Keeping Juliette Company

by Sarah Picson

  Ellie stared down at her cocktail and considered her friend’s words, before resolutely ignoring them and pouring the drink urgently down her throat.

  Chapter 8

  Robert held the door of the bar open for his new boss. He wasn’t sure how old Carl Appleby was, but despite his grey, thinning hair, health radiated from his sparkling eyes. As Robert followed his agile gait to the bar, he decided that Carl was a man who enjoyed life.

  When Robert had come for his second interview, Carl had taken great pleasure in telling him about the golf courses in the area. On reflection, Robert thought Carl had probably spent more time talking about golf than actually interviewing him

  ‘What are you having?’ Carl asked, in a gravelly voice.

  ‘A glass of red wine, please.’

  Carl’s face creased into a friendly smile before calling over to the barman.

  ‘A bottle of your best red wine. Might as well begin the evening properly, don’t you think, Robert?’

  ‘I can’t stay long; I’ve got to get back to Abi.’

  ‘Yes, yes. That’s your daughter, right?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Family man, are you?’

  Robert swallowed hard.

  ‘I try.’

  ‘Good, good,’ Carl said, looking around and frowning at all the occupied tables. ‘Are these seats taken, young lady?’

  He addressed a woman with a waterfall of shiny blonde hair cascading down her back. She turned to fix them with solemn blue eyes. She was pretty, with pale skin, delicate features and a light smattering of freckles across her nose.

  ‘I think so,’ she muttered.

  They settled themselves onto the bar stools next to her.

  ‘That looks radioactive,’ Carl continued, pointing at the cocktail the barman had just put down in front of her. ‘Just looking at it makes my stomach queasy.’

  The woman’s mouth stretched into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

  ‘Is this man bothering you, Ellie?’ a woman said, arriving at her side.

  ‘Hello Jennifer!’ Carl cried.

  ‘Hi Carl, how are you?’

  ‘Very well now I’ve seen you. I think Miriam’s planning a night out with your lovely mum here tomorrow, not sure if they’ll be drinking anything like that though,’ he said, pointing to the cocktails on the bar.

  ‘Yes, Mum mentioned that earlier. She’s babysitting Bea for me this evening.’

  Carl clapped Robert on the shoulder.

  ‘We’ve got some great women in Thistleby, Ladies, this is Robert, my new man at the office.’

  ‘Nice to meet you,’ said Jenny, regarding him from under thick eyelashes.

  Robert smiled and nodded but his eyes kept darting to the woman called Ellie, who was staring glumly into her drink.

  Carl slipped down from his stool and grasped Jenny’s shoulder.

  ‘Let me buy you your next drink, my dear.’

  ‘Carl, you don’t need to do that.’

  ‘I want to and besides Miriam will tell me off if she finds out that I didn’t. My good fellow…’ he called to the barman. ‘Get these two ladies another of those strange drinks, please. Now, how’s that daughter of yours?’

  Robert sensed movement beside him and caught Ellie stealing a glance in his direction. He raised his eyebrows and offered her a small smile; she reminded him of a startled hare. Her feet tapped out a frenetic rhythm on the rung of the bar stool and Robert could tell she wasn’t tall. He snapped his head back to face the bar when he realised that he had been gazing at her slender legs.

  He sipped his wine, as smooth as velvet, and licked his lips, unable to believe he was out on a Friday night. The bar was stylish, with copper pendulum lights hung low over the bar and fashionable exposed brick work.

  ‘Robert, was it?’

  Robert’s head jerked round to find that the woman called Ellie was facing him. He watched as she wiggled about on her stool, struggling to cross her legs.

  ‘Robert,’ he confirmed, offering her his hand.

  She leaned across Carl’s empty stool and accepted it, her warm hand felt small in his.

  ‘I’m Ellie.’

  ‘Nice to meet you, Ellie,’ he said, taking another sip of his wine. How did this go again? He’d never been much good at small talk, so he settled on a safe question. ‘Do you live round here?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And how do you like living in Thistleby?’

  Ellie’s gaze shifted into the distance beyond his shoulder. Robert wondered whether it was the dullness of his question that had made her drift off. He really was rusty. She swayed slightly and Robert shifted his weight to the edge of his stool so he’d be in a better position to catch her if she fell off.

  ‘Ellie?’

  Those pale blue eyes focused on him again.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she said, as if coming out of a trance. ‘It’s beautiful. The high street has everything you need. It’s just, well, it’s really nice.’

  She seemed to run out of steam.

  ‘We’ve just moved here. I’ve never lived in the country before. Do you know if there are any good cycling trails around here?’

  ‘White Willow Lake.’

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘White Willow Lake,’ she repeated loudly, as if to a deaf pensioner. ‘It’s just north of town.’ A little light sparked up in her eyes. ‘It’s actually my favourite place to go. It has the best views for miles around.’

  ‘Sounds great,’ said Robert.

  Ellie leaned forward, her lips parted as she pierced him with a direct stare.

  ‘Maybe I could show you.’

  Robert’s stomach did a violent flip. Was she flirting with him? Should he flirt back? Did he want to? Words tumbled onto his tongue but none of them seemed the right thing to say and they crumbled to dust in his mouth.

  Before he got the chance to reply, Ellie twisted back round on her stool, her hands gripping her drink, her head drooping forward and just like that the conversation was shut down.

  Robert made no effort to reopen it. All of a sudden, this was the last place he wanted to be. The thought of being at home in his new study, surrounded by unpacked boxes was much more appealing than trying to read pointless social cues from a drunk woman he’d probably never meet again.

  Beside him, Ellie drained the last of her drink and slid off her stool, her dress riding up to reveal more of her shapely legs. With a grunt, she hauled herself up onto Carl’s stool so that she sat right beside Robert with the smallest of gaps between their elbows. The soft, sweet smell of her perfume tickled his nose as she shook her empty glass at the barman and asked for another cocktail. Then she turned towards him and Robert felt his heart beat a fraction faster.

  ‘So do you come here often?’ she asked.

  He frowned into eyes that were glazed over by too many cocktails.

  ‘We’ve only just moved to Thistleby.’

  Ellie waved her hand about, as if batting away a fly.

  ‘Oh right.’

  She took a dramatic slug of her fresh cocktail before her eyes suddenly sharpened up.

  ‘Who’s we then?’ she demanded, pointing to his wedding ring. ‘You and your wife? And where is she, your wife? Does she know what you’re doing?’

  Robert’s head jerked back at her rudeness, any patience he had felt for her had now been obliterated at the mention of his wife.

  ‘That’s none of your business,’ he said, his hand tightening round his glass.

  ‘You should be at home with her, not out talking to other women!’

  ‘Excuse me?’ Robert said, recoiling at the heat of the anger that seemed to ooze from her skin.

  ‘That’s just what you men do though, isn’t it?’ Ellie said, her voice getting louder, tears dancing in her eyes. ‘Flirt. Cheat with other women! Why aren’t we enough? Why do you have to ruin it?’

  Robert’s nostrils flared, her perfume suddenly a thick, murky cloud surrounding him, her voice a scratchy shri
ek that he no longer wanted to listen to. Clenching his jaw shut, he refused to say another word to this woman.

  And then her shoulders sagged and her hands flew to her face as she shrank away from him. Jenny appeared at Ellie’s shoulder and mouthed an apology to Robert. As Jenny placed a hand on her arm, Ellie flinched and spun round, knocking her glass over so that it smashed to pieces on the bar. Robert leapt from his stool as the cocktail splashed all over his lap.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Ellie whispered, putting her hands out to help him.

  Robert took a sharp step away from her, swearing under his breath as he examined his wet trousers. Jenny grabbed some napkins and handed them to him while the barman took care of the shards of glass on the bar.

  ‘What happened here then?’ asked Carl, grinning slowly from ear to ear, as he looked from Robert to Ellie and back again. ‘Maybe you want to go and clean up?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Ellie whispered again, as Robert marched away with a fist full of napkins.

  He slammed the door of the gents open, muttering to himself as he soaked the cocktail up with the napkins and then stood awkwardly under the hand dryer.

  Bristling with indignation, Robert took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but the woman had touched a nerve. How dare she judge him like that. She knew nothing about him and he wasn’t used to having direct references made about his wife.

  Before moving here, everyone had known about what had happened to Jane and had avoided the subject, but the fact that no one here knew about his family situation sat heavy on his shoulders. The thought of having to explain it, to relive his past, filled him with dread.

  Robert took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. He shouldn’t have come out tonight, he should have brushed Carl off. But here he was, so he had to make the best of it. He strode out to the bar, relieved to see that the two women were no longer there. All he needed to do now was get through another hour and then he’d be on his way.

  Chapter 9

  Ellie’s hangover lasted for two days. It went on long past the headache, dry mouth and nausea from the alcohol. All weekend, she vegetated on Jenny’s sofa: binge watching TV, eating chocolate from the never-ending supply Jenny had hidden somewhere in the house and cuddling Bea.

  All weekend she’d kept her phone switched off. She couldn’t bring herself to speak to Dominic, not when her mind was a knot of confusion that she couldn’t untangle. Yet, she knew she couldn’t avoid him forever, not with all the questions she needed him to answer.

  As Ellie slumped deeper into Jenny’s sofa, she struggled to recognise herself. Usually, if she searched hard enough, she could always find a bright side to any situation, but something in her had snapped when she’d seen Dominic disappearing into Scarlette’s house on Friday. Something she didn’t know how to fix.

  To make matters worse, Ellie cringed whenever she thought about her awful behaviour in The Olive Tree. At the time, it had seemed like such a good idea to flirt with a good-looking stranger and if Dominic happened to walk past the bar and see her, then all the better, but the cocktails had stoked her temper and she’d become irritable and rude. She was so embarrassed about the things she’d said to Robert, the bits she could remember anyway. The look of anger in his eyes had been enough for her to vow never to drink cocktails again.

  ‘Do you want to stay this week?’ Jenny asked, as Sunday evening rolled around. ‘Bea loves having you here.’

  Ellie smiled at her friend but shook her head.

  ‘I have to prepare for work tomorrow and I haven’t got any of my stuff.’

  ‘I can go round and pick it up for you, if you like?’ Jenny offered.

  ‘No. Thank you, but this has gone on for long enough. I can’t hide here forever.’

  Ellie grabbed Jenny in a bear hug and held her tight. Jenny squeezed back just as hard.

  ‘Thank you,’ Ellie whispered.

  She slipped her shoes on in Jenny’s hallway and paused in front of the mirror. Her high cheek bones seemed to stick out even more than usual, giving her a gaunt look. As Ellie pushed her limp hair behind her ears, she forced herself to stand up a little straighter.

  On her drive home, Ellie thought about what she was going to do when she saw Dominic, the man she’d spent eight years of her life with. He had been so charming when they’d first met and gone out of his way to pursue her. She admitted to herself that their relationship had changed over the years, but didn’t everybody’s?

  Ellie thought back to the unsettling feeling that had crept over her at their engagement party; had they been treading water in their relationship for longer than she cared to admit? A violent flutter of despair invaded her stomach. At what point had things begun to go so wrong in their relationship that Dominic had decided to start seeing someone else? She pulled into their quiet road, shrouded in a deep desperation to make some sense of it all.

  With slow steps, Ellie approached their two-bedroom cottage; tall and narrow, it was comfortably nestled in the middle of a terraced row, with small square windows and a duck-egg blue front door.

  Her pulse quickened as she let herself in. Gripping her keys so that they dug into her palm, she stood motionless in the hallway, not quite sure what to do with herself.

  With a glance to her left, Ellie could see that their poky galley kitchen was a mess, a stale smell from the empty takeaway boxes piled up on the side, wafted her way.

  She took a few steps into their living room. The sun streamed in through white shutters at the window, illuminating a cosy sofa and armchair, an old-fashioned fire place and a low, round coffee table, which was littered with empty crisp packets and beer cans.

  Ellie wrinkled her nose up, resisting the urge to push the rubbish off the table.

  ‘You’ve come home.’

  Ellie spun round to find Dominic watching her from the bottom of the stairs, his arms folded.

  Her hand clamped down on her keys even tighter as she studied him through fresh eyes. He was like a stranger to her, even though his chin was covered in its usual sandy stubble and his hair was swept back and styled with gel like it always was, he was somehow different.

  ‘I needed some space. I was at Jenny’s.’

  She swallowed and opened her mouth to continue but she was unsure of how to begin. How did you start a conversation with someone when you were about to accuse them of being unfaithful?

  ‘I tried calling you,’ Dominic said, a hardness in his eyes. ‘But your phone was off. For two days! You couldn’t give me a call and let me know you weren’t coming home?’

  ‘Just like you tell me everything!’

  A shadow drifted across Dominic’s features.

  ‘You did this because you’re mad at me, aren’t you? Because I forgot about that meeting with the priest. Well, I was busy, so why don’t you sort another meeting out and I’ll be there,’ he said. ‘I don’t know why you have to be so childish about it, Ellie. Is it too much to ask for a phone call? And you haven’t even said sorry!’

  Ellie gulped in amazement.

  ‘Me?’ she squeaked.

  ‘Yes,’ Dominic retorted, but then his features softened. ‘Let’s forget about this, shall we?’

  He took a step towards her, the smell of aftershave mingled with cigarette smoke, reaching her before he did. There was a look in his eyes that Ellie recognised only too well. She backed away in distaste, she didn’t want him laying a finger on her.

  ‘Where were you on Friday afternoon?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. ‘When you were meant to be at the church, where were you?’

  Dominic’s smile froze on his face for a fraction of a second, enough time for Ellie to see a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. She stood a little taller, pleased that she’d managed to get a reaction from him, but it didn’t last long.

  ‘I told you, I was busy. I said I was sorry.’

  He took another step forward.

  ‘No,’ Ellie said, moving further into the living room. ‘You didn’t.’
/>   ‘What?’

  A deep line carved itself between his eyebrows.

  ‘You didn’t apologise.’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Ellie. You piss off and I don’t have a clue where you are all weekend and suddenly I’m the bad guy for missing one stupid meeting.’ Dominic turned and marched into the kitchen. She heard him fling open the fridge, followed by the hiss of a beer can being opened.

  A faint ringing whistled in Ellie’s ears and she felt a heat blazing in her cheeks as if Dominic had reached out and slapped her face. An uncomfortable churning in her stomach propelled her to the kitchen.

  ‘Where were you on Friday?’ she asked.

  Dominic kicked the fridge door shut.

  ‘I don’t want to talk about the church or the priest or wedding venues, that’s all we ever talk about.’

  ‘No, we don’t actually. You never want to talk about anything to do with the wedding. And why is that? Do you even want to get married?’

  Dominic’s jaw jutted out; his eyes as hard as flint.

  ‘If I’d known what planning a wedding did to a woman, well…’

  ‘Well, what?’ Ellie cried, blood coursing violently through her body. But he didn’t answer, he just grunted and took a long swig of his beer. ‘I asked you where you were on Friday?’

  ‘Working.’

  A bitter scoff ripped from her throat.

  ‘Is that right?’

  Dominic shook his head slowly from side to side as if trying to placate a stubborn toddler.

  ‘You’re stressed about the wedding planning, I get it,’ he said, his voice softer now. ‘But you need to relax.’

  Ellie paused for the briefest of seconds.

  ‘Why did you propose to me?’ she asked.

  His face creased up into a frown.

  ‘Why do you think?’

  ‘That’s not an answer.’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake Ellie, you’re making no sense.’

  ‘Are you seeing someone else, Dominic?’

  She stared at him, searching his face for clues, but it remained closed and unreadable.

  ‘Of course, I’m not.’