just how are we going to do that?’ Nick had a crazy vision of trying to get a big group of wheelchairs onto the train while other passengers cursed the delays they were making.
Jade laughed, her eyes lighting up. ‘Just relax and go with the flow. Loosen up. It’s all been planned.’
They turned down the corridor into what was obviously some type of lounge. About fifteen people sat around on dark grey sofas and comfy chairs. But, just like the entrance hall, this was no depressing beigey communal living space. Bright pictures decorated the walls, and hand-made cushions were scattered on the sofas. Lovely arrangements of fresh flowers were dotted around, giving off beautiful scents.
‘That’s Sandra’s work,’ Jade said, seeing him looking. ‘She was a florist before she came here.’
Jade seemed to know everyone, and she introduced him, although Nick quickly lost track of all the names. Two of them she kept for last, though, and Nick knew this must be Lily and Archie.
Archie