Читать книгу Stuck with You: the perfect feel-good romantic comedy! - Carla Burgess - Страница 13

Chapter Five

It was strange getting ready for work in my parents’ house. Dad was still asleep, but Mum got up to make me breakfast as soon as she heard me moving about. I felt bad I’d woken her but also incredibly grateful. She also made my lunch, wrapping a chicken and mayonnaise roll in tin foil and placing it in my dad’s sandwich box with a Penguin and a packet of roast beef Monster Munch. It was the best gift ever.

‘Thank you,’ I said, humbly, as she opened my handbag and placed the box inside. Then she kissed me goodbye and waved me off at the door.

It was lovely and moving all at once. I felt like I’d gone back in time and should be going to school, not work.

I parked in my usual spot in the office car park and opened the car door. It was another lovely spring morning, with blue sky and sunshine, birds singing in the trees. A cool breeze rustled the blossom above my head and petals floated down around me, settling in my hair.

Sonya, the girl on reception, waved cheerfully as I entered the building, and I smiled and waved back. Then my colleague Ann appeared behind me, brushing at my shoulders and chuckling about me looking like I’d just got married or something.

‘Nothing could be further from the truth,’ I said with a wry smile.

‘Ooh!’ Ann gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t think!’ Obviously word had got around about why I’d left early yesterday.

‘Don’t worry, Ann. I’m fine.’

I went to my desk and sat down.

‘Morning, Elena!’ Hilary boomed over the partition. She’d had her hair done and the frizz had been transformed into giant sausage-like curls all over her head. I blinked up at her in amazement.

‘Morning, Hilary. You’ve… you’ve had your hair done, I see.’

‘Do you like it? I fancied a change.’ She patted it, looking pleased. ‘I’ve sent you an email about some things I’d like you to deal with first thing. Best to keep yourself busy at times like these.’

‘Very true.’ I started up my computer, wondering why I felt a giant weight settling onto my shoulders. Ordinarily I loved my job, but today I wasn’t in the mood.

My phone rang, making me jump.

‘Hi! Just me!’ said Rachel, brightly. ‘Just checking you’re in work.’

‘I’m here.’

‘Well done. How are you feeling?’

I breathed in deeply through my nose and held my lungs full of air for a moment. ‘I don’t know,’ I said.

‘Have you spoken to him yet?’

‘No.’ My computer asked for my password and I tapped it in, listening to the whirr of the fan as it began opening the start-up items. ‘But then I didn’t expect to really. Not yet anyway. I suppose I should take his key back at some point.’

‘Hold on to it for a few more days, just in case you remember something you’ve forgotten,’ she said. ‘Are you going to call him? Or will you wait for him to call you?’

‘I hadn’t really thought about it,’ I said, checking if the spider plant on my desk needed water. The soil was dry and flaky and I reached for my water bottle with a guilty grimace. ‘Do I need to speak to him? I’m not sure I want to just yet. I’ve moved out and he’s got a new girlfriend. What else is there to say?’

‘It must feel strange though, to go from living with him to not seeing him at all.’

I hesitated as I poured water into the pot plant. ‘I think it’s probably better this way. It’s not like I’m heartbroken, is it?’ Lowering my voice, I cast a furtive glance over the partition to check if Hilary was listening in, but spotted her chatting to someone on the other side of the office. ‘I mean, I feel sad and hurt and a bit… tired, I suppose. But then I sometimes feel like that when I finish a jar of Nutella.’

Rachel laughed. ‘Nutella? Elena!’

‘You know what I mean; I think the end of anything is a bit sad. But that doesn’t mean I want to phone him up and beg him to let me come back. I know it’s over and our relationship was pretty much dead anyway, so there’s no point crying and wailing, is there? I’ll be all right. Did you speak to Patrick last night?’

‘Yes, I did. He’s coming back on Friday. Oh, I’d better go, I’ve got a customer, I’ll phone you later, okay?’

‘Okay.’

***

Lunchtime came quicker than expected, Hilary’s list having kept me busy all morning. The weather outside had changed and it was now raining, so I was pleased I didn’t have to go to the shops and buy myself a sandwich. Pulling Mum’s Tupperware container from my bag, I opened up my Facebook account, wondering if Alex had put anything on his page about us breaking up. There was nothing on his profile, but I had one new friend request. Wondering who it might be, I clicked and there, waiting for me, was Daniel’s smiling face. I felt a rush of joy and smiled into my hand.

Clicking the confirm friend button, I had a quick look at his profile page. It was really about his work. Daniel Moore, Tree Surgeon was written on the banner along with a picture of him smiling in a white hard hat. Scrolling down, I read some of his posts about his work before clicking on his photos.

There were pictures of him in a checked shirt with rolled-up sleeves, hard hat and ear protectors. One of him in a T-shirt that revealed impressive biceps. Pictures of him high up in a tree wielding a chainsaw, a harness around his body. It didn’t look very safe, but my stomach fizzed with excitement. I gazed at it for a while, wondering where the boy from college had gone.

I clicked about among his photos, then nearly choked on my mum’s mini pork pie when I saw he had a folder of old college photos of him messing around with his mates. My mouth fell open as I stared at him in wonder. He looked so young and thin and… well, a bit spotty. But, for some reason, I still swooned a bit. It was the long blond hair that did it, the full lips in that insouciant smile, perfect white teeth and the long, long eyelashes. He was there with the school band, his guitar resting on his knee.

Hold on a minute. I remembered watching this photo being taken. I’d been on my way to history when I’d seen him sitting on the low wall of the fountain in the sun-drenched courtyard, his band mates arranged around him while someone else took a photograph for the student magazine. I remember stopping and staring. There were other people staring too, so I wasn’t alone, but if I squinted and looked into the back of this photograph… yep, there was me. Completely dressed in black and lurking in the shadows, but unmistakably me. Clutching a folder to my chest, bag over my shoulder, face half hidden by my long black hair. I winced. Jesus. He even had photographic evidence of me stalking him. That wasn’t cool.

There were some comments underneath from the other band members. Luke had been the lead singer and everyone had a crush on him. He always had the same girlfriend though: Catherine, a blonde-haired, sweet-faced girl with endless legs, who went a bit feral if she caught anyone so much as glancing in her boyfriend’s direction. Girls found it hilarious at the time, but I felt sorry for her. She must have been so churned up with jealousy. No wonder she was so thin; she probably couldn’t eat for stress.

I wondered if they’d got married. Or if he’d ended up with someone else. I thought about searching for him in Daniel’s friends list, but the office was filling up with people back from their lunch hour. I caught sight of Hilary’s curls and closed down the page.

‘You all right, love?’ she said, peering over the partition and checking out my lunchbox.

‘Yes, thanks,’ I said, forcing a smile.

‘You’re a bit quiet today. How did the moving out go? You’re not still there, are you?’

‘No, I’m back with my parents now. In my old room, just like the old days.’

‘Oh well, there’s worse that could happen.’

I nodded. ‘It’s nice actually. Mum made me my lunch this morning.’

‘Fabulous. You’ve done the right thing. Will there be much to sort out with the flat lease?’

I shook my head. ‘I don’t think so. It’s rented in Alex’s name. He lived there before I moved in with him. I just paid half of everything, so I suppose I just stop doing that.’

‘You could save up for your own place. There’s no point relying on men to make you happy.’

‘You’re happily married though, aren’t you?’

She nodded. ‘I hear so many stories though. My daughter got involved with a right rat of a man. Serial adulterer. She had no idea. He broke her heart, poor thing. Destroyed her confidence.’

‘Oh no! That’s a terrible thing to happen. You must have been furious.’

‘Yes. She was in a right state, but she’s feeling better now, bless her.’

‘Oh good.’

‘Well, I’m glad you seem to be coping so well with this. You can go home early this afternoon, if you like. Just finish that list I gave you this morning and you’re free to go.’

‘Oh wonderful! Thank you.’

Hilary winked and sat back down, and I went back to looking at the pictures of Daniel.

As promised, Hilary sent me home early that afternoon, and I arrived back in my mum and dad’s warm house at half past four. They looked mildly concerned to see me back so early, in case I’d packed in my job as well as my boyfriend. I could see the relief on their faces when they learned that wasn’t the case.

I plumped myself down on the sofa with the cat and chatted to my dad, who was watching a recording of Gardener’s World. Mum went into the kitchen to start making tea. The sound of pots and pans clanking was a vivid reminder of my childhood, along with the steamed-up windows as the pan of potatoes boiled away. It made me miss my brother, Andrew. We’d argued constantly when we were growing up, but it seemed wrong to be here without him now. I wondered what he was doing.

‘Where’s Andrew at the moment?’

My dad’s bushy eyebrows shot up and he pursed his lips. ‘In Perth, I think. Why? Are you thinking of joining him?’

‘No, I’ve got work.’

‘Maybe you could go over for a holiday? God knows, we’d like some feedback about how he’s getting on.’

Mum came into the lounge. ‘Ooh yes, you should. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone new and exotic while you’re out there. Show that bloody Alex the world doesn’t start and end with him.’ She paused and peered at me, as if trying to work out if she had gone too far in slagging off my ex-boyfriend. I kept my face neutral and nodded slightly. ‘Cup of tea, love?’

‘I’ll make it, Mum. I feel bad letting you do everything.’

‘No no no! You’ve been at work all day. You sit there, my lovely. I’ll make the tea.’

My dad looked across and winked. ‘You know she can’t stand anyone else in her kitchen.’

It was true. Even while we were growing up and she was complaining we never did anything around the house, she still clucked and fussed each time we tried to do anything in her kitchen. She complained we dripped stuff on the floor and put things back in the wrong place.

‘How was work today?’

‘It was all right. I was busy and my boss let me go early so it went quite quickly.’

Mum came in with a mug of tea for me and sat down next to my dad.

‘Don’t I get one?’ he complained.

‘You’ve not long since had one!’

‘I could go another one! Bleeding hell, Rosa. I’m parched.’

‘Oh, all right, you daft old sod. I’ll get it now.’ She went off, muttering to herself.

‘Your hair looks nice, Mum,’ I called to her. ‘Have you been to the hairdresser’s?’

‘Yes, do you like it?’ Mum looked delighted, patting her short dark hair.

‘I do, very sleek.’ Mum nodded and gave my dad a pointed look. He looked grumpily at the TV and Mum went off to get his tea.

‘Oi you,’ he grumbled at me, ‘you’re getting me in trouble now.’

I laughed and he gave me a mock-irritable sidelong glance.

Mum had made salmon and potatoes for tea, with green beans and peas. The three of us sat round the kitchen table and I thought how strange it felt, like I’d fallen through time or something. I’d eaten at their house pretty regularly since I’d left home to live with Alex, so it wasn’t that I hadn’t done it in a long time. I supposed it was just the circumstances. I wasn’t just there for a couple of hours; I was back with all of my stuff in my bedroom upstairs. So many memories were wrapped up in this house, but the most vivid and recent were of the months before I moved in with Alex. I had been so excited and so full of love. It hurt to be back now, feeling sad and deflated. I forked up some salmon and chewed it slowly, all the while wondering when things with Alex started to go wrong. When had we stopped talking and laughing? When had we stopped making time for each other. I couldn’t pinpoint an exact time, but like I’d told Rachel yesterday, he’d never been the most affectionate man. I’d always been the one to hug or kiss him. Those moments had become rarer and rarer recently, and somewhere between me making less effort, and him being more irritable, our love had slipped away.

I thought about when we first met. I’d spotted him at the bar in a club one night. He’d been wearing a suit and tie and looked completely different to all the other guys in there. He’d looked so handsome, and I’d been so drunk, that I’d gone over and talked to him. After all the drunken, mouthy lads I’d encountered at university, Alex had been a breath of fresh air. He was five years older than me, and already seemed so intelligent, sophisticated and grown-up. He had a proper career, a car and his own flat. I thought he was amazing. He thought I was funny. I suppose we were unbalanced from the start.

Mum caught me sighing and gave me a worried look. I smiled and forked more food into my mouth to show her I was fine. And I would be fine. Alex and I hadn’t communicated properly for months, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t live without him. I’d stopped thinking he was amazing and he’d stopped thinking I was funny. That was just the way it was. There was no point feeling sad about it. He’d moved on, and so would I. It was quite exciting to think I could find my own place and paint it whatever colour I wanted. Pink or green or purple or blue. No more boring walls. No more boring relationship. A new flat. A new life. Maybe even a new man?

Almost immediately, an image of Daniel came into my mind and my heart did a little skip. Looking at his Facebook page today had reminded me once again of the Daniel box and I was curious to see if I still had it. I hadn’t come across it when I was unpacking yesterday, but I had an inkling it was at the back of my wardrobe, hidden behind a pile of clothes.

I was right. I found the box in the top right corner of my wardrobe, behind a pile of winter jumpers. I had to stand on tiptoe to reach it; my fingertips snagged on the corner of the box and I managed to pull it towards me while clothing cascaded down around my head.

My heart leapt a little as I removed the lid to reveal a pile of drawings and a faded school photograph. I peered at it before removing the drawings. They were just sketches and they weren’t particularly good, but their smell took me right back to drawing them and gave me a strange ache in my stomach. I’d done so many. I’d obviously had far too much time on my hands to obsess over his pudgy lips and long silky hair. I found a poem I’d written and cringed. Even the pencil sharpenings were still there, along with a small, crescent-shaped nail clipping he’d left behind on his desk after English one time. Jesus, that was gross! I’d even displayed it in a small black ring box so it didn’t get lost, along with… wait… was that hair?

I rifled through the papers at the bottom of the box. More drawings, more poems, a scrap of paper with his handwriting from our group work, and a newspaper cutting of him holding his guitar with the school band. I remembered looking at the clipping before I went to sleep each night. They’d played at some charity event and I’d practically passed out when I’d come across it in the paper. Daniel’s face looked distinctly smudged and I suddenly had a memory of not just looking at the clipping, but kissing it before I went to bed each night. I sniggered at the memory, hot with embarrassment. Teenage hormones had a lot to answer for. I couldn’t ever imagine kissing a photograph of Alex, even when we first met.

I spent ages looking through the box. Even while I felt embarrassed about it, I still remembered the thrill of collecting the items and secreting them away. I’d stored the heart-shaped cubic zirconia earrings I’d worn to the prom in there too, as though they needed to be preserved in case they contained a little bit of Daniel Moore’s magic. Holding them up to the light, I watched them twinkle in the evening sunlight and giggled, wondering what happened to the dress.

I’d loved that dress. Pale blue with a strapless, sparkly bodice and a long fishtail skirt. I’d wear it now, if I still had it. I’d worn my hair up, with a few long tendrils around my face. It was a big change, considering I wore black most of the time back then. No wonder Daniel had actually noticed me for once. I rolled over onto my back and read another poem I’d written. My phone beeped with a text from Rachel asking what I was up to. I sent a text back saying I was going through my Daniel box and my phone rang in my hand. She was a fast worker! Laughing, I answered with the first two lines from the poem:

‘Oh Daniel, my love, I can’t think of anything but you

Your long blond hair and your green eyes so true…’

‘Well, thank you,’ an amused male voice replied on the other end of the phone. ‘That’s really nice but my hair’s much shorter now.’

‘Oh!’ There was a horrified silence as my brain tried to process what had happened. I couldn’t think what to do. Could I just hang up? Pretend I was someone else? Daniel was laughing openly now. I could hear him cackling on the other end of the phone. ‘Oh. Errr. No, that’s… Oh, I was just reading something… in a book… I thought you were Rachel.’

‘Oh, okay. I’ll have to borrow that book sometime.’

‘I wouldn’t bother. It’s really bad.’ Daniel laughed some more and I started stuffing the poems and photos and drawings back into the box as if he might somehow be able to see through the telephone. ‘What do you want anyway?’ I asked, crossly.

‘More poetry?’

‘Don’t be silly!’

‘Do you read your boyfriend stuff like that?’

What the hell? Why couldn’t he just leave it alone? ‘I don’t have a boyfriend any more. So no, I don’t.’

‘Really? What happened? Did seeing me again make you realise that no other man’s ever going to live up to me?’

‘Wow! You really are big-headed, aren’t you?’

He laughed again. ‘I’m joking. Go on then, tell me what happened.’

‘He was seeing someone else.’

‘Really? That’s rough, I’m so sorry.’

For some reason, hearing this from Daniel brought a lump to my throat. ‘Yeah, well, it was pretty much over anyway.’ I stuffed the rest of the papers in the box and rammed on the lid. ‘So, what can I do for you?’

‘I was just phoning to tell you my band is playing a gig next Friday, should you wish to come.’

‘Oh really? Where?’

‘Trafford’s. We’ll be on about ten o’clock.’

‘Oh, okay then. Great. I’ll see if Rachel will come with me.’

‘Okay, and thanks for the poetry. I was having a crap day but now you’ve cheered me up.’

My cheeks turned red and I closed my eyes, biting my lip. ‘Goodbye, Daniel.’

As soon as he rang off, I dialled Rachel’s number. ‘Ohmygod, Rachel. I have just had the most embarrassing phone call of my life and I’m blaming you entirely!’

‘Me? Why?’ I could hear her crunching, like she was eating crisps.

‘I sent you the text about the Daniel box and then my phone rang and, assuming it was you, I just read out some poetry.’

‘Some of your Daniel poetry? Who was on the phone?’

‘Only pigging Daniel!’

‘Ahahahahaha!’ Rachel screamed with laughter on the other end of the phone and I had to hold the phone away from my ear until she’d finished. ‘What did he say? Did you just make something up like you thought he was Alex?’

‘No, because it actually started off with his name, and also it was sooo so bad he would never have believed me. I hate myself so much right now. I want to punch myself.’ I picked up an oak leaf from off my bedspread and looked at it in wonder. I remembered that leaf. I’d made Rachel walk to Daniel’s house with me one evening and I’d collected it from his drive. I must have been insane.