It Had to Be You Read Online Free Page B

It Had to Be You
Book: It Had to Be You Read Online Free
Author: David Nobbs
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piano, he ran his hand along the smooth walnut lid. It was a most beautiful piano. Neither he nor Deborah played. They had bought it for his brother Charles to play when he visited. James may have wished that he was Charles, but there was no envy in him. He was very proud of his brother.
    He picked up the telephone, paused for a moment, summoning up his strength, then dialled his daughter’s number. Well, he wasn’t sure if it was her number. He’d been given it by someone at a number which had previously been said to be her number. Deborah had tried it a few times, at moments when she’d felt brave, he standing beside her and touching her to give her the strength he hadn’t quite got. There had never been a reply. He felt brave now, his resolve stiffened by the task and the challenge set him by Dwight Schenkman the Third, and even more by the gin and Noilly Prat. But his chest was contracting, and his heart was beating as if it was a swallow trapped in a bedroom.
    He almost rang off. He should ring off. It wasn’t right to do this when Deborah wasn’t here. It would be a great moment, a historic moment, and she should be part of it.
    Just as he was about to ring off, there was a voice. A man’s voice.
    ‘Yep?’
    The shock was immense. He had to sit down.
    ‘Oh, hello. Um …’ He felt foolish. ‘Does … um … have I got the right number for …’ He could barely say it. ‘… Charlotte Hollinghurst?’
    Even as he spoke it the name seemed all wrong, so middle class, so … serene, satisfied.
    ‘Who is this?’
    ‘I’m her father. Charlotte Hollinghurst’s father. She … um …’ It was difficult to say the words. They made the fact of it so real. ‘… She … um … she disappeared from home a … um … long ago. Does … um …’ Oh, Lord. What answer did he want? ‘Is she … does she … live there?’
    ‘Yeah, she sure does.’
    Hope, fear but mainly astonishment surged through James. He had slowly become certain that he would never find her, that all alleys were blind, all clues imagined.
    ‘Wow.’
    ‘Yep. Wow.’
    ‘Um … who am I speaking to?’
    ‘Chuck.’
    ‘Pardon?’
    ‘I’m Chuck.’
    ‘Ah.’
    ‘Sorry.’
    ‘No, no. Not at all. Um … is Charlotte there, by any chance … Chuck?’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    An electric current ran through James, as if he had been struck by lightning. She was there, alive and at the end of a phone line. He could barely bring himself to speak.
    ‘Um … could I speak to her, please?’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    As easy as that.
    James heard the phone being put down and heard Chuck call out, ‘Babe, it’s your old man.’ Then there was silence.
    He was desperately trying to control his breathing. He was deeply shaken. Chuck and Babe? Babe and Chuck. What had happened in the last five years? How had Charlotte met Chuck? How had she become Babe? Oh, Charlotte, my … no.
    He heard nothing for a couple of minutes and wondered if he’d been cut off. How hard it would be to ring back. Then Chuck’s voice came again, and he was catapulted into sorrow that it wasn’t Charlotte speaking and relief that somebody was and, strangely, almost into a feeling that Chuck was his friend.
    ‘Hi.’
    ‘Hi, Chuck.’
    ‘She says she has nothing to say to you. Sorry.’
    How naive to have even dreamt that it would be easy.
    ‘Not your fault, Chuck. Chuck, is she all right? Is everything all right?’
    ‘Yeah, man. Cool. Everything’s cool.’
    ‘Good. Good. That’s good. Chuck, will you try again? Could you tell her for me that she may have nothing to say to me but I have something to say to her? Could you tell her that I agree with her that it’s a wicked world and that the values of our civilisation are fucking crap and will destroy our planet unless we do something about it pretty quickly?’
    ‘Wow. Cool, man.’
    ‘Thank you. I’m … um … I’m quoting her actually. Um … so would you say to her that because it’s such a wicked world it’s all

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