Page 77 of If We Were Young

I opened my mouth to question again, but the horn honked loudly from the car. “Sorry.” I blushed. “I don’t think Mr Supersaver Foods likes to wait.”

Her face crumpled a little. “I’ll be ready for Hannah.”

I turned almost reluctantly, which is not how I usually left Ma. I was normally running at high speed trying to escape the finger or eyebrow.

Matthew had the engine running when I got out of the house to the car.

“I’m sorry.” I slipped in and buckled up before he could shout at me. “It’s only a couple of streets away; she’s a pain in the arse sometimes.” I glanced over at him and found his face pensive as he stared out the window.

“I’m sorry about Ma. That was weird too.”

He turned, slate and heaven staring into my gaze. “Let’s go, shall we?”

I nodded and grabbed my phone out of my bag. I texted Hannah Be Ready but I didn’t expect a reply.

Trains

“I’m sure I recognise you from somewhere.” Hannah sat as far forward as her seatbelt would allow, her face between our two shoulders.

“No, I don’t think so. Although I’ve been told I have a familiar face once or twice before.” He shot her an easy smile.

How come I didn’t get the easy smiles?

Hannah wasn’t sure though. I could almost hear her brain churning over. “No. I do think I’ve seen you. And you’re from Scotland you say?” She shook her head. “You didn’t know my dad? I think I saw you with him?”

I cast him a mortified side-eye. Why was she talking so much? She never talked this much.

“Hannah. You haven’t met Matthew before, okay? Leave it,” I snapped.

“Fine.” She slumped back in her seat, but I could still sense her stewing, working out what was going on.

“Matthew and I knew each other a long time ago. Remember I told you last night?” I turned in the seat and offered her a placating smile. “But I haven’t seen him the whole time you’ve been alive.”

“Okay.” She shrugged and I let out a slow breath. It would be so nice not to hand deliver a stroppy teenager to my mother. “But this is the guy you wanted to punch in the balls, right?”

“Hannah!” I hissed. Turning back around, I slumped in my seat, catching a ghost of a smile on Matthew’s lips.

We sat in silence until we got back to the house and I almost pushed Hannah up the drive and through the front door. Then once the door shut, I realised I hadn’t given her any parenting guidelines for while I was away, so I shouted some through the letterbox before running back to the car.

“I’m sorry about that.”

His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “It’s okay. I can’t imagine what it will be like when my boys are teenagers.”

“It’s no easy task I can assure you.”

I waited for him to turn and smile at me. When it didn’t happen, I buckled up my seatbelt. “Okay. Scotland. You know I’ve never been before.”

“I know.”

With that he started to drive us towards the station.

“I’m sorry. There’s been some mistake with the booking.” Matthew towered over the ticket desk. Pretty scary if you ask me, but the tiny little man on the other side of the glass didn’t back down.

“I apologise, sir. But the booking was for a twin cabin, not two first class ones.”

Matthew sighed and flicked a dark glance over me. “Okay. Not a problem. Can I upgrade now, please? We have to get this train.” He flashed the man a cajoling smile and nodded his head towards me in a ‘can you see we are not suitable to share a cabin’ kind of way.

“I’m sorry, sir. The train is full. It’s the double or nothing.”