‘x’ and then, after a few moments, two more before the message went. He then spent the next hour wondering whether he would regret them.
He didn’t check his phone until he got back to the office. There were three texts, all from Jenny. The first told him yes, she had got back fine, the second asking whether he wanted to come over that night and the last, sent twenty minutes after the second, was simply a question mark with another sad smiley.
He decided that he had better call rather than text but, even so, was rather glad when it went straight to voicemail.
‘Hi Jen, it’s Dan. Sorry, I’ve not been ignoring you just been mad busy at work, out inspecting with Hannah all day in fact. Can I take a rain check on tonight? I’d love to but I know it’s being boring but I must do some shopping tonight. I’ll try and call you later – bye!’
Ringing off, he tried to ignore both of the guilty feelings he had; that he was pleased that he didn’t really want to talk to her directly and also that he was stringing her along when really the best thing for both of them was telling her to forget it.
He left work just after 6pm, the last thing he did being to photocopy two job adverts from Estates Gazette that looked half-promising; he thought he could draft applications for them that night. His first port of call was Tesco’s though, to get all the things that he had failed to get on Sunday night.
Not hurrying, he browsed through the magazines, books and exercise gear. He also paused at the camping section. He had plenty of camping gear but seeing it had sparked an idea; perhaps he should go away next week, have a break, get away from things. Sure it was only April but the weather hadn’t been too bad in fact, with his camera, changeable weather could be ideal for some good landscape shots. Where could he go though? Wales? Maybe, Anglesey was in easy range, and not that far if the weather was horrible to retreat back to the flat. But then he’d so like to spend some more time on the West Coast of Scotland; he’d only ever been once the summer before. It would be at least a 7 hour drive though on his own, with only the car radio and CD for company.
Still he would have plenty of time so why not?
Still mulling this over, he carried on with his shopping. Once he had got everything on his list he went back and added some camping staples; savoury rice, pasta, beans and the like. He then returned to the camping section and added a lantern that was on offer, a water carrier and some batteries. All of it would come in useful at some point even if he decided not to go in the next week.
After paying he headed straight home to the flat and put his purchases away, noting that he was low on meths for his Trangia and that he would need to visit an outdoor shop before he ventured anywhere. He then cooked a quick stir fry and settled down in front of the TV to eat it, turning to BBC2 to pick up a documentary.
He was a few minutes into the programme and about halfway down his bowl of stir fry when he realised where the TV remote had been when he used it. It should have been on the table, where he had always left it. He was pretty sure though that he had just picked it up from the arm of the settee again.
‘Dan no! Don’t start this again!’ he said angrily to himself, ‘You left it there, you!’ He was not going to give in to the paranoia. He couldn’t afford it for one thing, changing the locks had cost him over £200. He didn’t have that sort of cash to spend, not any more. He would just have to find a cheaper way of going insane.
He could not stop his eyes flicking to the window to where the dryer should be propped. No, he realised, not propped, it would be out still. He hadn’t put the clothes away yesterday and certainly not this morning when he’d woken late and had to dash to get to work on time.
But it wasn’t out.
It wasn’t even there. And he knew where it would be without the need to look. But look he had