‘I do. Thank you … I can’t tell you what this means to me. I feel … different. I can’t explain it. I felt like the world was passing me by, like I was invisible. Useless even. But I don’t feel like that now, I know I still have a place.’

‘Just a good deed. Nothing else.’ The man turned to step out of the sun and Richard watched him until he was out of sight. He never once looked back. Richard shook out the coffee that he had poured earlier. He would take a fresh one from the flask. But first he took out his phone to type out a message to Glenn. It was just like he had told him. He didn’t need to be here, he should go home and they could meet later. He even promised to buy the coffee again. He finished the message by saying that they could both get on with their lives now and that he was sorry with how he had been acting recently. It would all be different now.

When Richard pushed the phone back into his pocket he was able to sit back and enjoy the sensation of warmth on his face again. He closed his eyes to it once more, listening for the gentle hiss of leaves catching in a breeze.

‘Ah, Angela … I feel alive again! We’re going to be OK now, me and you. I promise!’

Chapter 36

Richard had stayed with his wife for the whole flask of coffee and then stayed some more. Long enough for the pleasant sun to shorten the shadows – and still he felt reluctant to leave.

It was the thought of the meetup with Glenn that finally dragged him away. Richard was not surprised that there had been no reply to his message, Glenn was awful at checking his phone, but Richard still wanted to show his gratitude, to acknowledge that even after all this time, Glenn was still the only one watching his back. He had made a brief stop for a packet of Glenn’s favourite biscuits – that should do it.

The moment he stepped out of his car, biscuits in hand, and took in his friend’s home he knew something was different. It took another moment or so to pass for him to realise that it was the front door. It was slightly ajar, while the low gate at the start of his garden path was pulled shut. He checked his phone again – still no reply.

The gate pushed back against Richard’s thigh on strong springs. A miniature windmill spun in the breeze, its bright colours blurring into each other as he walked past on a path that split a well-tended lawn. Glenn’s house was the last one in a row and the front door stuck out of the side in the form of a small porch.