by S J Crabb
To my surprise, he reaches out and takes my hand in his and says softly, “But where’s the fun in that, Nelly. Surely the real interest lies in the challenge. The one you can’t have and the one just out of reach. That’s the one who holds your attention and makes you think when you’re alone. They are the one thing you can’t have and you spend hours thinking of ways to get the prize. I’m competitive and always have been. I want what’s just out of reach, I always have. Once it’s mine, I lose interest and I’m onto the next challenge. That’s why I’ll never settle down because I haven’t yet met the equal of me. Someone who pushes me and makes me try to be better. So, as you can see, I’m everything you thought I was and worse. Girls don’t deserve men like me in their life because I am the selfish boy from school that you remember. Girls like you meet the men nature intended them to meet and leave the drama to girls like Emma who thrive on it.”
Snatching my hand away, I stare at him with a cold expression. “You’re every bit as much of an asshole as I thought you were back then. I can see you’ve learned nothing since leaving school, so maybe it will make my job here a lot easier. Take the money and run, that’s what I’ll do because the sooner you and your chocolate pretending shop leave town, the better off we’ll all be.”
I feel my breath coming fast and furiously as I stare at the person before me. Then I say angrily, “You know, Jack, you may be everything to all women on the outside but inside you’re as empty as an Easter egg these days. Enticing on the outside, promising much when you unwrap the packaging, only to leave the bitter taste of disappointment inside when you open it and realise there’s nothing but air in there. Maybe you should be on your own because the poor girl that ends up with you would have a miserable life. Now, you had better leave because I have a business to run and need my beauty sleep.”
To my extreme annoyance, Jack just laughs and smiles in that annoying ‘ok I’ll forgive you everything’ look. “Now I’ve upset you and I didn’t mean to. I am grateful to you for helping me out but you need to realise something about me. I’m not the happy ever after. I’m not Prince Charming and I’m not ‘The One.’ As soon as I can, I’ll be packing my bags and heading off on a plane quicker than you can blink. I’m every bit as selfish as my parents because they created me in their image. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy this relationship while we have it. Let’s just have some fun and treat it for what it is.”
Taking deep, calming, breaths and trying desperately to find some freaking zen in my life, I say in a low voice laced with the controlled rage of a serial killer, “Get out.”
Jack shakes his head and smirks. “It’s ok, I’m leaving. I’ll see you tomorrow, babe.”
The door slams behind him and I waste no time in tearing up the tarmac and getting as far away from him as possible.
What just happened? It was all going so well and then he changed in seconds. Nice Jack became cocky Jack in the blink of an eye and it’s made my mission much easier. I will help him just to get rid of him and if he thinks it will be fun, he’s got another thing coming.
21
I think I’m still seething when I open Chocolatti the next morning. I won’t even look across the street today. In fact, I even consider taking down the spy mirror and pretending Jack and his stupid shop doesn’t exist.
I’m still fuming around mid-morning when the door chimes and I look up to see Patty heading inside looking absolutely dreadful.
She looks around her nervously and I see the huge dark circles under her eyes and the pale complexion of a woman who looks as if she’s had no sleep.
Looking at her with concern, I say softly, “Patty. It’s lovely to see you.”
She scurries over and looks around her furtively. “Hi, Nelly. Um… I’m sorry but is Ken around?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m sorry, I haven’t seen him today.”
She sighs with relief. “Good.”
Lowering my voice, I say, “What happened. Ken came in here and told me he was marrying another woman.”
The look of pain and surprise in her eyes takes my breath away as she says shakily, “Married?”
Then her shoulders sag and a lone tear trickles down her cheek. I can’t bear it and head towards her and wrap my arm around her, saying gently, “Are you ok?”
Sniffing, she says in a whisper, “No, I don’t think I am.”
Pulling her into the little room behind the counter, I offer her a seat and flick on the kettle. “Tell me what happened. Maybe we can make some sense of it between us.”
She sniffs loudly and then blows her nose into a tissue. “It’s terrible, Nelly. I don’t know what happened, but it all started when my sister came to stay. I know Ken doesn’t like her and told me all the time she was staying he would be keeping away. To be honest, I wish I could have done the same but when I hadn’t heard from him for a couple of days, I got worried. I tried to call, but it just went to voicemail. I thought he’d had an accident and tried frantically to reach him. Then a couple of days ago, I got a text from him saying he no longer wanted to be with me and we should call it quits.”
She starts to sob and I look at her in shock. “A text!”
She nods. “It was so cold. I tried to call but I still couldn’t get through. Then yesterday he called, at least I thought it was him.”
She sniffs and says in a broken voice. “It was a woman. She sounded so cold and told me that Ken didn’t want to talk to me and had moved on already. I wasn’t to contact him and if I knew what was good for me, I would stay away.”
“She threatened you!”
“Yes, it felt like that.”
Shaking my head, I stare at her in disbelief. “That’s terrible, Patty, it doesn’t make sense. I mean, I’ve met this woman, I think her name’s Violet. They came in here yesterday and I’m not joking, Patty, there’s something strange about all this. You know, I disliked her on the spot and I think she’s controlling Ken. Maybe she’s a witch or some sort of high priestess in a cult. Yes, that’s the most likely explanation.”
Patty almost laughs. “You’re mad, Nelly.”
Shrugging, I hand her a cup of strong tea and say angrily, “Well, I’ll find out what’s going on. No young, attractive woman is going to get in the way of the couple I love who were meant to be together. I’m making it my mission to destroy that cosy bubble she’s trapped him; you can count on it.”
Patty smiles miserably through her tears. “You’re such a good friend, Nelly.”
Handing her a little taster chocolate for her nerves, I cram a few into my mouth to help me chew on the problem. Yes, Violet is playing with fire and is about to get burnt.
Later that afternoon, Jack sidles into the shop sheepishly holding a latte and says apologetically, “Peace offering.”
Fixing him with a withering stare, I say angrily, “If you think a latte will excuse your outburst yesterday, you’re more deluded than I thought.”
He sets the cup down and says in a worried voice, “Listen, I didn’t mean to come across so cold last night. I suppose it was the visit to your parents that set me off. When I saw how happy they were, it made me think about my own. Maybe they loved each other once, but it’s now pretty obvious that love has turned to hate. I saw my future mapped out before me where I will be no better than them. You deserve so much better and I felt bad for involving you in my plan. Let me make it up to you tonight. We could catch a movie or something, and just try to enjoy ourselves for once.”
Shaking my head, I say with exasperation. “That’s what I don’t understand. It’s fine for us to pretend to be a couple when the situation warrants it but from what I can see, we’ve only needed to do so twice. Why the cosy evenings alone, what purpose do they solve?”
“We need to get to know each other. Be familiar in company and have a connection. Aunt Alice is shrewd and will notice if we don’t feel comfortable with each other. The trouble is, we don’t have long which is why I braved coming over here.”
“What do you mean?”
He sighs heavily. “We’ve all been asked to dinner on Sunday. The whole family that is. She wants to meet up and see how we’re coping. Obviously, as my girlfriend, you’re invited and it would be good for you to meet her and see what we’re facing for yourself.”
Suddenly, I’m feeling more nervous than I felt sitting my final exams and say faintly, “We’re doomed. She’ll see through this charade immediately. I’m not sure if I can do this.”
Jack smiles reassuringly and says with more confidence than I feel, “You’ll be fine, no, we’ll be fine. It’s only dinner and the rest of the family will be there. I have every confidence in you.”
We are interrupted by Emma who pops her head around the door and says anxiously, “I’m sorry, Jack but the local walking club has just arrived and it’s cream teas all round. We need you back.”
She smirks at me as Jack rolls his eyes. “No peace for the wicked.”
Then to answer every prayer I ever offered to the love gods, he reaches across and pulls my face to his, saying sexily, “Duty calls, babe. I’ll see you after work.”
Then he kisses me with a long, lingering, soul-scorching, panty melting kiss that sends Emma into one of her petulant moods and me into a state of euphoria.
Oh, how quickly I forgive him.
22
Sunday arrives like a bad dose of the Flu. My knees start shaking and I get palpitations before I even decide what to wear. To say I’m dreading this is an understatement. A whole day with Jack’s annoying family. How on earth did I agree to this?
It turns out that Aunt Alice lives in the Cotswolds which involves a two-hour car journey. Hoping we can drive there ourselves, my heart sinks when Jack explains that we will all go together in his father’s Range Rover. The only consolation is that I get to sit squashed up next to Jack, while Godfrey is banished to the seat in the back because Ariadne doesn’t want him creasing her new top.
Amanda and James look like a couple from a magazine. He is smartly dressed in chinos and a polo top and his aftershave is seriously overpowering. Amanda is dressed in a smart shift dress with elegant jewellery tying the look together and her makeup and hair are immaculate. Ariadne is no different as she looks as if she’s just stepped out from the pages of a catalogue and Godfrey looks as idiotic as usual with checked trousers and a blazer, over which is tied the proverbial pink Ralph Lauren jumper. His sunglasses are sweeping his floppy hair back from his face and his attention is firmly glued to his phone to match that of his girlfriend.
Jack looks mouth-watering in some smart black jeans and a polo shirt, with his hair slightly spiky on top. He smells so amazing I have an overpowering urge to spend the whole journey sniffing him.
I, on the other hand, look as respectable as my budget will allow. The local bargain shop is a find for designer labels from seasons past and I’m wearing a tailored skirt with a smart off the shoulder top and stilettos. I look a little like a secretary but that can’t be helped; it was this or my scruffy jeans.
Almost before we’ve left the end of the drive, they are annoying me. James starts the engine and Amanda snaps, “Oh, for goodness’ sake, James, you’ve left the bathroom window open. How many more times must I brief you on security in the home.”
He snaps, “I don’t live alone, Amanda. You spend so long in there I thought it was classed as your room.”
Irritably, he slams the door as he heads back to the house and Amanda grumbles. “Every time. For a man who runs a company he certainly has no common sense.”
Nobody says anything and I start biting my fingers feeling awkward. James soon returns and without a word starts the engine and reverses at speed onto the road. He cuts the corner and Amanda screeches. “Mind the flowers. For goodness’ sake, James, you’ve got a rear-view camera in this car, why do you insist on not looking at it?”
He shouts, “Do you want to drive because it feels like it?”
“I may as well because at this rate we’ll never get there.”
“Just shut up, Amanda and leave me in peace. Your constant back seat driving drives me around the bend. Listen to some music or go to sleep because you are seriously annoying me.”
Luckily, Ariadne changes the subject and groans. “Dad, stop, I forgot my headphones. I can’t survive hours in this car listening to Radio 2. You’ll have to go back.”
James explodes. “For God’s sake, Ariadne, you spent long enough getting ready. I asked everyone if they had everything.”
She shrieks, “I can’t think of everything with you pacing up and down the hallway and shouting ‘are you ready yet?’ You’ve only got yourself to blame you know.”
Amanda shouts, “James, just drive back, we haven’t even got to the end of the road yet. I can’t put up with one of her moods today of all days.”
James swears like a trooper and I wish I’d thought of those noise reduction headphones because this is awful. We watch as this time Ariadne stomps inside and it’s a good five minutes before she comes back in a leisurely fashion. James shouts, “Get a move on, we haven’t got all day.”
She rolls her eyes and makes a big show of plugging in her headphones while totally ignoring him. Godfrey then pipes up, “As we’re here, I don’t suppose I could use the toilet?”
Amanda shakes her head and says in a tight voice, “James, open the door and let Godfrey use the facilities.”
As James throws Godfrey a murderous look, she says angrily, “If anyone else needs to use the bathroom, please do so now.”
Ariadne takes her chance to head inside and Amanda sighs irritably. “Every single bloody time. This family can’t leave like most families. It’s no wonder I drink.”
Jack sighs irritably, and she says, “Don’t you start, Jack. You can keep your moods to yourself today.”
He shouts, “What have I done?”
She shakes her head. “You’re just like your father. He has that irritable sigh syndrome as well. No words spoken, just that annoying sigh of disapproval. Well, let me tell you now, nobody likes a sighing man, it’s most well… unmanly.”
Jack looks at me in disbelief and I discover a fit of the giggles that are best held in because this situation is tense enough already.
Luckily, the others return and James shouts, “Right, that’s it, no more returning for anything.”
Ariadne suddenly yells, “I didn’t check my straighteners. They may still be on.”
Suddenly, the words that spill from James’s lips educate me in a whole new vocabulary of swear words as Ariadne heads back inside once again to check on her electrical situation. It must be twenty minutes after we first left that we finally turn the corner at the end of the road.
However, that doesn’t stop Amanda. “James, why did you turn left there? You know the quickest way to the motorway is along Green Lane.”
Punching the steering wheel, James yells, “Don’t tell me which way to go. Green lane is on a diversion in case you’ve forgotten.”
She nods. “Oh yes, it was most annoying when I was late for Pilates at the country club.”
As we speed along, she says loudly, “Look, the Bensons have a Tesla. I think that’s very green of them. Maybe we should invest in one James?”
Shaking his head, James snarls, “If you think I’m spending a small mortgage on a car that needs to be plugged into the national grid, you’re very much mistaken. I’m pretty sure it’s a false economy, anyway.”
Jack says with interest. “Not in the long run. I’m pretty sure we’ll all be electric in the next twenty years.”
James snarls, “Then let the bloody government foot the bill if they want us forking out thousands for green energy. They make it impossible to afford and tax the rest of us in punishment because we can’t.”
Amanda snorts, “Says the man driving a petrol guzzling Range Rover. You’re such a hypocrite, James. Your carbon footprint must be through the roof. You know, you really should be more ecologically aware.”
In resp
onse, James turns up the radio effectively drowning Amanda out. Angrily, she turns it down and says icily, “Keep your tantrums to yourself, darling. You know it doesn’t agree with your digestive system.”
Ariadne nods her head along to her music beside me as she scrolls through her phone. She sees me looking and pulls out her earbuds and says happily, “Look at this, Nelly. I have three thousand Instagram followers as of yesterday.”
She holds up her phone and I see her pouting image looking out at me wearing a bikini. She says excitedly, “I got five hundred likes on this one inside thirty minutes. You know, at this rate I’ll be an Instagram influencer before you know it.”
As she scrolls through, something catches my eye and I stare at it in shock. She sees my expression and laughs shrilly. “Amazing, isn’t it?”
Shaking my head, I say faintly, “Um… who is that?”
She giggles. “Myrtle Everidge. She’s one of the residents at Sunnydays care home. You know, I was absolutely dreading this job, but it’s actually really fab. The residents are so amazing and the photos I’ve got have been pure gold.”
She thrusts the phone in my face and I see her pouting beside a wrinkled old lady who is wearing bright pink lipstick and appears to have false eyelashes on. The caption reads, ‘You’re never too old to look fabulous.’
She giggles and scrolls through some more, each more disturbing than the last. Endless pictures of the residents posing beside her or behind her, all either dressed like Kim Kardashian or Kanye. Ariadne grins. “They are so much fun. I’ve been educating them in social media and we’ve been having a ball. Some of them have phones so I’ve set them up with their own Instagram feeds. You know, I am taking my job seriously to enlighten them about the digital age. They are having so much fun with it and I must say it’s a full-time job. Mrs Benson told me I was like a breath of fresh air to the place and I’ve even set up the Sunnydays blog. The resident's families are encouraged to follow it to see how their relatives are doing. I’ve even set up guest spots where I interview the residents and give them a makeover. I’m now responsible for the entertainment schedule and have already booked the local tribute act to Little Mix for a week next Thursday. You should come, it will be amazing.”
