The Trouble With Words: a heart-warming romantic comedy

by Suzie Tullett

  She paused and asked herself where this resentment for a total stranger had come from. Anyone would think she was jealous. ‘Now you’re just being stupid,’ she said. She began lathering faster and faster. ‘Jealous, my arse.’

  Annabel dismissed the very idea and began to scrub herself clean. However, the sound of the doorbell ringing stopped her in her tracks. She realised it could only be Rebecca and hastily ducked her body under the water in a quick rinse, before climbing out of the bath. She put on her dressing gown, but didn’t even bother drying herself first. Instead, she simply paddled out of the room and quickly made her way down the stairs, ready to find out why her sister had been so elusive these last few days. ‘Thank God,’ she said, unlocking the front door and swinging it open. ‘I was beginning to … .’

  Annabel fell silent, surprised to find Dan standing there instead. Obviously on his way out for the evening, the man looked very dapper indeed. She cringed, unable to say the same about herself. Does this man ever think to ring ahead? she silently asked.

  After telling herself the little somersaults in her tummy were the result of embarrassment, she watched his eyes widen at the sight of her and, realising that’s how bad she looked, she blushed. She pulled her dressing gown tight over her chest, at the same time wishing its hemline sat below the knee and not over.

  ‘It’s not a bad time, is it?’ asked Dan.

  Annabel gingerly put a hand up to the messy pile of hair on her head, conscious of the bathwater still running down her legs. ‘Erm, no,’ she replied. ‘I wouldn’t say that exactly.’

  He seemed to be waiting for her to say something else.

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ she said. All at once remembering herself she stood aside. ‘Please, come in. Just let me go and throw some clothes on.’

  Annabel raced back up the stairs and into her bedroom and grabbed the first clean items to hand. ‘There’s no point worrying about what you look like now,’ she said. She donned a set of fleecy pyjamas and a pair of fluffy bunny slippers. The man has just seen you half-naked. She caught sight of her reflection in the dressing table mirror and stopped to look at herself. ‘I bet his lady friend couldn’t carry this off,’ she insisted. Her shoulders slumped. ‘Then again, would she want to?’

  She left the room and headed back down stairs, surprised to find Dan still standing in the hallway. ‘You could have gone through, you know.’ She gestured the way to the kitchen.

  As she followed him in, she could tell by the aroma trailing behind that his aftershave was expensive. ‘Lucky lady,’ she said.

  ‘Sorry?’ he replied.

  Annabel squirmed, mortified at having just thought that, let alone said it. ‘What? I didn’t say anything.’ It was a lie he thankfully seemed to accept and she quickly moved the conversation on. ‘Can I get you a drink?’ she asked. ‘Cup of tea or a glass of wine?’ She looked down at her attire. ‘A mug of hot chocolate?’

  He didn’t appear to get the joke. Then again, looking at him he didn’t seem his usual self at all. In Annabel’s experience, there should have been at least one wise crack from him by now, but instead he had this serious air about him. As if he had something important to say.

  He shook his head, declining her offer. ‘I can’t stay long,’ he said.

  Oh God, thought Annabel. Try as she might, she couldn’t understand his demeanour. What if it’s his mother? What if she’s dead? She felt terrible at the thought of her trying to be funny when he could be on his way to the Chapel of Rest, a visit that would certainly explain the attire.

  ‘Is everything okay, Dan?’ she tentatively asked. ‘It’s not your mum, is it?’

  Strangely, her question seemed enough for him to relax a little. He smiled. ‘No, it’s not Mum. But thank you for asking.’

  ‘That’s a relief,’ said Annabel. Although why he’d be thanking her for thinking the poor woman was dead was anyone’s guess. ‘So what can I do for you then?’ she asked.

  Her mobile phone suddenly beeped, a text had come through. She decided that it could wait and she ignored it.

  ‘Well?’ she said. ‘You’re here because?’

  She watched him nervously run a hand through his hair. Whatever he had on his mind it must be important.

  ‘I’ve been thinking. About our arrangement.’

  Annabel’s heart skipped a beat. Glad not to be the one to have to broach the subject, he’d obviously come to the same conclusion as her, that once a week wasn’t getting them anywhere.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I know what you’re going to say and, to be honest, I’ve been thinking the same thing.’

  ‘You have?’ asked Dan. He seemed relieved to hear it.

  ‘Of course. It’s not as if these Wednesday nights have been working, is it? If they had, I’d be pregnant by now.’ She let out a little laugh.

  ‘There is that, I suppose,’ he replied.

  ‘So it’s only sensible we up our chances. Now, it’s understandable you might want to keep your weekends free, but that still gives us five other days to choose from.’ She knew she was rabbiting on, but she couldn’t help herself. ‘In fact, how about we forget the middle of the week altogether, and go for Mondays and Thursdays?’

  Judging by his silence, she could see Dan hadn’t expected her to be one step ahead of him.

  ‘Well,’ she said. Annabel smiled as she waited for his answer. ‘What do you think?’

  He seemed to pause for a second, but just as he was about to speak, her mobile began to ring. Irritated, she picked it up and looked at the screen. ‘Sorry,’ she said. Annabel recognised the caller and knew she had to answer. ‘It’s my sister.’

  As he indicated for her to go ahead, she clicked to take the call. ‘Rebecca, thank goodness. You do know I’ve been trying to get a hold of you, don’t you? Is everything alright?’

  She turned to Dan and mouthed another apology.

  ‘What?’ she suddenly said, her attention immediately back to her sister. ‘Just stay where you are. I’ll be right over. I mean it, Rebecca, don’t do anything silly.’

  Annabel frantically ended the call. ‘Sorry, Dan, but this will have to wait.’ She began searching for her handbag. ‘I’ve got to go out.’

  18

  As she and Dan stepped outside, Annabel slammed the door behind them. She fumbled in her bag for her keys as she hastily made her way to the car.

  ‘What’s happened?’ asked Dan, hot on her heels. ‘Is everything okay?’

  ‘Let’s just say I’ve got my fingers crossed,’ said Annabel.

  Frustrated, she crouched down, almost tripping over her bunny slippers as she tipped the contents of her handbag out onto the roadside. ‘I know they’re in here somewhere’ she said. While sifting through the pile of crumpled receipts, her purse, and even a tatty old address book, Annabel sighed. She still couldn’t find what she was looking for.

  ‘Look, wherever you need to be, I’ll take you,’ said Dan.

  Annabel paused. ‘And spoil your plans, I don’t think so.’ She got back to her search, this time tossing a pack of headache pills to one side. ‘Honestly, you go. We’ll talk soon, yeah?’

  She felt Dan’s hand on her arm as he lowered himself down to her level. ‘I don’t mind and this is obviously important.’

  Annabel momentarily relaxed when she saw the concern on Dan’s face. It was good of him to think of her like this, but there was no way she could ruin his evening. ‘I’m fine. It’s just a family issue and believe me, you’ll have a lot more fun doing whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing.’

  With one last grope around, she finally had to concede. Her keys weren’t there. ‘They must be inside,’ she said. She looked towards the house as she scooped everything back up. ‘Shit!’ Annabel rose to her feet and realised that the keys to her home were on the same ring as those to her car. ‘What the hell am I going to do now?’ She put one hand to her forehead and the other on her hip as she tried to think. With only the bathroom window left open, the pr
ospect of shimmying up the drainpipe did not feel like fun.

  She watched Dan stand up. He pulled the keys to his vehicle out of his pocket and dangled them in front of her.

  With no time to argue, Annabel zipped her bag shut. ‘Okay,’ she said, deciding it couldn’t hurt to have a bit of back up in a situation like this. As she quickly headed for his car, she expected him to be right behind her. ‘Well what are you waiting for?’ she asked.

  He pressed the button on his key fob and released the central locking. Dan shook his head and indicated to her clothing as they climbed inside. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t get changed,’ he said.

  Annabel looked down at her attire. ‘Who’s going to see me?’ She put on her seatbelt. ‘And like you said, this is an emergency.’

  As Dan turned the ignition, she took in the interior of the car. Very nice, she thought. Annabel compared it to her clapped out and rather basic little number; this one seemed to have a display for everything. It was obviously built for speed, something Annabel felt comfortable with. Her lack of punctuality had given her lots of experience on the speeding front, something Dan clearly didn’t realise.

  Having expected him to just pull out and hit the accelerator, Annabel waited for them to move. Forced to watch Dan double check for other traffic before slowly pulling away from the kerb, the last thing she’d had him down as was a Sunday driver. He seemed to carefully and methodically move through the gears, from first, to second, to third. She found it painful viewing; especially as they’d already established this to be a life or death situation. Even in her old car, she could have done nought to sixty in no time at all and, as they carried on down the street, Annabel itched for him to put his foot down. ‘You can go a bit faster,’ she said. Her impatience grew. She glanced at the speedometer; surely he was going to go above thirty at some point?

  ‘Where is it we’re off to?’ he asked.

  ‘Nowhere by the looks of things.’ Annabel silently insisted she could walk quicker than this.

  ‘I’ve already had one ticket recently,’ said Dan. ‘I don’t want another.’

  ‘Really?’ She’d have put money on it not being for speeding.

  ‘Really.’

  Annabel realised no amount of complaining would make him go any faster, so she decided to just go with the flow. ‘You need to take the next right and then a left,’ she said.

  She continued to give him directions, all the while thinking they were never going to get there. At this rate her sister had to think she’d been deserted in her hour of need, or worse, gotten herself into trouble. Finally, she thought, at last spotting their journey’s end. ‘You see that car park over there,’ she said. ‘That’s where we’re heading.’

  Although still in no rush, Dan pulled in, while Annabel scanned the area for her sister’s vehicle. ‘There she is,’ she said, as she pointed out a blue car so Dan could draw up alongside.

  ‘A pub?’ he replied. ‘We’ve come to a pub? I thought you said this was an emergency.’

  Annabel rolled her eyes. The drive had taken so long, no one would have guessed.

  She decided to ignore his questions and hastily unclipped her seatbelt; but paused to look her driver directly in the eye before getting out. ‘You’re not to say a single word,’ she warned him. ‘You’re here for your brawn should anything go wrong and not your brains.’

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Dan.

  Annabel could see that he was wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

  ‘Plus, I could do with the moral support,’ she added. ‘Silent moral support, that is.’ After opening the car door, she paused for a second time. Annabel knew that Dan’s presence wouldn’t exactly be welcome, but thought it better to excuse her sister’s impending behaviour prior to the fact. ‘Rebecca can be a bit difficult, you see,’ she said.

  Dan smiled. ‘I remember,’ he replied, obviously recalling the couple of times their paths had crossed.

  She finally disembarked and, with Dan following suit, climbed straight into the back of Rebecca’s vehicle. She could see her sister had been crying, something Annabel thought understandable under the circumstances.

  ‘Two questions,’ said Rebecca. ‘One, what on earth are you wearing?’

  Annabel looked from her sister to her pyjamas and fluffy bunny slippers, no longer quite sure how to respond. Yes, she might be inappropriately dressed considering their venue, but with mascara and eye liner smeared all over her face, she had to ask if Rebecca was really in a position to comment.

  ‘And two, what’s he doing here?’

  Annabel saw that Dan was about to reply, but quickly put her hand up to silence him. Rebecca had long made her mind up with regards to her dislike for the man and, no matter the explanation, she’d still want rid of him. Besides, having already made it clear Dan’s role here was non-verbal, she felt more concerned about her sister’s well-being. She’d never seen such an emotional wreck.

  ‘Never mind him,’ she replied. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I’ve been asking myself that for the last two hours,’ said Rebecca.

  Annabel peered out at the building before her. With a boarded-up window and half its neon signage refusing to light up, the pub couldn’t be more of a dive if it tried. Considering their surroundings, her sister was lucky she hadn’t been robbed at knifepoint or car jacked. And goodness only knew what kind of woman her brother-in-law had got himself mixed up with.

  ‘Earlier,’ her sister carried on. ‘When he rang to say he was working late again, something just snapped. I got in the car and waited outside the office for him to finish. That’s when I followed him here.’ Tears began to well in her eyes. ‘He’s in there, Annabel, with his other woman.’

  ‘Oh, Rebecca,’ she said, her sister’s pain almost tangible. ‘You shouldn’t be doing this to yourself, not in your condition.’

  Out of the corner of her eye, Annabel saw Dan move, as if about to speak. Anticipating his question, she decided to get in with the answer first. ‘She’s pregnant,’ she said.

  Dan’s whole body seemed to slump. ‘Jesus, Annabel,’ he replied.

  His reaction surprised her. Dan appeared as shocked by the news as she’d been, he didn’t seem able to say anything else. Instead, he just sat there. Then again, Annabel supposed there wasn’t much he could say. All the platitudes in the world wouldn’t change things. Her sister would still be having a baby and she still wouldn’t. She could see a tenderness in his eyes as he leaned over with a comforting hand, a gesture that left her, like him, lost for words. As she was taking in his gaze, the moment seemed to go on a little too long and, suddenly uncomfortable, Annabel snapped herself out of it. ‘Now is not the time for sympathy,’ she said, trying to re-focus.

  ‘I just needed to see it for myself,’ said Rebecca, as her lip began to quiver.

  ‘And if he is with another woman,’ said Annabel. ‘What then?’

  Her lip quivered some more. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead.’

  ‘I take it you still haven’t spoken to Gavin about any of this then?’ asked Annabel. She again took in their dodgy environment. ‘I’m guessing we wouldn’t be here if you had.’

  Rebecca shook her head. ‘So he can tell me I’m imagining things? That it’s my hormones playing up?’

  As her sister broke down in tears, Annabel didn’t know what to say for the best. She turned to Dan, hoping he’d have some words of wisdom, before quickly changing her mind again. After all, this was the last person Rebecca would take advice from. With no other options, she simply dug into her handbag and pulled out a clean tissue before silently handing it over.

  Annabel watched her sister wipe her eyes and couldn’t help but question why life had to be so complicated. If Gavin no longer felt happy in his marriage he should have come clean about his feelings, not turned to another woman. And once Rebecca had suspicions, she should have confronted her husband, not taken to sneaking around after him like this. Why couldn’t people
just be more honest with each other? She suddenly felt the warmth of Dan’s leg against hers, forced to ignore the little voice inside of her that was suggesting that she might want to take her own advice. Great, she thought. Now she was hearing things. Maybe her sister had been right of late; maybe she was losing the plot.

  Annabel insisted all of this sitting around wasn’t getting anyone anywhere, and decided to take charge of the matter at hand. ‘Just to get things straight,’ she said. ‘You haven’t actually been inside the pub yet?’

  Again, her sister shook her head. ‘I’ve tried to pluck up the courage,’ she said. ‘But that’s why I rang you. I was hoping you’d go in for me.’

  Annabel looked into her sister’s rather smudged, yet pleading, eyes. Then she once more turned her attention to her pyjamas and bunny slippers and wondered why these things always happened to her. She wished she’d listened to Dan and got changed before setting out.

  ‘Annabel, you can’t,’ he said.

  She threw him a look. ‘What choice do I have?’ she asked.

  He held his hands up and, gesticulating his surrender, leaned back in his seat as if retreating to a safe distance.

  Okay, she thought. You’ve been in worse situations. You can do this.

  She took a deep breath. ‘Right, any idea as to whereabouts in the building he might be?’ she asked. With a bit of luck she could just march in, grab him, and march straight back out again.

  ‘None at all,’ replied Rebecca.

  ‘Bugger!’ said Annabel.

  Dan tried to say something, but again, she refused to let him. She opened the car door, ready to get out.

  ‘You’re going in like that?’ asked her sister.

  Annabel scoffed. ‘Not without trying to locate him first, I’m not. I’m hoping I’ll be able to see him through the window.’

  ‘I’m coming with you,’ said Rebecca. She opened her car door too.

  ‘So am I,’ said Dan, doing the same.