Page 27 of Love Me Till Wednesday

‘And what does Mrs Pete think of that?’

‘Nothing, I imagine. She left him for a sheep farmer. How did you know he was married?’

‘There was an article about him in the Birmingham Mail a few years ago. My mum saved it for me.’

‘You never said.’

‘It wasn’t that interesting to be honest. I forgot all about it. Not that it matters now he’s single again.’ Mel looked excited at the prospect.

‘Don’t start matchmaking. We’re just friends.’

‘Friends who used to be at it like rabbits.’

‘Until he left me for a man. Don’t forget that part.’

‘But Becky was a woman, wasn’t she?’

‘I assume he’s bisexual.’

‘So there’s hope.’

‘No, there isn’t.’ Lisa put the emphasis on the “no”. ‘We’re back on friendly terms, but that’s it.’

‘Apart from closeting yourself away with an ex writing love songs. You know how those sessions used to end. It’s a long way to go to write music. Why can’t you do it online?’

‘It’s not the same. ‘

‘£5 says you’ll be back together by September.’

‘You’re on because I can guarantee you that we won’t be.’

17

Friday evening soon came around. Lisa rushed across London to catch the 17:40 from Euston. The train was packed. She should have booked a seat. She eventually got to sit down after Crewe.

Lisa was travelling light this weekend. She’d just bought a change of clothes, a few toiletries, and her new notebook. She’d found her old notebook full of unused lyrics, but now she was 30 years older and wiser they felt wrong, so she'd started putting some new ones together.

She grabbed her rucksack from the overhead luggage rack as the train finally pulled into Penrith a mere two hours later than scheduled. Not a good start to her weekend away. Pete was standing in the station foyer.

She ran over to him and gave him a hug. ‘I’m so sorry. I was going to text you, but my phone signal disappeared half an hour ago. Have you been waiting long?’

‘It’s ok. I kept an eye on the train app. I could see how late you were going to be,’ he said as he took her bag from her. ‘You’ve had a shitty journey. Have you eaten?’

‘Only the uninspiring ham sandwich I grabbed in Euston before I set off.’

‘The bad news is the pub stopped serving food half an hour ago, so you’re going to have to make do with mycooking,’ Pete said as they walked out into the car park and headed towards a battered old Ford Fiesta. ‘The good news is my chilli is still legendary, as you’ll find out shortly. I made some earlier in case your train was delayed.’

‘Have you got a crystal ball?’

He raised a cheeky eyebrow at her as he put her rucksack in the boot.

‘Don’t do the “yes, that’s why I walk funny” joke.’ She laughed.

‘As if I would,’ he grinned. ‘Let’s just say I’ve done that journey a few times over the years and I can count on the fingers of one hand when it actually arrived on time. It could’ve been worse. I even filled up the car this afternoon in case I needed to rescue you from Lancaster.’

They both got into the car. Pete plugged his phone into the USB lead. ‘We’ve got a half-hour drive to my house. Fancy some music?’

‘Go on then.’

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