Four
After lunch, I phoned Berry.
‘I had a hangover this morning,’ I said stopping to sit on the cold, hard, plastic seat at the bus stop shelter. ‘I’ve still got a bit of a headache, even though I took some tablets a while ago.’
‘Been to lunch with the folks?’ she asked.
‘Uh-huh. Erm. Did Paul give me a lift home last night?’
‘Can’t you remember?’ I could hear the laughter in her voice.
‘Not exactly, no.’
‘Of course he gave you a lift. You could hardly walk.’ Now she laughed aloud.
‘Erm. Did you come with him?’
‘Why? What’s up?’
‘I don’t remember getting changed into my PJs, that’s all. I wondered if either you … or he … helped me.’
Now she roared with laughter.
‘It was me, you silly cow. Do you honestly think I’d let my brother undress you? He did carry you up the stairs though. I was going to stay the night because you were really out of it. But you insisted you were fine and after I got you into your PJs and made you clean your teeth, you did seem to sober up, so I thought you were okay. Fancy a hair of the dog?’
‘I do, actually. But I can’t. I’ve got Christmas decorations to make. Plus, I want to put up the rest of my own decorations. The outside ones at least. I haven’t even started on the indoors yet. My heating’s playing up and I may need to spend a night or two at my parents, so I’ve got to get home now and get as much done as I can. When I’m at my place I can work till late and get up early, but Mum doesn’t like me making decorations at their house. She says I make such a mess and she finds glitter for weeks afterwards. They bolt the front door on the dot of ten, so I need to be there by nine-fifty-five at the latest. It’s almost three now so that only gives me a few hours.’
‘I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Your mum is weird. But what’s this about your heating? Have you called out an engineer?’
‘Yep. He can’t come till Tuesday. Apparently, it’s only an emergency if you’ve got kids or old people in your home. People in their thirties can freeze. I do have heating. At least I did this morning. But I have to turn it on and off manually.’
‘Heaven forbid!’
‘Sarcasm is not appropriate. How would you like waking up in a freezing bedroom and having to go downstairs to turn on the heating, and then wait hours for the place to warm up?’
‘Okay. You’re right. I wouldn’t like that. You could come and stay with me. But you’d have to share my bed, and my sitting room and kitchen are tiny, as you know, so I’m not sure how helpful that would be.’
‘Thanks for the offer, but I’ll go home and work. I’m not driving today because I’m not sure I’m fit to do so, and if the police stopped me, I’m fairly certain I’d still be over the limit. It’s downhill to Mum and Dad’s but it’s all uphill going home, so that also takes time.’
‘How did you get to your parents’ house?’
‘I walked.’
‘In this weather! It’s freezing.’
‘I know. I’ve stopped at the bus shelter near Mum and Dad’s but I don’t think many buses run on a Sunday. I was going to ask Dad for a lift but then they’d ask why I wasn’t driving.’
‘You’re thirty-six, Noelle. You’re allowed to get drunk.’
‘Yeah? You tell my parents that.’
‘Wait there. I’ll get Paul to come and get you and give you a lift. I would do it myself but I’m probably still over the limit too.’
‘No! You can’t ask Paul to drop everything to take me home. Isn’t he with his girlfriend?’
‘Blimey. You were drunk last night, weren’t you? Didn’t you hear the blazing row they had just before the pub closed? Well the blazing row she had. Paul just took it in his stride as he always does. But she walked out and said she never wanted to see him again.’
‘What?’ I almost slid off the seat in the bus stop shelter. ‘How did I miss that?’
‘I think you might’ve fallen asleep by then. Anyway, it’s over.’
‘It’s over? Really? Just like that?’
‘Paul says it’s been a long time coming. And let’s be honest, neither you or I like her, do we? She was always telling him to do this or do that or do something else. But I can tell you all about it later. Let me call him first and tell him to come and pick you up.’ The irony of that statement wasn’t lost on me. ‘Are you sure you don’t have time for a quick drink?’
‘Well. Maybe just the one. And I do mean, one, Berry.’
‘Great. I’ll call Paul now and we’ll see you in a mo.’
Paul and his girlfriend had broken up? Could this really be true? I had to tell Madi right away.
‘You’re kidding?’ she said when I shared the news. ‘See. I told you things could only get better today, didn’t I?’
I laughed at that. ‘I’m not sure how Paul and his girlfriend splitting up makes things better.’
‘Of course it does. It means the hunk of a man is free and single. Now’s your chance. Wouldn’t you like to have a man in your life?’
‘Erm. Yes. It would be nice. And I’d definitely like to have Paul in my bed, I can’t deny that. But I’m so busy with my business that I’m not sure I have time to start a relationship, as tempting as it is. Besides, just because they’ve split up, it doesn’t mean he’d ask me out. I know he likes me as a friend, but I have no idea if he’d consider me as his girlfriend.’
‘There’s only one way to find out. Show the guy you’re interested, and see where it goes from there. And there’s no time like the present.’
I had also told her that Berry was getting him to come and pick me up and that we were going to the pub for a quick drink.
‘I don’t know, Madi.’ I was already having doubts, despite the fact that I had had similar thoughts the moment Berry had told me. ‘What if we did start dating, and we slept together, and then discovered we didn’t get on, or something? That would make things difficult between us, and it would threaten my friendship with Berry. I’m not sure it’s worth the risk.’
‘Worth the risk? What is wrong with you today? Why are you looking on the dark side of this? You’re usually an optimist, not a pessimist. What if things worked out so well between you two that you got married and had kids? Then you’d have a new family. A loving family. I’m not saying you don’t have a loving family now, but yours isn’t the touchy-feely sort, is it? Apart from you and your Gran. Paul, Berry, and their parents, are definitely more affectionate, aren’t they? Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?’
Madi knew me so well. Possibly better than I knew myself.
‘Yes,’ I admitted. ‘I’ve always wanted that. And you’re right. Things might go well between us. Assuming he is interested in me. And there’s no harm in finding out. I’m not sure why I’m not my usual, cheery self. Especially as it’s now December and so close to Christmas.’ I let out a long sigh.
‘I think it’s those neighbours of yours,’ Madi said. ‘You had such high hopes of the three of you becoming friends, and yet here you are, one year later, not that much closer to being friends than you were the day you moved in.’
‘That’s not strictly true. We talk now.’
But Madi was right. I had initially had high hopes for the three of us becoming friends, and the two of them keeping me at arm’s length had made me feel … well, a bit like Mum always made me feel. That I wasn’t quite good enough.
That was why I had always made myself look on the bright side of life. I wanted to be open-minded and open-hearted. I wanted to see the best in people. I wanted to love … and to be loved.
It wasn’t simply that though. Since Adele and Marcus had finally started speaking to me, and I was getting to know them, I had discovered that the two of them had a lot of things in common.
They had both told me in conversation, and without either of them realising I was asking specific questions, that they liked long walks, especially in Fairlight Glen. They both loved wildlife, and birdwatching. They both loved sailing, yet neither owned a boat, or were even members of the Fairlight Bay sailing club – which was odd. They both liked the same types of food, and films, and so many other little things that it made me wonder if Madi had been right and they had once dated or something.
But if so, why hadn’t that worked out? And why did they ignore one another, even though they now spoke to me?
I really needed to get to the bottom of this and I needed to speed things up. I might be utterly and completely wrong, but something inside me told me that Adele and Marcus were made for one another. I just had to find a why to get them both to see what I saw. Or, if they had once dated and something had gone wrong, to find a way to put that right.
Maybe Madi was also right about Paul. And as his car turned into the road and he headed towards me, I smiled.
‘Paul’s here,’ I told Madi. ‘I’ll call you later.’
‘Make sure you do,’ she said. ‘And I want to hear all the naughty little details, if there are any. Which I sincerely hope there will be.’
‘Your chariot has arrived,’ Paul said with a gorgeous smile, after pulling up at the bus stop and opening his front window.
‘Thanks for this,’ I said, getting into the passenger seat while having a few naughty thoughts of my own. ‘No Berry?’
‘I thought I’d pick you up first, as you were waiting in the cold. She’s in the warm so we’ll get her now.’ He headed towards her flat. ‘And talking of cold, Berry said you’ve got problems with your heating.’
‘I have,’ I said, thinking that Paul could keep me warm if I played my cards right. ‘I’ve booked someone to sort it out, hopefully, but he can’t come until Tuesday.’
‘Tuesday? Well, I suppose December’s a busy month for plumbers. Heating breakdowns, burst pipes, and all that. Are you staying with your parents until it’s fixed?’
‘Yes. Much to Mum’s delight.’
Our eyes met and he smiled as if he could read my mind. Which maybe he could.
‘If that gets too much, there’s a spare room at my place.’
I almost choked. Had he just offered me his spare bedroom?
‘Oh! Erm. Thanks. That … that’s so kind.’
And oh, so tempting. Was it too late for me to say Mum said it wasn’t convenient for me to stay at their house?
‘And I have heating,’ he added with a wink.
Who needed heating when a gorgeous guy like Paul winked and smiled and made all the blood in my veins boil with pure lust and set all my senses on fire?
‘When can I move in?’
He looked at me again as we stopped at a set of traffic lights and I was sure steam must be coming out of my ears. Dear god, this man was soooo sexy.
‘Whenever you like,’ he replied his words dripping with honey.
Oh.
My.
God!
Was Paul saying what I thought he was saying?
The loud ring of his phone broke the spell … and the sexual tension. Which was just as well because if it hadn’t, I might’ve thrown myself onto his lap and had sex with him right then and there. Even if the traffic lights turned green.
But the name that flashed up on his dashboard display dampened my enthusiasm. It was his girlfriend. Or ex-girlfriend.
He hesitated for a moment and then rejected the call, throwing me an embarrassed and boyish sort of smile.
‘Nothing to say,’ he said, and then cleared his throat as the lights did change to green and he concentrated on turning right and avoiding the cyclist who didn’t seem sure where his bike should be.
‘Berry told me about last night,’ I said, when the cyclist was out of Paul’s way. ‘I’m sorry I was so drunk. And thank you for carrying me upstairs.’
He gave me another of those gorgeous smiles. ‘Anytime. I think you slept through the drama. But Berry’s filled you in today?’
‘Uh-huh. I’m sorry things went wrong between you.’
‘Are you?’ His eyes briefly scanned my face. ‘It’s been a long time coming. I should’ve ended it when…’ He gave another small cough. ‘A while ago. But I didn’t.’
‘Not something that can be sorted out?’
‘No.’ He laughed sardonically. ‘Absolutely not. It’s over.’
‘Wow!’ I said, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. ‘And you’re okay?’
He shot me another look. ‘I’m good. You?’
‘Me?’ What was he asking me now? ‘I’m good.’
He smiled and his hands tightened on the wheel. ‘Yes you are,’ he said, his voice so soft I could hardly hear it.