Page 35 of When We Were Young

Will’s shadow stretched along the path ahead, merging with Emily’s in the low winter sun.

When she said she’d never been, he couldn’t wait to show her around Richmond Park.

And so far, it hadn’t disappointed. They’d already witnessed a parakeet flypast, a drilling woodpecker, and a majestic stag – all within the first ten minutes.

‘You’re right,’ she said as they strolled, ‘bumping into Aidan at the station was weird. He never gets the train, and he was coming into the station as I was getting off the train, but when we finished talking, he walked out. He wasn’t there for any other reason than to talk to me.’

‘It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d been hanging around waiting for you to get off the train.’ Will knew all about doing that. ‘What did he say to you?’

‘He acted surprised to see me, and of course he knew I’d ask what happened to his face, and when I did, he said “ask Will”.’

‘I swear to God, Emily, I was defending myself.’

She changed the subject, ‘So, I’m finally moving out of my parents’ place. I’ve found a flat with a group of college friends.’

‘You have? Where?’

‘Balham. I can’t wait to get out of my parents’ house.’

‘That’s great,’ he said, but he was gutted. It would take him ages to get to Balham. ‘When do you move?’

‘Next month.’

‘Do you need a hand moving your stuff with the van?’

‘Thanks, but my dad said he’d take me. It’s furnished, so I won’t need much. You’ll have to visit, though.’

‘I’d like that. I’m looking for somewhere myself. Any spare rooms in your flat?’ he joked.

She laughed. ‘No. We’ve even got someone using the lounge as a bedroom.’

‘How many of you?’

‘Four of us. You met Scott, remember? He helped us move the sculpture that time?’

‘Scott – yeah. Expensive trainers, covered in paint.’

She smiled. ‘That’s the one. He found this cool flat – there’s a balcony at the front and one at the back. My friend Miranda is taking the other bedroom and one of Scott’s mates will be in the lounge.’

‘Sounds cosy.’

‘My room’s the smallest, too.’

Did she have a double bed? Imagining her room made him lose his train of thought for a moment, then his mobile phone rang.

‘Sorry,’ he said, rejecting the call. It was only Matty – he’d call him back.

A few seconds later, his phone dinged.

Matty had left a voicemail.

He switched it to silent and put it back in his pocket.

Rust-coloured ferns curled over the edge of the path as it wound its way through a grove, birdsong echoing in the trees above and sweet chestnut cases crunching underfoot.

‘Are we lost?’ she asked after a while.

‘I was following you.’

‘How big is this place?’

‘Big.’

‘Will we ever see our families again?’

‘Unlikely.’

He took her hand to help her over a fallen tree, and she didn’t let go.

‘Shall we sit?’ He pointed to a bench beside a little pond.

She nodded, her cheeks pink from the cold.

A breeze scattered sparkles across the surface of the water. He stretched his arm along the bench behind her and, as the wind picked up, he gathered her in. When she rested her head on his shoulder, he suddenly forgot how to breathe.

Will’s mobile phone buzzed in his pocket.

‘It’s Matty again,’ said Will. ‘I better see what he wants.’

‘Have you seen the NME ?’ asked Matty, not waiting for a ‘hello’.

‘No––’

‘Buy a copy and ring me back.’ Matty hung up.

They parked by Richmond station and found a newsagent in the forecourt. He paid for a copy of the music paper and stood outside, flicking through it.

‘I don’t even know what I’m looking for,’ he told Emily as they scoured the pages together.

Then he saw it.

A half-page picture of himself on stage at the Dublin Castle yelling into the microphone, a spotlight flooding him with blue light.

‘That’s you!’ cried Emily.

The headline said: When the support act steals the show . Words jumped off the page as Will skimmed the article: ‘haunting power’, ‘voice of a generation’, and ‘sky-scraping vocals’.

The last line read: There’s no doubt about it; Will Bailey is onto something big.