TWENTY-EIGHT
‘Beautiful day.’ Rowland smiled at Ellie as she looked up from her receipt book. ‘You allowed out of there for a break? You look a bit warm.’
‘Rowland! Hi.’ Ellie was two hours into her shift in the ticket Portakabin. It was indeed ‘warm’, if ‘warm’ was a typically Cornish understatement for ‘unbearably boiling’. ‘How are you?’
She’d been messaging Rowland too, on and off, since she’d been away. Rowland, in stark comparison to Mark, was a frequent and prolific correspondent, sending voice files and video as well as GIFs and emails. He made her laugh, and was always asking when she’d be back.
‘All the better for seeing you, milady.’ Rowland bowed theatrically. ‘It’s been so long. I’ve missed you! How is everything? Your lungs?’ he enquired. ‘I hope you’ve been resting.’
‘I’m fine, thanks.’ Ellie fanned herself with a nearby stack of flyers: she did feel fine, overall, but she still had weak lungs, and dreamed about the fire a lot. She hadn’t mentioned it in her conversations with Rowland, because Rowland, like so many people, seemed very invested in her being well and happy – none of which was a bad thing, of course. However, whenever she’d mentioned her dark days, Rowland hadn’t responded.
‘Such a shame we never got to go dancing. But I’ve got some plans for you, now you’re back.’ He gave her a confident wink.
‘Oh. Well, I’m just here for the long weekend,’ she demurred.
‘I’m sure I can persuade you to spend some time with me,’ he replied, as if it was decided.
‘I expect so. Let’s see,’ she said, non-committally.
Ellie had got the impression that Rowland wasn’t really up for listening to her talk about how traumatic the fire had been, especially after having had a mastectomy. That was Rowland: Ellie didn’t think he was a bad man, just perhaps a little insensitive at times. But his heart was in the right place, and she shouldn’t forget that.
‘Can you get away, then?’ he asked again. ‘I want to give you a hug, at least!’
‘Definitely. I’m waiting for Petra to take over, so when she does, I’m all yours. Are you swimming? It’s £20, but that includes a T-shirt and a drink of your choice.’ She held up one of the ‘I CONQUERED THE COVE: MAGPIE COVE WILD SWIM 2022’ T-shirts Mara had had made for participants.
Rowland handed her a £50 note. ‘That’s okay. I can swim here anytime, but I’m happy to contribute to a good cause.’
‘Oh. Thanks! D’you want a T-shirt?’ Ellie rummaged in the pile. ‘We’re a bit low on medium ones but I think I still have one or two.’
‘What’re you saying? I might be more of a large,’ Rowland replied, pretending to be offended.
‘Oh! Ha ha. You can have a large, if you like.’ She grinned. Rowland was looking good. She knew he worked out, because he told her in gleeful detail every week how much he could bench press. And he’d clearly been at the beach a lot, because he was looking tanned. ‘I just meant, because of your…’ She was going to say something about him keeping so trim, but trailed off.
‘Because of my what?’ Rowland followed her gaze.
Behind the queue for tickets, Mark Gardner was talking to a pretty redhead with tattoos in a vest and shorts, standing by the ice-cream stall. Ellie swallowed, her tummy tensing. A vivid memory of Mark, naked, in bed with her, jumped into her mind. She wanted him to turn around and see her, but then she remembered that she had sweat running down her back, and her mascara was probably smudged all over her face. What would she say to him? What would he say to her now, after virtually ignoring her texts for the past six weeks?
‘Earth to Ellie. Hey!’ Rowland waved his hand in front of her face. ‘If it’s that much of a problem, I’ll catch up with you later.’ He sounded suddenly aggrieved, and his jolly tone had lost some of its sparkle. ‘You’ve probably got a lot of people to catch up with.’
‘Ummm. Yeah. I’ll come and find you when I get out of here, okay?’ Ellie gave Rowland the T-shirt. Seeing Mark had thrown her for a loop, and, she realised, she was also wildly jealous about the girl he was talking to. She had never been jealous, so she was slow to recognise the emotion.He is allowed to talk to other women, she thought.He might be seeing someone by now. Hell, he might be married for all you know.It would certainly explain the less-than-enthusiastic texting. But there was something primal in her that wanted to go and push the girl with the tattoos into the side of the tent.
‘See you, then.’ Rowland headed off, looking put out. Ellie could tell that she’d have to make it up to him and be her best and cheeriest self later – Rowland wanted to go out with her, and he’d been nothing but attentive since they’d reconnected. But all she could think about was Mark. Did she want to go out with Rowland? It was nice to have his attention, but she didn’t feel as though they really connected at a deeper level.
Half an hour later, Petra arrived to take over at the Portakabin, and Ellie walked out gratefully into the sea air. It was still hot on the beach, but at least now she wasn’t trapped in a metal box. Holding her Magpie Cove Wild Swim T-shirt away from her body, she flapped it in the air to dry it off as best she could.
‘Hi.’ Mark tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped, not having seen him come up behind her.
‘Oh, gosh. Hi. Sorry. I was just…’ She trailed off. ‘Hot,’ she finished, lamely.
‘Warm day,’ he agreed, lifting a baseball cap off his head and mussing his hair underneath.
‘Certainly is…’ she replied, feeling like a teenager.Come on, woman, she thought.You’re a corporate lawyer, for God’s sake.Say something.
‘Friend of yours?’ She looked at the girl in the ice-cream stall. Mark frowned, looking confused.
‘Who?’
‘That girl with the tattoos. Pretty. Red hair. Ice cream.’ Ellie knew how she sounded, but it was as if an alien had temporarily taken over her brain. What was wrong with simple pleasantries? How are you? You look well? Why didn’t you ever tell me you missed me when we texted? Do you think about that night we had together – because I do?
