‘Rowland. Stop!’ Ellie pulled her hand free from his. ‘That was rude. I was talking to Mark and you came in and took over.’
‘What? You looked bored.’ Rowland spread out his hands in a ‘sorry’ gesture. ‘The guy doesn’t exactly seem that fascinating. These locals are all alike.’
‘Well, I wasn’t bored,’ Ellie snapped. ‘You don’t own me. You don’t have the right to decide who I get to talk to and when. And, actually, the locals here have been incredibly nice to me.’
‘Oh, I see. We’re playing the worthy game, I see.’ Rowland rolled his eyes. ‘Yes, yes, of course, all the locals are wonderful. Salt of the earth. Working-class gems. Like a Ken Loach film.’
‘That’s mean.’
‘Come on. If you saw what I see through the family court every week you’d know what men like that are. Uneducated, ignorant, violent. You saw it for yourself – Darren Chivers almost killed you. You’re too good for someone like that.’ Rowland licked his ice-cream cone.
‘We were just talking. My goodness, Rowland, I’m not marrying the man. And Mark is nothing like Darren Chivers.’
‘Don’t give me that. I saw the way he was looking at you. You were holding hands, for God’s sake.’
Ellie took a step back, observing the change in Rowland from jolly and charming to icy cold and possessive. It wasn’t a side of him she’d seen before, and she didn’t like it at all.
‘Rowland, what I do with Mark Gardner or anyone else is none of your business,’ Ellie enunciated slowly. ‘And I don’t agree, about the people here. Wherever you worked, you’d see the bad side of people. You’re a judge. It’s like being a policeman. But you also get to see families reunited sometimes. Or children helped. Women protected. Not all people are bad, and it’s nothing to do with class or location if they are or not.’
‘Not like you have to get a first at Cambridge to fix cars.’ Rowland sniffed.
‘Okay. I’m going to walk away now before I lose even more respect for you.’ Ellie shook her head. ‘Rowland, I thought you were a good person.’
‘I thought we had something.’ Rowland reached for Ellie’s wrist but she pulled away from him. ‘I waited for you, Ellie. Look, you might like to think that you’re able to leave the good life behind, but I know you. You’re a bright, successful woman. You’re used to a certain standard of living. You need someone like you. Your own kind.’
‘My own kind is a human being who doesn’t classify people according to how much money they earn. Anyway, Mark’s not who you think he is,’ she added, angrily. ‘Please don’t tell me what to do or who to like.’
‘Hey. Rowland, right?’ Fee, wearing a pink tankini, sauntered over. Ellie wondered if her friend radar had kicked in or whether she was just curious about meeting Rowland; Ellie had told her a few stories about him from the old days.
‘Fee. Hi. I’ve heard so much about you. We were just talking.’ He pushed his hair out of his eyes, sounding slightly self-conscious.
‘Actually, we were just arguing,’ Ellie gave Fee a fixed smile. ‘And Rowland was just leaving.’
‘Fine. I’m leaving. I’ll call you, Ellie.’ Rowland shrugged. ‘When you’ve calmed down, you’ll see I was right.’
‘Don’t call me!’ Ellie yelled. ‘I won’t pick up.’
‘Whatever. I’m not sure I was ever going to cope with the one breast thing anyway.’ Rowland raised an eyebrow and turned away. ‘Freakish’.
There was a silence: Ellie flinched at the word she had dreaded hearing.
‘Jeez, man. That was low.’ Fee hugged Ellie as Rowland walked off. ‘You okay?’
‘Yeah, I’m okay. Just found out who Rowland Hyatt really is, that’s all.’ She sighed.
‘Aww, my cherub, are you all right?’ Esther suddenly appeared next to her and enveloped Ellie in a hug. ‘Did ’ee ’urt you, my love? D’you want to come and sit down? Come on. Talk to Esther.’
Ellie allowed herself to be guided to a nearby picnic bench under a beach umbrella. Clare had organised a couple of guys to come and lay them out on the beach earlier, and now they were full of picnicking families and other swimmers.
‘I’m okay. Don’t worry.’ Ellie sat down on the wooden bench and gave Esther a weak smile. The wordfreakishhung in the air; it hurt to hear.
‘Ah. Friend of yours, was he?’ Esther regarded her with eyes that had probably seen every kind of argument and human frailty over the years.
‘I thought he was.’
‘Takes a long time to get to know who people really are. Past what they want to show you.’ Esther stared out at the sea. ‘I lost my ’usband a few years back now. We was together years. But there were still some days where I thought,I dunno who this man is. You can sleep in the same bed every night, you can ’ave children together. But one day they’ll say somethin’ or do somethin’ that makes you think,’Oo is this man? ’Tis the way of things.’
‘I suppose so.’ Ellie frowned. ‘Rowland thinks he knows me, but he doesn’t, either.’
