Gallery Whispers

25

'What the hell brought this on anyway?' Bob Skinner asked his daughter. 'You just turn up out of the blue. I can't remember the last time you wanted to go out for a run with your old man.'

'I can't remember the last time I wanted to go for a run with anyone,' Alex panted. They were jogging eastward along the shore of the Forth estuary, away from Gullane, in the direction ofFidra Island which stood guard, with its lighthouse, over Yellowcraigs beach. Bob was taking it easy, but still maintaining a respectable pace, making her work to keep up.

'I've let myself get really out of shape,' she gasped, 'since I started with the firm. From now on, I'm going to do more of this, and go to the gym twice a week instead of once a month. You're twice my age, and twice as fit.'

'Christ, you'll be joining the girls' rugby team next.'

'No fear, Pops. Bad for the boobs, I've always thought.'

He stopped abruptly, beneath the isolated house which was the only sign of civilisation along that stretch of coastline. 'Why is it,' he said, breathing only slightly hard, 'that people always seems to pussyfoot around these days when they want to tell me something? Am I that much of a bear? Come on, kid. Out with it.'

'What do you mean?' gasped Alex.

'I mean that you could have done three laps ofHolyrood Park just to burn off energy. You didn't need to come down here. You're working up to telling me something. Let me guess: it's about you and Andy.'

She looked up at him, screwing up her eyes against the watery winter sun. 'Has he been talking?'

'We did have a chat, but it didn't amount to much. I told him that Sarah and I wouldn't get involved. So I'm right, then.'

Alex shifted her footing on the shingle on which they stood, and gazed across the calm water towards the Fidra light. 'Yes, you're right. I'm moving out this afternoon.'

'Bugger.' He frowned, his mouth tightening. 'What is it about our family these days, that we can never manage to all be happy at the same time?'

'Look, Pops,' she said, in an attempt at reassurance, 'it's not that bad. We're not breaking off the engagement; just stopping living together for a while. It'll do us good in the long run.'

'Maybe it will; and maybe I should even be pleased. I can still be old-fashioned from time to time; the concept of living together before marriage is not one I was brought up to believe in. Nonetheless, in my experience when you take one step back in a relationship, it's very difficult not to take another; before you know it there's a gap which can be very difficult to close.'

'We'll be all right,' Alex insisted. 'We just need some breathing space, that's all.'

'No, my lovely daughter,' he said firmly, 'that's not true. Andy doesn't need breathing space; you do. So don't go pinning the blame on him; not in that way anyway. Right now, you're finding this relationship stifling — okay, maybe that's his fault — but you're the one who's making all the decisions.'

'Do you think I'm right?'

'That's irrelevant, because I'd support you even if I thought you were wrong.'

'No it's not. It's important to me. Do you think I'm right?'

'As it happens, I do. Secretly, when you got engaged, then moved in with Andy, I thought that you were giving away too much of your life too soon. Now that you've decided to claim at least some of it back, I can only be pleased — not that I want you to tell Andy that, mind.'

'Why didn't you say?'

'I said plenty when your relationship began, remember, and caused mayhem. For a while, I lost my daughter and my best friend. I don't want that to happen again. Anyway, you're a big girl now; you've got the right to make your own mistakes. And, hopefully, to learn from them.'

He smiled, suddenly, his face lighting up. 'Now,' he said, giving her sweat-slicked pony-tail a quick tug, 'you're going to learn the folly of buggering up my Saturday morning. We're nowhere near halfway through this run, so let's get back to it… and at a decent pace too.

You want to get fit, kid? Okay, just follow me and find out what it takes.'