Abigail frowned, thinking of her mum and stepdad, brother and half-sister. Would they really miss her? She’d left home at eighteen, unable to wait to leave the Suffolk Coast and move to London, where she had made a life for herself. Abigail thought of her friends, one of whom had given her this letter.
‘Don’t forget me and Ulysses,’ said Sidney, as if reading her mind.
Abigail managed a smile as she walked along the street, retracing her steps back to the flat. She knew what he was doing; seeing her safely home, checking she was okay.
As they walked, Sidney received a text. He got out an old mobile phone and his half-moon glasses. ‘My daughter,’ he said. He rolled his eyes. ‘She’s always checking in with me.’
Abigail thought of the letter in her handbag. Her friends were the same.
Up ahead, parked on the street outside her building, she could see a small van with green, purple and yellow flowered motifs. She was staring at the van, slowing her pace, thinking that it looked familiar, when Sidney said, ‘Is this where you live?’
Abigail had almost reached the Georgian building behind the main street in Southwark that led to Tower Bridge. She nodded. ‘This is me.’
‘Well, I’ve enjoyed our little chat,’ said Sidney.
‘So, have I.’
They lingered a moment. ‘Would you like to come in for …’ She was going to say coffee, but they’d already had a lovely coffee in the café overlooking the Thames. ‘A cup of tea?’
Sidney smiled, but shook his head. ‘My daughter is popping in to see me, so I’d better get going.’ He whispered, ‘Sometimes I wish she wouldn’t check up on me all the time. I may be old, but I’m not an invalid.’
Abigail empathised. Not about being old, but about being checked up on. She quickly got out her phone. ‘Before you go, Sidney, can we exchange numbers? It would be lovely to meet up again.’
‘Ah, you just want to see Ulysses again.’
‘No, that’s not it …’
Sidney grinned. ‘I’m only joking.’
As they exchanged phone numbers, Abigail typing his number into her phone and sending him a text, Ulysses jumped up at her legs.
‘Ulysses!’ Sidney admonished the dog.
‘It’s okay.’ Abigail smiled as she knelt down and gave Ulysses a fuss. ‘You know, I had a Cavalier King Charles when I was a child,’ she said to Ulysses. ‘My dog looked just like you.’
Abigail heard the clunk of a van door before she heard her named being called. ‘Abigail?’