Chapter 32
By Sunday morning, the house had never been cleaner, the garden had never been tidier and even the Grow-Well was looking winter ready, thanks to my forty-eight-hour spree.
I, on the other hand was looking rather frayed around the edges because it didn’t matter how much I exhausted my body, my brain was still wide awake and keen to torture me with thoughts and memories I could neither stop nor control.
‘Hugh and I thought we’d drive up to the coast to see the geese today,’ Rafe said as he served up a cooked breakfast I wasn’t sure I would be able to eat. ‘Give you a bit of peace.’
I had told him that Erik was going to be calling round at some point, and he’d obviously engineered a trip to give us some privacy. I appreciated that more than I felt able to say, so I simply nodded and buttered some toast.
‘Oh, my darling—’ he began but I cut him off.
‘Don’t,’ I begged. ‘Please, don’t. If you’re nice to me, I’ll cry.’
We hadn’t talked further about how I was feeling but Rafe was a sensitive and intuitive man and had homed in on my true emotions, despite my efforts to hide them.
‘We’ll probably be home quite late,’ he said softly. ‘But if you want us at any point, just message and we’ll head straight back.’
‘Okay,’ I swallowed. ‘Thank you.’
Someone knocking on the front door called time on the conversation and I practically jumped out of my skin.
‘I’m certain that will be Hugh,’ Rafe said to calm me down. ‘I’m sure Erik won’t be calling this early.’
He was right and when Hugh walked into the kitchen he was carrying a beautiful bouquet of dahlias and chrysanthemums in stunning autumnal colours.
‘Your father assumed these were for him,’ he smiled at me. ‘But they’re for you, Skylar. I thought they’d complement your sitting room seasonal décor.’
‘Oh, thank you, Hugh,’ I smiled back and jumped up to take them. ‘They’re stunning and yes, they’ll look perfect with the new decorations I picked up in Wynbridge.’
Every thought and conversation seemed to lead back to that weekend away.
‘That’s what I hoped,’ he said. ‘Now come on you,’ he chivvied Rafe, ‘we should be off. Have you got your thermals on? There’s a sharp frost this morning.’
With the pair away, I ate a little of my breakfast, then tidied up and arranged the flowers.
There were enough to fill two jugs, so I set them at either end of the mantelpiece.
I would have liked to place one on the hearth or windowsill, but I didn’t want to risk the cats taking a bite out of them.
None the more for that, they would have looked beautiful regardless of where they were displayed and I was thankful not only for the gift of them, but also the time it took to display them because it had kept me occupied.
With everything done, and me washed and dressed there was nothing to do but wait for Erik’s arrival.
It came sooner than I expected and I felt relieved when he knocked on the door but dismayed when I opened it to find him wearing the ruby coloured henley shirt and looking every bit as attractive as the last time I’d seen him.
It might have been my imagination, but his eyes looked even bluer than I remembered.
‘Hello,’ I said, the word catching. ‘Come in.’
‘Hey, Skylar,’ he said as he crossed the threshold.
With the door closed he moved to give me a hug, but I managed to sidestep that, though not before his familiar aftershave had filled the air around me.
‘Coffee?’ I offered.
‘Yes, please,’ he pulled off his boots and left them on the mat. ‘Thanks.’
‘Come through to the kitchen.’
‘Thanks.’
I wondered how long the stilted conversation was going to last. Would it be just today or for ever? That was assuming we remained friends for ever.
‘You’re not wearing your pendant,’ he commented while I was making his drink.
‘No, I’ve been cleaning and didn’t want to catch it. I do love it though. Thank you again for buying it for me.’
‘You’re very welcome,’ he smiled. ‘I knew you’d fallen in love with it.’
I wasn’t going to allow talk of love of any kind.
‘You said in your message you have something to tell me,’ I reminded him.
Given the way my head and heart had reacted to the sight and now the sound of him of him – swoon and thump, thump – I wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.
My attempt to turn him back into my PPO had clearly failed and I was already thinking that it was a good thing he was moving away because working with him would have been torture.
Him becoming a distant friend would hopefully make the situation more bearable.
‘I do,’ he nodded. ‘And to show you, too. Do you have a MacBook by any chance?’
‘Yes,’ I frowned. ‘But why do you need that?’
‘There’s something I recorded while I was in London that I need you to see. I’d really appreciate your opinion on it.’
Oh god! He was going to show me something to do with his commentary interview.
It was most likely a studio set-up where the commentators chatted about an imaginary rugby match or something to see how they came across on camera.
Despite my thinking that his leaving Prosperous Place was ultimately going to be a good thing, him chatting with his potential co-host was the last thing I wanted to see.
‘Can’t you just show me on your phone?’ I asked.
‘I’d rather not,’ he said and wrinkled his nose. ‘It’s better on a bigger screen.’
I took a deep breath and braced myself to be a better friend.
After all, this was what friends did for one another, wasn’t it?
Each supported the other. I’d already accepted that Erik had stuck to our ground rules better than I had so it was time to up my game to match him before he guessed something was amiss.
My breezy response to his phone message might have fooled him, but in person I was in danger of giving the game away.
‘In that case, I’ll go and get it,’ I swallowed.
It took no time for him to set everything up. I had eschewed the space next to him on the sofa and plonked myself in my armchair thinking that a bit of distance might help me.
‘Can you see from there?’ he asked as he tried to adjust the angle so we could both watch. ‘You’d be better off sitting here really.’
I moved to perch next to him but as close to the end of the sofa as I could get.
‘Better?’
‘Much,’ he smiled. He looked a little nervous now, but that was probably because he was hoping I wouldn’t laugh or something.
‘Show me then.’
‘Before I do,’ he said. ‘I should just warn you that it might come as something of a shock, and if it does, then I’m sorry.’
‘Look Erik,’ I said. I was becoming impatient. ‘I saw you in the paper with that presenter so I know you went to London to accept the commentary job and even if this is your first time in front of a camera in a studio, I can’t imagine you made that much of a hash of it. Just play it, will you?’
Apparently, I was a snappy friend who preferred tough love to the softly, softly approach. Erik looked slightly taken aback but didn’t say anything and started the video. He sank back against the cushions, and I leaned forward so I couldn’t see him watching me, which I had a feeling he was.
‘You know,’ he said and moved to turn it off, ‘I’m not sure about this now.’
‘Leave it,’ I said and batted his hand away.
My guess had been right. There was a desk set up with a screen behind it and into the frame walked Erik looking nothing like he usually did. His hair was tidy and I couldn’t imagine the clothes were his own but then I’d only seen him in a casual setting.
‘You look very smart,’ I commented.
‘I felt like an idiot,’ he groaned. ‘My father was with me and insisted a suit would make the best impression. He’s standing right next to the camera.’
I watched on as Erik made himself comfortable behind the desk and someone wearing a headset fussed around him setting up an earpiece.
‘How did you get this?’ I asked. ‘Are you supposed to have a copy?’
There was no sign of his co-presenter.
‘Just wait,’ he said. ‘I’m about to do a test piece ahead of the actual interview.’
I leant even further forward as Erik looked directly at the camera. Someone gave him the signal to start talking and he took a deep breath.
‘Okay Dad,’ he said, his gaze shifting to where I imagined his dad was standing. ‘This is for you. I’ve not actually come here today to try out for this job.’
‘What?’ I gasped and Erik shushed me.
‘Someone close to me and so very special too suggested that to get through to you, I should give a shock tactic a go and that’s what this is.
I don’t want this job, I never asked you to find me this job.
The work I’m going to do is back in Norwich at Prosperous Place and when we’re through here that’s where I’ll be going.
I know you’re going to be furious, but you’ll get over it in time.
Sorry guys,’ he then apologised as he looked around, and I imagined everyone looking amazed.
‘I didn’t mean to waste your time, but it was the only way to say this and hopefully make an impact. ’
With my heart racing, I then continued to watch as he pulled the earpiece out, stood up and walked towards the camera. Erik paused the screen, but I continued to stare at it with my mouth open.
‘You do realise you’re the person who I described as being close to me and very special, don’t you, Skylar?’
‘Uh huh.’
I had realised that because it was me who suggested that he should try a shock tactic to get through to his dad.
‘But what I didn’t say in that video is that along with wanting the job here, I also want you.
Last Sunday, when I asked if you thought we’d made a mistake, you shut me down, and knowing then that you were going to play by the rules, it didn’t feel appropriate to explain that I meant I thought that the rules themselves had been the mistake. Not our night together.’
I slowly turned to face him. ‘What?’ I asked breathlessly.
My head and heart were filled with burgeoning hope, but I needed him to spell out in more detail exactly what he was saying before I would embrace it.