Jethro. She had promised to call him. He never went to bed until midnight at least, even though he started work at a ridiculously early hour. Ellie had often wondered how he did it, and imagined he was probably still running off all the sleep he’d accumulated during university when he missed almost every pre-noon lecture by still being in bed. She pulled out her phone and dialled as she clicked the light on in her living room and flopped on the sofa.
‘So… what happened?’ she asked as his soft voice came through, the merest hint of a mid-Welsh accent betraying his origins.
‘I thought you’d been kidnapped by aliens or Richard Branson or something,’ Jethro said jauntily.
‘Richard Branson?’ Ellie laughed. ‘You’re never right; you know that, don’t you?’
‘That’s what Aleksandra said.’
Ellie was serious again. ‘Oh, Jeth. Are you very upset about her?’
There was a pause, a pregnant hiss of static on the line. ‘I’m OK. It was probably never going anywhere.’
‘I never thought she was right for you,’ Ellie said. ‘Far too boring and stuck up.’
‘She wasn’t boring!’
‘But she was a little bit stuck up… Kasumi said it too and Aleksandra must have been stuck up if the poshest person we know thought so. I mean, she was one of those people who called tea dinner.’
Jethro laughed. ‘OK, maybe a little bit stuck up. Although I keep telling you that tea is something you drink and dinner is your evening meal. Honestly, you northern wenches.’
‘Right, boyo,’ Ellie quipped.
‘Oi! Less of the boyo!’
Ellie giggled.
‘So, when are you coming down to London to see me?’
‘I want to, I really do, but everything is crazy here right now. Mum and Dad still aren’t speaking and my aunt Hazel is… well, she’s not good. And then there’s work, of course, which is as busy as ever.’
She had often envied Jethro his move to London – sometimes more than others – and this was definitely one of those times. It seemed like the perfect escape from all the pressures that weighed on her daily until it felt like she might implode. The decision to stay in Millrise whilst her best friend took off for a bright and sparkly life in London wasn’t made lightly. Many times since their graduation, Ellie had wondered whether it had been the right one. And then, to make matters worse, shortly afterwards, Kasumi went to work for the same TV company and moved too. But Jethro and Kasumi both had wonderful, supportive, complete and definitely-not-dysfunctional families. There was nobody who needed them at home like there was for Ellie. Besides that, while her friends had been aiming for TV jobs from the start, Ellie had always harboured a secret and probably not very glamorous ambition to work for her local newspaper. She had grown up with it documenting the news events that shaped her life and the town she loved and had been thrilled beyond measure when Vernon offered her the position. Her life looked set to be perfect. But that was before her parents split up and Hazel had been diagnosed. That was back in the days when everything seemed as simple as deciding on her new work wardrobe and which car she would put a deposit on with her first paycheque.
‘If you’re not careful I’ll be thinking you’ve gone off me,’ Jethro said, breaking in on her morose thoughts.
‘You’ve got girls queuing up so I wouldn’t let a little thing like that worry you.’
‘None of them can play drunken Trivial Pursuit like you, though.’
‘Yup. Queen of Triv, that’s me.’
‘You promise you will come soon? I’m a boy nursing a broken heart and I need someone to make me laugh.’
‘You’ve got Kasumi.’
‘Yeah, but she just lectures me. It doesn’t help that she’s generally fondling Sam at the time.’
Ellie laughed. ‘Lucky Sam. So that’s still going strong?’
‘Unfortunately. They’re so happy it’s sickening.’
‘I will come soon, I promise. Just let me get things straight here.’
‘I’ll hold you to that,’ Jethro said. ‘How’s work anyway? What counts as news these days in Millrise?’
Ellie laughed. ‘No more Holden Finn sightings, if that’s what you mean.’
‘Damn, I could go mad for being on holiday in Turkey when that little gem broke. A megastar from the biggest boyband on the planet makes the news in Millrise and I’m not even in the country. I was with a bloody useless girlfriend that time too.’
‘See, that’s the trouble girls cause,’ Ellie continued with a chuckle. ‘If it’s any consolation I’m still gutted that I didn’t get to cover it either. But I had quite an interesting one today.’
‘Yeah?’
‘This local guy has camped out on a street corner. He says he’s going to stay there until the girl who dumped him comes back.’
There was a derisive snort from the end of the line. ‘He can have one of my exes if he wants. What a cock…’
‘Jethro!’ Ellie squeaked, half laughing and half shocked. ‘You can’t say that.’
‘I can and I just have.’
Ellie giggled. ‘I happen to think he’s quite sweet.’
‘Uh-oh…’
‘What?’
‘Could it be that someone has melted my ice princess?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous!’
Even though she couldn’t see Jethro’s quick grin, she could almost hear it in his voice. But then he was serious again. ‘You sound tired, Ellie.’
‘That obvious, eh?’
‘Yeah. I’ll let you get some sleep.’
‘Thanks. Goodnight.’
‘Goodnight, Ell. Thanks for calling, I feel better already.’
Ellie locked the phone screen. It would be so easy to let her eyes close, but she pushed herself wearily up from the sofa and headed upstairs.
‘Cracking story,’ Ange called as Ellie came into the office balancing three instant coffees on a tray. Ange had that morning’s newspaper spread out in front of her and was poring over a large and very flattering photo of Ben that sat alongside Ellie’s text.
‘Almost as good as that story you got last year about that woman who was seeing Holden Finn… what was her name again?’
Ange screwed up her forehead in concentration. ‘Blimey, I think that was a bit more than a year ago. What was her name… Bonnie? That was it, Bonnie Cartwright. That was a corker of a story. It’s hard to believe it was true, though, and she denied it even when the nationals got involved. You’ve got to hand it to her, she could have made a fortune off the back of that affair but she didn’t.’ Ange turned her attention back to the photo of Ben. ‘Holden Finn might be super famous but he doesn’t do much for me. Now this boy…’ she tapped a finger on the newspaper, ‘he’s a complete dish. His girlfriend must want her head examining.’
‘Looks aren’t everything,’ Ellie said as she placed Ange’s mug in front of her.
‘No… but they certainly make it easier to forgive a lot of misdeeds.’
Ellie laughed lightly. ‘I bet you were a right tiger once upon a time.’
‘Once upon a time? Cheeky! What makes you think I’m not still one?’
Ellie laughed louder this time. ‘Of that I have no doubt.’
Vernon pushed open the office door just as Ellie was putting a mug on his desk. ‘Ellie… loved the story about the nutter on the street corner.’
‘Thanks,’ Ellie smiled. But after a pause it turned into a frown. ‘I didn’t make him sound like a nutter, did I?’
‘Of course you didn’t,’ Ange replied, throwing Vernon an exasperated look.
Vernon simply grinned. ‘He did that all by himself, there was no need for Ellie to embellish it.’
‘He wasn’t a nutter,’ Ellie said. ‘A bit of a dreamer maybe, but not mad.’
‘Aren’t they the same thing?’ Vernon took a huge bite of a bacon and egg sandwich.
Ellie shrugged. ‘I might drive down to Constance Street in a bit; see if he’s still there.’
&n
bsp; ‘Oh he’s there alright.’ Ange looked up from the paper. ‘Newsroom have had two or three reports this morning from residents who say he spent the night out there, despite a couple of grumpy old men from further down the road trying to move him on.’
‘Did they threaten him?’ Ellie asked sharply.
Ange laughed. ‘By all accounts they were too busy being threatened by their own wives to threaten him.’
‘Why?’
‘Apparently, the women of Constance Street thought it was the most romantic thing they had ever seen and decided to take your Romeo under their protection. So they were feeding him tomato soup and allsorts. You can imagine what most cranky old husbands would make of that. So when they tried to move him on, the Wife SAS sprang into action.’
Ellie looked at Ange thoughtfully. ‘That’s got to be worth a follow-up story then, don’t you think?’
‘Too right. I would have gone myself but I knew you’d want it.’
Ellie smiled as she sat at her desk and took a sip of her coffee. ‘Thanks, Ange. I’ll sort out my loose ends here and head over.’
‘Patrick said he’d go with you if you wanted,’ Ange added.
‘Oh? Where is he?’
‘Out at some WI event I think this morning. But he said to phone if anyone was going and wanted him, otherwise he’d head off to some pool jobs.’
‘He’s such a good boy, always looks out for me.’
‘He is. Fiona is a lucky girl.’ Ange let out a long sigh and closed the newspaper. ‘All the good ones are taken.’
Vernon spun around. ‘What about me?’ he cried. At least, that was what it sounded like, although it was hard to tell through his mouthful of sandwich.
Ange tutted. ‘As I said, all the good ones are taken…’
Ellie smiled as Vernon turned back to his PC monitor in a mock huff. ‘Somehow I don’t see you and Patrick being suited,’ she said.
‘Is that your not-so-subtle way of saying I’m far too old for him?’
‘No, you’re far too glamorous and sophisticated for him.’
‘Oh, Ellie, you always say the right thing.’
‘Really? It seems like a rare occurrence these days.’
Ange tried to catch Ellie’s eye but she was already engrossed in her own computer screen.
‘Things still bad family-wise?’ Ange asked gently.
Ellie didn’t reply, and an awkward silence descended on the office. Finally, she spoke without looking round. ‘I’d rather not talk about it if it’s all the same to you.’
A brisk breeze rattled the bare trees as Ellie made her way to the corner of Constance Street. The day was milder than those of the previous few weeks and she couldn’t help but feel relieved that Ben would be in for a slightly more comfortable night if he was here again tonight. In the tiny terraced gardens along the row, the occasional snowdrop could be seen poking up from the otherwise empty flowerbeds. There was a definite promise of spring – early, but there all the same.
Surrounding Ben were four women, ranging from around forty to sixty years old at a guess, all chatting animatedly to him and to each other. The sounds of girlish and slightly hysterical laughter rang out down the street. As Ellie passed, she saw male faces scowling out from a couple of windows – the husbands of the members of Ben’s new fan club? It didn’t take a genius to work out that their disgruntled looks meant they probably were. Ellie couldn’t help a wry smile to herself. She could imagine the conversations in their homes later. Ben was managing to make them all look much less than satisfactory in the dreamy male stakes.
The echo of a car door slamming on the almost empty road caught Ellie’s attention and she spun around to see Patrick jogging towards her.
‘Morning!’
Ellie glanced at her watch. ‘Afternoon, actually.’
‘Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?’ Patrick grinned.
Ellie nodded in the direction of the little crowd at the corner. ‘They certainly look as though they are.’
‘I’ll bet it’s the most excitement this street has seen since the Blitz.’
‘They didn’t have the Blitz here.’
‘Well…’ Patrick shrugged. ‘Some other exciting thing then.’
Ellie frowned. ‘I’m not sure exciting is the word you’re actually looking for in that context…’
‘And that’s why you write the words and I take the photos.’
Ellie couldn’t help a broad smile. Patrick had this infectious way of lifting people’s moods – they just looked at him and felt instantly better.
‘I thought maybe we could get some photos of Ben and his harem,’ Ellie said in a low voice.
‘Not exactly The Spice Girls, are they?’ Patrick replied as he glanced towards the little group.
‘They seem like a lot of fun though,’ Ellie mused. ‘Should be good for a story and a mad photo or two.’
And in the middle of them was Ben. Far from being troubled by his vigil, he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his spot of socialising. His smile grew even wider and brighter as he spotted Ellie and Patrick approaching.
‘Long time no see,’ he hailed as they approached.
Ellie smiled. ‘Still here then?’
‘As Gemma didn’t show, it looks like another night al fresco for me.’
The four women had now stopped talking and were all watching Ellie and Patrick with interest. Patrick aimed his most disarming smile at them.
‘Are you ladies his bodyguards?’
One of them giggled. ‘You could say that.’ She glanced at Patrick’s camera. ‘Are you going to do photos?’
Patrick nodded. ‘If you don’t mind I thought I could take some of you as well as Ben. It might be nice for people to see that you’re behind him in his quest.’
‘Oooh,’ another one squeaked, ‘do you think we could nip home and put some slap on first?’
Ellie looked them over in turn. As far as she could tell, they all looked as if they had full war-paint on, along with their best clothes, already.
‘Of course,’ Patrick said with a gallant sweep of his arm. ‘You go and make yourselves more beautiful whilst Ellie here has another chat with Ben. I’ll wait for you.’
The women giggled in unison and hurried off while Ben shot Patrick a knowing look.
‘You’ve done that before, mate.’
‘Comes with the territory. People like to look their best if they think they’ll be in the paper.’
‘So, how was your night?’ Ellie turned to Ben.
‘Cold,’ he smiled.
‘No sign of Gemma at all?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Don’t you have mutual friends or anyone who has let her know you’re here?’
‘My mate, Darryl, texted her.’
‘And?’
‘She didn’t reply.’
‘Maybe she hasn’t seen the text yet?’
Ben shook his head. ‘I know her; she’s stubborn. She’ll make me sweat for a while before she comes.’
‘Sweating is one thing you won’t be doing out here in January,’ Patrick cut in as he rubbed a cloth over his camera lens.
Ellie frowned. It was none of her business, of course, but she was beginning to form some strong opinions of Gemma Fox and none of them was complimentary. If a man was going to such lengths to win her back, despite what her feelings on the subject might be, Ellie would at least go and talk to him, if only to persuade him that getting hypothermia wasn’t a very sensible thing to do. Not Gemma Fox, it seemed. But that wasn’t the only thing troubling her. How could Ben be so relaxed and cheerful in the face of the task he had set himself? Was there really a man in the world so determined to get his girl that he would go to these lengths? Or, despite his protestations the previous day, was there another motive for Ben’s camp-out? The more she thought about it, the more intrigued Ellie was. Now if she could get to the truth of it, there was a story to be had.
‘You’re not a little tempted to buy a bunch of flowers and
head over to her flat?’ Ellie asked. ‘It would be a lot simpler, not to mention warmer.’
‘Our flat,’ Ben corrected. ‘Not that she’s there now. Gone back to her parents.’ He frowned slightly. ‘It won’t be my flat either if I don’t make this month’s rent,’ he added in a quieter voice.
‘You’re risking your flat?’ Ellie asked, glancing at Patrick with a barely disguised look of disapproval.
Ben shrugged. ‘I suppose it sounds stupid. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make if I have to… I’ll do whatever it takes. I have a little bit of money saved, though – funds to start the business that I guess I’ll just have to save all over again – and I’m hoping it will be enough to see this through. When Gemma does come for me I’m sure she’d be happier still having a flat to go back to at the end of it.’
Ellie resisted the urge to shake him. She had never heard anything so reckless in her life. But then she thought about her parents for a moment and realised that she probably had. ‘You’re still certain she’s going to come for you even though a newspaper report still hasn’t brought her here?’
‘Yes. Because I won’t give up until she does.’
Ellie frowned. ‘And you can’t go to her parents’ house to talk to her because…’
‘I told you yesterday,’ Ben said, ‘it’s not enough. You don’t know Gemma like I do. She wants big gestures. A bunch of flowers won’t cut it. I have to prove my love to her, and my proof has to be massive.’
‘Other couples talk it through, work it out.’
‘Not us.’
‘So you’re still determined to stay out here?’
Ben nodded.
‘What about the police?’
‘They won’t come unless someone puts in a serious complaint,’ Ben said with what Ellie suspected was forced confidence. ‘They’ve got bigger fish to fry than me.’
Ellie raised her eyebrows. ‘You’re quite a public fish right now though. Or at least you will be, come tonight’s edition.’
Worth Waiting For: A heart-warming and feel-good romantic comedy Page 4