CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
‘I promise I’ll behave, Katja,’ Ellie said in a high, little-girl voice.
We looked at each other and started to laugh.
Then we got in the van and I drove us back to Ellie’s old rented place in Sunnybrook.
*****
True to her word, in the kitchen Ellie allowed me to guide her over to one of the chairs that had been left. She sat down and I dragged the other kitchen chair over so she could put her feet up.
She didn’t look too comfortable, being pregnant in such an upright position on a hard chair, but she assured me she was absolutely fine.
‘I’m looking forward to watching you work,’ she smiled, although already she was back up on her feet and coming over to the table on which lay stacks of plates and saucers and a cluster of about thirty vintage teacups, most with colourful floral designs. On the other side of the table were the flat boxes, waiting to be taped together, and the packing materials.
The dresser’s interior had been cleared, the contents gathered on the table, and I quickly collected up the remaining pieces of crockery from the shelf above the twin-cupboard section below and added them to the collection on the table.
‘How will you get this big beast over to the new house?’ I asked, looking at the dresser.
‘Oh, it’s in two pieces. One rests on the other,’ she explained. ‘Rob’s kindly offered to take it over to the house in his van once I’ve finished with this lot.’
She reached for a piece of packing paper and started rolling up a cup, at which point I was forced to lay down the law.
‘Er... you promised you’d sit?’ I pointed back at the seat she’d vacated.
She grinned. ‘Okay. How about we compromise? I’ll sit at the table while I’m packing things up.’
I nodded and dragged a chair over.
‘To be honest, that’s why I told the removals men to leave the table and a couple of chairs,’ she confessed. ‘I had a feeling I’d need to sit down while I was working.’
‘I guess that’s why you left a kettle and some coffee as well.’ I nodded at the worktop. ‘Would you like a cup?’
She nodded and made to get up.
‘ I’ll make it.’ I laughed. ‘Honestly, you’re impossible.’
We drank our coffee and worked away, stacking the crockery into boxes.
And then Ellie started talking about her tour around one of Caleb’s eco houses.
‘It was fascinating, all the stuff he was telling me. It made me really think about our new house. It’s an old building, of course, but there’s still loads of little things you can do to conserve energy... stop heat escaping, that kind of thing.’
I nodded as she carried on talking about how amazing Caleb was and I tried to subtly stifle a yawn.
‘I saw that!’ She laughed. ‘Honestly, you’d be obsessed with getting draught excluders and chimney balloons yourself if you listened to what Caleb has to say on the subject.’
Now it was me who was laughing. ‘Er, I very much doubt I’d be obsessed . Mildly interested, maybe. Chimney balloons ?’
‘They stop the draught.’ She grinned. ‘He said he’d pop over to have a look at Bogg House... see if he could save us some money on our energy bills.’
‘Who? Caleb?’ I said warily.
‘No, Father Christmas,’ she laughed. ‘Yes, Caleb!’
‘Right.’
‘He offered to help us install it all, which is just as well since Zak is as rubbish as I am at DIY.’
‘That’s nice of him,’ I replied grudgingly.
‘I know. I really like Caleb. He’s a top man.’ She paused. ‘I know you’re not keen on him but I think you should give him a break. It was Ivan who acted like a big nob head that day, driving that bulldozer, not Caleb. He only tried to help.’
‘Yes, I suppose so.’ I smiled. ‘Right, plates next.’ I reached for a small stack and started wrapping them individually. ‘These are lovely.’
The sooner we could get off the subject of the marvellous Caleb the better, as far as I was concerned...
*****
At last, the final piece of crockery wrapped up and placed in a box, we were ready to transport them all across to Bogg House.
Knowing Ellie would be late back, Zak had apparently taken Maisie out for pizza at the local Italian, so we were planning to dine in on Rosie’s two portions of Thai curry.
‘I’m sure it’ll be good,’ said Ellie, on the drive over. ‘But if not, I’ve got half a large cottage pie in the fridge from last night and I could steam some vegetables to go with it?’
‘Lovely.’
She fished out her phone. ‘Plenty of time,’ she murmured.
‘For what?’
‘Oh, sorry, didn’t I say? Caleb’s coming over to look at the house tonight.’
‘To night ?’ I flashed her a wary look. If I’d known that, maybe I wouldn’t have been quite so keen to go over to Bogg House for curry. But I was committed now.
Hopefully we’d be able to have dinner before Caleb arrived...
*****
Maisie-Moo, the family collie, gave us a rapturous greeting as we unloaded the boxes and took them into the new house. Patting her and giving her head a good old scratch, I thought again how lovely it would be to have a dog.
Rosie’s food turned out to be a revelation.
‘This is definitely restaurant standard,’ said Ellie, as we demolished the fragrant Thai curry with a portion of basmati rice each, sitting at the table in her gorgeous new kitchen diner.
My mouth was full so I could only nod in firm agreement.
It really was delicious.
‘I don’t know what she did before she had Amelie,’ said Ellie, ‘but I’m sure she could make a living out of cooking.’
‘She definitely could.’
When we finished, I ordered Ellie into the living room to relax, and I was clearing up in the kitchen when the doorbell rang.
My heart sank.
Caleb!
‘I’ll go,’ I called, not wanting to disturb Ellie, and I could already feel the awkward heat rising into my cheeks as I went to the door.
If this was Ivan, I’d be totally relaxed and expecting some silly banter. But joking like that with Caleb wasn’t possible somehow.
Why did he make me feel so uncomfortable ?
Maybe it wasn’t Caleb at all. A neighbour delivering a parcel, perhaps? Except Ellie’s nearest neighbour was the farmer a mile or so up the road...
All these thoughts flashed through my brain as I opened the door.
It was Caleb.
I pasted on a smile. ‘Hi, there. Come in. I’ll get Ellie for you.’
Leaving him there, I called out in an overly cheery voice, ‘Ellie, it’s Caleb!’ I made a dash for the living room and almost knocked Ellie flying as she was coming out.
‘Oops, sorry.’ I steadied her.
She chuckled. ‘It’s fine.’ Over my shoulder, she smiled at her visitor. ‘Caleb. Thanks so much for coming over.’
I gave him another awkward smile. ‘Look, I’m going to leave you to it. I’ll see you tomorrow, Ellie.’
‘There’s no need to leave on my account,’ he said with a casual shrug, hunkering down to make a fuss of Maisie-Moo. ‘I’ll have a look around and I’ll be gone in ten minutes or so?’
I watched him running his hands over the dog’s silky fur and patting her. It was obvious he loved animals and the little collie was lapping up the attention. I liked his hands. They were a little roughened by hard work but the nails were clipped and clean.
I was suddenly transfixed, watching him stroking Maisie-Moo and imagining how those hands would feel smoothing my hair... running his fingers through it... brushing his fingertips against the side of my neck...
I was vaguely aware of Ellie speaking but I was far away.
‘Katja?’
‘Yes?’ I snapped back to attention.
I swallowed hard.
Had I really just been fantasising about being stroked by Caleb?
Crikey. I must over-tired. Yes, that’s what it was. I hadn’t been sleeping properly since the break-up. Not having a sex life probably wasn’t helping, either...
Ellie was looking a little bemused. ‘I was just saying I’m going to make some coffee for Caleb, so why don’t you stay and have some with us?’
‘Oh. Right.’
Caleb gave Maisie-Moo a final pat and stood up. They were both looking at me expectantly but it was Caleb’s eyes burning into mine that were giving me the weirdest sensation, as if my head was suddenly stuffed full of cottonwool instead of brain.
It didn’t help that the scent of him close up seemed to be messing with my hormones, like I was back in my young teen days, when modern history was my favourite lesson because I got to sit next to gorgeous Gav Blake, the class heart-throb.
I smiled apologetically at Ellie. ‘I’d better go. But thanks.’ I dashed out to collect my bag from the kitchen. ‘Things to do and all that,’ I called back.
Ellie followed me to put the kettle on. ‘Thanks so much for helping with the china. It’s such a weight off my mind. You won’t stay for just five minutes?’
‘I’d better not. See you tomorrow.’
‘Okay.’ She came with me to the door.
Caleb was coming out into the hall, so I raised my hand at him. ‘Bye. Thanks again for sponsoring me.’
I made good my escape, hurrying to the van, feeling the night air cooling my reddened cheeks.
I was past thirty but I was still blushing in awkward situations?
What the hell was wrong with me?