Chapter Sixteen
The moment Bluebell got wind of the fact Maddie had been invited out to dinner with James, she set about figuring out how they could make it an entire weekend.
“We can say we’re going to Autumn’s for a girls’ night, you can get ready there, then fuck off out with James. You can say you’re staying the night, then the two of you can get a hotel! That’s what I would do.”
“An excellent idea, but how do we get around Marley being there?” Maddie asked.
That stumped Bluebell. “Autumn will have the answer to that question,” she said.
Bluebell was right. Autumn did have the answer.
“He’s desperate for a night out with his theatre friends, so I’ll tell him we’re having a girls’ night and send him off to London for the evening.
He’ll get smashed, and either stay over or be back so late and so drunk he won’t know who’s in the house and who isn’t. ”
“Sounds like a plan,” Bluebell said. “Can we orchestrate it for this weekend?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely we can,” Autumn said. “I’ll come back to you this afternoon, but consider it on for tomorrow night. I know for a fact he’ll jump at the chance.”
As promised, Autumn delivered. It turned out Marley — who had worked his notice period and had hardly left the village since — really was desperate for a night to blow off steam.
Now that their wedding was significantly slimmed down — which Marley was relieved about, despite being a little bit annoyed about how their true feelings had come out to his family — he was no longer feeling the pressure of helping organise it, but he was immensely stressed at the responsibility that came with being a stay-at-home parent.
He loved Benjamin, but maybe needed some time away from him.
He jumped on the idea the moment Autumn suggested it, calling his friends and excitedly planning a pub crawl around Borough Market.
“Absolutely everyone is up for it,” he told Maddie enthusiastically. “All the old crew are going to be there. We’re going to see a show first. I’m not sure which one yet, then we’ll head out for dinner and then out for the evening. I can’t wait.”
“Sounds like fun,” she said. “We’ll be drinking cheap Prosecco and scranning Chinese food at yours.”
“Booze, good food, great company,” Marley said. “Sounds the same, just different.”
In fact, Maddie had no idea what she would be eating, as James handled the specifics.
She only knew she needed to dress nicely and bring an overnight bag, which he told her via a note attached to a bunch of flowers he left in a vase by her bed the night before they were due to go away.
She discovered them with Bluebell, who had taken to sleeping in Maddie’s room with her whenever James wasn’t staying over, so that she could get a full update on how things were progressing.
Maddie hadn’t thought her sister could love James more than she already did, but she was wrong.
“I swear to fuck, if you don’t marry him, I will,” she said.
Maddie rolled her eyes. “You don’t even believe in marriage,” she pointed out.
“I might, if I had a man like that,” Bluebell said.
* * *
Maddie and Bluebell made their way to Autumn’s and Marley’s house early Saturday afternoon, just as Marley was about to leave to catch his train.
He looked smart in a pair of emerald-green, corduroy trousers and a crisp white shirt.
He’d swapped out the studs he wore in his ears for a couple of dangly earrings and put on a chain.
He looked younger, somehow, like the Marley of old times.
“Sisters,” he greeted them at the door, hugging them one by one. “Can’t stay. I’m meeting Pip at King’s Cross for a swift one before I meet everyone else.”
“Tell him we love him,” Bluebell said.
Marley nodded, putting on his coat. “He already knows that, but I will. Goodbye, my love.”
“Bye,” Autumn kissed him. “Don’t talk to any strange women.”
“Ha!” Marley barked a laugh. “Bye, Benjamin!”
“Bye, Daddy!” Benjamin called from inside. Marley skipped through the front door and headed down the street towards the train station. Maddie and Bluebell watched him turn the corner, then stepped into Autumn’s and Marley’s teeny-tiny home, basking in the heat from their log fire.
“I love this house,” Maddie said, taking off her shoes.
Autumn smiled gratefully, urging them both further inside.
The house was detached, with a garden that wrapped all the way around it.
It was built from grey stone and covered in ivy.
The front door opened directly into their living room, which had original flagstone flooring and stained beams lining the walls and roof.
They had a giant, emerald-green, velvet sofa in the centre of the room, perched atop a giant rug, and the walls were lined with shelves and bookcases stuffed with ornaments and novels.
There were cushions and blankets everywhere, pictures Benjamin had drawn tacked to the walls, and bunches of flowers on every available surface.
Autumn and Marley could afford something bigger, but they loved the house’s character.
Since they didn’t plan on having any more children, it was all they needed.
Benjamin was sitting on the couch, eating an apple and watching cartoons. He barely looked up as they entered.
“Oi,” Autumn chastised him. “Say hello to your aunties.”
“Hi, Aunties,” he said, his eyes flitting to them briefly and then settling back on the television.
“Sorry,” Autumn said. “He’s obsessed with television at the moment. I’m trying to get him out of it, but to no avail. It’ll probably work to our benefit tonight, though.”
“Worst mother ever,” Bluebell teased.
“Don’t,” Autumn said. “I feel terrible about it. I had all these ideals when he was a baby. We were going to restrict TV and only buy educational toys and spend our weekends making crafts and baking cookies, but it just doesn’t work out like that in reality.
I do try, but he’s happiest when he’s watching brightly coloured, addictive crap on the television. ”
“It never did us any harm,” Maddie said, pulling a bottle of Prosecco out of the bag she was carrying.
Autumn received it gratefully, leading the way to the galley kitchen — long, thin and tastefully decorated.
The walls were panelled and painted sapphire blue to match the vintage aga stove.
Autumn and Marley displayed their wine glasses artfully on a mounted bar.
Maddie got three down while Autumn retrieved a bottle of wine from the cooler.
“Thanks, Mads,” Autumn said, popping open the Prosecco. “What are you wearing tonight?”
“It’s a toss-up,” Maddie said, passing her the glasses one by one. “Jeans and a nice top, or a little black dress. It’s hard to know what to pick when I don’t know where we’re going.”
“You’ll look gorgeous in either,” Bluebell said, sighing and taking a seat. “Is Marley coming back tonight, Autumn?”
Autumn chuckled. “Is he shite. He’s rented an Airbnb somewhere near London Bridge.”
“I’ll look forward to a drunk dial from him later, then,” Bluebell said. “He’s an absolute nuisance when he’s pissed.”
“He just wants to make sure you all know he loves you,” Autumn said, defensively.
“Did he used to do it this much before Bowie died, or did it start after, I can’t remember?
” Bluebell asked, visibly thoughtful. Maddie shrugged.
She couldn’t remember, but she had a feeling Marley had perhaps transferred his habit of drunk-dialling Bowie onto them when they’d lost him.
He certainly did it more often these days, almost every single time he was drunk.
She’d be lying if she said she minded. She’d never tire of hearing how much her family loved her, of being reminded they thought of her often.
“What do we do when he calls later and asks to talk to Maddie?” Autumn said.
Maddie pondered. “Tell him I got pissed and went to bed.”
Autumn and Bluebell nodded, sipping their wine. “I mean, you’ll likely be in bed anyway, so it’s not like we’ll be lying,” Bluebell said. Maddie raised her eyebrows suggestively. Her sister laughed.
“I bloody love those early days,” Autumn said.
“When you can’t get enough of each other.
It’s the best. But still, I love where Marley and I are now.
There’s something nice about us being a long-standing unit, you know.
Not a new couple, just... Autumn and Marley.
Our life is repetitive and predictable, but it’s happy and calm.
It’s peaceful and safe. I love what we’ve built. ”
Maddie knew what Autumn meant, especially about being consumed with each other.
It felt like every time she and James met, they had to have sex before they did absolutely anything else, or they would explode.
It was thrillingly addictive, but it was also frustrating, and that was both a blessing and a curse.
Maddie loved their time together, but they were also busy.
Between going to bed together and working hard to get the house ready for opening, there was little time for anything else.
Maddie wasn’t sure what ‘anything else’ was, exactly, she hadn’t had time to give it much thought.
She just knew she wanted it. She loved their connection, but Autumn had summed it up for her, there was something to be said for the beautiful normalcy couples shared once they’d settled into things.
Autumn and Marley had it, as did her mum and dad.
Maddie was starting to feel like it was high time she had it, too.