‘Thank you for being so understanding,’ I told him. ‘I know it was a silly thing to do and Beamish did try his very best to get it back. He even tried to convince the postman to take it out of the box and give it back to him.’

‘Who’s Beamish?’

‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘What?’

‘You did say Beamish, didn’t you? Who’s that? It’s an unusual name.’

‘Oh,’ I said, chewing my lip. ‘He’s a friend of Dolly’s. She told him what had happened and as he knew the local postman, he thought he might be able to help.’

I was talking ninety to the dozen.

‘But he couldn’t?’

‘No,’ I sighed, purposefully slowing my chatter down. ‘Unfortunately, not.’

‘Oh well,’ said Jonathan, ‘I daresay it was worth a try. Is this friend of Dolly’s an old acquaintance? I don’t think I’ve heard her mention him before. You wouldn’t forget an unusual name like that, would you?’

‘I think she’s known him a while.’ I told him, then added, ‘he’s the school caretaker.’

It wasn’t the sort of job Jonathan would have thought particularly highly of and I was certain he couldn’t imagine a very young man in the role.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘Well, like I said before, there’s really nothing to be done about it now, so please don’t worry. You’ll be here with me before you know it and you’ll forget all about your life back in the chilly UK when you see these blue skies again.’

‘I’m really looking forward to it,’ I told him.

Some blue sky would be wonderful, but I didn’t think I was going to forget about my life in the UK, especially the Wynbridge part of it.

‘Look,’ he said, ‘I have to go. I need to get back to work, but I’ll be in touch again soon, OK?’

‘OK,’ I said, ‘I am sorry, you know.’

‘I know,’ he said back, ‘but let’s just forget about it now. Give my love to Dolly.’

‘I will, love you.’

‘I love you too, more than anything.’

I put the phone back in the cradle as Dolly came slowly down the stairs.

‘I wasn’t eavesdropping,’ was the first thing she said.

‘I know you weren’t,’ I smiled. ‘I didn’t wake you, did I?’

‘No, no,’ she said, ‘I was already awake. How did he take it?’

I knew then that even though she hadn’t been purposefully listening in, she’d heard my side of the conversation.

‘Very well,’ I said, letting out a sigh of relief. ‘He was very good about it, considering.’

‘Well that’s a relief,’ she nodded. ‘Perhaps he is a changed man after all.’

‘Yes,’ I said, smiling, ‘perhaps he is.’

Chapter 15

Chapter 15