Page 103 of All Wrapped Up
‘Jason.’
‘Oh, no, Clemmie,’ Ash groaned. ‘He was the last person you needed to see after what you’d just been through. I hope he didn’t upset you.’
‘No, he didn’t,’ I was delighted to be able to say. ‘Far from it, in fact.’
‘What?’ Ash asked, no doubt assuming he’d misheard.
It was then that I took a check on myself. Given that I was full of hope that no one was going to be gossiping about me in the coming days, it would have been highly hypocritical of me to tell Ash all that Jason had shared.
‘What did he say, Clemmie?’ Ash asked.
‘He…’ I falteringly began as I quickly changed tack, ‘he told me in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t the person who took the ballot box.’
‘No way!’ Ash gasped, echoing my response. ‘Do you think he was telling the truth?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘No doubt about it.’
‘Well, I never. So, if it wasn’t him, then who was it?’
‘I’ve no idea and I daresay we’ll never find out now.’
‘But even if it wasn’t him,’ clearly Ash couldn’t quite believe that Jason wasn’t the culprit, ‘I daresay he’s still got some mischief up his sleeve. Did he hint at what he has in store for the rest of the festival?’
‘Funnily enough, nothing bad, because he’s turned over a new leaf.’
It didn’t escape my attention that I’d recently said the same thing about Joanne and it had immediately come back to bite me! I hoped the same thing wasn’t going to happen with Jason.
‘Of course he has,’ Ash guffawed.
‘No, really,’ I told him while hoping I was right. ‘I mean it. He has. He’s full of regret for his former behaviour now and is going to embrace the festival and even take part.’
‘You’re having me on!’ Ash spluttered. ‘You’re joking, surely?’
‘No,’ I said earnestly. ‘I’m being deadly serious. He’s determined to make amends.’
I could hardly express any doubt when Jason had done nothing to warrant it.
‘What else did he say?’ Ash asked, sounding suspicious.
‘Quite a lot about his private life which almost justified hisprevious behaviour,’ I said. ‘But nothing he would want me to share.’
It was more than sad to think that Jason’s life had been shaped by a tragedy that occurred in his twenties. In spite of the many decades that had passed since then, I could tell he still felt the impact of it as keenly as if it had happened as recently as the week before.
I thanked my lucky stars that I had been able to process and assimilate my grief and, while I would always live with it, I felt truly blessed to have come so far. Mine and Jason’s lives had echoed each other’s in their early days, but I had already taken a different path to the solo one he had, until literally just hours ago, continued to walk.
‘It sounds to me like you had a proper heart to heart,’ Ash said, sounding amazed.
‘We did,’ I confirmed. ‘And knowing how difficult my conversation with Lizzie and Jemma had been, I can imagine it was doubly hard for Jason.’
‘I see,’ Ash pondered and I could tell he was puzzled, but he didn’t ask for more details. ‘It’s very kind of you to keep what he said to you to yourself, but then I wouldn’t expect anything less of you, Clem.’
Those words made me glow.
‘That’s kind,’ I smiled.
‘And let’s hope,’ he then said, ‘that when the paper is published on Friday, that everyone else is as respectful of your privacy as you are of Jason’s.’
‘Time will tell.’
