A Close Connection Read Free Page B

hotel with his father just about managing to avoid a negative comment about the driving because, up on the moor, you had to watch out for wandering sheep and ponies and cattle. They could appear out of nowhere with a surprising turn of speed at that and the thought of accidentally hitting one of them was something she dare not contemplate.
    At the hotel, Matthew slotted the car into a space and they stepped out into the warm sunshine. She had not been here before and it looked lovely, although she wondered if her hastily put-on smart dress was smart enough. But Matthew had whisked them here and she hadn’t had time to think too much about what to wear. They did bar meals but Matthew had booked them into the dining room and she followed him to their table by the window, inadvertently depriving the hovering waiter of pulling out her chair by doing it herself. She did not care for all this palaver as with elaborate movements the waiter took the napkin off the table and placed it reverently on her lap. Opposite her, Alan raised his eyebrows, whichnearly set her off. She had a tendency to giggle at inappropriate moments and this was one of them. She knew she had better not catch his eye again whilst the waiter was in spectacular fussy attendance.
    ‘This is very nice,’ she said as they waited for their meal to arrive. This hotel didn’t do a carvery, which she preferred, and it was all a bit too starchy for her with an icy atmosphere you could cut with one of the heavy silver knives, and whispered conversations all around, but she determined to make the best of it with Matthew insisting that they had the lot: starter, main and dessert. It was his treat and he wouldn’t even let his father pay for the drinks.
    The starters, bits and bobs of this and that, were served on tiny pieces of slate and she saw the look Alan gave them, heard the whisper to Matthew that if he wanted his dinner served on a slate he would have got the ladder up and pinched one from the roof.
    ‘Go with it, Dad,’ Matthew said. ‘It’s the new presentation and it’s all the rage these days. Wait until you get to Italy. It’ll be Italian food there.’
    ‘Don’t be cheeky.’ Much more at ease than she was in any situation, Alan pretended to cuff his son, the family resemblance clearly visible. They were a good-looking lot, the Walkers, and for a moment she looked on proudly. ‘I can’t wait to see Venice and Verona. I’ve read up on Venice and I’m awash with information,’ he added with a big grin.
    Matthew laughed. ‘Trust you. You’ll know exactly what you want to see, then?’
    ‘You bet. I have it all worked out. I can’t wait but your mum’s getting in a bit of a state though. Aren’t you, Paula?’
    ‘Why?’ Matthew looked at her. He was wearing jeans of all things, jeans at this hotel, but with a linen jacket and open-necked shirt. It was a young man’s look and at least the jeans were in one piece and not fashionably ripped at the knees.Next to him, in his grey suit with a neatly knotted tie, Alan looked quite middle-aged. ‘What’s there to get in a state about, Mum?’
    She mentioned the sad condition of their luggage then. She had bought some new clothes for the trip, absolute necessities, but she had spent quite a bit, and she couldn’t in all honesty run to a new set of suitcases as well. They had had them forever and although they were rarely used they were cheap to start off with and had not stood up well to the test of time. They looked shabby and she would be ashamed dragging them off the carousel at the airport.
    ‘Not a problem. You should see the sort of bags well-travelled people have,’ Matthew said. ‘Battered and falling to bits, the more bashed up the better.’
    Paula looked at him, puzzled, but then Matthew often puzzled her these days. ‘We’re not well travelled,’ she said stiffly.
    ‘Mum, you are worrying about nothing. They’re absolutely fine. You can borrow some from us if you like. I’ll