Page 111 of The Gathering Storm

She looked surprised. ‘Woody’s not old. He’s really cool.’

‘If Dick Randolph is bothering you—’

‘Oh, no. He stopped being flirty after the first day. But now he tries to be helpful and “teach me the craft” – as if I needed teaching! At least, not by him. I’ll take direction from Mr Reznik, but not from him.’

‘Hmm. Well, if you have any trouble from him, let me know.’

‘You don’t need to worry about me, Uncle Lennie. I can handle it. And he’s all right, really, just a bit …’ she thought for a moment ‘… pathetic.’

How are the mighty fallen, Lennie thought. It didn’t bode well for the love scenes if the heroine thought the hero pathetic, but it was far better than having her develop a crush for Randolph. And Reznik was a good director – he’d find his way round any problems.

So he went to New York.

And now, arriving back with a present for her – a whole Lindy’s cheesecake in a box – he found her sparkling. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve fallen in love,’ he said.

‘No-o!’ she said, as though it were a totally ridiculous suggestion. ‘I’m going to England!’

‘You are?’

‘We all are. Mr Feinstein wants to do location filming in the real Nottingham Forest. Woody says it’s because George Cukor sent researchers to the actual Verona for his Romeo and Juliet movie, to make sure it was authentic, and Mr Feinstein wants to go one better. Woody says it’s an Authenticity Auction. He’s so funny.’

‘I’m very pleased for you. It will be a great experience for you to see England – and Nottingham isn’t all that far from Yorkshire where your mother came from.’

Her eyes opened wide – she could make them so big, she looked like a cartoon puppy, and it always made him laugh – and she said, ‘Oh, but you’ll come too, won’t you? Please, Uncle Lennie – oh, you must! It wouldn’t be any fun without you.’

‘Your fun isn’t dependent on me.’

‘It is – a bit,’ she qualified. ‘And, anyway, you’d love to come, you know you would. You had to cancel before because of my trouble, and I feel so bad about that, so now you have to go to show you forgive me. So I don’t have to feel guilty any more.’

Lennie shook his head. ‘It’s always best to put forward one reason and stick to it, rather than throw a dozen out there and not believe in any of them.’

‘I believe in all of them,’ she protested. ‘But if you want just one reason, okay: I want you to come. And you’ll enjoy it.’

‘That’s two.’

‘No, because you enjoying it is why I want you to come. You’ve been so good to me, looking after me all these years. It’s time you had a bit of pleasure.’

‘Looking after you is a pleasure. But now I’ve had a chance to get over the shock, I think I would like to see England again.’

She whooped. ‘Oh, I’m so happy! I’ve got to ring Woody and tell him.’

She clashed in the doorway with Wilma, who had emerged to see what the whooping was about. Rose squeezed past her. ‘I’m so excited!’ she cried, and disappeared.

Wilma gave Lennie a very old-fashioned look. ‘It ain’t good for that girl to get her own way all the time.’

Lennie cocked his head. ‘You know what she’s excited about?’

‘It ain’t difficult knowing what’s on her mind. She don’t exactly hide it. And she’s got to go where she’s told. I don’t know any reason you got to go. She don’t need looking after any more.’

‘I’m not going to England to look after her. I’m going because I want to.’ He studied Wilma’s expression. Her lower lip was sliding out further every instant. ‘It’s not the season for fog over there. And no ship has gone down since the Titanic. So I’m not going to get pneumonia or drown.’

‘There’s more ways of not coming back than fog and icebergs,’ she said mysteriously.

‘Would you like to come with me?’ he said. ‘You’ve never been out of the country, have you?’

‘No, sir, I have not, and I ain’t going to start now. You go to England if you have to, Mr Lennie, but I’m stayin’ right here. I’ll look after things so’s it’s all here for you to come back to. So’s you got the choice.’ And she turned and went back to the kitchen. Lennie thought he’d miss the slip-slop sound of her movements if she ever left him.

And then he thought, England! So green and beautiful, it made your heart ache just to look at it.