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‘What did you do?’ I ask.
Olly starts to laugh. ‘We started to back away from the graveside. Both of us in long strides, trying to slip away unnoticed. But then Pops tripped over a kerb and fell on his backside, legs up in the air. I started to laugh, couldn’t stop myself and everyone turned and looked at us. The priest said loudly, “Are you quite alright?” Pops looked at me and repeated it, and sure we were goners then. We both doubled over in laughter. I could hardly pull him to his feet. The mourners were all – quite rightly – annoyed with us.’
We all join in Olly’s laughter, picturing the scene that he has painted for us.
‘How could I have forgotten that? You know, for years afterwards one of us would only have to say, “Are you quite alright?” and then we’d be on the floor, laughing again,’ Olly says, shaking his head.
‘I think Pops wanted us to laugh today,’ Evie says. I look at her and marvel at her perception. Of course Pops mentioned that story in his letter for that very reason.
‘He wanted us to laugh,’ I repeat and lean in to pick up his letter. I scan through it again, soaking up his words, trying to picture him writing this.
‘He need never have thanked me,’ I say to Olly. ‘Where else would he be, but here with his family?’
Olly smiles at me and nods. He is silent again and gestures for me to give him the letter. We all watch him as he reads it to himself.
‘He bought us a camper van,’ Olly states and we all look to our sitting-room window and take in the vehicle parked outside.
‘So cool,’ Jamie says. I’m not sure what Evie is thinking. She’s holding her cards close to her chest.
‘What do you make of it all?’ I ask my husband.
He shrugs. ‘I’m not sure how I feel myself. I’m still a bit shocked that he had been so sneaky and planned all this without me knowing. What do you think?’
I stand up and walk to the window and thumb towards Nomad. ‘Truthfully? I just don’t get what Pops was thinking. Eight weeks stuck in that small space. We’d kill each other.’
And when disappointment fills Olly’s face. I know I’m trouble. He wants to go.
Shite.
Chapter Six (#ulink_f3d241f9-7564-5a29-ba98-f82cc15cad2f)
MAE
Olly ignores my statement. I’ve no idea what he is thinking because he’s gone quiet again. On a normal day he never shuts up, but then again, there’s nothing normal about a day when you bury your father.
Jamie is bouncing around the room, jumping and down with excitement. He has already been begging us to let him ring his friends to boast about the forthcoming adventure. Evie isn’t saying a lot, but then again it’s hard to tell when she’s enthusiastic or not these days. We can’t get her to talk – not just about the drinking, which she swears was a one-off – but about anything. I know that there is more to this than she’s letting on.
It’s not just ‘hormones’ making her moody. She’s changed. And there’s something in her eyes, fear maybe? I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it. We had to put a pause on our questioning, because Pops got so ill. At least she’s already on school holidays, so at home, where we can watch her. When I rang her teacher and her principal they swore that there’s nothing going on that I should be aware of. But it doesn’t add up. I just don’t buy the story that Evie wanted to experiment. It’s too out of character. I’m missing something. At least now the funeral is done, I can focus on Evie and get to the bottom of it all. And that bloody van out there is not going to get in the way of that.
Damn it, Pops, why did you have to go and leave us, right when we needed you most? If anyone could have gotten Evie to talk, it would have been you.
I cannot for the life of me work out what he was thinking. I mean, fair enough, send us on a holiday. I could handle two weeks in Portugal; we all could. That would have been bliss. But to think that we would even consider heading off on some madcap adventure in a camper van for eight weeks is preposterous.
Of course I like the idea of teaching the children about the big world out there. It’s a noble aspiration, but surely we can do that without having to sleep in a metal box on wheels!
‘We better go outside to Aled and take a look at the van,’ Olly says, walking towards the door. Jamie is out the door before I’ve even had a chance to stand up.
‘Come in, come in,’ Aled declares when we knock on the door. I prepare myself for the worst, but as I enter the van I’m surprised. It’s larger inside than I anticipated and quite modern. Even so, we keep bumping shoulders with each other, almost tripping ourselves up as we try to fit into it. I give Olly a knowing look that’s meant to convey, Yeah, right, we’d live in this for eight weeks? Not a hope! Him giving me the thumbs-up sign doesn’t reassure me that he got my look.
We all follow Aled in single file to the left. It’s the main living area, I suppose. A sea of walnut-wood cabinets with cream-leather upholstery greets us. A bit sterile looking, really. Not a single feminine touch, but no surprise there, either, looking at him. It’s spotless and smells clean, I’ll give Aled that much.
‘It smells nice,’ Olly pipes in, as if taking the thought from my head.
‘This here is the kitchen galley. You have all the mod cons, Mae,’ Aled says, pointing out the cabinets. This irritates me no end. I mean why automatically assume that the kitchen is my domain? He’s wrong, as it happens, it’s all Olly in the kitchen these days. Fair enough, I’ve never been Rachel Allen but I always enjoyed cooking. But since Olly lost his job, he’s taken over all domestic duties and won’t hear of me doing a thing. When I think about all those times I used to complain about how little he did to help around home, I want to kick myself. Those were the good old days.
‘There’s not an inch of space not utilised for storage,’ Aled continues and I murmur something that I hope sounds encouraging. My back is playing up and I wonder: would it be bad if I left them to do the tour without me?
Aled then directs his attention to the living area in front of him. A table sits between an L-shaped sofa bench in cream leather with a second sofa along the other wall. There are several more cupboards in walnut suspended above this.
‘Sit, sit,’ Aled tells us all. ‘It’s proper comfortable.’ He beams as he tells us this, like he’s showing off a prized poodle or something.
And like obedient children, we all sit as directed and Olly compliments Aled on his soft seating. I try hard not to giggle at how wrong that sounds. When Olly glares at me I only want to laugh harder.
He then points up to the right-hand-side corner, ‘You’ll be happy to see that I’ve satellite TV too. Now then, Jamie and Evie, you’ll enjoy that, won’t you? It has all the channels. Now here’s my top tip for you. Get yourself one of those Apple TV thingamajigs. That way you can watch Netflix anywhere you go. Right now I’m on series three of Orange Is the New Black. Oh, it’s addictive that one!’
Evie does perk up a bit at this news and Jamie starts searching for the remote control so he can switch on the TV to try it out.
‘I have to tell you, Aled, this has a lot more mod cons than the caravans I used to holiday in as a lad with Pops,’ Olly says. ‘Don’t you think, Mae?’
I shrug, but I have to concede this much. ‘It does appear to be well equipped.’
‘Oh, we’ve come a long way, for sure,’ Aled nods in agreement. ‘I have friends who live all year round in their camper vans. Proper little homes on wheels they have set up. Truth be told, I’m happiest myself when I’m in Nomad here.’
‘Why did you sell it then?’ I ask, and I try to hide the smirk that appears on my face. ‘If you love Nomad so much, why not keep it?’ I think that’s a fair question. Go on, get out of that one, Aled.
He leans in close to us, all conspiratorial and says, ‘I’m getting married! Me. Fifty-four years old, a confirmed bachelor, I thought, forever. Sure, who’d have me?’
His face crinkles up in joy. ‘I’ve met a woman. Proper lady she is, called Edith. And wait till you hear how we met! Only on the “I love the open road” online forum. Oh that’s a cracking website. You’ll all be needing to join that I’m sure. Lots of like-minded folk, all happy to share tips, a life-saver, I can tell you, on more than one occasion when I’ve been on my travels. Well, anyhow, you see I was having some problems with my water pump here on Nomad. It was scalding the water. I couldn’t shower without putting my life in my hands. And would you believe that Edith was having the same problem? So we got chatting online about what could be wrong and between us we sorted it out. Wasn’t it a problem with the pump for both of us in the end? Would you credit that?’
Olly and I both nod along in unison like a pair of nodding dogs. Despite myself, though, I find myself enraptured with Aled’s tale of love amongst the camper vans.
‘So we’ve spent the past few months chatting and then we decided to meet up. Truth be told, I was a nervous wreck. I never thought I’d ever meet a woman who would show any interest in me. I know I’m a little odd. I don’t mind telling you I was shaking when I parked up Nomad next door to Almost Home.’
‘Almost home?’ I ask.
‘Edith’s camper van. Oh, it’s a beauty. Same model as this, but a newer version and it’s got the woman’s touch. Cracking job it is.’
Aled looks wistful, as if he is thinking about his fiancée. And, despite myself, I’m touched. He may well be a stranger, a man who I only met an hour ago, but even so, I’m happy for him. There’s someone for everyone out there, it seems.
‘We proper hit it off, the second we met. Before I knew it, I was proposing and she only said yes. So we’re getting married next week. And then we are off on our honeymoon in Almost Home.’
I can feel my mouth drop open as I listen to Aled’s romantic tale and tears spring to my eyes before I can stop them. My teeth feel watery – you know the way they go when you are about to cry. It’s as if the water springs up in every orifice in our bodies, isn’t it? Why I feel so upset at such an upbeat tale of love I don’t know, but it has thrown me off balance. I glance at Olly and time falls away like the autumn leaves on a tree.
‘I’ve never been so cold in my life!’ I shiver as we walk into the warm pub. A long walk on the beach seemed like a good idea until the wind whipped up so strong that it nearly pushed me into the ocean.
‘Go over to the fire, darling, and I’ll get the drinks.’
As I stand in front of the crackling fire, I watch my boyfriend and feel like the luckiest girl in the world. He comes back with Irish coffees and we sit in front of the fire on two bar stools, hip to hip, our hands clasped around the glasses.
‘You’ve got cream on your nose!’ Olly laughs and I dip my finger into his cream and put a dollop on his nose too.
We’re being silly and the look from the barman, who clearly thinks we’ve lost our minds, only makes us laugh more. We’re giddy from love. The world is a small place and only includes us two. I love this man so much that I can’t bear to be apart from him.
‘Marry me,’ Olly says, cream still on the tip of his nose.
‘What?’ I shriek.
‘I said, marry me. I love you Mae, I can’t live one more moment not knowing that we’re going to be together forever. Marry me? Please?’
‘Congratulations!’ Olly enthuses and starts to pump Aled’s hand up and down, bringing me back to the present. I blink away tears quickly before anyone notices. When did Olly stop calling me ‘darling’? I can’t remember the moment and that feels wrong. I just know he doesn’t any more. And the grief at the loss of a simple endearment that used to make my insides sing makes me want to weep. Instead, I turn to Aled, ‘I’m happy for you. And Edith too. Congratulations.’
‘She’s waiting for me in the hotel. We’re going back on the ferry tomorrow morning. Tonight, I think we’ll just have a nice meal and a walk along the quay. It’s a cracking town, Wexford is. I’ve had many a happy time visiting over the years.’
He then walks over to the driver and passenger seats and tells us that we won’t want to miss this. He swivels the seats around, so that they are now part of the living area.
‘Ta da!’ he exclaims, clearly thrilled with this specification.
‘Very handy,’ Olly tells him and sits in the driver’s seat to try it out for size. ‘Comfortable too.’
Oh dear. Olly is angling the mirror to suit him and has begun flicking switches on the dashboard. Jamie jumps into the passenger seat and starts swivelling it around, over and over, squeals of delight with each turn.
‘Safety belts here and here,’ Aled tells me, pointing to the seating in the lounge. ‘Don’t worry about the children travelling at the back. It’s all taken care of. Safe as houses back here they will be.’
I am beginning to feel quite overwhelmed by it all again. Now that Aled is back doing his sales pitch, he begins to sound like one of those pushy time-share reps. Olly and I had the misfortune to spend time with one on a holiday years ago.
‘I want to go up there!’ Jamie shouts, pointing to the canopy bed over the driver’s cab.
Aled chuckles and pulls down a ladder from it. ‘This is one of the double beds on board. I sometimes like to sleep here just for the hell of it. To mix things up, if you like. Although I usually sleep in the master bedroom at the back of the cabin.’
Jamie clamours up and lies down, exclaiming, ‘Wow! This is so cool. Come up here, Evie!’
Evie looks at Jamie in horror. ‘Over my dead body.’ She then turns her back on him, making sure he is under no illusion that the subject is closed.
I hide my smile, but am jubilant that I have at least one ally in my anti-Nomad camp.
‘There’s also two single beds here,’ Aled tells Evie, pointing to the sofas. ‘You can have one of those if you don’t fancy sharing with your brother. It sleeps six people, you know. Follow me and I’ll show you the master bedroom and the bathroom.’
‘Sleep in the kitchen?’ Evie says, horror all over her face.
‘Don’t worry, you won’t have to,’ I whisper to her. She doesn’t answer me, but I think I see a flicker of gratitude in her face.
Olly and I walk after him and I notice with a frown that my husband seems more animated than I’ve seen him in years. He cannot possibly be considering keeping this?
Aled opens a door and we peer inside a small bathroom with a toilet, sink and a minuscule shower. It’s spotless and smells of lemons.
‘The water and heating system is fantastic. You’ll not be worrying about cold showers in Nomad. But here’s a top tip for you all. It’s easier to shower in the facilities that most campsites offer.’ He winks at Olly and me.
‘Oh and don’t worry about being cold. I’ve camped out in the iciest of weathers and been warm and toasty inside Nomad.’ He tells us this with utmost sincerity.
‘Right! This here is the master bedroom.’ Aled opens a small door that appears to be floating in the wall. He then pulls down a hatch below it to reveal a little step-ladder. He ushers us to climb up into the master bedroom, which in fact is a closet with a double bed in it. Over the bed are – yes, you guessed right – cupboards right up to the ceiling.
‘Lots of storage here too,’ Aled tells me and I stifle a groan.
‘I don’t see any wardrobes?’ I say. I mean where are you supposed to hang your dresses?
Aled lets out a belly laugh and wipes at his eyes theatrically. ‘Wardrobes! You are funny!’
Olly starts to laugh too, followed by Jamie, who both seem to think that the Welshman is a stand-up comic. I cannot for the life of me see what is so funny about there being no wardrobes in a camper van. I mean it appears to have cupboards in every possible spare inch, why not a bloody wardrobe?
I feel like the outsider in our family once again, out of sync with the rest of them. I never seem to quite get the same jokes as them these days. I should be used to that feeling by now, but I’m not. Only a few hours ago, when we were driving home, it felt like the old days – us four against the world. But with every peal of laughter that they are all now emitting, I feel more alone.
Damn you, Pops, what the hell were you thinking? Have you any idea of the trouble you are going to cause with this stupid trip you’ve planned?
‘Now the beauty of this model is the large garage you have on board. Come with me and prepare to be amazed.’ Aled walks quickly out of the cabin outside and we all follow. He’s practically skipping with excitement as he disembarks from the van.
Jamie rushes to get out the door first, so that he doesn’t miss any of the excitement.
‘Cracking,’ I say and Evie sniggers. Olly throws a look of irritation my way and shushes me.
Aled opens a door at the back of the van and I realise that what I would refer to as a large boot, he is in fact calling a garage.
‘Proper tidy,’ he boasts. ‘Not all campers have one this size, you know.’
I’m a bit embarrassed when he catches me throwing my eyes up to the heavens.
‘I like to say that there’s room for a lot of junk in your trunk on my Nomad!’ he tells us. He starts to laugh at his own joke again and everyone laughs heartily with him. My smile feels false, who am I trying to kid?
But then Evie walks over to me and whispers, ‘It’s lush,’ with a mischievous glint in her eye. I could hug her. I wonder, will Olly shush her too? But he just smiles at her. Right, it’s just me who is not allowed to make any jokes.
I shiver, despite the warm evening. I have this weird sensation, as if I’m looking at my life from a distance. I see Olly and Jamie, with big grins on their excited faces, as they listen to Aled wax lyrical about Nomad. I see Evie, watching me, worried, because she can see that I’m not enjoying myself. And then, there’s me, standing to the left of everyone else. I’m a sorrowful sight with a frown that makes me look twenty years older. And once again I don’t recognise myself. Do I even fit in this family any more? I’ll never leave my children, I couldn’t live without them, but maybe, to be the kind of mother they deserve, I need to leave Olly. Maybe, we’ve come to the end of our road and we should just accept that. Split custody of the kids. Others make that work, we’re reasonable adults, we can too.
I touch my phone in my jacket pocket, knowing that there are several unanswered text messages from Philip. I haven’t been in touch with him since Evie’s hospitalisation. I swore back then that I’d never talk to him again, that I’d draw a line under the flirtation. Because that’s all it was in fairness. A flirtation that nearly tipped over into dangerous territory.
But why, then, haven’t I deleted him from my phone? Now there’s million euro question.
‘Isn’t this so cool?’ Olly says. No, it’s not one little bit cool, Olly, and if you bothered to look at me, to give me more than a cursory glance, you’d know that. But you don’t care how I feel. You are going to do exactly what you want.
‘And you will be delighted to hear that you have a bike rack, too, so no need to use up the garage for that,’ Aled says.
‘That’s handy,’ Olly nods with approval at the news.
‘We’re not a biking kind of family,’ I say at the exact same time.
‘Not yet anyhow,’ Olly jokes at me and the realisation that we are in trouble here solidifies. There’s no doubt about it, he’s totally carried away with the whole farce of us heading off in this van.
‘You know, I’ve toured with a two-man canoe, a marquee and a folding table and chairs all in this garage here. You’ll not get a better van for storage than my Nomad,’ Aled tells us.
‘Our Nomad, don’t you mean?’ Jamie says and everyone laughs again. We are quite the jolly group.
