Ruby Tuesday

Chapter Seventeen

    I stood nervously on the doorstep shifting from foot to foot as I waited for my father to respond to the knock on the door. A moment later I heard heavy footsteps and then the door was opened inward and dad’s face burst into a grin. I took him in, tucked in shirt and ancient slippers on his feet and he seemed a lot older than I remembered him.

    “Dad,” I beamed regardless and threw my arms around his neck. He stood there unresponsive for a second then wrapped his arms around me and held me close. “I missed you,” I whispered before we both simultaneously pulled away and cleared our throats. Displays of emotion to be kept to a restriction. As he gestured for me to come into the house I compared him to all of my new friends in London. The generation gap was as drastic as freezing and boiling. I was on an entirely different planet to my father.

    “So how’s things been Rubes?” He huffed as he went to put the kettle on. I lent casually against the counter watching him with mild interest. Nothing ever changed for him. I was enormously grateful that Angie had won the tickets to the concert and effectively won me a ticket to freedom. To a life. She had pushed me head first into a fantastic world that I never wanted to leave.

    “They’ve been great, I moved out of mum’s and I’m living with Jack in his flat. It’s fantastic fun. I get to watch him practise with the rest of the band and we go to all these different parties and meet all these different people. Like I got to meet all of The Beatles! I’ve met them twice now. It’s real crazy, I tell you.” I shook my head in amazement with a massive grin slapped across my face. I was living in some daydream paradise. There was no way that life got any better than it did right then.

    “It sounds good,” dad nodded as he dropped two teabags in two mugs and then poured in the water. I glanced at him still looking slightly star dazed but it was ridiculous to expect him to grasp the enormity. Mum did. Mum understood yet dad was from the rigid box era. I wished that dad could understand just how heavenly it was to meet The Beatles. Hell, his only child was dating one of –probably the biggest- rock stars in the entire world and yet he barely batted his eyelashes. He even tried to turn Jack away to go and stay the night at the bloody pub for God’s sake!

    I blew air out of my mouth and raised my eyebrows at dad as he nudged the tea my way, “Thanks. Anyway, what have you been up to?”

    Apparently dad had been on some pretty spectacular adventures. Not. He’d been going to work. He’d been coming home and sat in his armchair and then after cooking something revolting he then went to bed. That was it. Day after day. I smiled and nodded along pretending for his sake that it sounded good.

    “Has Angie been in town?” I asked excitedly after he was finished talking. “I haven’t seen her in ages, have you seen her about?”

    Dad considered it then slowly shook his head and told me that she hadn’t returned to the village since a few days after I left and that had been weeks ago. I think it was like two months ago. My heart sank. I’d have to go see her parents tomorrow to see if they knew anything but knowing my Angie and her tumulus relationship with her parents they probably knew even less than I did.

    I had been kind enough to grace my father with my glorious presence and he had winked and asked what I was cooking for tea. I’d laughed it off but then his face slipped into a very serious expression and he told me that I was cooking. “Go on,” he egged, “Be a good girl for your old man.” So I’d huffed and rummaged around looking for something to rustle up.

    “Didn’t she even send a letter?” I asked dad. I found it really strange that Angie had just vanished. In fact it was starting to worry me. She knew both my addresses with my mum and dad and she knew that I would be expecting contact with her. Perhaps she was even more upset with me than she had let on and had decided to just cut me out of her life. Dad shook his head and mumbled as he took his cup of tea then left the room.