26
Towards the end of the week, Mel and Fen flew off on a romantic trip to Paris – in the hope that they could revive their relationship and reconcile differences (that sort of thing, thought Polly, although Mel had sounded pretty miserable). She gave Polly strict instructions to not call while they were away.
‘Yes, okay. No, I won’t.’
Polly was no longer sure that having a break from Max was the right course to take; but seeing as he was away filming in deepest Manchester, she didn’t have to face him yet. The shop was quiet, and so she was busy staring into the middle distance when her doorbell binged, announcing the arrival of Bam.
‘Isn’t that Wham Bam?’ hissed Donna as she moseyed past, carrying an armful of stock to place back on hangers.
‘Shh,’ Polly hissed. She turned a smiling face to Bam. ‘Bam,’ she said, in a cheery voice. ‘What a lovely surprise.’
‘Can we talk?’ said Bam, who looked young and uncertain in baby-blue baggy sweatshirt, rolled-up skinny jeans and black ballet pumps. Her hair was scraped back in a ponytail, her face devoid of makeup. She looked for all the world like a fashion model on her day off. Effortlessly beautiful, yet Polly couldn’t fail to notice that she’d clearly been crying.
She felt a twinge of regret for all the times she’d taken the piss out of Bam. After all, Bam had done nothing wrong, except to fall in love with the man who happened to be Polly’s own maybe-one-true-love.
Donna was trying to slink past the two women, no doubt to position herself where she could eavesdrop. ‘Donna, tell you what,’ said Polly. ‘I’m going to take Bam next door to the café. You can hold the fort until I get back, yeah?’
‘No,’ said Bam, pulling herself up to her full height. ‘What I have to say I’d rather say here, if you don’t mind.’
‘Okay. Sure.’ Polly gave Donna a pleading look. Not slow on the uptake, Donna cast her eye from one woman to the other and said, ‘Why don’t I pop out back and make us all a coffee, yeah?’
‘Good idea,’ said Polly, not taking her eye off Bam for one moment; much like a rookie hiker might keep an eye on a dangerous snake they’d unwittingly disturbed.
‘I’ll come quickly to the point,’ said Bam. As she tossed her head back, her ponytail swung from one side to the other. ‘I want you to leave Spike alone.’
‘I’m sorry?’ Polly felt well and truly blindsided. She’d not seen that coming at all, although Donna – waiting for the kettle to boil – had done. She shook her head at Polly’s idiocy.
‘I’ve thought it through,’ said Bam, nodding her head as if agreeing with herself. ‘I’ve tried to be cool about the whole thing. I understand that Rowan is Spike’s daughter and so of course he must see her…’ She lifted her head to gaze at Polly straight in the eye. Words appeared to have escaped Polly. Words were not top on her list of priorities right now. Instead she was trying to stop her brain from dashing about going What? What? Eh? What?
‘However,’ continued Bam, whose small-yet-determined chin was firmly resolute, ‘I don’t see any reason why he has to spend time with you.’
‘Look, Bam,’ Polly began, words making an appearance, but not the right ones to sort out this mess. ‘I don’t know what you think—’
‘…is going on?’ Clearly Bam was ahead of Polly. ‘Oh, don’t worry. I know that there’s nothing going on,’ continued Bam. ‘Not as far as Spike is concerned. He’s moved on. But the question is – have you? I rather suspect you’d like him back.’
‘Well, I—’
Bam held up her hand. ‘Please, hear me out, Polly. I’ve been practising this for ages.’ A glimmer of a smile passed over her full, lightly glossed lips. ‘You might not realise this yourself yet… I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt here…’
Oh dear, this was not going to end at all well, thought Donna out back.
Polly merely stared, open-mouthed.
‘I know he’s confused because of Rowan. But let me make this quite clear, Polly. Spike loves me. I fully expect him to ask me to marry him, and I don’t want you ruining things by messing with his head. You had your chance, sweetheart, and quite frankly you blew it. He told me all about your turning him down when he asked you to come away with him—’
‘It wasn’t quite like that…’ Polly began, but then shut up as she could tell that Bam was in no mood for an interruption.
‘When I met him, he was devastated, I can tell you. You really hurt him.’
( I did? News to me , thought Polly. Spike was so cool, so convincing that it was no big deal. Yeah, almost as convincing as you! God. How’s that for irony! )
‘It took him a long time to get over your rejection of him,’ Bam continued, holding her head as high as a dressage pony. ‘And quite a while to be able to trust again.’ She shook her head – again, like some filly, thought Polly, distracted by the similarity. ‘I’ve been good for him, Polly, and I shall love him much more than you ever could…’
Polly tried to take it all in. Spike? Devastated? She held on tight to the sides of her high stool, because if there had been any feathers around you could certainly have knocked her down with one.
‘I like you, Polly, I really do. Maybe another time, another place, we could have been friends. I’m asking you, woman to woman, to please leave Spike alone. He’s going to come back to Australia, and he’s going to marry me, and we’re going to have babies of our own.’
After Bam had gone – leaving Polly reeling – Donna finally made an appearance with the coffees. She handed Polly a mug. ‘Here’s your drink, lover,’ she said. ‘I could have told you there’d be tears before bedtime.’ She gave Polly’s shoulder a pat. ‘Honestly, your life’s getting more and more like EastEnders ,’ she said, trying to lighten matters, and adding a wide toothy grin.
But Polly was not for cheering up. ‘Thanks, Donna,’ was all she could manage to say.
‘I’ll be shootin’ off now,’ said Donna, starting for the door and then turning back. ‘Changing the subject here, but when you next speak to your muh, tell her to return my calls, yeah?’
‘Right. Okay.’
Donna opened the door, letting in a woman customer who held a girl in green school uniform by the hand. Polly watched Donna leave then tried her hardest to bestow her best professional smile on the mother and daughter come in for a browse.
She needed to get away, she decided. Go down to Devon. Yes, that was it. She couldn’t think here. What she needed was space, to decide if Mel was right and she was still in love with Spike. And if that was the case, she must talk to him about it. Or should she just accept that she’d missed that particular boat, and persevere with Max? Persevere. That’s not a great word, is it ? No, she’d better finish with Max and then hightail it down to Devon.
Polly would phone Suze. ( Yes, that’s what I’ll do. ) Because at times like this, a girl needs her mother. Even a rubbish one like Suze. She gave herself a wry smile. She’d arrange a visit with Suze and Brian. What better place to collect her thoughts? She felt a yearning for the solitude of Suze’s place overlooking the Tamar Estuary, where it was so peaceful that you could almost hear the tides and winds calling to you. Otters floating on their backs munching fish, curlews calling as they flew low over the water, that soft light bouncing off the river…
Donna could cover for her in the shop – she was always asking for extra shifts, as she was skint – and she could bring in that friend of hers to help out. Then Polly could pack up Rowan, and the two of them could be on the road to Devon by tomorrow, with any luck. Just for a week or two. Sort out just how she felt. It would be tricky, but things could hardly get any worse, could they?