Till We Meet Again by Lesley Pearse

father’s in a nursing home. My brother and sister are still in that area.’
    ‘So what made you come to Bristol then?’ He frowned as if he thought that was odd.
    ‘To get away from them,’ she said lightly.
    ‘You surprise me.’ He turned in his seat and looked right at her, making her blush. ‘You’ve got the kind of confidence which usually comes from strong family ties.’
    ‘I haven’t lived at home since I was eighteen,’ she said. ‘The confidence comes from looking after myself.’
    ‘Is that why you want the Georgian house with a housekeeper and gardener, rather than a partner?’
    Beth bristled. ‘Don’t start psychoanalysing me, for God’s sake.’
    ‘I wasn’t, I’m just interested,’ he said. ‘My father was a miserable old sod. He gave all of us a hell of a life. That gives me some understanding of families, and what they can do to one another.’
    Beth never told anyone what her father was like, she hid it away as she did most things she felt bad about. But for once she was tempted to spill it all out.
    ‘I don’t like my father either,’ was all she could bring herself to say. ‘He’s an overbearing snob. I suppose it’s because of him that I never wanted marriage.’
    ‘My father had the reverse effect.’ Roy grinned. ‘I think I was determined to prove I had it in me to be the perfect husband. I was only twenty-one when I met Meg, and I couldn’t wait to marry her.’
    ‘And were you happy?’
    Roy appeared to be considering that for a few moments. ‘Happy in as much that we had a better life together than with our families,’ he said eventually. ‘Looking back, we had very little in common. I had my work, she kept house, but that was the way it was for most couples in those days. We’d been married for nine years when Mark was born, by then we’d just about given up hope of children. He became the pivot of our marriage, and so when he died it just collapsed.’
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, putting a hand on his arm. ‘Do you still see Meg?’
    He shook his head. ‘She got married again. I hope she’s happier now.’
    ‘And you? Are you happier?’ she asked. Even as she asked that question, Beth wondered at the departure from her usual chilliness. In her work she had to question people all the time, but she never normally felt curious about anyone in her private life. Roy was intriguing her, though, for he was an attractive mix of toughness and sensitivity. She guessed he was in the habit of hiding the latter – with his background and job he would consider it a liability. She didn’t think he was in the habit of dropping his guard, any more than she was.
    ‘Mostly.’ He grinned boyishly. ‘Marriage wasn’t much fun, it was just a dreary kind of plod most of the time. I’ve had far more excitement since I was single. I find I like being on my own. Though I can’t say I’ll relish it when I’m old.’
    ‘Nor me.’ She grinned. ‘But I’m blowed if I’ll commit myself to someone just for the dubious pleasure of having company in the distant future.’
    ‘Do you ever feel lonely now?’ he asked curiously.
    Beth thought about that for a moment. Loneliness was something she had always denied, after all she wasn’t like some people she knew who couldn’t bear to be alone for one night without phoning someone to break it up. But then she had trained herself to make sure she wasn’t stuck with time hanging on her hands and nothing to do.
    ‘Only on the occasional wet weekend,’ she said. ‘I suppose I keep myself too busy to succumb to it.’
    ‘So I have to invite you out on a wet weekend then?’ he said with a wide grin.
    Beth felt herself recoil, just as she always did when someone tried to move in on her. She liked Roy, his intelligence, his sense of humour and his integrity, but she didn’t want him getting any romantic ideas about her.
    He must have sensed what she was thinking for when she didn’t reply he laughed. ‘I feel an amazingly