TWENTY-NINE
Ellie had her T-shirt half off when someone knocked at Marilyn’s door.
‘Wait! Just a minute!’ she yelled, tugging at it gently. At least she didn’t have her drains in anymore, because they would have got pulled out straightaway, she thought. Hurriedly, she pulled on the pretty white linen sundress she’d brought down from London and adjusted her prosthetic breast. The dress buttoned up to the neck and had short sleeves, a full skirt and a wide white linen belt.Good. Summery and demure, but nice, she thought. It was a few sizes up from her old clothes, but she really didn’t care.
She opened the door, and her heart fluttered. Ellie had imagined that she would have to go looking for Mark, but there he was, on her doorstep. If Fee had been there, she would have said something like,The universe is making it as clear as humanly possible for you here, babes. You’re a bright girl. Don’t mess it up again.
‘Oh. Hello again.’ Ellie ran a hand through her hair, wishing she’d had a chance to brush it.
‘Hi.’ Mark Gardner stood outside, holding a small bunch of roses wrapped in foil at the bottom. ‘I brought you these. To say sorry about before.’
‘Thank you.’ Ellie took them. Now that she was with Mark, she didn’t know what to say to him. She’d been thinking of all the things she wanted to say as she got changed: that she wanted to get to know him better. That she couldn’t stop thinking about that one night they’d spent together. That his touch had been electric.
‘From my garden,’ he added. ‘You’ll want to put ’em in some water. Hot day like this.’
‘Right. Come in. I’ll find a glass or something.’ Ellie opened Marilyn’s kitchen cupboard where an array of plastic tumblers was lined up behind a metal bar to stop everything falling out.
‘You’ve made some changes in here.’ Mark looked around at the new curtains Ellie had had made, the updated carpet and new upholstery. ‘This looks great.’
‘Thanks.’
Ellie was nervous. She’d imagined running up to Mark, perhaps on top of the cliff overlooking Magpie Cove, her white dress billowing romantically in the wind. She’d imagined him catching her, and them both looking deep into each other’s eyes and kissing, not saying anything. She hadn’t quite imagined them slipping into a conversation about upholstery aboard her motorhome.
‘Custom upholstery can be pricey.’ Mark looked at his shoes.
‘How did it turn out with Jamey? And how is she?’ Ellie asked. ‘I did try and keep in touch with Clare, but there’s only so much she could tell me due to confidentiality, and it’s not her case anyway. Plus, she hardly texts.’
‘Good. I mean,notgood. She’s gonna take a long time to recover from what he did to her. What he did to you all. But he’s got prison time. And he’s not allowed to see the kids. All we could hope for, really. Jamey’s gonna take the kids and move up to Exeter. He won’t know where she’s gone, and we’ve got family up there. New start. I’ll still go up and see ’em, of course.’
‘That’s good.’ Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Poor Jamey. I was so scared that night. I can only imagine what it was like for her.’
‘Yep.’ He put his hands in his pockets.
‘I’m not involved with Rowland,’ she said, suddenly. ‘I’m sorry about him, back there. We kissed, one night, that was all. He’s an old friend.’
‘More your type than I am,’ Mark muttered. ‘Lost my temper. I’m sorry. I just can’t forget that night we spent together. It meant a lot to me.’
‘It meant a lot to me too.’ Ellie laid the flowers down in the motorhome’s sink and stepped cautiously towards Mark. ‘I didn’t want you to think it didn’t. And… I didn’t just come back for the wild swim. I came back hoping to see you.’
‘You sure? That guy’s richer than me. I’m no good at conversation. You’d get bored with me.’ Mark looked away from her.
Ellie stood closer to him; breathed in his subtle scent of honey and cotton.
‘I can’t get bored of this,’ she murmured, as she kissed him. His lips tasted slightly of sea salt. She wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands found her waist and he returned her kiss, but then cleared his throat and broke away.
‘Look. I got to explain something. Before this goes any further,’ he said, running his hand through his rumpled hair. ‘I’m not a man of many words. Right?’
‘I noticed,’ Ellie replied, steadily. ‘But if you think I prefer Rowland to you, I really don’t. Believe me.’
‘I do. But listen. Okay?’
‘Okay.’ She sat down on the booth-style sofa that lined one wall of the motorhome. ‘I’m listening.’
‘Right. Thing is, since I was a kid, I’ve had a stammer. Used to get teased for it rotten. As I got older, I learned to control it. So I can speak properly, but I need to concentrate. That’s why I don’t talk much.’
‘I had no idea.’ Ellie leaned forward, wanting to touch him, wanting to make it all right. To show him that she didn’t care about a stammer or anything else Mark might feel was slightly imperfect about himself.
‘No, well. Most people don’t. I’ve gone out with girls before and they got annoyed ’cos I don’t talk much. Think I’m boring or something.’
