by Hannah Pearl
At first Tina seemed calm. She accepted his apologies and calmly but firmly told him that she wouldn’t be dropping the charges against him. She assured Ryan that she had been in hospital and had no idea how his flat got trashed. She told him that it was nothing less than he deserved. By the time she hung up he was screaming down the phone at her, calling her all manner of names.
‘I think we should phone the police tomorrow and let them know that he’s still harassing you.’ I said.
‘What happens if he presses charges about the damage to the flat?’ she asked. ‘I don’t want to get you and Charmaine into trouble.’
‘We’ll be fine.’ I assured her. ‘We wore gloves. Well, we needed to when we poured bleach all over his expensive suits. So no one saw us and there’s no fingerprints. Besides, when the advert gets printed tomorrow he’s going to be far too busy to worry about his flat any more.’
‘I don’t know if I’m so in awe of you or so nervous about this advert that I don’t want to ask,’ Tina said.
‘It was Charmaine’s idea.’ I admitted. ‘But it’s a doozy. We saw the email address for classified ads in the paper when we were looking up premium rate numbers to call. Tomorrow the local paper has agreed to run a full-page special ad. You see, it turns out that Ryan has decided to publish an apology to any woman he has ever hurt, alongside his mobile number and photograph. He must have had a real change of heart; he wanted to admit to being a bully and a chauvinist. The newspaper rang on his landline within minutes of us sending it. You should have heard Charmaine talking in a gruff voice pretending to be him. I don’t think they could believe it was real. The clincher though was that the stupid bastard was so arrogant, he was so sure you would never touch his stuff that he hadn’t even bothered to put a password on his laptop. When they realised that the email came from his address, they agreed to run it.’
‘I promise that I will never, ever, cross you again,’ Tina said.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Tina settled herself in nicely at my flat and I pretty much moved in with Jake. I told myself that it was because I was making the most of my time with him before school started, but really I just wanted to hold him every chance I got, just in case he had to move soon for work. We spent mornings at the park, then Jake would take over for afternoons of drawing at home, or reading stories, or playing endless games of hide and seek, where he’d pretend not to be able to see Alice even when she hid in the same place for the fifth time or left her legs sticking out from under the bed sheets. I’d do paperwork, and we’d meet up again at the table for tea.
Each night I’d go to sleep next to Jake, counting down how many nights I had left of holiday. All too soon, it was Friday. The final day of official school holidays. Jake woke me up before Alice did. Bea had booked the day off so that she could take care of Alice and though I’d loved spending so much time with her this summer, I was looking forward to having Jake to myself for the day. Jake was excited too, as we were due at the hospital at ten to have his cast removed finally. He whispered some things in my ear that he was planning to do once he got the all clear. Some of his suggestions included him finally being able to join me in the bath or shower, and I enjoyed hearing his plans so much we ended up running out the door with only minutes to spare before his appointment.
I dropped him at the door and drove round to the car park. By the time I found a tiny space at the very top of the multi-storey block and made it back down to the fracture clinic, Jake had already had his cast removed by the technician and was waiting to see the doctor. Jake held his wrist carefully on his lap, trying not to touch it. I was fascinated, there was a fine scar down one side, and the skin was paler having missed out on six weeks of sunshine.
The doctor worked her way slowly through the waiting room. We saw the hyper kid who had been dancing round his exhausted mum go in and come out without a cast on his leg. An old lady with a broken arm went in and then left with her carer and a big smile. Another kid, a girl this time, with a broken foot hobbled in and out. She kept her cast but got given some amazing new crutches with purple handles that matched her trainers. She left with a grin too.
Finally the nurse called Jake in. By this time it was so hot in the waiting room we left sweaty outlines when we got up out of the plastic chairs. She pointed to a wooden chair in the side room and bustled around handing files to the doctor without saying another word to us.
‘So you broke your wrist in a car accident six weeks ago,’ the doctor said to Jake. Jake nodded. The doctor examined an X-ray plate and felt gently around his wrist. ‘It seems to have healed well,’ she said. ‘I don’t think you need the cast any more. Are you in any pain? No. Okay, you can go, just come back if you have any problems with it later.’ She stood up, shook Jake’s hand and showed us out of the room. We’d been in there less than five minutes.
‘It’s over,’ Jake said, rolling his sleeves up outside and looking at his naked arm.
‘What would you like to do now?’ I asked as I inched my Mini out of the space. I was glad that I hadn’t got a bigger car, even though Jake’s knees were up around his chin. Maybe if we were spending lots of time driving to see each other soon I’d better think again. I found my good mood slipping away.
‘Let’s go home,’ Jake said.
Thankfully Bea and Alice weren’t back from their day out yet and we managed to work our way through a few of the things on Jake’s wish list. We were dressed again and just mopping the last of the water up off the floor when the others got home. Bea looked at us and grinned. I’m glad Alice was too young to know what we’d been up to but I found myself blushing regardless.
Jake and I ducked into his room. He sat folding his clean clothes and putting them away. I sat on his bed, yawning even though it wasn’t late yet. Our afternoon activities combined with the stress of the last few days had tired me out.
‘Do you fancy a cuppa?’ Jake asked, putting a T-shirt in his drawer and coming over to kiss me again.
‘I’d love one, please,’ I told him. I was about to ask for a couple of biscuits too, thinking that maybe the sugar might pick me up a bit, but my mobile rang. When Jake came back and handed me a mug I was still trying to get my head around what I’d just agreed to. ‘That was my head teacher,’ I told him. ‘The guy who was supposed to be taking over as head of year eleven had a heart attack and is going to be off work for at least six months.’
‘Oh no,’ Jake responded, setting his own mug down next to mine.
‘They were asking if I wanted to take it on instead,’ I said. ‘It’s a bit daunting. Last year he had to support kids through three unplanned pregnancies, two arrests and one small international incident.’
‘That sounds like a hell of a school,’ Jake said with a wink.
‘Normally I’d have run a mile,’ I admitted. ‘That level of responsibility at a school like mine is frankly, terrifying.’
‘Did you turn them down?’
I shook my head. ‘I must be crazy, but I didn’t. If the last few weeks have left me with anything, it’s the desire not to be scared any more. I said yes.’
Jake walked over and drew me in for a hug. ‘I’m so proud of you,’ he said, ‘and I know you’re going to be amazing. The kids are lucky to have you.’
‘I guess we’re both going to have a busy few weeks settling into new jobs,’ I told him.
‘About that,’ he began, ‘there’s a bit of a hold up with my job.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked. ‘I’m so sorry, I’ve been so wrapped up in myself recently, I just assumed it was all going ahead.’
‘It was,’ he replied. ‘At least, they offered it to me. I didn’t want to turn them down flat, they’re a great firm and when I applied it was in good faith that if they offered me the role that I’d take it. But my life has changed more in the last couple of months than I ever could have foreseen. When I spoke to you and I thought that it was you in hospital that night instead of Tina, I nearly lost the plot. I don’t want
to lose you, Evie.’
‘You won’t,’ I assured him. ‘I’ve been thinking about this non-stop too. And you won’t lose me. I don’t want to be without you either. But I don’t want to stop you from taking an opportunity that would be good for you. I’ve been thinking about how we can take trains so that we can meet up, or maybe I can swap to a bigger car.’
‘Evie, wait,’ he said, taking my hands and sitting us both down on the bed. ‘I rang the firm last week and talked it all through with them. They’ve agreed to hold on to my CV for now. They think that they should have some positions opening up in their London office within the next couple of months. I know Bea could do with the extra help until then. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind having me around either.’
‘Mind?’ I asked, turning to face him and throwing my arms around his neck. I covered him with kisses and didn’t stop until he pulled back to catch his breath.
‘There’s one more thing,’ he said, getting up and walking over to his bedside drawer. ‘I found this for you.’ He pulled out a long black velvet box. ‘I was at the train station on my way home, and all I could think of was getting back to you. They had a silver stall and I spotted this.’ He opened the box and I saw a necklace with a pendant of two inter-connected hearts. He picked it up and fastened the clasp around my neck. ‘It isn’t a ring,’ he explained, ‘because as I say, I haven’t seen the most stunning examples of happy marriages, and with your experiences of being engaged I wasn’t sure you would want that either yet, though I’m closer to thinking about marriage than I have ever been before.’
‘I love it,’ I said, tracing the pattern of the hearts with my fingertip.
‘I was hoping you would accept it as a token of my commitment to you,’ Jake said. ‘Because this is how I feel. That your heart and mine are connected.’
‘I feel the same way,’ I told him.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The next few months were crazy busy. Life seemed determined to test how confident I was in my new role. I had meetings with social services, youth workers, and on one notable occasion we even had the police turn up. It was daunting, but I hid my nerves from both the students and the adults, and eventually I started to feel as confident as I was trying to act. When you’ve stood up to a uniformed officer and told them that they can’t interrupt your lesson to interview a kid without their parent, and they’ve listened to you, you feel like you can take on anyone.
Of course, going home to Jake each night helped. The firm he had interviewed with was as good as their word. Within a few weeks he had a second interview and began working in an office just a few miles away. Sometimes he comes home from work buzzing because he loves what he is doing so much. You can’t ask for more than that.
Tina had a few more angry calls from Ryan. He tried to pressure her into dropping the charges but she refused. When she turned up at a preliminary hearing at court, surrounded by me, Jake, Charmaine and Matt, he realised that he wasn’t going to able to scare her off. Eventually he pleaded guilty so that he could get a reduced sentence. Three years didn’t feel like enough for the hell he had put her through, but it gave her some breathing space at least.
Tina went back to work once her injuries had healed and decided to sublet my flat. She enjoyed the freedom of making her own rules, just as I had when I’d first left Ryan to live there. I worried that she would be nervous going out by herself, but she seemed to bounce back remarkably quickly. She had regular sessions with Steph to talk about what had happened. Matt seemed keen to help her too. I tried to nip round to check on her whenever I could, and he was there more and more often.
With Jake and I being able to contribute to the rent, Bea dropped down to working just two days a week, and she looked revitalised. I didn’t complain about coming home after a long day at work to a hot dinner either, especially because she and Charmaine had a lot of fun practicing their new meal ideas out on us.
Ted agreed to an organised plan of contact with Alice. Bea was nervous for the first overnight visit, but we distracted her by taking her for her first night out since Alice had been born. Even George and Zoe came to meet us at the pub. Zoe wasn’t drinking. She announced that they’d made more than just a suntan on their honeymoon, and she and Bea spent the rest of the night talking pregnancy and babies. Charmaine pretended to look bored, but I think she was just making sure that I was okay about it, and I really was.
By now I only had a few pages left in my little black book. Jake offered to buy me a new one for Christmas, but I told him I didn’t need it any more. I didn’t need to spend hours writing about what had happened or trying to work out how I felt about it. For once it was crystal clear. I love him.
* The End *
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Thank You
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading about Evie’s Little Black Book. I hope that you enjoyed reading about how she got her confidence back as much as I enjoyed writing her journey. Writing this story has allowed me to have adventures when I wasn’t really well enough to have any in real life. Thank you for joining me on them. I hope that no matter what and who is in your own Little Black Book, that you have as much love and happiness in your future and Evie and Jake do together.
I would like to thank the Ruby & Choc Lit family for welcoming me to the fold. Thanks too, to the Tasting panel for taking a chance on my books. I’m so excited to be on this adventure with such a welcoming and lovely group of people.
If you have enjoyed reading this story it would mean a lot to me if you had a few minutes to share a review. As a new writer, this is a great way for people to find out about my books.
If you have any thoughts, comments or questions you can contact me via twitter @HannahPearl_1
Hopefully I’ll see you again when we share the next adventure together.
Hannah x
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About the Author
Hannah Pearl was born in East London. She is married with two children and now lives in Cambridge.
She has previously worked as a Criminology researcher at a university in Leicester, as a Development Worker with various charities and even pulled a few pints in her time.
In 2015 she was struck down by Labrynthitis, which left her feeling dizzy and virtually housebound. She has since been diagnosed with ME. Reading has allowed Hannah to escape from the reality of feeling ill. She read upwards of three hundred books during the first year of her illness. When her burgeoning eReader addiction grew to be too expensive, she decided to have a go at writing. In 2017 she won Simon and Schuster’s Books and the City #heatseeker short story competition, in partnership with Heat magazine, for her short story The Last Good Day.
Hannah is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association. Evie’s Little Black Book is her debut novel.
Follow Hannah:
www.dizzygirlwrites.wordpress.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/HannahPearl_1
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