Fit For Purpose by Julian Parrott (novels for students .TXT) 📕

She nodded.

“Okay, let’s go and meet Jack and the Periwinkle.”

Nia was genuinely excited.

Nia liked Jack immediately and the feeling was mutual. Jack continued to lick Nia’s hand as the actress positioned herself in the Land Rover’s front seat. Nia also liked the Land Rover.

“Nice wheels Tom. Yours?”

“Just got it,” Tom announced almost proudly. “I can keep it at the marina’s car park even when I’m off cruising. It’ll be a bit of a pain having to, sometimes, shuttle between boat and car but the benefits will outstrip any of those issues.”

Nia was aware that Tom’s purchase had more meaning than just the getting of a vehicle.

“By the way, you mentioned you like cars, what do you drive?” Tom asked.

“Oh, something a little speedier,” she answered obliquely.

“Then you should have driven up. The country roads around here are a driver’s dream.”

“Ah, too many speed cameras for me,” she said. “Maybe next time.”

***

Tom had moved the Periwinkle back to Llangollen as a starting point to give Nia, arguably, one of the best short canal trips in the British Isles. The drive from Crewe would normally take a little over an hour but Tom took a little longer route so they ran parallel to the canal for a bit. They stopped in a little border village and had a late lunch in a half-timbered Elizabethan inn that was dog friendly.

The late afternoon grew grey and cloudy and Tom had turned on the Land Rover’s headlights by the time they pulled into Llangollen. He parked at the narrowboat basin’s car park, a grassy field, stone hard with winter temperatures. He carried Nia’s bag, which was surprisingly heavy, and Jack ran on ahead. The marina spread out before them like a shallow bowl. Tom pointed out a couple of the boats whose owners he knew, but there weren’t many boats tied up along the floating pontoons at this time of year. Tom and Nia walked up to a smart green narrowboat. The Periwinkle.

“Home,” Tom said.

He held her hand as they walked on the floating pontoon moorings to the boat’s stern. He continued to hold her hand to steady her as she stepped up on to the small stern deck. He unlocked two small doors, opened them, and slid open the roof cover which would allow them to walk down the stern cabin’s three steps without ducking. He turned on lights and Nia could see a small tidy bedroom cabin. On the cabin’s left, tight against the wall, was a double bed. A small cabinet at its foot. The walls and ceiling were a warm toned wood. There were windows either side of the cabin and small shelves stocked with books on either side of the windows and at the head of the bed. A few paintings, watercolours Nia thought, were screwed flat on to the cabin’s curving walls. Nice, Nia thought, cosier than she expected.

Tom placed her bag on the bed. The bag looked huge.

“Oh my God, where do you keep all your stuff,” Nia said alarmed at the lack of drawers and closets.

Tom had cleared out two of the cabinet’s drawers for her and showed her a little wardrobe at the front of the cabin for coats and boots and another in the corridor that ran from the bedroom to the galley kitchen. The bathroom was on the left of the corridor. Tom showed her the small bathroom and demonstrated the odd way to flush the toilet and the need to pump out the shower when in use. The bathroom was spotless. She went to the tiny shower.

“Ever get two people in this?” she asked with a smirk.

“Once,” Tom answered. “But she was very small.”

Nia laughed.

“And pretty?” Nia asked with a cheeky smile.

“Oh yes, stunning.”

“Okay, you can stop right there,” Nia said with a giggle.

Tom showed her through the rest of the boat. Nia appreciated the fact that he had filled every space with books. There were some fresh flowers in a vase on one of the galley kitchen’s small counters.

Tom made a fire in the boat’s Morso pot-bellied stove. After the fire had taken, he went to the galley and made some tea. With mugs of tea in hand, they sat in the front cabin talking, Nia expressing genuine interest in all things canal. Tom answered her questions about his boat and the canal as best he could. Then Nia noticed the small collection of DVDs resting on a bookshelf, recognising them instantly as her work. She was touched. She stood up and started looking through the DVDs.

“On my God, Tom!” she exclaimed. She pulled out one of the DVDs. “Oh My God,” she repeated. “This has a nude scene.”

“Errr,” Tom stammered a little embarrassed. “I discovered that.”

“Tell me, Mister Price, are you some kind of pervert?” Nia laughed. “Seriously though, Tom, what made you get these?”

“Well,” Tom took a gulp of his tea, draining it. “I was so sorry that I hadn’t seen any of your work before that I wanted to acquaint myself with it.”

“And, what did you think then?”

“Nia, you are very good. Your talent is obvious from your earliest stuff on and Jack’s a big fan too,” Tom said.

They both laughed. Nia felt a sense of pride.

“Talking of Jack,” Tom added. “It’s time for her walk. Would you like to join us?”

Nia nodded, “Absolutely.”

They walked down the towpath past the shut cafe and souvenir shop and took a right turn down a steep hill into the village proper. There was a light misting rain rolling in from the mountains to the west. They walked across the village’s ancient bridge and watched the Dee’s water below rush, churn, and dance. Nia looped her arm in Tom’s as they walked back. The mist became rain in earnest and the temperature