‘But this ismybookshop,’ I tell him. ‘My booking, not yours.’ I’m here alone to do some cathartic growing and a bit of healing, not to shack up with some stranger.
‘You should have said that when they rang up then.’
I think of Mack using his charming, smarmy voice, telling whoever rang up that Jude would bedelightedto lodge with another person. He’s pushing it, the bloody creep. Then again, maybe Mack honestly thought there’d be another bedroom too? I try to be charitable and give my ex the benefit of the doubt. After all, I thought there were two rooms here. Just like this guy did, this…
‘What’s your name again?’ I yell.
‘Elliot, and you don’t have to shout. I’m pretty sure this door’s plywood.’
‘Is that some kind of threat?’
‘What?No, of course not.’
‘I still don’t get why you’re here. You’d better start explaining quick…’
‘OK, OK. I’ve been on the waiting list for a solo slot at the bookshop for ages now, but they prioritise couples, so I’d given up hope of ever getting here. Then last week they called me and said the chance had come up to share with someone else. I took it and they refunded your half. I thought they went through all this with you on the phone?’
‘They didn’t ring me. They rang my ex, OK?’ There, the cat’s out of the bag now. I didn’t think to check my bank account, not expecting money to goin, an unusual occurrence for me these days. The thought of the one hundred and ninety pounds I’d stumped up for Mack’s half of the holiday – he never did pay me back – suddenly boosting my finances for the fortnight is almost enough to cheer me up. Almost. ‘He’s not here because we broke up,’ I say.
‘Oh.’
‘Exactly,’ I reply, slumping against the door too.
When he talks again, I jump a little at how close his voice is through the thin wood. ‘So what do we do now?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Listen, sorry I frightened you,’ Elliot says and his voice is deep and hoarse. ‘I thought you were expecting me. I thought there were two bedrooms. I… I can go ask at the pub if there’s a bed there. It’ll be closed by now, I guess, but somebody might still be up…’
A great rumble of thunder makes the walls quake and the rain responds by falling twice as hard as it was before. I’m going to have to relent, aren’t I?
‘You said your clothes were soaked?’
‘Yeah,’ he confirms, gruffly.
‘There’s towels in the bathroom, and hot water for a shower.’
‘You don’t mind if I stay?’
I do mind. I really,reallydo mind. This ismybookshop andmyadventure and somehow Mack’s managed to spoil it by sending me some bloke who… hold on a minute. A queasy thought strikes me.
‘Jowan was talking about you earlier.’
‘Hmm?’ the voice behind the door says, a little nervously, to my mind.
‘He said you were cagey, that you didn’t like giving away details about yourself.’ I thought that was weird at the time when I mistakenly believed Jowan was describing Mack because helovestalking about himself. I think I hear a sniffed laugh through the door and I stiffen. ‘Who are you? Like, what do you do for a living? Where are you from?’
‘Umm, well, I’m… I’m a teacher in a veterinary school.’
‘You hesitated!’ I spin round and accuse the door.
‘What? No.’
‘Yes you did, you hesitated.’
‘I’m just cold, that’s all. I’m shivering here.’
‘How did you get here?’
