Chapter Thirty-Nine
As I throw back the last of my vodka and orange I notice Lorraine, out of the corner of my eye, here for round two.
‘Oh, dear, getting drunk at a fundraiser is not a good look for a young woman,’ she points out.
‘I haven’t had much yet so…’ I wave at the barman. ‘Another one of these, please.’
‘I think she’s had enough,’ Lorraine insists.
‘You got that right,’ I say with a sigh. ‘I would like another drink though.’
‘Do you think you might have a drink problem?’ she asks in a faux sweet tone.
‘Yeah, my problem is that I don’t have a drink,’ I reply.
‘I mean a problem with your drinking,’ Lorraine insists.
I roll my eyes.
‘It sounds like you’re the one who has a problem with my drinking, Lorraine,’ I point out. ‘Come on, what’s your issue?’
The barman happily pours me another. I take my straw from my empty glass, put it in my new one and resume drinking.
Lorraine seems to wait until the barman has gone to serve someone else before she speaks.
‘Look, I admit, I may have come in a little hot, but I’m just worried about my boys,’ she tells me. ‘Adam is a sweet young man, who cares deeply, and I don’t want him getting hurt. And Si, well, he means well, but there is a reason he and your brother stopped talking.’
‘Why?’ I ask.
‘It’s not my place to say,’ she continues. ‘I just would kindly ask that you leave the two of them alone, if you don’t mind. I don’t want my boys falling out.’
‘I’m not doing anything,’ I insist. ‘I’m just renting a room, while I find a place of my own.’
‘You know I do aerobics with your mother,’ Lorraine tells me. ‘We had a lovely little chat about you, from one concerned parent to the other, and she told me all about your trouble in London... Never good to hear, for a concerned parent, or a potential lover, or a potential employer for that matter.’
What is she doing? Is she threatening me?
‘Don’t make trouble for my boys, okay?’ she says firmly.
I nod my head.
‘These stories do have a way of getting out eventually though, don’t they?’ she says as she gets up from her seat. ‘And they get so twisted over time. But that won’t happen to you, not on my watch.’
Suitably smug, Lorraine wanders off.
‘Another one of these, please,’ I tell the barman.
I grab my drink, spin around on my seat, and watch Lorraine as she chats to her friends.
‘Hey,’ Adam says as he sits down next to me.
‘Hey,’ I reply.
‘Is she being friendly?’ he asks.
I nod my head.
‘She can be a bit… I don’t know, much, sometimes, he tells me. ‘She means well but – hey, we can’t all have lovely mums who make sausage rolls?’
I laugh. I really do appreciate my own mum right now.
‘Listen, I just need to nip to the loos,’ I tell him. ‘I’ll be right back.’
I, of course, don’t go to the loos, instead I go to see Lorraine. I can’t leave things like this.
‘Hey,’ I say, tapping her on the shoulder. ‘Can we talk?’
Lorraine steps to one side with me.
‘I thought I was clear before,’ she says.
I take a deep breath. If Adam says she means well then I guess what I need to do is lean into that, to reassure her.
‘Look, I feel like we’ve got off on the wrong foot,’ I begin. ‘I’m just renting a room, in a house with your sons, and they’re great guys – you’ve done such a good job. I work with Adam, and things are strictly professional, and with Si, well, I know that he really likes me, but I’ve explained to him that I’m just not looking for a relationship, and he respects that.’
Lorraine scoffs.
‘What’s so funny?’ I ask her.
‘You think Si really likes you?’ she replies. ‘He doesn’t want you – he wants revenge.’
‘What?’ I blurt. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You know Sally, your brother’s wife?’ she replies. ‘He stole her from Si. They had an affair and then Sally left Si for Rory, that’s why they fell out, and that’s why he’s chasing you. He wants to get Rory back.’
My jaw drops.
‘I’m serious, Leah, stay away from my boys,’ she says again.
I turn on my heel and walk, each step getting quicker, until I find myself bolting for the exit.
‘Hey, Leah, wait,’ Adam calls after me. ‘Hey, what’s up? Did Mum say something to you?’
‘Oh, just that your brother is only trying to shag me so that he can piss my brother off,’ I reply. ‘Apparently, Rory stole Sally from Si?’
Adam winces.
‘He did – did you not know that?’ he replies. The look on my face must say it all. ‘You didn’t know that.’
The tears hardly have time to escape my eyes before Adam pulls me close for a hug.
‘Hey, don’t cry, come on,’ he says, squeezing me. ‘Anything my mum said, she won’t have said kindly. Let me apologise on her behalf. Look, I don’t think that’s why Si is with you, I do think he really likes you – for what it’s worth.’
‘With me?’ I repeat back to him. ‘I’m not with Si. Why do you think we’re together? Did he tell you that?’
Adam winces again.
‘Look, do you want to get out of here?’ he asks.
‘More than anything in the world,’ I reply, ‘but Kerry wants us to stay until the end and look where she’s standing, she’ll notice if we leave.’
‘Yeah, but if she doesn’t see us leave then she probably won’t realise we’re gone, right? We’re both done with work, she told us to just enjoy the party so I reckon if we can get out without her noticing then we’ll be fine. Anyway, I think she’s a bit drunk.’
We both glance over at Kerry who appears to be playing peek-a-boo with one of the security blokes at the entrance.
‘Okay, so how are we going to get out?’ I ask.
‘When was the last time you climbed a tree?’
I think for a moment.
‘It was probably more than twenty years ago, when I weighed half as much and I was not wearing an outfit like this.’
I gesture towards what I’m wearing.
‘Leah, do you trust me?’ he asks. ‘Wait – was that an accidental DiCaprio line I just did?’
Oh, the amused look on his face.
‘I don’t think he said “Leah”,’ I point out. ‘But, yes, I trust you.’
‘Oh, look who’s making jokes,’ he says with a smile as he grabs my hand.
I am vaguely aware of Si’s eyes on us as Adam leads me behind the pop-up bar, but he makes no attempt to come and talk to us, and I have no intention of popping over to say goodbye to him.
‘You’re going to need to take those shoes off,’ Adam instructs. ‘You can’t climb in those chunky heels.’
‘Why do trips to the beach with you always end up with me taking my shoes off?’ I ask with a laugh.
‘Because I’m still working on the rest of your outfit,’ he jokes. ‘Come on, shoes off.’
I slip off my shoes as instructed and watch as Adam ties them together by the laces.
‘Don’t freak out, okay?’ he warns me, and I nod my head. Of course, I immediately freak out as I watch him launch my shoes up into the branches of the huge tree in the park that is on the edge of the beach. As the laces make contact with one of the high branches they wrap around it tightly, leaving my shoes dangling.
‘I can’t believe you just did that.’
I laugh in amazement.
‘We’ll get them back,’ Adam chuckles. ‘Here, let me give you a leg up.’
Without giving it much thought, I step up onto Adam’s hands and somehow manage to get onto a branch. Thankfully we don’t have to go too high, to get over the fence, which is fortunate because my tree-climbing skills were never that good.
Adam jumps and grabs a branch, pulling himself up next to me effortlessly. As we sit there alone together, hidden by leaves, I suddenly feel very safe (even though I’m not entirely sure how sturdy this branch is) and a million miles away from the fundraiser – even though it’s going on only a matter of feet below us.
‘Before we get down, do you want to talk about anything?’ Adam asks.
‘That’s okay,’ I say with a sigh. ‘I’m sorry my brother stole your brother’s girlfriend. I really had no idea.’
‘You’re the last person who needs to apologise for that,’ he replies. ‘And, look, I could never get on board with cheating, but that’s in the past now. Rory and Sally are happily married – and they’re obviously in love. There are better ways to go around it but, I know more than anyone that it isn’t always possible to fall for the most convenient people.’
Ah yes, that girl at work he’s after. He must not be having much luck with her which surprises me, not only because I think he’s gorgeous but because whenever we go into the office all the girls swoon over him.
‘I can’t believe I’m sitting in a tree,’ I say dramatically.
We stare at each other for a moment before both bursting into laughter, well, quiet laughter – we are hiding in a tree after all.
‘Seeing as though we’re up a tree, and as adults that doesn’t happen so often, why don’t we leave our mark?’
Adam grabs a penknife from his pocket and begins carving his name into the trunk of the tree. He etches an “and” symbol below his name and hands me the knife so I can do the honours. I can’t help but smile as I do as I’m told.
‘There,’ I say when I’m done.
‘Right, now to try and get you down.’
‘Can’t we just stay here forever?’ I ask, and I’m probably only half joking. Plus, there’s no way I'm going to make it out of this tree without breaking a bone.
Adam moves across to one of the other branches and then drops to the ground, landing on his feet with the grace of a gymnast.
‘Yeah, see, I can’t do that,’ I tell him.
‘Move to a closer branch and I’ll catch you,’ Adam insists, but I’m not buying it.
‘No, no, no. You can’t catch me! I’ll squash you!’
Adam chuckles.
‘Leah, you said you trust me. I jumped, you jump.’
‘Oh, and now he’s making Titanic references,’ I mumble to myself as I move to a different branch. Adam chuckles at me as I manoeuvre with the grace of a three-legged daddy long legs.
‘Okay, jump,’ he insists.
‘Are you sure?’ I call back.
‘Yep.’ Adam confidentially holds his arms out.
I make sure I am directly above him before closing my eyes and letting myself fall towards the ground.
In a matter of seconds, I am in Adam’s arms. He caught me about as easily as a normal person could catch a tennis ball, which is impressive.
Once I am back on my own feet I playfully kiss both of Adam’s arms.
‘Thank you for catching me, thank you for catching me.’
‘Oh shit, we forgot your shoes,’ he points out.
‘You said you could get them back,’ I tell him.
‘Not from this side, we’ll have to come back when the fundraiser is finished and I’ll get them down, don’t worry.’
I give him an unimpressed look, but at least we don’t have any rain forecast anytime soon.
‘I think you need cheering up tonight,’ Adam says. ‘Shall we go out?’
‘That would be great,’ I reply. ‘But I’m going to need some shoes.’
‘Here,’ Adam says as he turns his back to me. ‘Hop on, I’ll piggyback you to the shops, buy you any pair of shoes you like and then we’ll party.’
I do as I’m told and climb onto Adam’s back so he can piggyback me – again.
‘That’s very kind of you,’ I say as we head for Main Street, where the shops are, ‘but I get the feeling you’re only saying any pair of shoes I like because you know my options will probably be limited.’
‘That never crossed my mind,’ he says through a smile.