They finished their lunch and Jade caught the attention of some of the other helpers, whose nods of agreement showed that they were also ready to go. By the time they were gathered back at the front of the museum it was past one and Keith was waiting with the minibus. The piled in, Jade sitting next to Nick again.
She touched his arm gently. ‘Enjoyed yourself?’
Nick turned his face towards hers, and she could see he was grinning again. ‘Very much so. Far more than I expected to, actually.’
‘Good.’ Jade decided to just say what was in her head. ‘Because I was hoping you’d come back when we go again in two weeks.’ Nick was silent, and Jade wondered if she’d misjudged him. ‘Of course, if you’d rather not, then—’
‘No!’ Nick interrupted her. ‘It’s just – well – won’t that other guy be back next week? I wouldn’t want to trample on his patch.’
Jade laughed. ‘Oh, we always need people. There’s always someone who can’t make it each week. And we can only take as many people out as we have helpers. So you’d be very welcome.’
Nick ducked his head, obviously embarrassed and happy at being wanted. And Jade suddenly wondered exactly what he had gone through, to drive him to stand on that bridge and have those kinds of thoughts. Maybe she would get to the bottom of things. And if not, then at least she could try to provide him with some sort of community to love and support him while he was here.
‘I’ll walk you to the station,’ Jade said, when everyone was safely back and they had said their goodbyes.
Nick looked like he was about to protest, but then he seemed to change his mind. ‘That would be great. And you really should give me your number too.’
‘OK, OK.’ Jade pretended to reluctantly give in, smiling at him again. She recited the number, while he typed it into his phone.
‘I promise I won’t stalk you.’ The grin was back. Jade couldn’t help smiling again in response.
They walked companionably side by side, not really talking much, through the streets that by now were bustling with people, out for Saturday shopping. Jade stopped at the entrance to the station.
‘So, what’s the plan for next weekend?’ Nick wanted to know. ‘You know. The next thing on the list.’
Jade had been lost in thought, wondering about Nick and what his story was. ‘Oh. Yeah.’ She thought for a minute. If he wouldn’t laugh at her, she could take him …
Screw it, she thought. Nothing to lose. ‘Kelvin Hall. Quarter to eleven. Wear something comfortable. Sweatpants or something.’
‘Are you going to tell me what we’re doing?’ Nick looked sideways at her.
‘Nope. That’s part of the fun.’ Jade winked at him.
‘Oh.’ Nick seemed to suddenly remember something. ‘Today was all about the second thing on the list. But you never actually told me what it was.’
Jade smiled. ‘Do a kindness for someone else. Feels good, doesn’t it?’
Nick didn’t reply for a second, then he unexpectedly leaned over suddenly and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Before she could say anything, he gave her a little wave and disappeared up the stairs. Jade put a hand to her cheek and stared after him for a minute, unsure of the meaning of what had just happened. Then she turned and walked slowly home.
‘You look very thoughtful,’ her mother remarked later that evening while they were both sitting in the living room after dinner. ‘Something on your mind?’
‘Just this guy I met. I took him to see Lily today.’
‘Ah.’ Her mother, never one for excessive speech, could convey a thousand messages with one word. ‘So what is he like, this man?’
Jade considered, the images of Nick flitting through her mind. ‘Nice. He seems nice.’ She snuggled up on the sofa in her blanket, content just to spend some time alone with her mother tonight. ‘Let’s watch some of your favourite programme, Mum.’
Her mother’s raised eyebrows indicated surprise, but she didn’t say anything, just reached for the remote. And as the familiar theme music started, Jade felt a strange feeling of contentment, which was something she hadn’t felt for a long time.
Nick lay on his bed that evening thinking about things. He was starting to wonder about the wisdom of taking a bedsit in the centre of town. He had originally done it because then he wouldn’t have to spend any time commuting, especially because they occasionally shifted a working day to match the hours in the US and he would get home really late. But he missed green fields and trees. The constant hum of the traffic was getting him down. Maybe if he took a flat somewhere out of the city like Lenzie or Milngavie? The commute wasn’t huge, just half an hour each way. And he could spend the time usefully doing something. Reading. Or watching something on his phone. Or something like that.
But then, the real problem was his job. Well, it wasn’t really the job. In fact, he liked it more than he had expected to like an office job. He loved the feeling of solving problems and being master of the web. Of fighting the dark forces of evil with only a few lines of computer code. But the real problem was his colleagues, but mainly his boss. Well, actually, all of them. It was all rolled into a massive knotty problem that he had no idea how to solve.
He supposed he should just try to find another outdoor job, but it was hard. He’d been watching websites for months, and the job he’d interviewed for a couple of weeks back – organising outdoor activities for kids – had been the only one he’d seen for ages that was even remotely close to what he wanted to do, even though the owner of the company hadn’t seemed much better than the boss he had now. And having them offer him the job, and then a few days later call them to say they’d changed their minds? That had been a major blow.
If they don’t want you, you don’t want them. He recited the mantra that his dad had taught him to help him stand up to the bullies at school. The trouble was, it wasn’t always true. A job working outdoors with a tosser for a boss was better than the job he had now, where he was stuck in an office and still had a tosser for a boss. And so his thoughts continued circling, his chest growing tight as he felt more and more trapped in his head.
If he stayed in the same type of work that he was doing now then he would probably have to go down to London to find another job, and the thought of that scared him even more than carrying on in his current job. Besides, he didn’t like the thought of running away. Even though the blokes in his office all seemed the same, odds were that some of them were as frustrated as he was. If he could only find a way to sort things out …
‘New Year, new start.’ Nick jumped as one of his colleagues threw a backpack onto a nearby desk. Nick normally had the office to himself until at least nine. He liked to come in early, before eight if possible. It gave him at least an hour before the office banter started up and he got distracted by people asking him for things. But it seemed that someone had decided to start the new year with a new resolution.
‘Yeah.’ Nick tried to be enthusiastic, but to be honest he was missing the mountains. And being back home. And there wasn’t even any snow in Glasgow to make things look pretty. ‘How was your holiday?’
‘Oh, you know, the usual. Too much food, too much drink. Family rows. Glad to be back really. How was yours?’