Thank you for all the kind comments thus far, it's given me a lot of confidence to do more writing. This is the penultimate chapter and I'm afraid my friend and I make a cameo appearance!
She thought he looked like a kid in a sweet shop, purposefully moving up and down, inspecting items on the shelves and rapidly filling the blue plastic basket he was carrying. She found a seat and yawned, longing for another cup of tea. Suddenly he appeared in front of her.
'Boots, Dawes.'
'Boots, Boss?'
'We need to get you some,' he pointed at her flimsy trainers, 'you can't go up hills in those.'
Reluctantly she let him guide her to the back of the shop where an assistant was already waiting with a selection of boots that Charles had obviously vetted.
'Anyone would think you was once in the army...'
She didn't think she had ever found buying shoes so exhausting; standing on ramps, putting on socks, changing insoles and answering a volley of questions from the assistant and from Charles.
'Excellent.' he beamed, taking the chosen boots from the assistant. 'Next.'
Now she really did want a cuppa. 'More?'
'Try this on,' he almost ordered, helping her into a blue waterproof. He nodded with approval.
'HAAW MUCH? I ain't paying 400 quid on an anorak!'
'Worth every penny Dawsey, last you a lifetime if you look after it.'
'Would need to be four lifetimes for that price.'
She turned away towards the trousers.
The launch chugged its way towards the middle of the lake. Pulling her buff over her chin and her hat down over her ears, she tried to take it all in.
'You'd never fink that this was England.'
'It's one of the finest English landscapes there is! Poems have been written about this place.'
'You and your poems, Boss...'
He shook his head in faux exasperation and looked back down the valley towards the rugged hills, dappled by sunshine, as the cloud began to lift from the summits.
'I'm starving, seems an age since I had them coco pops.'
'About two hours, yes. There's food in your bag.'
She sat down on the wooden bench and opened the lid of the new blue rucksack.
'What the fuck is this?!
'It's yours.'
'You can't go around buying me 400 quid jackets, you must have spent the best part of a grand in that shop, mostly on me! I know I'm not the same as you, but I ain't no charity neither.'
She spun round on the varnished seat, resting her forearms on the gunwale. Biting her lip in a futile bid to suppress her emotions, she stared out over the grey water. She felt a hand on her back and the warmth of his body, as he slid next to her.
'Molly, this has nothing to do with rich and poor. I want to spoil my woman... Shit, that sounded a bit misogynistic.'
'I might have been insulted if knew what it meant.'
'It makes me happy to spend my money on you, that's all. The coat's practical and it really suited you, so I bought it. Because I wanted to, nothing more, nothing less.'
Still looking over the water she leant backwards onto his chest, silently letting him intertwine his fingers with hers. The boat passed under a little white cottage on the hillside.
'Didn't you say you were hungry?'
The 'put, put, put, put, put' of the launch faded away and the last few leaves on the trees rustled as a gust of wind blew in from the lake.
"A breeze from the creased water
sighs the streets close under Milk waking Wood"
He immediately looked at her.
'You read it then? Thought you didn't do 'books an' that'.'
She remained silent, and as he watched, she seemed to drink in the surroundings and every single thing she could see.
'We better get going, it'll be dark at 4.'
The cloud had completely lifted and the hill was bathed by the cool autumnal sun as they reached the rounded summit. She looked south along the ridge and towards the higher, rockier mountains beyond. The valley to the left appeared almost like a caricature, such was the arrangement of the hillsides, trees and rocks, all illuminated by the pale light.
'This really is beautiful. I don't think I've ever been somewhere so nice. Look, there's that little cottage we saw from the boat. Its got a satellite dish, must have Sky TV. No Topshop round the corner though... How far we going?'
'You see where those people are down there?'
'Yeah.'
'We'll take that path. There's a café, actually two, so we can get a coffee and then decide the best way back. Maybe on the bus, I'll see how my leg feels. Hungry?'
They sat on the edge of the small summit plateau and looked out over the lake towards Keswick and Skiddaw beyond. Delving into his rucksack, he produced a carrier bag and placed it between them.
'Here, these are all my favourite things, how did you know what I eat?'
'I didn't, your nan gave me a coolbox just as we were leaving, she was very insistent that she wanted it back though...'
'Wants you back more like, I think my nan's got the hots for you!'
'Your nan's got good taste.'
'Shut up Hop-along.'
'Cockwomble.'
'Posh twat.'
'Cockney wanker...'
She pulled out her phone.
'We should get a photo now we're legit an' that.'
'Probably break the lens with you in it.'
'Just stand up and smile, you dick.'
She pressed the button.
'Hashtag summit selfie.'
'Look! You're sticking your tongue out! Do another one.'
'Yes Boss.'
'Excuse me,' said a young lady dressed in a dark blue waterproof and a black hat, 'would you like me to take one for you?'
Molly smiled and handed her the phone, placing her arm around Charles' waist. The woman's friend wandered over clutching some biscuits.
'OK, smile!... Best take another one, to be sure... Smile.'
The woman handed Molly her phone, as her friend held out the packet.
'Please have some, else we'll just eat them all.'
'Thanks,' Charles responded, taking the small stack of biscuits the woman eased from the top of the packet.
Seated once again, he couldn't help but laugh as the voices of the two friends died away.
'Aww, they were so cute! Why can't we meet nice men like that?'
'Personally, I don't think they exist. Have you just had another biscuit? You greedy pig!'
Suddenly serious, he stared straight ahead, 'I went to see her you know.' He felt Molly's eyes on him but did not move.
'Who?'
'Candy. I went to Laugharne and then I went to Newport. I paid my respects to Geraint, then Smurf and then I told Candy that it was all my fault. Geraint and Smurf I mean. She's devastated. I don't know what else I expected though really. At first she just started screaming. I don't blame her. I felt so small, such a failure. But then she calmed down and we talked. She seemed upset that I was leaving the army, told me that Geraint and Smurf wouldn't have wanted that.'
'They wouldn't, you know how highly Smurf thought of you.'
'Not at the end. Said I had hit him with the shit end of the stick when it came to you.'
'You don't spend days waiting outside the hospital room of someone you hate.'
'And then I realised that I no longer knew who I was, that all this blame and self-loathing were about Captain James and what Captain James does when he loses the vocation that defines everything about him. I felt really shit when I worked out I was grieving for my past, when those poor sods were actually dead. But being with you helped, it gave me a reason to look forward. I'm proud to see you achieve, knowing you want me by your side. Which I think you do.'
He heard the rustle of plastic as she moved the bag from between them, followed by the noise of her her bum shuffling across the rock. He felt her grasp his upper arm as she rested her head against his shoulder.
'I'm here, ain't I?'
'I have a confession though.'
'What?' his worry was audible.
'Nothing serious! It's just that I didn't actually read Under Milk Wood. I tried, I really did, but I really am shit at books an' that.'
'Then how can you quote it?'
'Watched it on iPlayer. Bunch of Taffs did a version cos Dylan Thomas died 50 years ago. Had that bloke my nan threw her pants at in it.'
'Tom Jones?'
'Yeah, that's the fella. Good job I'd spent so much time hanging out with Smurf to be honest, else I wouldn't have had a fuckin' scoob what they was saying. One of them looked a bit like him actually. Made me a bit sad, but it made me remember the good times too. Anyway, it was really good, made me laugh, we should watch it later on the laptop, if you haven't seen it.'
'The kinship is just as undeniable as the difference.'
'You can shove your Wittgenstein up your arse, you pretentious twat!'
He roared with laughter and pulled her towards him. In this place that he loved, with the woman he loved, he felt more content than he had in many months.
He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a piece of glossy paper, torn from a magazine. He passed it to her.
'You remember I said a desk job wasn't really my bag? Well I saw this the other day. Not for right now, it's going to take a lot of work to get my leg 100%, but I know a load of ex-army guys up here who can help with fitness and training and I should be good to go in a year or so. I'll need to move up here and then I'd be away a bit, so I suppose I'm asking if that would be OK with you?'
He watched as Molly studied the advert, scrutinising her face in an attempt to interpret her thoughts.
Finally she spoke, 'It's perfect.'
