Keeping Juliette Company

by Sarah Picson

  As Robert made his way to his desk, greeting his new colleagues as he went, his mind began to fill up with details of the planning applications and structural designs that he had to get done that day. He was grateful that the hammering on his temples had softened on his drive to work, it wasn’t often his migraines retreated before they got started, so he took it as an opportunity to plough through his work unimpeded.

  Chapter 11

  Ellie heard the boisterous cacophony from down the other end of the corridor and sped towards her classroom. She had only popped out for a few minutes, leaving a new teaching assistant in charge, with instructions that her Year 10 class should complete an exercise in silence, but what she was hearing was far from silent.

  Laughing and shrieking poured out of the classroom as Ellie pushed open the door to be greeted by a scene of chaos. Half of the class were out of their seats, clamouring around one of her more disruptive students, Leonie Williams. Despite it being against school rules to have your phone out in lessons, Leonie was waving hers about and shouting.

  ‘Come on, how many can we get in a group selfie!?’

  Leonie was a popular girl and undoubtedly bright but Ellie wasn’t keen on her attitude. She rarely bothered with her work, turning in late, half-completed exercises with a sneer on her face. Leonie seemed to prefer drifting along and getting her education from malicious gossip and making trouble for people.

  Those students out of their seats were jostling each other to pose for Leonie’s phone. The other half, who remained in their seats, were smiling in bemusement as the young teaching assistant waved her hands from the front of the class in an effort to encourage them to go back to their seats.

  Ellie pushed her shoulders back and stepped into the room.

  ‘What is going on?’ she shouted, her voice ringing around the room.

  A veil of silence descended over the classroom. Ellie glared at Leonie, who slowly lowered her phone as students began shuffling back to their seats.

  ‘What do you have there, Leonie?’ Ellie asked.

  ‘What does it look like, Miss?’ Leonie stated, with a curl of her lip.

  Ellie’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘Let me have your phone.’

  ‘I’ll just put it back in my bag,’ Leonie replied, sauntering over to her seat.

  ‘No, Miss Williams. You will not put your phone back in your bag, you will give it to me, like I have just asked you to.’

  Leonie’s mouth dropped open.

  ‘You’re not allowed to take my phone.’

  ‘I am if you break the rules.’

  Ellie held her hand out.

  With heavy steps, Leonie trudged over and dropped the phone into Ellie’s hand.

  ‘And get rid of your gum,’ Ellie said, pointing to the bin at the front of the classroom.

  Leonie made a noise at the back of her throat in defiance, but she traipsed over to the bin.

  Ellie marched to the front of the classroom, aware of Abi’s wide eyes staring up at her from the front row, threw Leonie’s phone into her desk drawer and slammed it shut.

  ‘You can have your phone back at the end of the day, Leonie and if I see it again in my class, you’ll get detention for a week and that goes for all of you. Your phones stay in your bags during lessons!’

  Ellie glared around the room, challenging the sea of uncertain faces peering up at her. It wasn’t her style to shout or threaten and she could tell they were unsettled. She softened her voice and took a deep breath in an effort to keep her temper under control.

  ‘Finish the exercise, please.’

  ~

  A little later, as Ellie was explaining the answer to one of the more difficult questions in the exercise, the bell interrupted her in the middle of her sentence. The rustle of closing textbooks rippled through the classroom, as one by one, her students lost concentration. She held her hands up in defeat.

  ‘See you all tomorrow.’

  The room erupted in noisy chatter. Bags were heaved onto desks and student after student bolted for the door. Ellie was pleased to see Abi in conversation with a boy called Rory. With a mess of brown hair, an unfortunate eruption of spots across both cheeks and his uniform hanging from his slight frame, he grinned shyly at Abi as she spoke to him.

  When Rory had shuffled out, Ellie approached Abi as she was slinging her bag over her shoulder.

  ‘How did your first day go?’

  ‘Pretty good.’

  ‘I’m pleased,’ Ellie replied. ‘And I’m sure Rory will be more than happy to help you settle in here.’

  ‘He’s nice.’

  ‘Oh, and your dad emailed. We’ve set up your first tutoring session for Thursday evening.’ Abi’s face fell a little. ‘Is everything okay?’

  ‘I’m sorry about my dad,’ Abi said, chewing at her lip.

  ‘Don’t worry.’

  ‘He was so embarrassing!’

  ‘Abi, I’ve had a lot worse from parents over the years. Besides, I’ll be tutoring you, not your dad.’

  ‘I guess,’ Abi said, her gaze dropping to the floor. ‘You’ll probably never see him anyway; he works late all the time. Bye, Miss Saunders.’

  ‘Bye,’ Ellie replied, studying Abi carefully as she walked away.

  Picking up her empty mug, Ellie weaved in and out of students on her way to the staff room, thinking about the curt email she’d received from Abi’s father. He had proposed that she come to their house at seven o’clock on a Thursday evening to tutor Abi and had offered her a very generous rate for doing so.

  Yet, Ellie’s hands had hovered over the keyboard, unsure how to reply to his email. The disdain on his face when he’d recognised her had been enough to make her want to crawl under her desk and hide, so the thought of going to his house each week made her question if it was sensible to tutor his daughter, given the circumstances. But the solemn look that had flickered across Abi’s features when she’d been speaking about her dad made Ellie pleased that she’d agreed to the arrangement.

  In the staff room, she set about making herself a strong coffee. She had no plans to go home any time soon; Dominic was the last person she wanted to see and the thought of confronting him again tied her stomach up in knots. She replayed his words in her head as the kettle boiled to its crescendo. Were her accusations crazy? Was she overreacting?

  A hand landed on her shoulder and she sprang away, her heart leaping into her mouth.

  ‘Hey, I didn’t mean to scare you,’ Jenny said, peering at her. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Yes,’ replied Ellie, her hand clamped over her chest.

  ‘Good,’ Jenny said, thumping a mug down next to hers. ‘I’ll have one of those then please. How did it go today?’

  Ellie opened her mouth to tell her about the incident with Leonie Williams, but her eyes widened.

  ‘Gossip?’ Jenny asked, clapping her hands together.

  ‘Do you have an Abi Saunders in your geography class?’

  ‘The new girl? Yes.’

  ‘I had her dad in for a meeting this morning and let’s just say we’ve met him before,’ Ellie said, with a grimace.

  ‘We have?’

  ‘Remember the guy from the bar on Friday?’

  Jenny’s face went blank for a second and then her eyes lit up.

  ‘Not the guy with Carl?’

  Ellie bit her lip and nodded hard.

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘The guy you were not only flirting with but also verbally and physically abusing?’

  ‘Oh, stop it,’ Ellie squeaked, as she poured hot water into their mugs.

  ‘Seriously? That’s hilarious.’

  ‘No, it’s not. The way he looked at me this morning! I wanted to shrivel up and die.’

  ‘I’m jealous. He was hot.’

  ‘Jenny!’

  ‘I’m serious. He was. He had this intense brooding thing going on behind those glasses. Very sexy. What was the meeting about?’

  ‘He wants me to go to his house each week a
nd tutor Abi.’

  Jenny’s mouth dropped open.

  ‘After what you did to him at the bar?’

  ‘I know. Do you think I should do it?’

  ‘Yeah, he’s hot!’

  Jenny wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

  ‘Oh God, I should never have told you.’

  ‘You’re going to do it, right?’ Jenny asked.

  Ellie tilted her head.

  ‘Well…’

  ‘You are! You’re going to do it, I can tell!’

  Jenny threw her head back and laughed. Despite herself, Ellie grinned.

  ‘It’s good to see you smile,’ Jenny said.

  Ellie sighed as Jenny enveloped her in a hug, some of her stress melting away in her friend’s arms.

  ‘Hi Ellie. Hi Jenny.’

  Rachel Gregory was hovering shyly in the doorway. With fresh, peachy skin and ginger hair which was always tied back in a messy ponytail, Rachel was a French teacher who floated around school with a soft smile on her face.

  ‘Hi Rachel,’ Ellie said.

  ‘Hi Rach. Right, I need to get some work done before I head home,’ Jenny said, marching out of the staff room. ‘Bye ladies.’

  ‘How’s everything going with the wedding plans, Ellie?’ Rachel asked.

  Ellie’s stomach did a flip.

  ‘Oh, there’s still a lot to do,’ she mumbled.

  A dreamy look fluttered across Rachel’s face; Ellie remembered that look.

  ‘It’s so romantic. I’d love to meet someone. You know, someone special.’

  ‘I’m sure you will,’ Ellie said, inching out of the door.

  ‘How did you meet Dominic?’

  ‘I think it was on a night out.’

  But Ellie remembered every detail of that night out. She hadn’t been living in Thistleby for long and had been celebrating her birthday with a few old school friends who’d come up to visit her.

  They’d been on a pub crawl and she remembered frowning as they’d entered The Bell & Whistle on a packed Saturday evening, feeling overdressed and underwhelmed. The agreement to stay for just one drink had been quickly forgotten when Dominic had appeared by her side at the bar, his broad smile lighting up the pub, his intense brown eyes for nobody else but her. They had never made it on to the next pub.

  She sighed to herself.

  ‘Ellie?’

  Rachel’s soft gaze brought a lump to Ellie’s throat.

  ‘Sorry, Rachel. I have marking to do.’

  Darting into the corridor, she heard Rachel’s voice wafting after her.

  ‘Yes, of course, Ellie. See you later.’

  Back at her desk, a new email notification flashed onto her laptop screen from Father Keene, enquiring whether she would like to re-schedule their meeting. Tears sprang to Ellie’s eyes and the floor beneath her chair seemed to tilt and turn, trying its best to throw her off balance. For a brief moment, she considered going home and setting things straight with Dominic, of forgetting she had seen anything at all on Friday. If he was cheating, maybe it had just been a quick fling, something he needed to get out of his system before they were married. Was it really worth throwing everything away for?

  And then the moment was over as she jumped to her feet and yanked open a tall cupboard. Tucked away in the bottom was a small backpack containing her sports gear. Ellie threw it across her back, slammed her laptop shut and bolted for the door, leaving behind thin trails of steam rising up from her coffee mug.

  ~

  Ellie filled her lungs with the earthy smell of thick trees as the sun peeked through the high canopy above, warming her skin. It had been a while since she’d been to White Willow Lake and she drank in the beauty of it. Dense, lush woodland stretched for miles around and nestled in the centre was a large, oval lake surrounded by sweeping willow trees, draping their leaves lazily in the water.

  The area was a wildlife haven: home to families of swans, ducks and birds. Canoes could be hired out on the water and a coffee hut that always smelled inviting and never short of a queue of customers, sat on the grassy riverbank.

  A wide footpath encircled the lake, which most people stuck to, but leading off it were numerous paths that snaked into the depths of the forest, like arteries leading off from the pumping heart of the lake. Some of the trails led up a steep hill to higher ground, which offered spectacular views over Thistleby and the surrounding areas.

  Over the years, Ellie had explored many of the long trails veering off into the forest, with only the sound of birds and insects for company. However, her fitness levels were not up to it today, so after completing a circuit of the lake, she grabbed a coffee from the hut and settled herself beneath a tree, overlooking the shimmering lake. With her endorphins pumping, Ellie felt lightheaded and numb as she sipped her coffee and soaked up the peaceful tranquillity of her surroundings.

  She’d almost finished when her phone rang in her pocket and with a wince, Ellie saw her mum’s name flashing on the screen.

  ‘Ellie?’

  ‘Yes, Mum.’

  ‘I called the cottage and Dominic answered.’

  ‘Oh right.’

  ‘He tells me you’re acting very strangely.’

  Ellie drained the last of her coffee before answering.

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘He said you’re on edge and very angry at the moment and you’ve been accusing him of things that aren’t true. He told me that you’re starting fights with him and he’s worried about you.’

  ‘Is he now?’ Ellie said, gritting her teeth.

  ‘What’s going on, Ellie? Are you stressed about the wedding?’

  ‘No, Mum.’

  ‘What is it then? I can help you organise the wedding if it’s too much for you.’

  ‘I don’t need help. I’ve just got to think a few things through.’

  ‘What things?’

  ‘Oh, Mum. I just need to sort some stuff out.’

  ‘This doesn’t sound very fair on Dominic, if you’re giving him a hard time about it.’

  ‘Believe me, Dominic is just fine.’

  ‘He didn’t sound fine on the phone earlier, he sounded very upset.’

  ‘Mum, I have to go now, I’ll call you if I need any help, okay?’

  Ellie hung up and crushed the coffee cup between her hands. It was either that or hurl her phone into the lake.

  Despite her tired limbs, she pushed herself to her feet and continued running, her arms pumping up and down at her side. She swerved off onto a forest trail that she knew well and ignoring her wobbly legs and shallow gasping breaths, pushed herself on, further and further up a steep, narrow track where the trees were densely packed and overgrown.

  Ellie broke out into a small, grassy clearing. Straight ahead, close to the edge of a steep ravine, was a wooden bench. Gripping the back of it, her muscles screaming at her in protest, her fingers grazed across a faded, bronze plaque.

  It had been a while since she’d been up here and just like it had done on her first visit, the view snatched the breath from her body. The sky was a pale, translucent blue sheet with wispy clouds etched across it, as miles and miles of lush green countryside rolled out before her. Thick, dark green trees peppered the landscape and a small cluster of brown rooftops sat at the centre of a dozen fields, all dotted with specks of white and black animals. Ellie let a light blanket of peace settle over her as she sank down on the bench and gazed out at the view; the easy, quiet solitude wrapping around her like a warm hug.

  Chapter 12

  With his face scrunched up in concentration, staring at his computer screen, Robert didn’t notice Carl approaching his desk.

  ‘Evening Robert,’ Carl said, leaning against the wall.

  ‘Carl, hi,’ Robert replied, pushing his chair away from the desk, glad for the excuse to rest his eyes.

  His first few days at work had drained him. Getting up to speed with the computer systems, learning about the different contracts the practice had running and taking
the time to get to know his colleagues had been exhausting. After working for his previous company for so long Robert had known his role and the company inside out but starting from scratch took time.

  ‘I don’t think you’ve left the office on time once yet, Robert.’

  Robert shrugged.

  ‘I like to get involved in my work.’

  ‘I wish I could say the same for your colleagues,’ Carl said, with a grin, as he spread his arms wide, indicating the empty office that his colleagues had vacated an hour ago. ‘But I do operate a strict work, home life balance here, Robert. It’s important to enjoy yourself too, it makes for a more productive working life. So why don’t you head home now?’

  Robert smiled.

  ‘I think I will.’

  ‘Good,’ Carl said, strolling back to his office.

  Standing up, Robert stretched his legs and grabbed his jacket. Carl was right, he had spent a lot of time chained to his desk this week, but there was another reason why he’d taken Carl up on his suggestion to head home: Miss Saunders was due to start tutoring Abi tonight.

  ~

  Arriving home, Robert marched through to his study, giving Moira a nod as her inquisitive face popped out from the kitchen.

  ‘You’re home early,’ she called.

  ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Is the tutor here?’

  ‘Not yet.’

  Robert glanced at his watch as he settled in his study. It was seven o’clock. His jaw twitched. He was paying Miss Saunders generously enough to be punctual. Robert flexed his fingers, maybe he should have spent more time researching other tutors for Abi.

  He paced up and down in front of the bookshelf that covered the entire length of the wall. Unpacking his books had been one of the first things he’d done, followed by figuring out the perfect place for his imposing, mahogany desk, which now sat in front of the window to allow for the natural light.

  Robert traced his fingers along its smooth surface. It had been his dad’s desk and he had fond, fading memories of peeking into his study as a boy, to be greeted by his dad’s head buried in a mountain of books, a thick fog of cigarette smoke hanging over him like a cloud. Robert had always enjoyed the illicit sensation of inhaling his dad’s smoky smell, but after he had died prematurely from lung cancer, Robert had vowed never to touch a cigarette. Now the desk was his and instead of ashtrays, there was his laptop and photograph in a silver frame.