Chapter 28 #2
Leah considers this. “Fine,” she says with a gracious tilt of her head, like she’s doing me a favour. “I’ll book in for a night or two and we can take things from there.”
Take things from there. She’s already treating my boundary as the start of a negotiation rather than the end of one. But I’m too tired to fight another round. Today’s battle, at least, has been won. She won’t be sleeping in my house tonight. I’ll deal with the next battle when it comes.
“Anyway . . .” Leah says lightly, casually. “Who is she, then?”
I don’t answer, just shake my head.
“I’m not angry, Douglas. I told you that. I just think I should know.”
“I’m not talking about this with you, Leah.”
“Fine. I’m sure I’ll hear soon enough.” She examines her nails. “You know what this town is like.”
When the front door opens half an hour later, I quickly slip into the hall and close the living room door behind me. Leah can wait a minute.
Logan is already tugging his jacket off. Behind him, Mum leads Rosie in by the hand. Both kids look tired. Not sleepy tired. Off-kilter tired.
“Right, well, we’ll leave you to it,” Mum says to me. Her gaze flicks towards the living room, then she reaches out and gives my shoulder a squeeze.
“Thanks, Mum.”
Da, standing outside, says nothing, but he gives me a nod. I return it, then he and Mum head back down the path and I close the door.
“All right.” I force some normality into my voice. “Shoes off, you two.”
The twins sit on the bottom step to pull them off, and I crouch down in front of them. “I didn’t get a chance to say earlier, but I missed you this weekend. Both of you. I can’t wait to hear all about your sleepovers.”
Rosie looks up. “We missed you too, Daddy.”
Logan nods, then he launches himself at me, throwing his arms around my neck. A second later Rosie joins in, pressing herself into my side, and for a few moments I just hold them, my throat tight.
Then I straighten and ruffle Logan’s hair. “Come on,” I say. “Let’s head through, eh?”
Leah is waiting on the sofa, and when she sees the twins, she’s all bright smiles. “There you are! Did you have a good time at the park?”
Logan shrugs.
“It was fine,” Rosie offers.
Undeterred by the twins’ cool reception, Leah says, “You know what I was thinking? How about I treat us all to dinner at the Ferryman’s Rest? That would be nice, right?”
God help me. The four of us walking into the pub like a family? Heads turning, conversations stalling, the whole town drawing conclusions and constructing a story that isn’t true?
No, there is absolutely no chance we’re doing that. But I’m also not about to send the twins off with Leah without me. Not when they’re out of sorts.
That’s why I say, “Let’s do a takeaway. From the chippy. We’ll eat here.”
“Oh, yes! The four of us round the kitchen table again.” Leah clasps her hands to her chest. “Perfect!”
My stomach twists. I still can’t get my head around what is happening, or the fact Leah picked now to show up.
Then Leah adds, “And . . . how much is a takeaway nowadays?”
I close my eyes and sigh. “I’ll pay for it.”
I’m sitting on the sofa, staring at the wall, while Leah is upstairs tucking the twins in before she heads off to the Harbour Inn. I figured she couldn’t do too much damage during the nighttime routine. Read a story, say goodnight, leave. Simple enough.
I’m trying to make sense of the day. This morning—this morning—I woke up in a hotel room with Ellie. The warmth of her body against mine. The rare peace of having nowhere else to be and no one else to answer to.
And now this.
I sit. And I sit. Minutes pass, then more minutes.
The house is quiet—too quiet. Aye, the twins can sometimes be a nightmare to get to sleep, but they’ve been subdued all evening, and there’s been no noise from upstairs.
No shouts, no negotiations, no Logan insisting he’s not tired while yawning every three seconds.
So why has Leah been gone so long?
I wait a little longer, then I’ve had enough. I get up and climb the stairs. The twins’ bedroom door is ajar. I gently push it open.
Rosie is fast asleep in the bottom bunk, duvet pulled up to her chin. And Logan is curled in the top bunk, puffin toy hugged close, breathing deep and even.
But Leah isn’t here.
I step back into the hall. The bathroom door is open, the light off. Which leaves—
I push open my bedroom door.
Leah is lying in my bed, under the covers, her clothes folded neatly on the chair by the window.
“What the fuck?” I hiss. “Get out!”
She laughs. “Don’t be silly, Douglas.”
“We agreed you’d book the inn tonight.”
“You weren’t being serious about that, were you?” She stretches, catlike, then settles back against the pillows. “Besides, I’m tired. It’s been a long day, and we had such a nice evening.” She pats the space beside her. “Come on. Get in here.”
I stand in the doorway of my bedroom, looking at this woman in my bed, and realise I’m trapped.
I can’t physically remove her, especially not after she recoiled from me earlier, rubbing her shoulders, claiming I didn’t know my own strength when I was only stopping her from kissing me.
If I so much as touch the duvet, she’ll twist that into an accusation against me.
Part of me wants to march straight out of the house, but it’s my house, and my children are asleep in the next room. I’m not leaving them.
I pull the door shut on her and go back downstairs, then lower myself onto the sofa. This is where I always end up when Leah is here, except it wasn’t where I was supposed to sleep tonight. Leah, though, has got her own way again, as she always does.
I sit for a minute, maybe two, but I know what I need to do. I need to call Ellie. Leah is in Ardmara—in my bed—and Ellie has a right to know.
I get back to my feet, go through to the kitchen, close the door behind me, and call her.
She picks up on the second ring. “Hey, you.” Her tone is warm, happy.
“Hi. How are you doing?”
“Good.” A small pause. “Well, there was a bit of a difficulty with Mum when I got back. She hated me being away for two nights, and boy, did she let me know about it. But I’ve decided I’m not going to let that get to me. It’s like you said when you dropped me off. We’re going to make this work.”
I press my hand to my forehead. Christ, this isn’t going to be easy. “Ellie. I need to tell you something.”
“Okay,” she says, uncertainty creeping into her voice.
“Leah is here, in Ardmara. She was waiting in the house when I got back.”
Silence.
“Are you still there, Ellie?”
“Yes, sorry. I’m still here.”
I tell her everything exactly as it happened. Ellie’s quiet, until I describe Leah’s accusation when I stopped her from kissing me. “That’s bollocks!” she exclaims. “You would never—”
“I know. It’s just what she’s like. She lies, Ellie. And she can be convincing about it.”
I keep going, describing how I told Leah to book into the Harbour Inn. How we had dinner together because I didn’t want to leave the twins alone with her. How I let her tuck the twins in, and how I discovered her in my bed.
Humiliation burns through me as I recount it all. I feel helpless, and stupid. I should never have let Leah go upstairs with the twins, but I’d never have guessed she’d do this.
After I’m done, Ellie doesn’t say anything right away. I wonder what she thinks of me. She deserves so much better than this mess of a situation.
Finally she says, “I’m coming round.”
“What? No, I don’t want to drag you into this. I’ll sleep on the sofa tonight. Besides, it’s late, you’ve got work tomorrow, and—”
“Douglas, I’m coming round, and that’s that. You need me there.”
I’m torn, because part of me—a large, desperate, aching part—wants her here, but I know that’s selfish. I know what Leah is like, and I need to protect Ellie from her.
“Ellie, listen to me. Leah is manipulative. She knows how to get under people’s skin. I don’t want her hurting you, so it’s best if you—”
“I understand,” Ellie interrupts. “I’m coming anyway. You don’t have to face her alone, Douglas. Besides, I won’t accept no for an answer.”
I close my eyes and let out a breath. “Okay.”