Beneath these Stars (Lucy Mitchell Book 2)

by Hannah Ellis

  Chapter 52

  When I spoke to Adam about the school holidays, it turned out that Hailey was at a drama school with Imogen for the first week of the holidays and Emily’s week was crammed with two birthday parties, an afternoon art workshop at the community centre, and a trip to Chester Zoo with the family of one of her school friends. That kid had a better social life than me!

  Adam wasn’t working on Friday, so I planned to go over then, but I felt pretty deflated at the time I had to kill until then. I felt as though I was in limbo. Until Adam and I had made some decisions, I wasn’t sure what to do about finding a job. Should I assume I would be living out in Havendon again and look for something around there? Part of me worried that I might jinx things by making that assumption. Surely we could work things out, though. There were just a few things to straighten out. One was me confessing what I’d done with his photos. Every time I spoke to Adam, it felt more and more right that I should move back in, which meant that I absolutely had to tell him about the photos – and soon!

  I’d thought I would spend the first day of the holiday in Havendon with the girls, but instead I found myself at Dylan’s pub with Matt, feeling pretty glum.

  “Your misery could actually work out well for me,” Matt told me as we sat at the bar. “Obviously, I’m really concerned and sympathetic and all that, but Chrissie telling me to take you out to cheer you up is quite nice for me.”

  I managed a half-hearted smile.

  “No!” Matt said. “Don’t get all smiley and happy … we need to spend the next six weeks cheering you up. Let’s not accomplish too much today.”

  “Sorry. I’ll try and keep the smiling to a minimum.”

  “That’s good of you. Now, what are you eating?”

  “I was just planning on drinking,” I told him.

  “That would get me into trouble with Chrissie. You’re going to have to eat, I’m afraid.”

  “I can’t afford to eat,” I said miserably. “I’m unemployed and I’ve spent all my money.” To add to my list of recent bad decisions, I’d decided to celebrate Adam’s successful sales by going on a shopping trip.

  “How have you spent all your money?” Matt asked. “You have a sad, boring life, so when have you spent it all? And what’s bothering you? I thought things were getting better with Adam.”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Well, we have no other plans for the day, do we? Come on – spill!”

  “I did something stupid,” I said. Then I told him all about Adam’s photos and watched his eyes widen in disbelief.

  “So you basically stole his photos?” he said when I’d finished. “And he still doesn’t know? How long have you been keeping this to yourself? Since you came to stay with us?”

  I nodded and winced.

  “But that’s, like, two months, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Since I took them. But they’ve only just sold.”

  He rolled his eyes. “That’s okay, then!”

  “I know, it’s terrible. I’m so worried about how Adam’s going to react.”

  “You know how he’s going to react! That’s why you’re avoiding telling him.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” I said pathetically.

  “Tell him! Get it over with.”

  “Next time I see him,” I promised and reached for my beer.

  “What about the money? You were saying you’ve spent it all?”

  “That’s another story for another day,” I told him. “One problem at a time.”

  “Okay,” Matt said, clinking his glass against mine. “Here’s to Adam. I can’t believe all the photos sold. And immediately. That’s brilliant.”

  “It is, isn’t it?” I just needed to get Adam to focus on that part of the story.

  Telling Matt was probably a good thing. Of course, he wasn’t the most sympathetic of people, and he teased me about it, but it made me determined to tell Adam. I had to tell him now that Matt knew. It felt like another betrayal that Matt knew before Adam did.

  My day with Matt passed pleasantly, and on Tuesday he woke me by banging on my bedroom door. Chrissie had given him the task of painting the living room while he was off work, and he’d decided to get it out of the way at the start of the summer break. He roped me in to help, so we spent the morning at B&Q buying paint before covering the living room with dust covers. We hadn’t been painting long but my arms were already starting to ache.

  “So you spoke to Adam last night?” Matt said. “But you still haven’t told him about the photos?”

  I swept the paint roller up and down the wall. “No. I need to talk to him face to face.”

  “Doesn’t it feel weird every time you talk to him? Surely every time you speak to him without mentioning it, it’s more of a betrayal?”

  “You’re not helping! I’m seeing him on Friday. I’ll tell him then.”

  “Why not sooner? The longer you leave it, the worse it will be.”

  “Shut up!” I snapped, but smiled as I turned to flick paint at him.

  He grinned and got back to work. He was right; I should get it over and done with. I wiped my hands on my paint-flecked jeans as I walked out of the living room in search of my phone. I arrived back a few minutes later.

  “I rang him,” I said, frowning. “He’s going to come over on his way home from work. Are you happy now?”

  “Very!”

  Chapter 53

  Chrissie was happy about the paint job, and rewarded Matt by taking him out for a meal. I guess she also didn’t want to eat surrounded by paint fumes. The thought of finally telling Adam everything was making me increasingly nervous, and I sat tapping my fingers on the kitchen table while I waited for him. The doorbell startled me and I took a deep breath before answering it.

  Adam looked relaxed and happy. Did I really need to spoil his mood? Maybe we could just have a nice evening together… No! I would tell him. I had to tell him.

  “I’m glad you called,” he said, kissing me on the cheek. “I thought you sounded a bit down last night. We should talk things through. Try and make some plans.”

  “Yeah, that would be good,” I said, leading him to the kitchen. “Sorry about the smell. Matt and I painted the living room today.”

  “Ah! Chrissie’s got you hard at work, has she?”

  “Yeah. They’ve gone out for dinner.” I distracted myself making coffee and braced myself for the conversation to come. Soon it would all be out in the open, and that would surely be a relief.

  “Have you started job hunting?” Adam asked.

  “No. To be honest, I’m not sure where I should be looking.”

  “I thought that was bothering you.” He moved and rested his hands on my hips. “Look for something out near Havendon.”

  I moved away from him, my heart racing. I just needed to tell him.

  “I know you don’t want to rush into anything, and we’ve still got things to work through,” he said, taking my silence the wrong way. “But I promise to support you with your career. I think it’s great that you want to do teacher training.”

  I tried to jump in but he was determined to carry on. “And I’m going to talk to Mum. It’s not fair on you having her around so much. I know how hard that was for you.”

  “Don’t upset your mum,” I said, side-tracked. “It is hard, but she’s had such a terrible time. She needs to be around the girls. I’m sure that’s the only thing that keeps her going.”

  “I know, but she’s been talking about wanting to get more involved with her church committees and things again. I think she’s doing better. She’ll understand that things need to change. We could even redecorate! Make the house more our own?”

  “Adam, slow down.” My chest tightened and tears pricked my eyes.

  “And I’m going to help more with the housework too.”

  “Stop!” I yelled at him. His cheerfulness disappeared when he saw the look on my face.

  “What’s wrong? You do want this, don’t you? Y
ou want us to be a family again?”

  “I need to tell you something first,” I blurted, dropping into a chair.

  “Okay,” he said nervously.

  I paused, searching for the right words.

  “Is this about Mike?” he asked.

  “Oh my God.” I massaged my temples. “No! What? Why would you think that?”

  “Sorry. I don’t know. But you’re worrying me. And you never really did tell me what happened with Mike. You told me you kissed him. I wasn’t really sure what to think.”

  “I told you I kissed him in a moment of insanity when I was very drunk!”

  “Okay,” he said calmly.

  “There’s nothing for you to worry about with me and Mike,” I said, looking him in the eye. “I promise.”

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned Mike.”

  “Yes, you should. We need to talk about these things. And if you don’t believe that nothing happened with Mi—”

  “I do,” he interrupted. “I believe you. I wasn’t worried about Mike, not really. I just panicked. You said you needed to tell me something, and it sounded bad. What is it?”

  “I took some of your photos when I left,” I told him.

  He squinted, confused. “That’s not so bad, is it?”

  “Quite a lot of photos. From the garage. Twenty-five of them.”

  “What did you do with them?” he asked slowly.

  “I took them to Ollie and Jonathan at The White Kitchen,” I confessed, biting my lip. “I forged your signature on a contract and they displayed them in their bar, down the road from the restaurant.”

  Nervously, I waited while he processed the information.

  His brow creased. “You did what?”

  “I just thought … Well, I wasn’t really thinking.”

  “You stole my photos?” he said, angrily.

  “I didn’t really steal them! You said I could take anything.”

  “I didn’t mean my photos!” he shouted, pacing the room. “You knew I didn’t mean that!”

  “I know. It was wrong. I’m sorry. Bu—”

  “But nothing! How could you do that? Why? Why did you do it?”

  “I’m not sure,” I cried. “I always hated that they were hidden away. You’re so talented.”

  “But we’d talked about this. You knew I didn’t want to pursue photography. You can’t just do whatever you want all the time!”

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered.

  “And why didn’t you tell me before? I’ve been trying to make sure we communicate better. And the whole time, you’ve had this huge secret?”

  “I know.” I had no defence. I was an idiot. The silence unnerved me until he finally spoke again.

  “Which ones did you take?” he asked, calmer now.

  “I just grabbed any.” I tried to remember exactly. “That one with the kites. One of the woodland with the leaves blowing around. The sunset over the lake…”

  “I can’t believe you did that,” he said, bewildered. “Do they still have them on display?”

  I shook my head. “They sold them.”

  “Which ones?”

  I smiled nervously. “All of them.”

  He’d always been filled with self-doubt when it came to his photos, and the look of disbelief on his face now was further evidence of that. It really shouldn’t have been a surprise that they had sold so easily.

  “All of them?” He looked to me for confirmation.

  “Almost as soon as they went up. And you shouldn’t be so surprised!”

  “I don’t know what to think,” he said, walking to the door. “I’m going to go.”

  “Adam. Please don’t just run away. We need to talk about this.”

  “I know.” He turned back to me. “But I’m not sure what to say now. Let me get my head around it.”

  Relief washed through me when he kissed me on the cheek before leaving. It could have gone worse, I supposed.

  Later, Adam surprised me with his usual bedtime phone call. I had expected him to skip it. He was calm, though still sounded perplexed by my actions. At least he was interested in hearing more about it all; he’d been looking through the garage to try and figure out which pictures were missing. I had a list of all the photos from Jonathan and Ollie so I went through it with him. I told him how much the photos had sold for, and how amazing they looked in White Ice. It would’ve been nice if we had been talking about it under different circumstances: if it had been something we’d done together. At least I’d finally told him, though. I felt lighter when I climbed into bed that night. Now that everything was out in the open, we could work on moving forward.

  Chapter 54

  I apologised to Adam every evening when we spoke on the phone, and he seemed to be softening about the whole White Kitchen incident. It was early when I arrived in Havendon on Friday. I slipped into bed beside Adam.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. He groaned as he woke and pulled me to him. When he kissed me, my body tingled with desire.

  “You’re forgiven,” he said when his eyes finally flickered open.

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I’m just worried that you’ll be more determined for me to set up a photography business now. But I smashed up my camera because I couldn’t stand the sight of it.”

  “I know. I only wanted you to set up your own business because I thought that’s what you wanted, deep down. Do you really not want to? After how well it went at White Ice?”

  He looked conflicted. “I don’t know.”

  We were interrupted by Emily.

  “Lucy!” she squealed and took a running jump at me. I pulled her on top of me for a big hug.

  “What are we going to do today?” I asked her.

  “Can we have a picnic? And fly kites? And eat ice cream? And go to the toy shop?”

  “That’s a lot of things,” Adam said.

  “Yes, it is. And can we go to the pet shop to look at the animals? I’d like to get a puppy.”

  “We can’t get a puppy,” Adam said. “But I think we can manage the rest. Why don’t you go and get dressed?”

  Emily bounded away.

  “What were you saying about the photography?” I asked Adam

  “I’m thinking about it,” he replied. “But I honestly don’t know if it’s something I want any more.”

  “Okay. It’s good that you’re thinking about it properly.” I lay in his arms enjoying the peace. “You should get up,” I said after a moment.

  “Yeah. I need to wake Hailey. She’s got her drama class.”

  “How’s your mum, by the way? I haven’t seen her for a while. I thought I might call in on her later.”

  “She’s going to the garden centre with Anne from church today, and then she’s got choir practice after that, so you might not catch her.”

  “Oh wow!” I said, surprised.

  “I told you, she’s getting more involved with things again.”

  I untangled myself from Adam and moved to get up. “That’s great. I’m pleased for her. You really do need to get up…”

  He pulled me back down on the bed. “In a minute,” he said nuzzling my neck and tickling me. “I love you.”

  I squirmed under his weight, giggling.

  “I’m ready!” Emily interrupted us. Adam propped himself up on an arm. She stood in the doorway.

  “Are the fairy wings and tutu just for breakfast, or will you wear them outside too?” he asked her.

  “Outside too,” she said.

  “And the pirate hat?”

  “I’m a fairy pirate!”

  “Of course you are,” he said. “And the swimming goggles?”

  “Just in case,” she said before walking away.

  “Just in case?” Adam whispered with raised eyebrows. “What kind of a day is she expecting?”

  “It’s good to be prepared,” I told him.

  “Hi,” Hailey said, walking past the door. “What’s so funny?”

  “Your
sister,” Adam told her. “Just don’t laugh when you see her.”

  “Is she dressed like a weirdo again? She’s so strange!”

  *****

  In the pet shop later that day, Emily was disappointed by the lack of puppies. She set her sights on a rabbit instead and watched them hop around the cages.

  “We can’t get one today,” Adam told her. “But we’ll think about it. Maybe we could get a rabbit?” He looked at me. I nodded.

  “Oh. I don’t want a rabbit,” Emily said, moving away from them.

  Adam rolled his eyes.

  “I want this!” She pointed up at the notice board, where there was a flyer advertising Labrador puppies for sale. “That little one,” Emily said, looking at the picture of the adorable little pups.

  “They’re all little,” Adam told her.

  “You have to ring that number if you want one,” Emily said.

  Adam glanced at me as Emily swung on his arm, pleading for the puppy. I turned away to survey the selection of fish food – and avoid getting involved. I’d find it very hard to say no to a fairy pirate.

  “You can’t just buy a dog,” he told her slowly. “You have to think about it for a long time first. Dogs take a lot of looking after. Who’s going to feed it, and train it, and walk it, and clean up after it?”

  “But I want it,” Emily whined.

  Adam bent down to her. “We can’t get a puppy,” he said calmly. “But we could go and get some lunch and then you can have ice cream, okay?”

  “Chocolate ice cream?” She pouted.

  “Whatever ice cream you want.”

  “And can we have McDonald’s for lunch?” she asked.

  “Yes. I guess we can,” he told her.

  Emily ran to the door and we followed her out onto the street and in the direction of McDonald’s.

  “The puppies looked so cute,” I whispered to Adam as we walked hand in hand a few paces behind Emily.

  “I know,” he agreed. “Maybe it would be nice for the girls to have a dog.”

  “And I thought you’d done really well not giving in to Emily!”