Free A Little Love by Amanda Prowse

to Kenway Road flashed into her head. Relocating from her childhood home in Bow to Earls Court had felt like a big adventure, another world. As if she had crossed oceans and not in fact less than ten miles, door to door. She remembered looking out from the sixth-floor window at the washing lines, hidden windows and secret gardens that were only visible at that height; it had felt peculiarly intimate. In this vast city, she’d thought to herself with a little jolt of pleasure, where millions of strangers co-existed without ever interacting, she would know who washed their bed linen and when because she would see it arching against the breeze.
    ‘London’s in my blood,’ she continued. ‘I never take it for granted.’ She thought of the awe and excitement she felt each time she drove along the Embankment at night, along the curve of the river, with the buildings lit up on both sides and the different bridges. ‘For me it’s a city that gets more beautiful – the London Eye, the Shard. The skyline is constantly changing and that keeps my interest.’ She paused and waved her hand. ‘Sorry, ignore me, I’m waffling.’
    ‘No, don’t apologise. It’s lovely to hear you being so positive. I spend my life replying to complaints from people who want things to stay exactly as they are, especially if any potential build might overlook their back garden. People don’t like change.’
    ‘Not all people.’
    ‘No, quite.’ He smiled at her. ‘Not all people. But I think most find change frightening, especially at our age.’
    ‘At our age? Oh my word, we sound ancient! It’s funny, I don’t think of myself as getting on; sometimes I look in the mirror and I’m quite shocked to see this old face staring back at me, because inside I feel the same as I always did. Having said which – at least I’m still standing! Getting old is a privilege, really, don’t you think?’
    Christopher nodded, slowly. ‘Oh, I definitely do.’
    Pru put her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh God, Chris, I wasn’t thinking about Ginny. I’m sorry. Me and my big mouth.’
    ‘Not at all, it’s fine!’ He put his hand on her arm.
    She felt the shockwave from where he had touched her; it shot through her entire body. She was sure that if she looked, his fingers would have left a glowing imprint on her skin. She gave an involuntary shudder.
    ‘Gosh, you’re getting chilly now it’s dark. Come on, a brisk walk back should warm you up!’
    This time she linked her arm through his and they strolled through the dark streets, grinning at each other at the end of what had turned out to be the most wonderful day.
    They paused outside her front door.
    ‘This is very strange for me, Pru. I couldn’t stop thinking about you while I was away. I feel like a schoolboy with one eye on the windows in case your angry father is twitching the net curtains.’
    ‘He’d be bloody angry if he was and understandably so. He’s been dead for over fifty years and being brought back to twitch net curtains would try the patience of anyone!’
    Christopher laughed and looked at his shoes. ‘I would very much to see you again, if that’s okay?’
    ‘I’m not sure about that, I’ll have to ask my dad.’
    ‘In the same way that you’d ask your brother?’
    ‘Ha! Actually, no, I don’t talk to my dad in that way. That’s strange, isn’t it? Maybe I was too young to know him like I knew Alfie.’
    ‘What a funny pair we are.’
    She smiled up at him. She liked being considered part of a pair.
    Pru slipped into sleep with a grin on her face, but only a few hours later she was drenched in sweat, claimed by a horrible nightmare. She woke up suddenly and reached with a shaking hand for the glass of water that sat on the bedside table. She clicked on the lamp and sat up, trying to shake the dream from her head. It was the same one she always had, of a man with a puckered eye weeping a solitary tear. As the man blotted his face with a starched white handkerchief,