Chapter Twenty-three
Ellie
Friday 14 February
Valentine’s Day
Surprisingly, the most romantic day of the year flew by, and before long, Ellie headed to the Ladies’ to get changed into the little purple dress she’d thrown into a suit carrier that morning. Lauren and Kelsea had suggested after her break-up with Scott that she accompany them to a supper club event that evening. Their other halves were going to a gig, so they’d decided to do something together.
It was guaranteed to be bereft of loved-up couples, there were to be no hearts and flowers, nor was it to be one of those ghastly anti-Valentine’s events that seemed to have sprung up in recent years. Rather, it was a collection of people who wanted to mark Valentine’s Day with nice food, good friends, great music and some live comedy. The fact they would mainly be single people was immaterial. She figured what the hell and had allowed them to sign her up for it too.
The event was being held at Cuisine, which wasn’t far from where she worked. She would have walked but it was tipping it down and the sun had been sadly absent all day.
She checked her phone messages and voicemail again, her WhatsApp, her Facebook Messenger, but there was still nothing from Anouska, although Jess had sent a message, two hours ago, asking if she had heard from her. She quickly typed back that she hadn’t, then fired off a text to Anouska.
How are you feeling– physically? How did it go with Zach?
Straightaway a message pinged back from Jess . Do you think we should contact her?
Already done so. Will let you know if she replies.
Thanks.
How are you?
Settling back in. Feeling a bit more zen after some yoga classes, understandably.
I can only imagine– seriously, I can ONLY imagine!
What are you up to?
Off to that supper club event. The food is meant to be good and that comedian, Freddy Finlay, is doing a stint. Looking forward to it.
Have fun. Catch up later. Jess x
Hope you have a nice evening. Ellie x
Ellie took the lift down to the ground floor and walked outside to hail a taxi. It didn’t feel like Valentine’s Day. She couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t been part of a couple on this usually happy day. Time for a fresh start. To think ten days ago she had wanted to marry Scott. What a lucky escape.
Deposited outside Cuisine, Ellie gawped. The queue to get in snaked around the block and the evening chill seeped into her bones. Damn the taxi driver for having his heating on full blast. Now she felt even colder.
Fifteen minutes later, she was in a huge hall devoid of any hearts, flowers or any of the other paraphernalia that surrounded Valentine’s Day. She scanned the room, finally spotting table eight.
Ellie weaved her way to her table, where many of the seats were already occupied. She found her name card, sat down and began perusing the menu. It was unusually good fare for such a large event; she hadn’t expected such a fine-dining experience.
‘Hello, my darling,’ an exceedingly posh voice said.
Ellie turned to see Kelsea grinning at her, then Lauren appeared from behind her.
Ellie stood and hugged each of them in turn, then they all sat down and had a five-minute catch-up.
‘I’m starving,’ Kelsea said. ‘When are they feeding us?’
Ellie smirked. Kelsea was as bad as her, if not worse, for liking her food and lots of it.
‘Hopefully soon.’ Lauren looked at her watch. ‘I had a roll and sausage at eleven o’clock this morning and a packet of Polo mints on the train, so I could eat right now.’
No wonder she was rake thin.
‘Check out the menu. It looks amazing. I’m sure they’ll be round to take our orders soon,’ Ellie consoled them.
The organisers had surpassed themselves in offering food just as good if not better than if the attendees had been out having a regular Valentine’s Day dinner with a loved one. Scallops, bouillabaisse, goat’s cheese and caramelised onion tartlets to start; dorado, fillet steak or mushroom Wellington for mains, with grilled peppers and asparagus; and for dessert, Prosecco panna cotta, Gianduja bread and butter pudding or pistachio and hazelnut tart.
Ellie’s stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten anything apart from crackers since she had wolfed down a slice of toast that morning. As Lauren and Kelsea chatted, Ellie realised the two seats to her right were still empty. It was quite late, and she wondered if they would be no-shows.
‘Would you like something to drink?’ A waitress stood over her, iPad in hand, ready to take her order, and Ellie turned to face her.
‘Prosecco, please.’
As she slid round to face the table again, the missing guests arrived. A man and a woman. She was a mass of blonde curls and oozed bubbliness. The man towered over his companion. Six foot plus? Sandy-blonde hair. Nice eyes. He flashed her a smile. Mortified that she’d been caught checking him out, she gave a nod and focused her attention on the menu to cover her embarrassment.
Ellie spent the next few minutes talking to Lauren and Kelsea, enthusing over the menu choices with them. In the end, she opted for scallops, mushroom Wellington and the pistachio and hazelnut tart. She turned around in her seat, unsure if it was because she felt she could no longer politely ignore the man to her right, or more likely, that she wanted an opportunity to appraise him further. Disappointment coursed through her when she saw his empty place.
The woman smiled at her. ‘Hi, I’m Courtney. Lovely menu, isn’t it?’
Ellie agreed that it was, and for a few minutes they discussed how they had never been to one of these events before but how fabulous it was to have an alternative to a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner. As Courtney sipped her wine and became distracted by the person to her right, it struck Ellie that she was here with– she squinted at his name card as subtly as she could– Spencer, and even if he was easy on the eye, he was spoken for. Not that she’d be thinking of doing anything about men at the moment, but he had a nice smile. And the cerulean eyes hadn’t been lost on her. Rather, they’d held a teasing quality, almost as if he’d known he’d caught her out, and was calling her on it. Anyway, it was irrelevant. He was here with his date. Ellie gave herself a shake and turned her attention back to Kelsea and Lauren’s conversation.
‘Enjoying your scallops?’ came a voice to Ellie’s right ten minutes later.
She turned her head to see Spencer smiling at her. Wow, that was a killer smile, and those eyes. No adjective could do them justice.
He pointed a finger to himself, his eyes brimming with amusement. ‘Spencer.’
Ellie became aware she hadn’t answered his question yet and managed to respond, ‘Yes, delicious. Yours?’
Spencer indicated his bouillabaisse with his spoon, nodding. ‘Pretty good. Not as good as mine, mind you, but not bad at all.’
Ellie made a mental note that he could cook. What am I doing? He’s attached. Stop it! Stop it! She shook her head as if to eradicate unwanted thoughts about him.
‘Sorry? No, what?’
Crikey. Had she shaken her head? That was nearly as bad as talking out loud without realising it.
‘Oh, nothing. I was thinking about work. I forgot to do something.’
Well-recovered . She breathed a sigh of relief.
‘So, what is it you do…? Sorry, I don’t know your name.’
‘Ellie. I work in Marketing.’
‘Marketing…?’
‘Yes, I know, everyone seems to work in Marketing. It doesn’t really tell you what I do. I work for a travel company. How about you?’
Spencer took a sip of his wine then said, ‘I’m a graphic designer. I project-manage, working with the clients and the art director to come up with a concept they’re happy with, then I create it.’
‘Oh, we use a graphic design team obviously. Who do you work for?’
‘Myself.’
Confusion crossed Ellie’s face. ‘But…didn’t you say you work with the art director? Aren’t they your boss?’
‘No, although I do take direction from her sometimes. It’s an odd setup. I work as a graphic designer but I also own the company.’
Ellie was warming to Spencer more by the minute. A creative type with a business head, but who liked to get involved in the day-to-day tasks. She could think of a few tasks she’d like to give him, but they weren’t work ones. Where had that thought come from? Appalled and flustered for a moment, she finally said, ‘That must be an interesting story.’
His eyes crinkled at the corners. ‘I don’t know about that. I just wanted to follow my passion, so I started out, then the company became bigger than I expected, and I needed help, but I didn’t want to lose sight of what was important to me. I love to design, not manage, so I brought a management team in. That way, I could keep doing what I’m passionate about.’
Head screwed on, principled, sexy. What was wrong with her tonight? She felt as if Cupid had trained his sights on her and had no intention of letting her go. And it wasn’t appropriate. Spencer was here with his date, Courtney, who had seemed lovely when Ellie exchanged a few words with her earlier. She resolved to keep unwelcome thoughts of him out of her head, but it was difficult when she was talking to him and he was smiling at her, and those eyes. Heaven help me .
‘That’s very admirable.’ She hadn’t meant her response to sound so clipped, but she didn’t want to give away even the tiniest notion that she was attracted to him.
He grinned. ‘Fortunately Courtney’s good at all that management stuff.’ He nodded over his shoulder at her. She was mid-conversation with another guest, but winked at him.
Another reminder of him being part of a couple. It did make her wonder though why they were at this event. Maybe they simply disliked the Hallmark holiday, or the over-the-top falseness of it.
At that moment, the waitress arrived with her main course and Ellie was grateful for the distraction. She cut into her mushroom Wellington with gusto; it was sublime. Whilst she ate, her thoughts wandered. How could she feel so attracted to someone when she had only split up ten days ago from her long-standing, useless ex-boyfriend? And to top it all, it was someone unattainable– aargh!
Ellie chewed her food, sometimes able to relish its flavour, other times it tasted of nothing as she broached the dilemma in her mind. Typical, just typical. The first person she’d seen in years who had raised her pulse rate and he was spoken for. Someone up there evidently didn’t like her. She glanced heavenward subconsciously and as she looked back down to her plate, her eyes met Spencer’s again. He smiled and said, ‘You seem to be enjoying that.’
‘Delicious,’ Ellie managed, wondering if she could acquit herself well with one word, without appearing rude, whilst not inviting further conversation. It turned out she couldn’t. Either that or he was a talker.
‘Yes, I was torn between the mushroom Wellington and the fillet steak, but I was having a macho moment.’ His eyes twinkled as she took in his fillet steak covered in peppercorn sauce. Was he flirting with her? Surely he wouldn’t do that in front of his girlfriend, fiancée, wife, whatever Courtney was. Her eyes widened.
‘Look.’ He leant in towards her, his aftershave sending her senses into overdrive. ‘I know we’ve only just met, but could I take you out for dinner sometime?’
The blood drained from Ellie’s face.
‘Sorry, have I said something wrong? Too soon? I knew it. I should have waited until dessert,’ he joked. He was still trying to rescue the situation, but how could he sit there so calmly and callously ask her out when his other half was two feet away? She’d underestimated him. And she thought she had been badly off with Scott. At least he hadn’t tried to wangle– that she knew of– a date with someone whilst she was in the room.
Ellie opened and closed her mouth but no words came out. She didn’t know what to say.
‘Sorry to butt in. Spencer, that’s Mum on the phone. She’s asking if you can walk Jasper tomorrow.’
Giving Ellie an apologetic look, Spencer excused himself, took the phone from Courtney and left his seat for a few moments.
Courtney smiled at Ellie. ‘Food’s lovely, isn’t it?’
Ellie nodded, still unable to form a coherent sentence.
‘Mum’s always on at Spencer to walk Jasper. She takes advantage a bit since he lives round the corner from her.’
‘Oh, where do you live?’ Ellie asked.
‘Me? Oh, I live in Morningside, converted church. Share with three others. Spencer lives in the west end.’
‘Ah,’ Ellie said sagely. For want of something to say, she asked, ‘So, where did you two meet then?’
Courtney’s forehead scrunched up. ‘Meet?’ Then she smiled. ‘Ha ha ha, did you think we were a couple?’
Ellie’s silence told her all she needed to know.
‘He’s my big brother, by four years. My boyfriend’s doing a gap year in South America.’
Ellie was sure her sigh of relief must be audible. And she’d been having all those uncharitable thoughts about him too. Courtney continued to chatter on and Ellie tried her best not to zone her out entirely, but she couldn’t help but hope Spencer would resume their earlier topic of conversation when he returned.
‘Sorry about that. My mother doesn’t stop once she gets going.’ Spencer sat down and passed Courtney’s phone back to her. ‘I told her I’d walk Jasper.’
Courtney rolled her eyes at him then looked from her brother to Ellie and back again. ‘I’m going to the loo. Back in a sec.’
She wasn’t sure but Ellie had the distinct impression Courtney was leaving them alone together intentionally.
‘So,’ said Spencer, turning to Ellie, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. ‘Did I crash and burn or is there any chance of that date?’