No going back - 22. Colin 8

Colin stared at the email and pressed send. He was doing it on his laptop at home, he didn't trust using his phone, his typing left a lot to be desired and this email had to be right. Well, two emails really. He had been sitting on the emails from Annalisa, knowing he ought to answer them but not knowing how.

The first email from her had simply been a couple of pictures of the girls in their party frocks. He had replied simply 'Cute', but then another had come through, this one was of the girls and his Mum in this Mum's garden. At first, he'd been paranoid that Annalisa was getting at him about the state of the garden now that he wasn’t going regularly. Except, they were really just sweet pictures of the girls with his Mum, all looking happy. It seemed to be an after-school visit, judging by the light and by the girls' dresses, so no Miles. Which was interesting.

He had simply left it. Owain had agreed that Colin needed to answer something and had said that Colin ought to think about being positive. But with Owain being ill, and refusing to admit that he was ill, Colin hadn't wanted to stress him out over it. Besides it wasn't fair on Owain if he constantly had to deal with Colin's family saga, and Owain himself suggested that he wasn't the best person to give advice about dealing with your family. He had a point there.

Then his mate Jase had appeared, at Owain's new house. The man had simply pitched up one evening, Bruno and Jimmie had been there, working extra to get the job done, and Bruno had appeared to say there was a bloke at the door. Jase had a broad grin on his face and when Colin asked how he'd known where Colin was, Jase said that he'd seen the van and called him a pillock. Except Colin knew Jase, and he bet the man had put Pocklington together with other information and come looking. The bloke didn't actually say, but Colin was pretty certain that Jase had gone to all the trouble because he had been concerned about Colin. After all, as far as his mates at the pub were concerned, Colin had come out to them and then virtually disappeared.

Colin grabbed two of Owain's beers from the fridge and took Jase outside. He'd had to explain whose house it was, and why they were working late, which led to a lot of other things. Colin realised that perhaps he should have kept Jase in the loop a bit more; Jase was one of his few mates that might be called a friend. After getting the initial explanations and news sharing over, Jase had asked Colin how his Mum was dealing with him being gay. Jase would ask that, after all, Colin’s Mum had been a constant in his life, cropping up in conversation with his maters even if it was only Colin saying had seen so-and-so on the box at his Mum's, and then Jase had helped a mate do a rewiring job at her house, so the two had met.

Colin had pulled a face, when Jase asked about her, and given him the whole saga. His take on it was interesting because Jase had a pretty normal relationship with his parents, that is they got on fine but there were ups and downs, just like anyone. Jase agreed that Miles was a wanker of the first order, and any move there would have to come from Miles. But regarding Colin's Mum, Jase's suggestion had been to ignore it.

At first Colin had assumed the man meant the harsh, no speaking treatment, but in fact he suggested pretending that nothing had happened. Keep talking or emailing and providing news. After all, there was the new house, the new boyfriend, not to mention the garden at Owain’s new house needing attention.

Jase left with a loose agreement that when Owain was back to fully functioning the four of them would meet up for a drink at the wine bar, Verro. Evidently, Jase's girlfriend, Monique, had been there with 'the girls' but Jase had never tried it. Colin hoped that Owain liked the two of them, it'd be a grim evening otherwise.

And so, here he was. Writing emails. The one to Annalisa had been quite straightforward, a few pics of his work on Owain’s new house and a word or two about how his boyfriend Owain had been ill, and Colin and his team were trying to get the house ready for when Owain was up and about.

The one to his Mum started out the same, but he added a couple of photos of the garden, saying that Colin planned to be spending more time at the new house with Owain and once things were shipshape inside, they needed to turn their minds to the garden. Perhaps his Mum should get Annalisa to run her over one day during the holidays so she could give him some advice.

That sentence got written and erased rather a lot, but in the end, he made himself stop havering and send it. His Mum could always say no. And after all, she could even come on the train, it wasn't impossible. A bus to Wigan and then a fast train to Crewe and Colin could pick her up there. He'd suggested it before, but it had never happened.

Of course, nothing happened. His Mum didn't read her emails very often, whilst he imagined that Annalisa would only do hers when Miles wasn't about. Did Miles even know she was sending stuff to Colin?

But, as if fate or someone was having a good old go at pulling his strings, Auntie Anne phoned him. She wasn't his aunt, just an old friend of his Mum's whom Colin had called Auntie out of courtesy when he was a kid and it kind of stuck. She was someone he usually saw regularly when he went home, and she'd only phoned Colin once before, when his Mum had been taken ill and couldn't come to the phone herself. So this phone call was a bit of a surprise, and a shock.

"Is Mum, OK?"

>Of course, love, she's right as rain. It were you I was worried about.

"Me?"

>Well, what with you not being around. That’s not like you. I asked your Mum, and she were a bit close-mouthed about it, said you were busy, like. But I got it out of her in the end. About you being gay and all that and having a boyfriend.

Colin felt like laughing, though he kept quiet. Despite their long friendship, his Mum had always referred to Anne as a nosey besom, one who was adept at getting information out of people. She was, in a word, an old gossip, but one with a heart of gold.

>I told her that she ought to be thankful that you've settled, what with the business and now a young man. I said to her, 'what counts is that he's happy'.

What followed was a long rambling tale of one of Anne's grandsons (who were in their 20s) who kept getting into trouble because of a wandering eye for the girls, and another grandson whose brother-in-law was gay, which meant that Anne felt herself an expert on all things gay. Colin listened with half an ear, but kept noting how frequently Anne said, 'And I told your Mum'. It seemed that his Mum had got quite an earful from Anne, and frankly what the woman said made more sense than a lot of folk do.

They chatted some more, and he told her about his work on the house and how they needed to get the garden sorted. Almost her last words were 'Your Mum ought to take a look, I'll mention it to her', and as Colin put the phone down, he laughed out loud.

He would tell Owain, somehow the news felt far more positive, and Colin was happier that he could update Owain and not feel like it was one disaster after another.