Chapter 2

When Beth deposited Terry back at the barge, he thanked her and took his bag below. She'd given him a most satisfactory breakfast as he chatted to James, who turned out to be both pleasant and amusing; he thought they might become friends. Just as James was about to leave to go to work, he turned and faced Terry.

"I'm very fond of Amy and the kids," he said, "she's like a little sister to me, and the kids call me 'Unca Jamie'. I want to see her happy and not only because of the part she played in bringing Beth and myself together. Be careful with her and we'll remain friends." He locked eyes with Terry, who just nodded, then said,

"I like her a lot. We ... can talk together. I don't want to mess things up with her, so, yes ... I'm going to be very careful."

James nodded, "good. Very good," turned and left.

In the saloon, Terry considered lighting the stove, but decided against, instead boiling a kettle to make coffee. He then sat down with a notebook and his coffee and started planning a maintenance programme for the vessel and a study programme for himself. He'd got so caught up in the life of a bargeman he'd lost sight of his idea of youth-work training, but thought perhaps what he was doing was right for him.

October segued into November. Increasingly, that meant living in the saloon with the stove burning and studying – seamanship, pilotage, 'Rules for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea', diesel engine maintenance, health and safety ... there was no end to it. He found that if he was to ever be a skipper, he'd have to learn the characteristic features of each river he would enter and pass a test in each vessel. It seemed like ... it was ... a lot of work.

One weekend in mid November, he had visitors in the shape of Beth, Amy, Andrew and Lucille. He would have been glad of any visitor ... he'd taken to walking to a local coffee shop regularly and calling in at the charity office, (where he often was given some valuable but menial employment, like filing) just to have some human company, but two women he found very attractive (not withstanding Beth being in her mid-thirties and married) were a bonus. However, he didn't get much chance to pay attention to them; he was monopolised by the twins. They had to have a tour – including the forecastle, where he'd be sleeping when the barge was working, and the master cabin. They were fascinated by the big diesel in the engine-room (actually a sort of cupboard in the master cabin) and disappointed the mast was laid along the deck ... but when they got back to the saloon, Beth and Amy were busy in the galley.

"We've got books from the Library!" (Andrew)

"Mummy got them for us on the way..." (Lucille)

"Won't you read to us?" (chorus).

Sitting in the big overstuffed sofa in the saloon of the old barge, Terry was surprised how much he enjoyed reading the simple illustrated books to the youngsters. They snuggled up to him and were very complimentary about his reading ability. He was about to suggest a game of Snap when Beth announced that lunch was ready.

They'd prepared a sort of meat sauce with macaroni so it was fairly easy for the twins to manage, but it was very tasty, and followed by a treacle sponge. Terry hadn't had such a good meal for quite a while. The twins, when they weren't chewing, were chattering in the way twins sometimes do, finishing each other's sentences; but they weren't annoying ... it was ... appealing.

Terry didn't say much. He complimented the ladies on their cooking, and responded to the twins when they questioned him. But mostly, he watched Amy. Beth, he knew; had worked with and liked. Amy ... was an enigma to him. He'd chatted to her on a couple of occasions and found her to be bright, well-read, friendly ... knowledgeable about mathematics – he knew she was taking an OU degree – but somehow, reserved. He thought she was in her early to mid twenties – a year or two older than himself – but somehow, seemed older. Not unhappy, but with an undercurrent of sadness that he wanted to dispel. Of course, the fact she was very attractive helped.

Amy watched Terry discreetly. He was the first man she'd been attracted to since meeting Barry. Clearly intelligent, with a sense of humour; considerate ... tolerant of the twins' pestering, he treated them ... not as adults exactly, but as... people. She was torn; between wanting to cling to the memory of her husband and a desire for some adult, male company ... something more than Jamie could give her, precious though that was. She was beginning to realise there was a gap in her life. She had plenty to occupy her; her studies, exercise regime and the twins ... it was just ... hard to move on.

Lunch over, it was time for them to leave. Terry waved them off before decisively heading into town. He'd decided it was time he had his own transport. He'd considered a small motorbike or second-hand car, but felt he couldn't justify the on-going expense. He wanted a mountain bike, but with road tyres, and he headed for Evans Cycles to see what was going. It was something of a shock. Who'd pay nearly two thousand pounds for a bike? He said as much to the sales-person, a pretty, petite, oriental girl.

"Oh, you could pay a lot more than that," she laughed, ""it depends how seriously you want to take things."

"Definitely not that seriously," he said, "have you got anything ... you know ... in the budget bracket? I just want some cheap transport!"

He ended up paying a little over two hundred pounds for a Mongoose Rockadile, sized for him, with road tyres, mudguards, lights and a rack on the back; the girl promised it would be ready for him to collect before they closed ... and it was. Along with the pretty oriental girl, who asked him if he'd like to have dinner with her. That seemed like a good idea. He was having real problems getting Amy out of his thoughts and couldn't decide if there was any point in pursuing her; perhaps some distraction would be a good idea. Besides, he hadn't had a girlfriend since leaving university and this girl was cute.

Anh - "Call me Annie" asked where he lived; when he told her, she got really excited – she almost begged him to take her home with him and let her cook for him. He promised to wait for her and a few minutes later she appeared with her own bike. They went straight to the docks, stopping briefly en route to buy fresh vegetables.

"Have you a wok? No? Never mind ... I will manage with a frying pan."

He watched, fascinated as she sliced and chopped, heated oil in the pan and swirled the vegetables around in it; it seemed ... it was ... only a few minutes later they were sitting at the long table in the saloon and eating.

"This is delicious..." he commented sincerely. She smiled brilliantly.

"You live here?"

"Yes, for now."

"So ... do you own the ship?"

"No! No, it belongs to a charity that provides adventure holidays to young people with various problems, or maybe just not much money. I work for them during the summer, and they pay me a little to live here and keep an eye on things ... do a little maintenance..."

"But you are here all alone?"

"Some of the time. I had some visitors this afternoon..."

"It is very romantic, living on an old sailing ship. I envy you!"

He just shrugged, silent.

"Do you have anything to drink?"

"Oh! Sorry ... of course ... tea, coffee, cocoa ... fruit juice, beer, wine? There's not much that's alcoholic because of the kids, you see."

"Tea would be nice. Weak, without milk."

He moved to the galley to boil a kettle, she, to the over-stuffed sofa on the other side of the saloon. Perhaps it should be explained that the living accommodation, other than the forecastle and master's cabin, occupied what had once been the cargo hold; suitably lined and fitted out it was quite a large space. She idly picked up a chart lying on the coffee table in front of her.