Clancy examined the tattoos twining their way up her arms, fairies with pink wings and elves in green hats. ‘What did you do in all those places?’ she asked curiously, trying to picture Alice in a motorhome rather than a posh villa or hotel.
Alice’s eyebrows arched and she lifted a hand, palm up, her shoulders shrugging nearly to her ears while she apparently searched for a suitable answer. ‘Hung out,’ she declared eventually, ‘soaked up the culture, you know? Met interesting people. Travelled,’ she pronounced, as if that conveyed it all. ‘Like your family did.’
‘Not really,’ Clancy felt the need to point out. ‘My parents are workaholics. They build schools and hospitals and government buildings.’
Alice shrugged as if the distinction escaped her. ‘So, anyway, Hugo’s a bit bloody expensive. Never done a stroke in his life, I don’t think, and the Bank of Mummy and Daddy has withdrawn its support so it seemed sensible to come back here. Bit sick of the van and credit card’s too full for hotels.’
Clancy’s heart began to beat in big, apprehensive thumps, the flash of joy she’d felt at seeing her cousin again fading fast. She licked her lips. ‘For how long?’
Alice gave another of those elaborate shrugs. ‘I haven’t put a limit on it.’ Then she laughed at repeating Clancy’s own words back at her and glanced round. ‘Is there another bottle of wine? Bloody Hugo took that one up with him.’
The possible consequences of Alice’s return beginning to dawn on her made Clancy feel temporarily too heavy to leave her seat. ‘Don’t think so. You could have a look, I suppose,’ she answered mechanically. Her mind was spinning. She wanted to ask Alice why she hadn’t contacted her ahead of time but had the feeling Alice would be incredulous at the very notion that she should. Clancy would be the usurper in this scenario, not Alice.
‘Actually …’ Alice leaned towards Clancy confidingly. ‘Actually, to be honest …’ She dragged the final word out through barely parted lips and lowered her voice. ‘Hugo is being a pain in the arse. We’re not getting on very well. Being shut up in the van with him whinging and freeloading was doing my head in. There’s at least a bit more space here. And a spare bed for when he passes out and snores like a pig.’
If Clancy’s heart could have sunk any lower it would have.
Alice brightened. ‘So tell me everything that’s been going on in Nelson’s Bar.’ Then, before Clancy could answer, dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘Is Lee still around? I’ve been thinking about him a lot.’
‘Erm …’ In a burst of horror, Clancy realised how unwelcome Alice’s homecoming was going to be amongst Aaron’s family. How the hell was Lee going to react when he realised the breaker of his heart had turned up again? ‘Erm …’ she said again, faintly this time. She was going to have to give Aaron the news.
Crap.
Crap.
And double crap.
Her rosy vision of this evening popped like a bubble.
‘Well, is he?’ Alice’s voice demanded, sounding somehow far away.
Clancy jumped up, casting round for her bag and keys. ‘I’ll leave you to settle in and … whatever. I expect I’ll see you soon.’ As they were now living in the same house. Crap.
In seconds she was outside the front door and, after a moment to check out the motorhome parked outside like a small lorry, hurried away from the Roundhouse up Long Lane. A blood-red sunset was beginning, turning the cottages pink and making the flowers in the gardens glow ethereally, but she barely saw it. It wasn’t until she was within sight of Aaron’s place that her pace faltered. Then she squared her shoulders and opened the garden gate, circumnavigating the workshop on the side of the house to knock at the back.
A volley of barks followed and the boarded wooden door shook, presumably at the onslaught of a large canine.
Then Aaron pulled the door open, calming Nelson’s excitement, his face creased into a smile. ‘Am I pleased to see you,’ he said, pulling her into his arms and resting his cheek on top of her head while Nelson bounced around them.
She laughed hollowly as her head came to rest on his shoulder. ‘You might not be in a minute.’
He pulled away to examine her expression. ‘What’s the matter?’
It was like ripping off a sticking plaster. The only way was to do it quickly. ‘Alice is at the Roundhouse. She’s just turned up. With her husband.’
His face went slack with surprise. ‘Seriously? Did you know she was coming? Husband?’
She felt curiously hurt. ‘Don’t you think I might have mentioned it if I’d known she was coming?’ she asked tightly. ‘Particularly with a husband?’
He pulled her close again. ‘Sorry, stupid questions. But, shit, this is going to put the cat amongst the pigeons.’
Clancy could only agree. They collapsed onto his big sofa – Clancy accepted a glass of wine this time, feeling she needed its bolstering qualities – while she stroked Nelson’s head and recounted the recent arrival at the Roundhouse, describing the motorhome in the lane outside and Alice’s extreme change of image. ‘Though she’s exactly the same insouciant Alice underneath,’ she concluded drily. Then she found herself hesitating. When Alice had asked about Lee and complained about Hugo, she wouldn’t have expected Clancy to race off and pass it all on to Aaron. Yet Clancy had just taken umbrage that Aaron might think she wouldn’t share with him what she knew … The spectre of torn loyalties loomed with all the appeal of a rainy Monday.
‘I’m beginning to wish Lee had stayed in Northamptonshire. They’re bound to meet up, otherwise,’ Aaron sighed. ‘I’d better talk to Lee. And the rest of the family. For fuck’s sake!’ he exploded, slapping his hand to his forehead. ‘Why did she need to show up now?’
Clancy prickled to hear the exasperation in his voice. ‘Because she’s half-owner of the house and has every right to?’ she suggested.
He tilted her chin up to brush a kiss on her lips. ‘I shouldn’t have said that. She’s your cousin and you were probably glad to see her.’
‘I was,’ she conceded. Then she was compelled by honesty to add, ‘Though we’ve both changed so much … But don’t think this only affects your family. I didn’t warm to her husband much and now I’m sharing a house with him.’
‘Yeah,’ he said absently, resting his cheek on her hair. ‘Awkward.’
They sat in silence for several minutes.
Then Aaron put his wine glass down on the coffee table. ‘I’m going to have to tell Lee and my mum and dad.’
Clancy nodded glumly. ‘Suppose.’ Warn them, she knew he meant.
‘That’s if Dilys hasn’t seen Alice and her motorhome and already been on the phone to Aunt Norma,’ he added with a sigh.
She was able to fill in that blank. ‘Dilys and Ernie were invited to a Golden Wedding do in someone’s house along Marshview Road this evening.’
‘Well that’s something at least.’ He sighed again. ‘I told my family we’re seeing each other, by the way. I hope that was OK? I didn’t want them to think I was sneaking around.’
She turned to look at him, trying to read the steady dark gaze. ‘I suppose … well, yes, I guess they had to know.’ His words gave her an uncomfortable feeling, as if seeing her was something he’d had to confess to, but she could see that he was in a situation. One that he’d have to manage. Just because she wasn’t rich with rellies herself didn’t mean his large family shouldn’t be considered. ‘How did that go?’
‘As well as it could,’ he returned enigmatically. ‘But I think I’d better talk to them about Alice on my own.’
She needed no persuading on that score. His family would be forgiven for taking sides and assuming Clancy would be on Alice’s. Which she was, of course. The whole scenario was uncomfortable.
As Clancy was definitely in no hurry to return to the Roundhouse, she offered to take Nelson for his evening run while Aaron visited his family. ‘Here’s a spare door key,’ Aaron said, taking it from the kitchen table. ‘I’ll try not to be to
o long. Maybe we can salvage something of our evening afterwards.’
Clancy took the proffered key. Aaron sounded as disappointed as she felt at the way the evening was panning out. She tried to rediscover some of the buzz she’d felt before Alice’s arrival. ‘Hope so!’ And, realising he hadn’t kissed her properly this evening, lifted her face to touch her lips to his.
Aaron reacted by clamping his arms around her, a hand on her upper back and one on her behind, pressing against her as his tongue caressed hers. The next few minutes passed much more agreeably than the last, though Nelson whined and nudged them with his nose as the kiss got deeper.
When they came up for air, Aaron’s usual smile was back in place. ‘That’s better.’ He repeated the kiss before finally quitting the house, turning the opposite way to her when they reached the garden gate.
She left the lane and meandered onto the clifftop, giving Nelson plenty of time to sniff, enjoying the summer evening, noticing a few green shoots and wildflowers nosing through the parched clifftop grass after the recent rain. The glorious deep north Norfolk sunset made everything look as if she were viewing it through a pink filter. The gulls that usually wheeled about the clifftops seemed to have taken the cerise and purple evening sky as the signal to retire to bed and Clancy could hear little but the breeze in her ears and the rasp of Nelson’s extending lead winding and unwinding. He glanced back at her from time to time, giving a gentle tail-wag as if to say, ‘Oh, you’re still there. Good!’
They made their way to the furthest point of the headland, Clancy turning her gaze to the sea and wondering how Aaron’s family was taking the Awful Alice news. Clancy would have been thrilled to see Alice again under other circumstances – like before she’d begun a new life in Nelson’s Bar herself – but Aaron had only spoken the truth when he’d declared that Alice’s arrival would be the cat amongst the pigeons. Pigeon Clancy had flown out of the Roundhouse pretty much as Cat Alice stalked in, swishing her plaits if not her tail.
How would Lee take seeing Alice again? She both was and wasn’t the Alice he’d fallen in love with. Her appearance was startlingly different … but not unattractive, especially in the kind of skimpy clothing she’d sported earlier, her beautiful, delicate tattoos twining sinuously up her arms and across her shoulders. Clancy could imagine new Alice knocking Lee’s socks off just as old Alice had.
Then Clancy was pulled back to the present – literally – as Nelson gave a great tug, trying to head for a figure strolling across the parched grass towards them. ‘Genevieve,’ Clancy called, letting Nelson tow her closer so he could perform his one-dog welcoming dance.
Genevieve obligingly fussed him, her eyes on Clancy. ‘Out without Aaron?’ she queried.
Clancy didn’t stop to think that as she’d been involved with Aaron less than twenty-four hours this was an odd opening. She just rolled her eyes. ‘My cousin Alice has turned up so he’s gone to tell Lee, so that he doesn’t chance on her unprepared—’
‘I might as well say this to your face as I’ve already said it to Aaron,’ Genevieve butted in, not, apparently, interested in Alice or Lee. ‘I think you’ve played a mean trick on me.’ Her usually friendly face was shuttered, the corners of her mouth turned down.
‘Pardon?’ Clancy literally took a step back.
‘I suppose you thought it was clever to coach me with all that stuff about women not needing men and the glories of a single life, then bowl in and snap Aaron up for yourself.’
For the second time in a few hours, Clancy’s stomach sank like lead. ‘Oh, hell,’ she said guiltily. ‘Is that what you think? It wasn’t like that! When I said those things I was recognising the end of my old relationship. At that point, there was nothing between Aaron and me.’ A nasty thought struck her. ‘You didn’t end the relationship on the strength of that conversation, did you? I wasn’t giving you instructions, for goodness’ sake! And I absolutely wasn’t plotting to move in on Aaron myself.’
Genevieve’s gaze hardened. ‘So it was all one big, happy coincidence – for you?’
Put like that … ‘I suppose so,’ Clancy admitted unhappily. ‘I’m so sorry. You probably think I’m a conniving bitch—’
But she was talking to a turned back as Genevieve paced deliberately away, chin up and fists clenched at her sides.
‘But what about your new bloke?’ Clancy called after her, a spark of indignation igniting. ‘You’d already found someone else.’
‘Jealousy tactic,’ Genevieve called back flatly. ‘Not a new relationship.’
Clancy groaned, watching her go and feeling an inch tall. She hadn’t given Genevieve much thought when she gave in to the pull she felt towards Aaron. After beginning so promisingly, this was turning out to be a sadly crappy day.
Aaron beat Clancy back to his place by a few minutes and was sliding lasagne in the oven as she and Nelson arrived. ‘I’d intended to take you on a proper date tonight,’ he said. ‘This is a poor excuse for one.’ Then he hesitated, studying her. ‘Are you OK?’
She found it hard to meet his eyes. ‘Genevieve had a word with me.’
‘Oh.’ His hand dropped away from her waist. ‘She had a word with me too. Sorry. I meant to tell you as soon as you got here but you had the glad tidings about Alice and I forgot.’
Although she could understand exactly how that would happen, Clancy said, ‘Forewarned would have been forearmed. She obviously thinks we’re doing something … wrong.’
‘But we’re not.’
She clasped her hands in front of her. ‘It feels as if whatever we’ve started between us is at a cost to her.’ She couldn’t help remembering how she’d felt when Will had done pretty much the same thing.
Aaron gently untwisted her fingers, took her hand, opened the back door, and led her out to sit on the bench, the stone cool through their clothing as moths danced in the sultry evening air. ‘The facts are that she ended the relationship and I was glad she did. Your relationship with Will was already over. We’re free to see each other. We shouldn’t feel guilty.’
The dusk was turning to darkness and his garden was a collection of shadows beneath a starry sky punctuated by slices of light from the kitchen door and window.
‘But we’re hurting Genevieve,’ she pointed out. ‘And I’ll bet your folks aren’t any keener on me now Alice has turned up again.’
He made an impatient movement with his head. ‘You’re not Alice! And I’m not Lee.’
That wasn’t a direct answer. She sighed, not even wanting to know what his family had said about Alice. ‘I wish we could have just stayed on Secret Beach. It was sheltered and uncomplicated there.’
He half-laughed. ‘It’s high tide. We’d be treading water and trying to keep clear of the rocks.’
‘Describes us perfectly,’ she responded.
They sat together while the lasagne cooked, spilling its rich aroma onto the evening air without tempting Clancy’s appetite at all. Aaron squeezed her hand. ‘I’ve agreed to speak to Alice first. Try and get some idea of what she’s thinking. It seemed sensible when my mother asked it but as soon as I left my parents’ house I began to think it a bad idea. I’ve committed though, so I’d better do it. It might help Lee out.’
She snorted. ‘It seems as if you’re like me. You get all the shit jobs.’
He laughed, but he didn’t disagree.
Neither of them ate much lasagne. Nelson got the foil trays to lick out and the rest of the meal went into the bin. Then they looked at each other.
Aaron moved close, running his hands up Clancy’s arms. ‘Whatever I’d thought would happen this evening, I have to say that Alice’s exploits didn’t enter my mind.’
Her skin tingled at his proximity. She wanted to respond, to slide her arms around his waist, but she felt conflicted and couldn’t let his words go unchallenged. ‘Does it really come under the heading of “exploits” for someone to come back to live in their own home? I can imagine you feel aggrieved at her doing it without having
the courtesy of notifying you as co-owner, of course. And you’re worried about how Lee will cope,’ she added fairly.
Slowly, his fingers drifted down her arms until his hands hung by his sides, though he continued to occupy her personal space. ‘Isn’t this where we came in?’ he asked sombrely. ‘You sticking up for Alice and me worried about Lee?’
She thought back to those early days, a couple of months ago, and searched her heart. ‘I suppose so. That’s not going to change, is it? It’s natural that we should each see things in favour of our loved one. You thinking that I’m dismissing Lee’s emotions and me feeling you’re demonising Alice’s human frailties.’
‘Demonising.’ He said the word thoughtfully, as if testing its fit in the conversation. ‘I’ll have to watch out for that. Not going to change …? It could, if we agreed to just leave Alice and Lee to get on with it. Refuse to let it affect whatever’s happening between us.’ His eyes were solemn and dark.
‘Easier said than done. Lee’s your brother and Alice is more than a cousin to me.’
His eyebrows rose. ‘I suppose I lose sight of that. I never thought you and Alice were remotely alike in personality. Even when Lee was happy with her I found her hard work. She always acted so entitled, expecting everyone to fall in with what she wanted yet constantly changing her mind as to what that was. Always wanting what she didn’t have.’
Clancy wrestled with this summary of Alice’s character and decided now was not the time to try and create positive spin. So she asked the question that was burning inside her, instead. ‘If I’m not like that, what am I like?’
A slow smile spread over his face. ‘You’re pragmatic and fair.’
A Summer to Remember Page 21