But it wasn’t late-night yet, even though Marie felt tired enough. ‘Late-night jazz is going to send me to sleep.’
‘Right. Driving music?’
‘No, that’s a bit too wakey-uppy. Have you got a soul mix?’
It was a rhetorical question. Alex chuckled. There was a pause while he decided which soul mix fitted the occasion best, and then a muted beat began to fill the room.
They began to work, spreading their papers out on the large glass-topped coffee table. When the food came they added a couple of plates and a jumble of takeaway cartons. Ideas came more easily in this setting, and by the time they were ready for coffee they were finished.
He stood, stretching his limbs with satisfaction. Marie leant forward to gather up the plates and he batted her hand away.
‘Leave it, will you? Try relaxing for a few minutes.’
It was impossible not to, in the heat of his smile and the rhythm of the music.
‘I’ll take a hot towel for my face while you’re there...’ she called after him as he made his way to the kitchen, laden down with the remnants of their meal.
‘Sorry, ma’am, we’re fresh out of hot towels. Coffee will have to do.’
Marie rolled her eyes, teasing him. ‘No hot towels? What kind of service is this? I’m not coming back here again!’
‘I’ve got a dark roast arabica...’ he shouted through from the kitchen, and Marie chuckled. Alex always served good coffee.
‘You’re almost forgiven,’ she shouted back.
He returned with two cups of black coffee, with a thick foamy crema on top. Even the smell of it was gorgeous.
‘That’s it. This is definitely a five-star establishment.’
‘It can’t possibly be. I’m not done yet.’ He grinned at her, catching her hand. ‘I’ve got moves.’
Another one of those old jokes that had stood the test of time. They both loved to dance, and Alex’s grinning query as to whether she had moves, and his promise that he had a few of his own, would often prompt them to dance until they were exhausted. Marie had often wondered whether it was a substitute for sex, but had decided not to think too deeply on the question.
‘My moves are already asleep. I will be too, as soon as I get home.’
Alex was far too tempting at the moment. Too delicious and complicated. She’d never wanted to be one of those women who went out with Alex for a few months only to see him walk away without looking back.
‘Are you sure? You’re tapping your foot.’
He turned the music up, trying to tempt her, but when Marie laughed and shook her head, he turned it back down again.
‘Okay, your loss. It means you’ll just have to tell me what the matter is.’
‘Nothing. I’m just tired...’
* * *
How many times had Alex heard Marie say that nothing was the matter? How many times had he asked and felt shut out when she wouldn’t talk about it? He’d accepted it once, but it was becoming more and more difficult to take what she said at face value and turn away from her.
‘I can wait you out.’ He sat down, taking a sip of his coffee.
Marie smiled. How she managed to do that, when she was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open and clearly worried about something, was beyond him.
‘Great coffee.’
‘Yes, it’s a good blend.’ Alex decided that Marie’s diversionary tactics weren’t going to work on him any more. ‘I’m still waiting.’
She puffed out a breath. ‘It’s nothing, really. I just... I was up a bit late last night, talking to my mum. She’s worried about my youngest brother.’
‘What about you? Are you worried about him?’
She gave a frustrated shrug. ‘I’m always worried about Zack.’
This was something new. Alex knew Marie had always supported her younger brothers, but she’d never really said much about the day-to-day process of that. Just that her mum often found that three boys could be hard to handle on her own and needed a bit of help. Alex had assumed that Marie helped out financially, but it seemed there was more to it than that.
‘What’s the problem?’
Perhaps he’d remind her that they’d been friends for a long time. Maybe he’d even mention that Marie had given him a hard time over the secrets he’d kept.
‘You know... He’s twenty...’
‘He’s having difficulty finding time to study and check out all the bands he needs to see?’
She laughed suddenly. ‘No, Alex. He’s not like you when you were twenty. Anyway, you never seemed to have much difficulty keeping up.’
‘Yeah. It was easy. You managed your studies, as many jobs as you could find, and about five minutes per day for recreation. So what’s Zack not managing to do?’
She shrugged, reaching for her coffee cup. That was a sure signal that she was done talking.
They’d been through a lot together over the years. Studying, dancing, working until they were too tired even to speak. He’d carried her into her bedroom once and then turned his back, walking away, because the one thing Alex had always known for sure was that he couldn’t take things any further with Marie.
He’d rejected the idea that he’d always loved her and instead he’d asked her to help him build a clinic. But he had always loved her, and when she turned her gaze on him, her eyes dark in the approaching dusk, he knew he wasn’t going to flinch from this.
‘What is Zack not managing to do?’ he repeated. He heard the quiet demand in his tone and saw surprise on Marie’s face.
For a moment he thought she would get up and leave, but then she spoke.
‘At the moment he’s not managing to do anything very much. He did well with his A levels, but decided he wanted to take a year out before university. I think it was just that he couldn’t get motivated to choose a course. I got all the prospectuses and sat down with him, but he wasn’t very enthusiastic about it.’
‘So he’s working?’
‘No. He had a few jobs, but couldn’t stick at any of them. He’s been unemployed for the last six months, and increasingly he’s staying up all night and sleeping all day. Mum doesn’t know what to do with him. A few days ago he took money from her purse and went out. He came back the following afternoon, went straight upstairs and slept for fourteen hours. She’s worried he might have been taking drugs, but I took a look at him and didn’t see any signs of it.’
‘How much money did he take?’ Alex felt a cold weight settle in his chest. This wasn’t fair...
‘Two hundred pounds. She’d just gone to the bank to get the money for her main monthly food shop. She can’t afford that; she’s already keeping him in food and clothes.’
‘So you gave her the money?’
Marie rolled her eyes. ‘What else was I supposed to do? I told Zack this was absolutely the last time, and that I wasn’t going to bale him out again.’
‘Did he listen?’
‘Yes, he listened. Listening’s not the problem with Zack. He’ll hear what you have to say, and tell you all the things he thinks you want to hear. Then he’ll ignore it all and do exactly as he likes. Mum knows he’s got to change, but she makes excuses for him. About how he’s never had a strong father figure, and how she’s not been able to give him enough time because she’s at work.’
The words came out in a rush of frustration. Then Marie reddened a little, as if she’d made a faux pas by admitting that there was something she couldn’t manage on her own. He wasn’t going to give up on her now.
‘What about your other brothers?’ He knew that both of Marie’s other brothers had been to university and had good jobs.
‘Dan’s washed his hands of him completely—he says Zack needs to pull himself together. And Pete lives up in Sunderland. He tried talking to him last time he was down on a visit, but Zack just gave him th
at lovely smile of his and told him everything will work out.’
‘And your mother?’
‘She’s...she does her best. Mum’s fragile. She had a breakdown when my dad left, and we were all put into foster homes for a while. It was awful.’
Alex nodded. Marie had told him, years ago, how all she’d wanted when she was a kid was to have her family back together and to keep it that way. At the time he’d almost envied her for having something she cared about so much.
‘It never was your fault, Marie. You didn’t have to be the one to put things right.’
A single tear rolled down her cheek. Suddenly the room was far too big and the distance between them too great. He couldn’t reach for her and comfort her, and if he moved she’d only shoo him away and tell him that she was okay.
‘In a way, it was my fault. My dad left because a wife and four children was too much for him. He couldn’t deal with it. My mum broke down over it...’
‘You were ten years old.’ The impulse to hold her and comfort her was wearing him down fast. ‘You were trying to clear up a mess that adults had made.’
‘Families, huh? Who’d have them?’ She brushed away the tears and gave him a smile.
Was he supposed to empathise with that? Alex reckoned so. And Marie was only telling him what he already knew. He couldn’t contemplate having a family of his own because he’d lived with the consequences of failure and seen what they had done to his mother. Marie had lived with the consequences of failure as well, and she needed someone who would be there for her.
Maybe that was why he’d always maintained his distance. He’d helped her as much as she would let him in practical terms, but always shied away from the emotional. It was time to redraw the boundaries.
‘What do you need?’
She shrugged, shaking her head. ‘I’ve had a takeaway and some music. Now an early night.’
She obviously wasn’t going to discuss the matter any further, and Alex needed a plan. Something with no loose ends, that she wouldn’t be able to argue with or reject out of hand. Something that was going to work and maybe change things in the long term.
‘I’ll take you home, then.’
‘That’s okay. It’s early enough to take the Tube.’
Alex got to his feet. ‘You can take the Tube, then, and I’ll drive over to your place. I’ll see you there.’
The expected smile almost tore his heart in two.
‘Since you’re going my way, I suppose I could ask you to drop me off, then.’
He walked through into the hall, picking up his car keys and waiting for her there. Marie appeared, her bag slung across her shoulder, but before he could reach for the latch on the front door she suddenly flung her arms around his waist.
‘Uh!’ He allowed his hands to move slowly towards her back, returning her hug as impersonally as he could. ‘What was that for?’
‘For being my best friend. And for listening to me blather on.’
She hugged him tight, and then let him go, stepping back. Alex’s knees almost gave way.
‘This is just between you and me, right?’
She saw everyone else’s needs and yet treated her own as weakness. And she was clearly regretting saying as much as she had.
‘Of course. What are friends for?’
The look on her face seemed a lot like relief that he’d decided to drop the subject. For once, Marie had misread him. Alex wasn’t going to back off and if she put up a fight then so be it.
He’d fight her back.
* * *
A good night’s sleep had applied some perspective to the matter. Marie would deal with Zack, and she’d deal with her mum the way she always had. Alex couldn’t help her with this.
She retreated to her office, and then spent most of the day showing a few local GPs and hospital doctors around the clinic while Alex saw patients. Working together with other health professionals, becoming one of their options when they thought about what their patients needed, was a must if the clinic was going to reach its full potential for helping the community.
When Alex appeared in the doorway she couldn’t help starting. Last night had lit a slow-burning fuse, which had been fizzling all day. Sometimes it seemed to go out, but that was just an illusion. The spark never quite died.
‘How was your day?’
His question was much the same as it usually was when they’d been working on separate things and hadn’t seen much of each other.
‘Good, thanks. They all seemed impressed with what we had to offer, and a couple of them have said that they already have patients on their books they’d like to refer.’
‘That sounds great.’
He dipped his hand into his pocket and put a small box on her desk. Marie looked inside, finding a tangle of pink paper clips, and when she tipped some of them out she saw that they were in different animal shapes.
‘They’re wonderful—thank you. Where do you get all this crazy stuff?’ Marie already had a collection of unusually shaped, brightly coloured things on her desk, which Alex had bought for her.
‘That’s my secret. If you knew, you wouldn’t need me to feed your stationery habit. And, by the way, I saw Anita just now. She popped in to see Nisha today.’
‘Yes? How is she?’
Alex had clearly decided to forget her show of emotion last night, and they were back to business as usual. If he could do it, then so could she.
‘Feeling much better.’ He grinned. ‘I’m going to stick with that blanket assurance and leave the details to you and Anita. I imagine that Nisha will be more comfortable with that.’
‘Good move.’
Marie bit her tongue. She didn’t need to be thinking about Alex’s moves—or hers. Last night was last night.
Alex seemed to be loitering, neither sitting down to talk nor about to leave. Suddenly he planted his hands on her desk, leaning forward towards her.
‘I want Zack.’
‘You...want Zack?’
Marie felt her jaw harden. Alex obviously thought he could solve this problem, but he didn’t know Zack.
‘What for? There’s nothing you can do, Alex.’
‘Why on earth not? We’re friends, Marie. Heaven forbid we’d actually try to help each other with our problems.’
All right. He had her there.
‘I can deal with it. I appreciate the offer, but—’
‘It’s not an offer. You can’t deal with this on your own, and I can help. You told me I had to accept what I’ve been given and do the right thing with it. I’m just following your advice.’
‘Well...what are you going to do with him?’
Alex was clearly on a mission. If she wasn’t so cross with her brother for treating their mum so badly Marie might have felt sorry for Zack.
Alex straightened up. He suddenly seemed very tall, his determination filling the room. ‘He’s going to work here. I’ve had a word with Sofia, and there are a lot of things she can get him to do, so he’ll be working hard. He’ll need to, because he’s going to have to pay you back the two hundred pounds he took.’
‘That doesn’t matter, Alex. It’s done now.’
‘It matters. This isn’t about the money. It’s about how he treats people. I need you to take the two hundred pounds and for your mother to accept something from him for his bed and board. Everything else I’ll deal with. He’ll work a full day and he’ll pull his weight. If he turns up here with a hangover I’ll find a job for him that’ll make a cracking headache even worse. And if I see any evidence of drug-taking I’ll test him myself and put him into our drug rehab programme.’
It was exactly what Zack needed. But Alex shouldn’t have to do this.
‘The clinic can’t afford it, Alex. We have budgets and that money could be spent elsewhere.’
‘Yes, but it
appears that I have a small inheritance on my hands, and my income is embarrassing enough to be able to pay Zack without even noticing the difference. My real problem is you. Which I guess makes you Zack’s real problem as well.’
Marie felt herself redden. Alex was right—she was standing between Zack and an amazing opportunity.
‘He does need something like this. Zack’s just so charming that he thinks that everyone will forgive him anything. He’s right, and I’m just as much at fault as anyone in falling for his promises...’
Alex chuckled, finally sitting down. ‘I can be charming, can’t I? You never have any problem resisting that.’
‘That’s different. I respect you.’
‘Okay. I’m not sure how that works, but I’ll take it. Can you get your mother on board?’ Alex finally sat down.
‘Yes. That won’t be a problem.’
Alex had come up with a plan that would make a real difference for Zack. Marie had to acknowledge that with good grace.
‘Thank you, Alex. It would do him a lot of good, and I really appreciate your help. If you’re willing to take him on for a couple of weeks, that would be great.’
He smiled. If he was about to make some comment about how that hadn’t been so difficult to agree to, then she was going to throw him out of her office.
‘I want him for more than a couple of weeks. I reckon it’ll take him a little while to earn enough to pay you, and he’s going to have to do all the boring jobs that no one else wants. When he’s earned it, he’ll get the chance to choose something that interests him. I’ll be reviewing things with him every month, and if he decides on a study path then we’ll support him in that. If he wants to look for employment then he’ll get the experience he needs, and I’ll write him a great reference.’
‘This is too much, Alex.’ Marie couldn’t think of a reason why it was too much, just knew that it was.
‘That’s what I’m offering. Take it or leave it, Marie. But know this—I’ll think less of you if you turn down an opportunity for Zack just because of your own pride.’
Best Friend to Royal Bride Page 9