Page 124 of He's the One

“I want him to stay over.”

“Whatever you want. You don’t need to ask.”

“Thanks. See you soon.”

While he was waiting for Theo, he put up a few more battens. Col wondered if James would let him work here instead of in the grounds.

Theo made him stop on the way so he could buy chocolates.

“You don’t need to bother,” Col told him.

“Oh yes, I do. I set a precedent with those flowers. What sort of chocolates does she like?”

“Anything.”

“That’s not helpful.” Theo flounced into the shop.

Col hoped he didn’t buy too much. But as he was thinking about following him inside and making sure he didn’t, Theo came back with a box of Cadbury’s Heroes. He waited until Theo had sat down before he said, “She doesn’t like those.” He made sure he kept his face straight.

“What?” Theo looked horrified. “None of them? There’s a whole selection in there.”

“Don’t worry. It’s the thought that counts.”

Theo grumbled to himself. “I wasthinkingabout showing you something clever I can do with my toes.”

“Were you?”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be thinking about it though. Probably years. Too bad for you. My joints will have seized up by the time I feel you’ve earned the right to see.”

Col chuckled.

He pulled up outside his parents’ house and Theo was still muttering to himself as they walked up to the door.

Col unlocked it, went inside and kicked off his shoes. “Leave your bag in my room. I’m going to have a quick shower.”

Theo headed up the stairs.

“Hi there,” his mum said. “Oh lovely. Heroes.”

Col stood by the door and listened.

“After I’d bought them, Col told me you didn’t like them.”

“He’s teasing. I love them!”

“Do you have any embarrassing pictures of Col as a teenager?”

Col groaned and headed for his bathroom.

When Col went up, they were still looking at pictures, this time of his grandparents on HMT Windrush.

“If our parents hadn’t stayed friends, Col’s dad and I might never have met,” his mum said. “Our mothers were nurses. My father was an engineer. Livingston’s was a fireman.”

“When did the government start making things difficult?” Theo asked.

“2012,” Col’s dad said. “They wanted to push all undocumented migrants out of the country. Landlords, the NHS, banks and employers all had to ask for proof of right to remain. Some people hadn’t kept documents and children who arrived on their parents’ passports had a real problem. The Home Office demanded at least one official document from every year to prove residence predated 1973. For some that was impossible. We have friends whose parents couldn’t comply. Their parents were deported back to a country they’d not seen since they were children.”

“That’s awful,” Theo said.

---