Page 60 of Forgive Not Forget

“Antarctica?”

“Ah yes, you’ve got me there. Too cold. I did fly over the Arctic Circle once, though. Perhaps if you come again, we could borrow an atlas from the library, and I can show you all the places I’ve been.”

“I have an atlas at home. I’ll bring that.” She was all business as she turned to her mother’s friend. “Anna, when can we come back?”

Anna smiled at her enthusiasm. Was there anything this girl wasn’t interested in?

“We’ll have to ask your mum.”

Abigail twisted her lips and turned her attention back to her painting.

The first coat had dried on Anna’s heart-shaped pebble. She chose a light pink and added a smaller heart within the red heart.

“Where would you like to go, Tom?” Mabel asked, trying to draw Abigail’s big brother into the spotlight.

“Whistler.”

“Canada, right?”

Tom’s face lit up. “Yeah.”

“So you must be a skier or a biker?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m thinking a biker.”

“Of course.”

“I’ve only been as far as Vancouver. We stopped there when I was on a tour of the West Coast of America.”

Tom picked his pebble up and showed it to Mabel. “This is me shredding a jump.”

“Goodness me, you’re upside down.”

Tom sniggered. “Maybe one day I’ll be able to. If I keep practising.”

“That’s the spirit.”

A young man arrived with a trolley and dished out tea for the adults and juice for Abigail and Tom. The room fell into silence as they drank and finished painting their pebbles.

“Harry, you look as if you’re about to doze off,” Mabel observed. “I should get you back to your room.”

“If you wouldn’t mind, Mabel.”

Anna stood. “I’ll take you, Dad.” She wanted a few moments alone to check in with him.

Mabel opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.

“Back in a minute, kids,” Anna said.

“I’ll take them into the garden to place their pebbles,” Mabel said. “I’m sure the other residents will love them as much as I do.”

Anna pushed Harry back to his room and settled him in his chair.

“You okay, Dad?”

“Yeah, love. Just quick to tire these days.”

“It looks as though Mabel’s looking after you.”

“Life without her here would be very dull, love. She doesn’t half liven the place up.”