Page 6 of Be More Capybara

Yes?

You couldn’t pick me up from Tiverton, could you? The connecting train from Exeter isn’t running today.

So much for a restful day. A two-hour round trip to Tiverton wasn’t what she’d had in mind when she got out of bed this morning.

Text me when you’re an hour away xx

Muchos gracias

Helen checked the clock on the kitchen wall. Still plenty of time to walk Rocky. She finished her coffee and headed into the hall. As usual, the sound of Helen picking up his lead persuaded Rocky to spring into action.

She put on his harness. ‘Come on, Rocks. Let’s wear you out so you sleep in the car.’

3

NIGEL

Nigel finally gave up on trying to get some sleep at 8 am. The combination of jet lag and worrying about what was going to happen with his children and everything else had kept his mind whirring for hours.

He’d thought being in his childhood bedroom, somewhere he’d always felt safe and protected, would help. Instead, it had made him feel like all the hard work of the last thirty years had been for nothing and at 48 he was starting again.

He got dressed and went down into the kitchen.

‘How’s your head?’ His mother asked as she looked up from her cup of tea.

‘Fine. I only had a couple of glasses of champagne. I didn’t want alcohol to make the jet lag worse.’

‘Very sensible. But then you always were the sensible one.’

‘Klaus not up yet?’

‘He’s an early bird. He’s gone for his usual morning walk. He won’t be back for at least another half an hour.’

Good. Nigel had the ideal opportunity to say something he’d been thinking about since he met Klaus last night. He busied himself with making tea. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t come to your wedding.’

His mother shrugged. ‘You had other things on. I understand.’

‘It wasn’t that.’ He sat down opposite her at the table. ‘I didn’t like the idea of you getting married again. I didn’t think I could fake being happy for you, so I stayed away. I thought Klaus was after your money.’

‘He’ll be sadly disappointed if he is, seeing as it’s all tied up in this place. Anyway, he has plenty of money of his own. I might be after his.’ She winked.

Nigel laughed. ‘I can see you two are blissfully happy. Do you regret that you didn’t have an opportunity to spend your whole lives together?’

‘Then I wouldn’t have had you and Mark, and I don’t regret that.’

‘But you’d have had other children instead.’

She looked at him carefully. ‘Are you regretting your life choices?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Regret can be a useful feeling, I find. Gets you to focus on what matters so when a similar opportunity arises you don’t miss taking it again.’

‘That’s quite profound for this early on a Monday morning, Mother.’

She laughed. ‘You should talk to me more often. I have opinions on most things. Anything else bothering you?’

He sighed. ‘Pretty much everything, but I’m not sure I’ve got my thoughts together enough to know what advice to ask for, if that makes sense.’