Page 101 of All Wrapped Up
‘Oh, yes,’ Jason tutted and his shoulders slumped. ‘I didn’t think of that. I’m sorry.’
‘Two apologies in one sitting,’ I pointed out. ‘Is that a record?’
He looked at me and smiled and I received yet another surprise. He looked like an entirely different person when he wasn’t frowning and scowling and the change in his expression made me momentarily forget the monumental evening I was having.
‘I’m actually going to make it three,’ he then confessed and his smile disappeared again.
‘Why?’ I groaned, as it all came rushing back to me. ‘What else have you got to apologise for?’
‘I didn’t come after you just because of the festival,’ he said in a rush.
‘You didn’t?’
‘It was the cottage as well.’
‘Rowan Cottage?’ I frowned. ‘My cottage?’
‘Yes,’ he said, putting his pint down.
‘Go on,’ I insisted. ‘Tell me.’
‘You see, I had always hoped it would bemycottage,’ he explained. ‘But when it eventually came up for sale, I couldn’t afford it.’
‘But why did you want to buy it?’ I asked. ‘No disrespect, but I can’t see you as the roses around the door type.’
When he looked at me that time, there were tears in his eyes and I regretted what I had said because it was suddenly obvious that the impression Jason presented to the world might not be the genuine one.
‘You might not believe this,’ he said, his Adam’s apple bobbing, ‘but even I was young and in love once. The girl I was smitten with, Cassy Wicks, loved that cottage. We used to go on bike rides into the Fen just to cycle past it and we’d imagine what we’d do with it if it was ours. I promised her that one day it would be.’
‘Oh, Jason,’ I whispered, knowing there was going to be a tragedy at the heart of this tale. ‘What happened? What happened to Cassy?’
‘Cancer took her,’ he said, sniffing fiercely. ‘The summer we were due to be wed. She was only twenty-one. We both were.’
‘Oh god.’ I swallowed. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘So, I know, you see. I know how it feels and I’m sorry I’ve made such a nuisance of myself while you’ve been going through it.’
I could tell he was in earnest. The urgency in his tone and the retelling of his own heartbreak both supported and strengthened his sincere sounding apology.
‘Even though it’s decades on, I felt jealous that you’d got what I promised Cass we’d one day have,’ he rushed on. ‘When you got the cottage, well, I felt like I’d failed her.’
‘I can understand that,’ I told him, after a beat had passed. ‘I can understand why you felt that way.’
For a while, I had felt like I’d let Callum down by selling our home, so I knew how much emotional baggage came wrapped up in bricks and mortar.
‘Well,’ said Jason, roughly rubbing a hand over his eyes. ‘That’s something, I suppose.’
‘But have you been all this time on your own, Jason?’ I then gasped, as the empty decades presented themselves. ‘Have you truly been on your own for all these years?’
I would have guessed he was nearer to seventy than sixty.
‘I have,’ he said, sadly. ‘And I’ll continue to be, too, because who would want a bitter old crock like me? I’ve spent so long trying to stop things around here from changing so the town will still feel like it did when my girl was alive, that everyone hates me now. I’m going to be alone forever…’
So, he objected to what he considered to be the gentrification of Wynbridge because the changes were impacting on the memories he had from when Cassy was alive, not because he thought they didn’t genuinely benefit the town.
‘That’s so sad,’ I whispered and he gave me a look. ‘What?’ I frowned.
‘Well, it could be you saying that one day, couldn’t it?’ he said, suddenly brusque. ‘The bit about being alone forever, I mean.’
