by Hannah Pearl
‘I can sort that out,’ Lily announced. ‘I’ll go and find my friend from the dock with the yellow coat.’ She slipped out of the room, and I was sure that she was going as much to escape the tension in the cabin as to be helpful.
‘What was the last thing that you remember?’ I asked Ben.
He thought for a moment before answering. ‘Erin told me that she was taking me home. I thought she meant London. Then she handed me a tablet saying that it would help my travel sickness. I’d thrown up all over her car on the way here you see. I swallowed that, and then I woke up here. My head hurts now though. I think I prefer the tablets you usually give me, Daisy.’
‘But before you hung up, you screamed,’ I reminded him.
‘Erin was putting my laptop in her bag and it nearly slipped out.’
I shook my head, amazed by how this seemed to be a perfectly rational action to him. ‘And you didn’t think to call me back and let me know that you were okay?’
‘Erin said she had,’ he replied, and I wanted to throw her overboard all over again.
‘Did she? That was kind of her,’ I said. Even Ben managed to spot the sarcasm in that one.
He looked sheepish when he spoke. ‘She didn’t call you, did she?’ I shook my head. ‘You said that you had to guess where we were. Didn’t you find the note? Erin said that she would write one after she’d done the washing up.’
‘No note,’ Eli growled. ‘Would have saved me a night of walking round London searching for you.’
Ben looked even more downcast at that. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘It wasn’t your fault,’ I assured him, keen as always to protect my brother. ‘She didn’t do the washing up either.’ That was the first time that I’d seen him look genuinely hurt and I began to feel guilty. It was bad enough that his first ever girlfriend had drugged and taken him away from us, but to realise that she had left a mess behind her was more than I should have dropped on him without warning.
We fell silent after that, each lost to our own thoughts. I was relieved to see Ben again. Now that he was sitting up in bed and playing on his laptop, it was just like he’d never been away. The waves had dropped, and Eli was beginning to look a lot better. Even Taylor finally relaxed enough to lose the scowl.
Finally, the hum dropped and the engines fell quiet. ‘Please don’t tell me that we’ve broken down again,’ Eli moaned.
‘I think we’re docked,’ I told him.
‘Are you sure we need to turn around and head straight back?’ Taylor asked. ‘We’re only a few minutes away from the best pint of Guinness you’ve ever tasted.’
‘Weren’t you the one who told us that we needed to get Ben home before he was missed at work?’ I pointed out.
‘That was before I lost everything I’ve eaten in the last three weeks. A man needs sustenance.’
At that point there was a tap on the door. We all froze. When the door opened and Lily came in carrying three huge brown paper bags by their handles, I breathed an enormous sigh of relief. Especially when she opened the bags and began to hand round cups of tea. ‘I threatened to tell Aidan’s boss about how unhygienic his stock room is if he didn’t hook us up with supplies,’ she said.
‘That was your fault for dragging him in there,’ I pointed out.
‘He didn’t need much persuading.’ Lily opened the second bag and began to hand out foil parcels.
‘I think I love you,’ Taylor said when he opened his and found a sausage sandwich.
Lily offered Erin a sandwich. I glared at her but she handed it over nonetheless. ‘You need to feed her. Even prisoners have some rights, don’t they?’
She looked at Eli and Taylor who both shrugged as if to say they neither knew nor cared what rights Erin ought to have. ‘I’m pretty flexible about whether she needs to get home in one piece,’ I muttered.
Chapter Thirty
We spent the first hour arguing about who was travelling in which car to get home. Now that I knew that Ben was okay, I wanted some time to talk to Eli, but equally I didn’t want Ben on his own in a car with Erin. She was still sulking and silent, but she had drugged him and dragged him on board a ship. I didn’t want her to try and talk him into thinking that that was a normal part of a relationship.
And so eventually, twelve hours after we first left Holyhead, we were back again, more tired and dishevelled than when we’d left. Six hours after that we finally parked outside my shop. We’d made it back with Ben just in time. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and Dad was due back from his trip. I climbed out of Eli’s car and stretched until my bones clicked back into place. ‘Eli, thank you for driving,’ I told him, ‘And no offence, but I hope that it’s a really long time before I need to travel anywhere again.’ Eli opened the boot and handed me my bag. Ben took his own, and they did a complicated handshake that took at least three minutes to complete. I don’t know how they concentrated on it as I could barely keep my eyes open.
‘What do I do with her?’ Eli asked, gesturing to Erin who was still sulking on the back seat.
‘I have some ideas,’ I said. ‘I think Taylor might know some places we could get rid of her.’
‘Just let her go,’ Ben said, leaning in and untying the tights from around her ankles. Erin climbed out, and she and Ben hugged until I growled at her. Releasing him, she scurried away and was soon lost to the twilight shadows and crowds of last-minute Christmas shoppers. Ben let himself in to his flat and slammed the door shut.
‘I’m going to get a lift home before I collapse,’ Lily said, giving me a quick hug and sliding back into Taylor’s car. Taylor tapped two fingers to his forehead in a mock salute and drove off. Eli and I were finally alone, Ben was safe and it should have been a prime opportunity for us to finally talk, and yet now that we were here, I could barely form a coherent thought, let alone begin to ask Eli what was going on between us. Not least because if he were to walk away, I didn’t think I’d have the strength left to deal with it. Instead, I opened the door to my flat and walked in, leaving it open behind me so that Eli could choose whether he wanted to follow me inside or not.
My heart would have raced when he did, but it didn’t have the energy, so instead we headed straight for my bedroom where we kicked our shoes off, climbed into bed fully clothed and fell asleep. I woke the next morning to find a cup of coffee waiting on the trunk next to my bed, and heard my shower running.
I sat up, sipping slowly and trying to get my head around the previous few days. When Eli walked into my room with just a towel wrapped around his waist, I almost forgot that I had wanted to talk before we ended up in bed together again. I licked my lips, purely because they were dry and not because he looked so good. A drop of water ran down his chest. When it reached the towel and was swallowed up, I finally managed to look up and meet his eyes again. He grinned at me.
‘Wait here,’ I told him, partly because I was desperate for any opportunity to procrastinate in case he didn’t share my feelings, and partly because it didn’t seem fair to talk when I felt scuzzy from all the travelling and he looked totally edible.
‘Daisy,’ he called. I figured he wanted to leave soon. He hadn’t been home in days, not to mention that he would be due in the office briefly, but he’d be so much less likely to run away from me if I were in fresh clothes so I called back that I’d only be a moment and carried on into my bathroom. I was just rinsing the conditioner out when Eli appeared in my bathroom. ‘I need to go to work,’ he said, but given that he was still wearing just the towel and that he looked at me rinsing the soap off for longer than he needed to filled me with confidence. When he finally left the room, I made sure that I shaved my legs too.
Eli had only got as far as putting on his tight grey boxer trunks, and as tempting as it was to talk to him when we were both half naked, I wanted to move on from the physical aspect of our relationship, which, without being boastful, was already pretty smoking. I shooed him out of my bedroom to make us some breakfast and dressed quickly in a red tartan s
kirt, black tights, white blouse and tight black jumper. There was a slight psychological boost from being more put together.
When I finally emerged, my hair loose over my shoulders and lips slick with gloss, Eli handed me a plate of cold toast and brushed past me as he ducked into my room. I took a bite of toast and sat on my bed as he emptied his holdall, searching for anything clean enough to wear for the office. He sniffed a shirt before grimacing. ‘Can we talk?’ I asked him.
‘I need to go home before work and grab some fresh clothes.’ He sighed.
‘I wanted to thank you for helping me find Ben,’ I began, ignoring the way that he was now tossing his dirty gear back into the bag in a heap.
‘It was partly my fault too that he left,’ Eli said, taking a black T-shirt back out of the tangle and pulling it over his head. It was tight enough that the wrinkles were smoothed out by being stretched across his broad chest. ‘I was arguing with you. I don’t want to be like that with you any more.’
It was just the lead-in that I’d wanted and filled me with hope. ‘I don’t want to fight either,’ I said, setting my plate down on the trunk. I clasped my fingers together and stared at them as I spoke. ‘I’ve really enjoyed this time with you, Eli. Apart from the whole not knowing where my brother was and having to rescue him from a nutter who had drugged and abducted him.’
‘I had fun too,’ Eli said, zipping his jeans up and leaning over to kiss the top of my head. ‘Why don’t you go and see if Ben is ready to go? It’s Christmas Eve. We’ve got half a day to make up three days of missed work before they close the office for the holidays. Not to mention that we really need to show our faces before they send a team out to try and retrieve us.’
I hoped he was joking, but as he threw his bag over his shoulder and left the room I had to concede that this conversation wasn’t going according to plan. I’d hoped that he would sit and listen as I reminded him of how well we had worked together. Instead, he was stood by my front door pulling his jacket on. I tried again. ‘Spending time together in the cottage was pretty cosy.’ That made him stop and smile, briefly, before he bent over to tie his laces. He had one hand on the door when a knock from the other side made me jump.
I glanced at my watch. It was a little after eight a.m. and I didn’t usually open up for another hour, not that I had any more appointments booked in. Having been out of the office and away from the phone for several days, I’d missed out on the chance to book in anyone who had left their gift buying to the last minute. The income from these last gasp sales would have been nice, especially given the cost of our trip, but I’d manage without. It was worth it to get Ben home safely.
Eli opened the door. He probably meant to slip out, but Mr King blocked his path. Straightening his paisley tie he coughed, and I found myself snapping to attention. ‘I apologise for being here without an appointment,’ he began. He coughed again gently, and I sensed that he was fighting an embarrassment that he hadn’t wanted to display. ‘Yesterday morning I left the house to fetch my morning paper only to find a vintage Bentley parked outside.’ Eli paused in his preparation to hear more about the car. ‘It’s beautiful,’ Mr King continued. ‘Bottle-green, black running board, chrome lights, leather seats. It’s from 1937, still runs like a dream.’
‘That sounds beautiful,’ I said, wondering where he was going with his story.
‘I can’t give Mrs King a collection of stuffed toys when she’s been out and bought such a beautiful present for me. We usually swap token gifts, but I can’t do that now. I was hoping that you could come up with something spectacular for me to give her in return.’
‘With no notice? On Christmas Eve?’ I spluttered. Now Eli was truly grinning, his arms crossed as he leant back on the door watching how I would deal with the situation. I could sense his smug satisfaction at my failing to come up with a romantic gift. He’d never been convinced that my boutique served a real purpose. It’s true that my job didn’t keep the country safe or prevent violence anywhere in the world, but my little shop brought a lot of happiness to the people who visited it, and in a world where terrible things happened to people who didn’t deserve them, it was so important to me that opportunities to spread love and bring joy were valued. This was a prime opportunity for me to demonstrate a service that only I could offer, and nothing was coming to mind. It was only a few days since Mr King had looked through every item in my shop and found them wanting.
Mr King noticed my hesitation and drew his wallet from his pocket. ‘If it’s a question of cost, I can assure you that there’s no limit,’ he said. I could see a wad of cash neatly folded inside. There was easily enough to cover the cost of the ferry tickets and the cabin hire.
‘I’m just thinking about what might best suit your needs,’ I assured him. I ran through in my head what I already knew about his wife. She liked jewellery but had a vast collection of rings. She couldn’t eat chocolate any more and had questionable taste in teddy bears. It wasn’t much. Across the road, I noticed Cody open her front door and begin to fix a holly wreath to it. The long sleeves of her purple kaftan dress kept getting in the way and she pushed them up to her elbows and hurriedly looped the wreath over a nail before they slid down again. I had the beginnings of a brain wave.
‘Where did you get married?’ I asked.
‘Scotland,’ Mr King answered.
‘That sounds romantic,’ I commented, feeling hopeful that he would agree.
‘It rained.’
‘Anywhere that you’ve been on holiday that was of special significance to you? Your honeymoon perhaps?’
‘Our honeymoon was in a tiny bed and breakfast. The owner slept in the adjacent room. We had twin beds with awful polyester sheets. I got static shocks every time I rolled over.’ That would have seriously put a stop to any amorous adventures. No wonder he looked so grumpy at the memory.
‘And it rained?’
‘Every day,’ he said.
‘How about a second honeymoon?’ Eli suggested. ‘You could whisk her away to Paris. What could be more romantic than that?’
I stared at him, both surprised by his attempt at being helpful and annoyed that he was suggesting something so obvious. Mr King was already shaking his head though.
‘Our first grandchild is due in a fortnight. Mary would throttle me if I suggested that we leave the country now.’
I snapped my fingers. ‘Let’s go,’ I said, pointing across the road at Picture Perfect, and tugging my front door shut behind me.
Chapter Thirty-One
Cody let us in and offered refreshments, but I jumped straight to the point. ‘Mr King needs a gift for his wife and I think you might be just the person to help,’ I told her. She looked surprised but heard me out nonetheless. ‘I was wondering whether you had thought about offering family portrait sessions?’ I turned to Mr King. ‘You could wrap her up an empty photo frame and explain that once the baby is here, you could all meet with Cody one day and have some photos taken of your wife and her first grandchild.’
Mr King clapped me on the back. I had to take a step to steady myself. He might have been in his early seventies, but he was clearly still as strong as he had ever been. ‘Genius,’ he boomed, glancing at Cody to see what she thought of the idea. ‘I’d make it worth your while,’ he told her. He named a price that would have paid my bills for two months at least.
Cody blushed, then reached across and shook his hand. ‘I’ll print you out a gift certificate,’ she said. ‘You can put that in the frame.’
‘And I’ll take those diamond studs that you showed me last week,’ Mr King said to me. ‘You wrap those up nicely and I’ll give her them to wear in the photo shoot. That’s the least she deserves for putting up with me all these years. Do you know, I’d been injured in a motorbike crash shortly before we met? I was in a terrible mess, physically and emotionally. Not that men talked about such things in those days. I often think I wouldn’t have made it through without her. She has been the best part of me for a lon
g, long time, and I needed to find a way to show her that despite my gruff exterior.’ And at that he cocked an eyebrow at me, as though challenging me to correct him or to agree that he was indeed fairly scary. ‘I love her, very much. Yes, I think that’ll do nicely.’ Eli tapped his watch and Mr King spotted him. ‘Mark my words, young man. If you find someone who loves you, don’t waste your opportunity. You feel invincible right now, I did at your age. But life has a way of throwing curve balls at you. Having someone at your side to help bat them away, well, that’s worth more than a vintage Bentley.’
We left Mr King with Cody to arrange the final details and I let Eli back into my shop. He picked up his bag. ‘But our talk?’ I asked him, as he opened the front door yet again.
‘Ah Dais,’ he groaned, glancing at his watch. ‘Can we do this another time?’ There was clearly no point in trying to find out if he had any feelings for me when he had one foot out of the door, so I kissed his cheek and handed him his bag. ‘See you later,’ he said, taking it from me.
There was a lump at the back of my throat as he walked away, and when I found myself blinking away tears I tried to give myself a little shake. He hadn’t turned down my affection, but neither had he given me any indication that he shared it.
I was about to shut the door and begin the hopeless task of trying to distract myself, when a black taxi pulled up and my dad climbed out. Eli paused long enough to shake his hand, then continued on until he turned the corner and was lost from sight. Dad lifted his suitcase out of the cab, and I hurried out of the door to help him, wishing as I did that I’d stopped long enough to grab a coat too. I may have only been outside for a few minutes, but it was long enough for my teeth to start chattering and for me to wonder how Lily coped when she usually had at least twice as much flesh on display.
‘Daisy!’ Dad said, drawing me in for a hug. He’d only been gone for a week and a half but already he looked better for the break. His skin had a tan that looked so much healthier than the grey pallor he had left with. His hair was just a fraction longer and it suited him. He looked taller too, and it took me a minute to realise that it was just because he was no longer hunched over under the weight of his grief.