Читать книгу Time After Time: A heart-warming novel about love, loss and second chances - Hannah McKinnon Mary - Страница 14

The summer of 1990 had ended and the nights were getting longer. The trees had turned rich shades of red and yellow and leaves were starting to silently float to the ground, filling the air with the musky smell of autumn.

Hayley insisted she’d heard Cliff Richards’ ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ playing in the supermarket the week before. She’d welcomed the early Christmas music but if Chris’ sullen expression was anything to go by, the festive mood hadn’t rubbed off on him.

‘I don’t want you going out tonight.’ He stood in front of her bedroom door, his arms crossed as he stared down at her.

‘Why not?’ Hayley said, and plumped up her pillow as she sat on her bed.

‘Is Ellen going with you?’

‘Of course, we –’

‘What club are you going to?’

‘Delirious.’ She knew there’d be trouble as soon as she said it.

‘No way.’

‘Why? It’s not just me and Ellen. Mark’s coming too. Why should I sit in all night because you can’t make it?’

‘What? So I get to pull wires in that stupid warehouse while loads of guys flirt with you?’ His voice grew louder with each word while he tap-tapped his right foot on the carpet.

‘Oh come on,’ Hayley said softly, trying to avoid an escalating argument. Her parents and Jackie were downstairs and she didn’t want them to witness yet another of their fights. Hayley sensed her parents didn’t approve of her relationship with Chris as much as they had at the beginning. Even Jackie, who only came home twice a month since she’d moved to Kent to train as a nurse, kept asking how things were going. Hayley hadn’t had the guts to confide in her.

‘Don’t be silly. You know I love you.’ She picked up the sleeveless red-and-white striped dress she knew Chris loved. Bad move.

‘You’re not wearing that, it’s way too short.’ Chris tried to yank it from her but she held on. He tugged on it again and, worried it might rip, she let go. He scrunched it into a ball and threw it on the floor.

‘Hey!’ she said. ‘Calm down.’

It wasn’t the first time she’d felt like an adult dealing with a stroppy teenager. Last week he’d tried to stop her from having lunch with friends she’d made at university. In a way, Hayley thought it showed he loved her, but on the other hand, it was suffocating. Ellen had been pretty blunt about how she felt when he’d convinced Hayley not to go on a girl’s weekend in Cambridge, where they’d planned to stay with Ellen’s cousin.

‘You won’t enjoy it,’ Chris had said. ‘Stay here. Mum’s away and we can rent some videos and get popcorn. It’ll be better than the cinema.’ She’d protested, but he’d been persuasive. ‘I’ll get some girly films for you. Even Dirty Dancing if you promise you won’t drool over Swayze. Come on. You love me don’t you? Stay.’

Ellen had almost flipped her lid when Hayley told her she wouldn’t be going to Cambridge. ‘Tell him to get a grip or you’ll find another boyfriend. Or dump him. Wake up, Hayley. He’s way too jealous. Even Mark thinks so. God, he’s so controlling.’

‘No, he isn’t. He’s passionate and totally in love with me.’

‘Oh come on. It’s too intense. He’s turning into a nutter.’

‘He’s not!’

‘He is!’

The discussion rapidly deteriorated into their first serious argument.

Looking at her crumpled dress on the floor, Hayley couldn’t help feeling that Ellen might have been right. Or not entirely wrong, anyway.

‘What’s the real reason you don’t want me to go?’ she asked.

Chris sank to the floor, rested his back on the bed, brought his knees up towards his chest and put his head in his hands. Hayley knelt down beside him and softly touched his shoulder.

‘Tell me. What’s going on?’

He looked at her, then hung his head. ‘I’m worried I’m going to be left behind.’

‘What do you mean?’ she whispered.

‘It’s something my mum said.’

Hayley tried not to roll her eyes, then braced herself for another warped truth from Mrs. I’ll-have-another-Jenkins.

‘She said you’ll think you’re better than me when you’re a solicitor,’ Chris said. ‘And I should find someone of my own class. She reckons you’re getting posh.’

‘What?’ said Hayley, eyebrows raised and her voice going up a notch or ten. ‘I worked my arse off to get into City. I’ve been saving up for it for years and –’

‘Yeah, but she has a point.’ Chris shrugged and continued before Hayley could finish. ‘You’ll make loads more money than me.’

For the first time ever Hayley saw herself in him: self-conscious and insecure. She’d never imagined he could feel like that. Her heart immediately softened, as did her tone.

‘This isn’t the ‘50s. There are tons of women making more than their husbands. Who cares? I love you and I don’t give a stuff. Becoming a solicitor won’t change me.’ She pulled him close and kissed him. ‘Actually I talked to Mr. Simpson yesterday. He’s one of the law professors. He said I have a real knack for law. He said I should look him up when I graduate.’ She grinned. ‘Isn’t that great?’

Chris slowly lifted his head and Hayley noticed a hint of a smile.

‘Did you say husband?’

Hayley laughed. ‘Yes, but did you hear what I said about Mr. Simpson?’

His smile broadened. As he shifted his body, she thought he was getting up but instead he stayed down on one knee.

‘Hayley,’ he said and grabbed her hands. ‘Will you marry me?’