The Train by Sarah Bourne (fiction books to read txt) 📕

it out and looked. Missed call from Tim. She called straight back but it went to message bank. Damn. She hated it when people ignored her calls.

‘One more time,’ she said to herself. ‘I’ll try one more time and that’s it.’ She called his number and held her breath. He picked up.

‘Are you done?’ she asked without preamble.

‘Alice?’

‘Yeah, it’s me. I’m still in London. Didn’t know how long you’d be.’

‘Alice – you’re – Alice!’

She laughed. He sounded happy to hear from her. This amazing bloke was just a few miles away and excited that she’d rung. She offered to go and sit with him at the hospital where he was still waiting for his friend.

She almost skipped to the station, and sang to herself on the train to Ealing Broadway. She asked for directions to the hospital and was told she’d have to get a 207 bus along Uxbridge Road. It seemed to take forever, when all she wanted to do was feel Tim’s arms around her.

And then she was there; he was walking towards her, told her she was beautiful, and they kissed and everything was all right.

‘How’s your friend?’ she asked when they broke apart.

‘They’re keeping him in tonight but he’ll be okay. Hope he will be, anyway.’

‘Must feel terrible.’

‘Yeah. Can’t imagine what it would be like to be the last person to look into someone’s eyes like that, and then, wham! they’re dead.’ Tim shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Alice hadn’t meant the suicide; she’d been talking about the stomach pumping or whatever it was they did to people who’d drunk too much, but she didn’t let on. ‘Me neither,’ she said. She didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to put a downer on the evening. And yet, it was because of this person wanting to end their life that she’d met Tim. A death, a new chapter in her life – did they balance each other out in some way? And if so, where did the train driver fit in – it was, as Tim had said, an awful thing to see right in front of your eyes. How do you live with something like that?

‘He’ll be okay, though, right? He’s got good friends. You for one.’

Tim drew in a deep breath and looked at her. Alice saw the blush creeping up his neck again. He obviously wasn’t used to compliments. And he was really shy, even though she thought she’d made it quite obvious he didn’t need to be, not with her.

‘Yeah, he’s got me. And now you’re here.’

‘Want to go somewhere else then? Your mate’s got nurses to look after him now, hasn’t he?’ she asked.

‘Yeah, Brian’s okay for now. Let’s go somewhere else. Unless you fancy the hospital canteen?’

She put her arm through his and turned him towards the door. ‘I think we can find somewhere better than that, don’t you?’

‘I was only joking,’ said Tim.

‘I know.’ Alice wished she’d laughed. It would have made him relax a bit.

They got an Uber back to Ealing rather than waiting for a bus, and the driver dropped them off at The North Star, the pub he’d recommended. Alice relished the warmth of Tim’s hand in the small of her back as he guided her towards a table in the corner.

‘What’ll you have?’

‘My round,’ she said, and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

At the bar she ordered a vodka and lime for herself and a pint of Dutch courage for Tim.

‘A what?’ asked the barmaid, laughing.

‘Oh, sorry, did I say that out loud?’ said Alice. ‘It’s just that the guy I’m with is a bit, you know, backward in coming forward.’

‘Well don’t get him too drunk or he won’t be able to do anything. There’s a fine line between brave enough and stonkered, if you ask me.’

Alice was still smiling as she put Tim’s pint of lager down in front of him and he looked at her but didn’t ask what she was smiling at.

She questioned Tim about his life, his job, his likes and dislikes. After another pint, he relaxed and didn’t seem to mind being in the spotlight so much. She watched the way his mouth moved as he talked, his slightly overlapping front teeth, the dimple that appeared on his left cheek when he smiled. He reddened when he talked about his painting, and changed the subject quickly, asking her about her singing.

‘I’m gonna keep at it,’ she said. He reached for her hand and squeezed it. Alice took it as her opportunity to move in closer. She snuggled into his side and sighed.

‘What do you want to do now?’ asked Tim.

Alice knew exactly what she wanted but she didn’t want to scare him away.

‘Your turn to choose – I chose to meet you at the hospital, the Uber driver chose the pub.’

Tim pulled away and looked her in the eye, unsmiling. Alice wondered if she’d blown it. Perhaps she’d been too forward, or maybe he liked girls who took the lead. Everything was so hard to gauge at the beginning of a relationship. Was this even the beginning of anything? She saw something flicker across Tim’s face, but couldn’t read what it was. He bit his lip and looked over her shoulder as if searching for his lines on the wall behind her.

‘I don’t live too far from here,’ he said just before Alice thought she couldn’t hold her breath any longer.

‘Sounds like a plan. I’d like to see where you live.’

‘We could get a takeaway, if you’re hungry.’

Alice laughed. ‘Yeah, if that’s what you want.’ Anything to make him relax, she thought.

With an Indian takeaway and a couple of cans of beer, they turned away from Ladbroke Grove Station and Westway along a busy road. After a few minutes, they turned right and Tim stopped in front of an old house.

‘It’s not much. Just a bedsit,’ he said.

‘That’s okay. I wasn’t expecting Buckingham Palace.’ Alice’s heart did sink though. The area was shabby,