"Mum? Is Herc really going to go to Switzerland?"
Carolyn couldn't help but sigh at the candid question. Of course her son would feel the need to address the subject, while she herself had been struggling not to think about it for the past few weeks.
"So I've been led to believe," she replied at last, threading her fingers through Snoopadoop's hair. A ridiculous dog, that was what Herc used to call the poor creature; Carolyn sighed again, then let her hand drop.
"Well, that's a pity, isn't it? I mean, you like him, and I think he's brilliant."
"Dear heart, you always think that everybody is brilliant."
"Except Dad," Arthur pointed out, a grimace of distaste crossing his features for the briefest of moments.
"Your father is anything but," she agreed easily, helping Snoopadoop climb off her lap.
It was only as she was putting the kettle on that her son added somewhat wistfully. "And he thinks I'm brilliant too."
"Who, Gordon?"
"No, I mean Herc. Remember that time we flew him to Newcastle? He told me he was impressed by my general attitude, and said he would be only too happy to sling my CV over to Air Caledonian."
"Oh," Carolyn exhaled in a small voice, and all of a sudden she felt the room around her spin a little. Arthur meant the world to her, and yet Herc couldn't have known that the boy was the way to her heart back then; that meant he was genuinely fond of him, and now she'd just wasted their chance to be a proper family again.
"Mum, are you alright?" her son asked in his helpful manner, stepping closer and resting his hand across her back.
"I'm fine, dear. Could you please make the tea yourself? I've just remembered I have an important call to make."
"Will do. I love making tea."
As she walked out of the living room she prayed that it wasn't too late to change her mind.
