Chapter Twelve

Lisa stood, dripping wet, while Toby the Newfoundland settled into a steady swimming pace. He had made such a splash as he thundered in after his canvas training dummy that Lisa was surprised there was any water left in the pool. She needed to get some sensible waterproof gear or at least wear shorts so she could dry off with a towel. As it was, her wet jeans clung to her legs, and she was getting increasingly cold as the minutes passed. It was fun watching Toby swim though; he loved it. His huge, webbed feet and thick rudder of a tail made him appear to power effortlessly through the water. For a big boy he was pretty speedy too. He had more strength and stamina than Lisa, whose arm ached just from throwing the sodden dummy each time he returned with the soggy offering, dropping it expectantly at her feet ready to be thrown again.

Watching Lisa, the pool owner stepped from behind her counter. ‘You can go in with him if you like.’

Lisa turned to look at the overly optimistic woman now standing beside her and then glanced back down at the water. Despite the brush she had given Toby before they set off – extricating enough fur to make Toby a mini-me – the water was thick with floating, black hair. Lisa imagined it sticking to her and brushing past her legs like seaweed. ‘I’m not really dressed for it today,’ she stated, relieved that she had worn her jeans.

‘Ah, next time then. They love it you know, swimming with you. Such gentle giants these Newfs.’

Lisa couldn’t argue with that, despite the moulting that always meant a complete hoover out of her van, the drool, which, admittedly, wasn’t as bad as she had expected, and his sheer size, Toby was a sweetie – all 135lbs of him. ‘Yes, I’ll have to get a swimsuit … or something.’ Something that will cover me from head to foot, Lisa thought.

‘Babs will be here soon. She loves a swim with hers. She’s an expert, been training Newfs for years. You should ask her what’s best.’

As if on cue the door opened and a woman flanked by two Newfoundlands strode in.

‘Babs, look, we have a Newf newbie. I was just telling …’ the woman paused and looked at Lisa’s T-shirt ‘… Lisa, here, that you love a swim with your boys. Lisa wants to get in with Toby, but isn’t dressed for it today.’

Lisa couldn’t help but feel that ‘Lisa wants to get in with Toby’ was a bit of an over statement, but she smiled nevertheless and played along, greeting Babs and muttering about how silly she felt for wearing jeans.

Taking in the sight of Babs as she berated and mocked her for the error of her wardrobe choice, Lisa imagined she was the type of person who spent half her life outside and the other half knocking back red wine in front of a roaring fire built from logs she had split herself. She had dishevelled, curly, black hair, ruddy cheeks, a rotund figure and what could only be described as a hearty laugh. She was the epitome of the saying that owner’s look like their dogs.

Continuing her façade of enthusiasm, Lisa bent to give Toby a pat before tossing his toy back into the water. ‘Next time, Toby, next time.’

‘There’s nothing better you know. Hold on, I’ll show you.’ Babs paused while she released her dogs and started to wiggle out of her jeans and flannelette shirt.

Unsure where to look, Lisa turned her full attention to the water.

‘You need one of these,’ Babs finally announced patting her sides and stomach as she revealed a shorty wetsuit.

Glancing round, Lisa couldn’t help but wonder how Babs had poured herself into it. The neoprene was doing its best to keep everything in place, but what couldn’t be contained was bursting out wherever possible. Lisa wasn’t sure how to respond.

‘Short enough that you can move easily,’ Babs did a few stretches to illustrate the point, ‘super-flex seams to keep everything in,’ she pulled at a seam that was almost certainly already flexing further than the manufacturer intended, ‘and titanium lining over neoprene to keep body heat in and the chill out. Bloody marvellous invention!’

Lisa smiled, trying not to imagine Babs as a character from a French and Saunders sketch. ‘It looks great; I’ll have to get one.’

‘Well, I’m sure I’ve got an old one at home. Too small for me now. I’ll bring it along next week. You can give it a whirl.’

‘Oh no, honestly, it’s fine …’ Lisa still wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to get in the murky, hair-ridden water with Toby, let alone doing it in Babs’ cast-off shorty wetsuit. It was a generous offer, but some things, especially those that clung in all the wrong places, shouldn’t be shared.

‘But you must!’

‘No, really—’

‘But you must!’

‘No—’

‘But—’

‘Honestly,’ Lisa put her hand up before Babs could speak again, ‘you’ll see; I’ll have my own by next week.’

‘Oh, great, we can get in together.’

Oh bugger!

Hours later, Lisa sat waiting for Dom while pondering how she might get herself out of buying a wetsuit without borrowing one from Babs. She had walked Jack and settled him into the van. Taking him with her made meeting Dom feel more casual, like the other times they had met, and meant she had the perfect excuse to leave should she need it. Lisa watched several motorbikes come and go, but couldn’t see Dom’s. She wondered if he drove a car too and realised she actually knew nothing about him. Not for the first time, the title music to Crimewatch began to play in her head. Before she terrified herself by letting her imagination get the better of her, she decided to go and get a hot drink; the plan being that if Dom hadn’t appeared by the time she had finished it she would go. A thought that, she was surprised to note, made her feel a bit disappointed. Despite all her misgivings about the date – it’s not a date – she knew her ego needed the boost.

As she wandered towards the kiosk she stopped. She could hear an announcement being made over the tannoy – and not just the normal ‘number eight your order is ready’ or ‘thirteen, bacon and egg roll’ type announcement. They were calling a name. At first she couldn’t catch it, but then she realised it was her name! She listened more intently and crossed her fleece over her name emblazoned T-shirt, worn as another ploy to help her nerves and remove the date pressure. She couldn’t believe it; they were definitely saying her name. Feeling heat rise in her cheeks, she reached the counter of the kiosk. The man serving looked at her expectantly.

Lisa kept her voice hushed and attempted to be discreet. ‘I’m Lisa Blake.’

‘Pardon,’ the man frowned, tipping his head, trying to hear her the way Jack sometimes did.

‘I’m Lisa Blake.’

‘Eggs and bacon?’ the man asked.

‘I’m Lisa Blake,’ she repeated more firmly.

‘What, luv?’

‘I’M LISA BLAKE!’ Lisa shouted in exasperation opening her fleece in a flasher fashion to reveal the name on her T-shirt.

The man’s eyes goggled. ‘Whey hey, so you are,’ he said laughing, before regaining his composure and noticing Lisa’s stern expression. ‘Oh, of course. Right. Hold on.’ He walked over to the phone and returned with a notepad. ‘It’s a message from Dom,’ he began. ‘“Sorry, I can’t make it. I’ve been called away on an emergency. I never meant to leave you stranded and will be in touch soon. So don’t say your goodbyes and hold on to that, Rose.”’ The man looked up from the pad and passed her the piece of paper that also had a number on. With a confused expression, he added, ‘Whatever that means.’

Lisa felt completely humiliated, not only had she been stood up, the fact she had shouted her name meant she had drawn attention to herself; all eyes were on her. And to top it all, Dom had left a stupid cryptic message that she suspected had something to do with the film Titanic, if her memory served her correctly. She felt like a fool. She thanked the man, spun on the heels of her walking boots and tried desperately not to make eye contact with any of the onlookers as she began to stride back to her van. Called away on an emergency, indeed; motorbike needs a polish, does it?

‘But wait, there’s more,’ the man called after her.

‘It’s OK,’ Lisa called back, having no intention of returning to the kiosk. She couldn’t believe it; she wasn’t sure she had ever felt so embarrassed – stood up and publicly humiliated in one. She started ranting to herself, ‘Honestly, why make the date if he wasn’t going to keep it? Not that it probably ever was a date – oh, Lisa Blake, you are such a fool!’ But as she reached her van she heard the man’s voice over the tannoy once more.

‘This is for you, Lisa Blake.’

Lisa stood glued to the spot dreading what on earth was coming next. But as Celine Dion’s voice burst out over the tannoy with the theme to Titanic, she couldn’t help but smile.