Chapter 10
Time had stood still. The cream and green cupboards, the matching enamel stove, the battered timber table top – all just as they had once been. Clare might have been eleven-years-old again. The funny thing was that she couldn’t have recalled a single thing about that kitchen if you’d asked her an hour earlier. But now? Now she recognised each tiny detail.
‘Mick,’ called Dan, still holding Jack aloft. ‘Got something for you.’
Her grandfather emerged from the hallway. Unlike the kitchen, he had changed. The few strands on his head were white now. His clothes hung loose on a skinny frame and the years showed on his lined face. But he still stood tall, unstooped, and when he saw Clare, his smile was as warm as ever.
‘Well, look at you,’ he said, taking her in, not seeming to no
