Chapter 55
Martin's clenched jaws were a clear indicator that I might have overstepped my boundaries. Thinking of Pat's good advice not to confront him with twenty things that are crap about him I tried to think of some more positive topics. After all, I didn't want to ruin the evening completely.
"Did you have a chance to have a look at the locket?" I asked Martin casually. We had agreed on our way back from London that it was best for him to keep it until he had it sorted. Martin was more insistent on the working state of the clock than I was. I would have been perfectly happy to simply use it as jewellery.
"I opened it and had a quick glance. It seems a bit more complicated than I first thought. I'm not sure I've got all the spare parts necessary either. As it is much smaller than I usually work with, I doubt I'll find everything I need in my stock."
"Oh."
"Hm."
"So, you probably won't be able to repair it?"
"Of course I can. It's just," Martin ducked his head slightly, "it might take a bit longer."
"Ah." I sighed relieved, because I reckoned Martin wouldn't have taken it lightly to fail keeping his promise to repair it. "Don't worry about that."
"Good." Martin looked over cautiously. "Erm. When do you need it repaired?"
"I told you not to worry about it." I tried my best reassuring smile. "There's no deadline for it or such."
"Ah." Martin nodded. "So if I don't finish it until the end of the month..." His voice trailed off.
"A month, two months, a year. Take as long as you like."
Martin gave me a scrutinising look.
"Wot?" The way he looked at me was highly irritating.
Martin shook his head as if he tried to clear it from a bad dream.
"No, tell me."
Martin leaned a bit forward and asked haltingly in low voice. "But you would like it back?"
"Of course I would! What makes you think I wouldn't? "
"I mean, if you don't like it, then..."
I'm afraid I interrupted Martin. "I love it! I told you I did."
"I mean, I'd understand if you didn't."
"No, it's the nicest gift anyone's ever given me." I nodded to prove my point.
Martin tilted his head slightly. "But you don't want it back?"
"I do, eventually. It's just that I'm not in a hurry. Martin, I don't want it to be another task on your to-do list. You've got enough duties, enough pressure. I don't want to add to it. I like to think that you might take it out when you feel like tinkering around, to wind down, to relax. And maybe, while enjoying your hobby, you might even think of me, having my locket before you. Maybe it will remind you of our weekend in London. I'd like that, but not the pressure to keep another timeline."
Martin looked at me as if I had grown a second head or come straight down from Mars or something.
"At least I hope you'd enjoy thinking back to our weekend." I added lightly after a pause that was too long for my comfort. Besides, I needed some confirmation as I had no clue if Martin had liked my company or not.
"I would." He nodded, and after taking another bite he added. "It's just a shame that this horrid hospital business came up."
"Yeah, that was a bit unfortunate. It seems, everywhere you are, some emergency crops up. For the poor guy it was quite some luck that you were there, though." I added. "And I'll always understand that your job sets other priorities sometimes." I assured him.
"Bloody inconvenient." Martin grumbled.
"Yeah." I agreed. "But I'm pretty proud of you when you deal with emergencies like that. Master of the crisis. I quite like that."
Martin gave me one of his dreamy looks. "You do?"
"Yeah, you're such an authority in all things medical. I also loved the way you put that posh idiot in his place, the one complaining about his stupid biro."
"Ah, him. Moron."
"Yeah, he could boast as he liked, he couldn't get to you."
"But he could get to his lawyer. I just had a letter from him yesterday."
"Really? Just for a pen?"
"You have no idea how much he spent for the silly thing. He got it back from the hospital, as I've asked them to return it. He's just not quite happy about the state that it's in."
"I imagine. But really, I mean – a guy's life depended on that. Surely that should be more important."
"For some. For others it isn't."
"What are you going to do?"
"I wrote a statement about the events and gave it to my lawyer. The two can sort it among themselves."
"I wouldn't have the patience to argue about something like that either."
"Hm."
"Sorry that our weekend had such unpleasant side effects."
"It's not your fault."
"No, still. So you won't remember it fondly, I presume."
Martin looked at me quietly, for rather a long time. "I did like parts of it." He told me slowly, and he looked almost relaxed.
"Oh, good. So did I. I liked most of it, too."
"Most?" Martin picked up after a moment, his brow furrowed.
To be continued…
