Page 46 of A Chance in a Million
‘It’s complicated. I’ll tell you some other time.’
She tried a few more times to make him see sense, but he remained adamant that he had left the army before the army kicked him out. In the end, all she could do was to sit quietly alongside him, still gripping his arm, contemplating the horror of the events that had taken place in an anonymous Afghan valley three years earlier. War, as she knew full well, was indeed a terrible thing.
Chapter 25
She didn’t see David again for several days but she knew she wanted to, and she wondered whether he might be deliberately avoiding her after his confession. There was no sign of him until one morning she spotted him out for a run. Quickly changing into her running gear, she headed out to join him as he came past her door a second time. Falling into step alongside him, she dissuaded the dog from bouncing up at her in effusive greeting and looked across at his master. ‘Hi, David.’
‘Hi, Jane. How’s the sore knee?’
‘A lot better. The main thing is I can move it perfectly well.’
‘I’m glad. I told the countryside wardens about the cave Dino found and they’re going to put a grill across the entrance to stop any more animals or humans from falling in.’
‘Good idea.’
He was running strongly, but she was feeling a lot fitter these days and found it easy to keep up with him. They ran in silence for at least half a lap of the perimeter before he slowed slightly and turned towards her. It was clear he had something on his mind.
‘That stuff I told you the other day, I’d rather you kept it just between the two of us if you don’t mind.’
‘You haven’t told your mum or your sisters?’
‘I’ve told them there was a firefight and a number of men died, but I’ve never told a soul about disobeying orders before.’ He looked across at her. ‘You could shop me to the military authorities if you felt like it.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that you did what any sane person would have done.’ She slowed to walking pace and put a hand on his arm. ‘It’s what I would have done.’
‘Thanks for that, but will you promise me to keep it to yourself?’
‘I won’t breathe a word to anybody, but for what it’s worth, I still think you did the right thing.’ Another thought occurred to her. ‘Tell me something: after you left the army, where did you go? Your mum said you came back to Italy when your dad died two years ago. Where did you spend the previous year? Somewhere exotic?’
‘Not exactly exotic. I spent a bit of time in and out of hospital at first.’
‘In hospital? I thought you said you just picked up a few scratches and a light wound.’
‘A bit more than that, but it’s all healed up. I’m going to need another operation some time soon, but I don’t know when yet. In fact, I’ve got an appointment with a specialist tomorrow.’ He caught her eye. ‘But I got away with my life and that’s more than can be said for many of the other guys. Anyway, after I came out of hospital, I didn’t feel like seeing anybody so I rented a little house in northern France and spent day after day trudging over the battlefields of the First World War, come rain or shine. The result was my first book. It’s about the three hundred and six British and Commonwealth soldiers executed by firing squad for desertion or cowardice during that war. Ninety percent of them were poor devils suffering from shellshock, what we now call PTSD. The authorities back then refused to accept that it was a thing.’
He caught her eye for a moment.
‘Of course you know all about PTSD. Anyway, I never even tried to get the book published. It’s a grim read, I freely admit that. I was in a bad place when I wrote it and, looking back, it was probably more a way of letting off steam than anything else. It was good practice for the book I subsequently wrote and published, the one I gave you.’
By mutual consent they speeded up again and completed another two circuits of the estate before Jane felt she had done enough. When they got back, she was about to invite him in for a coffee when he surprised her by asking first. ‘Why don’t you go and change and give me time to do the same, and then you come across to my place? I make pretty good coffee, I promise.’
She smiled back at him. ‘It’s a date.’
Twenty minutes later, freshly showered and changed, she went over to his house, tapped on the door and heard his voice from inside.
‘It’s open, come on in.’
She walked in to a boisterous greeting from the Labrador and a friendly welcome from his master. Whether it was the result of opening up to her about what had happened or something else, there was no doubt that he was looking and sounding noticeably more cheerful compared to when she had first seen him just over a month ago. Now, if only she could persuade him to go to a barber…
This was the first time she had been inside his house and she immediately fell in love with it. It was far older than the villa and far less ostentatious. The floors were ancient terracotta, worn down by the passage of countless feet, while the ceiling was supported by rough-hewn tree trunks. The modern kitchen units somehow complemented the historic feel of the place and she imagined it in midwinter with an open fire blazing in the hearth and the dog snoozing on the floor in front of it. Unlike the villa, this place felt like a home.
‘What can I get you? This machine does a great cappuccino, or there’s tea of course.’
‘To be honest, I think I’d prefer tea, if that’s all right.’
She stood and watched as he made the tea. He had changed into shorts and a fresh T-shirt and he looked good. She subjected him to a close, if surreptitious, inspection and could see no trace of a wound but she knew she couldn’t ask for details. Maybe it was something of a more intimate nature. Her deliberations were interrupted by the arrival of a mug of tea.
‘Here you go. I must confess that I hardly drank tea before enlisting, but after years in the British Army I’m totally addicted now. Shall we sit outside?’
