Victoria Connelly - A Summer to Remember

For a few moments, Nina stood transfixed, watching the red balloon until it became nothing more than a scarlet pinprick against the sky. Best go shopping for some food, she thought. It would be a new experience to go shopping on a weekday and the very thought of it made her smile. Even the simplest task was beginning to seem like an adventure.

Dominic wasn’t having any luck at all. First of all his mother and brother, Alex, had blocked his car in – again – and then he’d found he was out of petrol. He’d had to beg twenty pounds from his dad in return for a promise to trim the yew hedges at the back of the house, which was a task worth at least fifty pounds of anyone’s money.

And things didn’t get any better when he reached Norwich. Just what was he doing? It was madness, sheer madness to be driving around, getting caught up in the one-way system in the desperate hope of spotting her again. And the lunch hour traffic was hell. But on he drove, narrowly avoiding several careless workers who thought they could cross safely in front of him after having one too many at the pub. But not once did he run into Nina.

Where was she?

Since nearly running her over, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the old days, when he and Alex had been growing up. He had so many fond memories of his childhood and the reappearance of Nina had woken them all up. And his mother was very keen to see her again. If only there’d been more time. If only he’d got her number.

After an honorary lap around the one-way system, he parked his car. He might as well make the most of finding himself in the centre of town, he thought, so he walked around the market, breathing in the scent of fresh flowers and fruit, the salt tang from the fish counter and the glorious smell of hot chips. He wandered about, turning left here, right there, until he surfaced once more into the dazzling light.

It was then that something caught his eye: a small boy was crying and pointing towards the sky. Dominic looked up and saw a red balloon floating away. Poor little mite, he thought and then sighed. Like the little boy, he wasn’t quite sure what he should do next.

He loved the city and often wandered around without a particular direction in mind, and today was no exception because he really didn’t have a direction to follow.

It might be worth going back to the zebra crossing, he thought, but it wasn’t very likely that she’d be there. He was just wasting his time. She was but one person in a city of thousands. But he had to try, didn’t he?

Olivia Milton clinked a second bottle of wine into her shopping trolley and searched her pockets for the list she’d made earlier that morning. It wasn’t there of course. She knew she’d left it on the kitchen table. She also knew that there’d definitely been more on the list than parmesan cheese, olives and Pinot Noir.

She pushed her trolley into the next aisle hoping that, by scanning the shelves, her memory would be jogged and that they’d all actually be able to eat that night.

Olivia always did her shopping on a Wednesday. Nina, on the other hand, had never experienced the pleasure of a supermarket when one was able to move freely through it and not spend longer in a queue than you had spent actually choosing your items. And, also unlike Olivia, Nina had her list with her.

It was the strangest feeling being in a supermarket when she should have had her feet tucked firmly under a desk and her ear glued to a telephone, having orders barked at her by Hilary Jackson. However, now she was unemployed, she became acutely aware of the cost of things and had to make sure that she only got the absolute essentials.

As she turned into the next aisle in the hope of finding a jar of pesto sauce for under a pound, she almost crashed into a trolley that had been left at right angles for all and sundry to trip over and into.

Nina grinned as she saw the contents: two bottles of wine, a slab of parmesan and copies of Hello! and Country Life . She could just imagine the sort of person who’d own such a trolley. Barbour and pearls, she thought. Land Rover and Labrador sort. This woman wouldn’t have to hunt for three-for-two offers or dented tins that had been reduced. Oh, no.

Nina looked down the aisle and gasped. It was her: no Barbour today – it was far too warm – but little pearl earrings, an old-fashioned piecrust blouse and a long loose skirt in a Liberty fabric, which might have made her look terribly middle-aged and dowdy but which, in fact, looked wonderfully regal on her and marked her out as part of the country set. Her red hair was cut sharply and blow-dried to perfection, and her flawless skin was made up with the absolute minimum of make-up.

She watched the woman bend down to reach for a bottle of tomato sauce. It was the next item on her own list and she walked towards the shelf. Leaning forward, the strangest sensation hit Nina – via the nostrils. The most heavenly scent enveloped her and instantly transported her back to her past. An image of a beautiful white Georgian mill house by a river in the heart of the Norfolk countryside. A house that had been hung with heavy printed curtains and filled with huge log-like pieces of furniture in oak. And the two young boys she’d looked after.

It was Mrs Milton.

Nina watched for a moment, just to be sure, smiling at the memories that were resurfacing, before summoning up the courage to speak.

‘Mrs Milton?’ Nina’s voice was quiet, but obviously startled the woman.

‘Yes?’ she said, turning around in surprise.

Nina cleared her throat. ‘I don’t know if you’ll remember, but I used to babysit for you. I’m Nina Elliot.’ Nina watched in amazement as the woman’s face beamed, her eyes crinkling at the edges.

‘ Neena! Gracious! I don’t believe it. Are you all right?’

‘Yes, very well, thank you.’

‘No – I mean – after what happened.’

‘Pardon?’ Nina was puzzled. How on earth could Mrs Milton have heard that she’d walked out of her job?

‘Dominic – the car – he told me all about it.’

‘Car? But I don’t have a car,’ she said.

‘No – his car. You know – he nearly ran you over. I was terribly worried. Silly boy.’

Nina’s expression remained one of complete bafflement but then the cogs of her memory slowly turned, releasing the image of the stern face at the traffic lights, the car horns, the panic, the half-recognition.

It had been Dominic. Little Dommie Milton whom she’d once tucked up into bed; the little boy who’d once woken her up because of a nightmare involving giant sunflowers. This same little boy had nearly run her over.

‘Oh, yes!’ Nina exclaimed, ‘But I didn’t know it was him. I mean, I thought I recognised him, but—’

‘But you’re okay?’

‘Yes! Absolutely fine. It was my fault really,’ Nina said. ‘I just wasn’t thinking straight, but I’m fine, thank you.’

‘What a relief. Honestly. He goes around in a dream, that boy. He really shouldn’t be behind a wheel at all. Well, other than a potter’s wheel.’

‘Gosh, how is everyone?’ Nina asked with a smile, trying to imagine the young boys who would all be grown men now.

‘Oh, very well – very well,’ Olivia enthused. ‘Billy’s working in London as a pilot and taking off all over the place. Alex has had about twenty different jobs since graduating and can’t seem to settle to any one of them, and Dommie’s just graduated from art school and is preparing for his first art show in Norwich.’

Nina beamed a smile. ‘You must be so proud of them all.’

‘Oh, I am!’ Olivia said. ‘And you wouldn’t believe it but Dudley and I have our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary this summer,’ she said, as if not quite believing it herself.