by Beth Abbott
As she slid past him on her way to the kitchen, Luke couldn’t help but reach down as if to protect his ball-sac.
“Man, that’s harsh!” He winced.
Chapter 16 - Luke
Luke couldn’t remember when he’d laughed as much, or if he ever had.
The Suzy and Ellen show was hilarious, with Suzy as the ball-busting fire-cracker, and Ellen as the straight man (or woman in this case).
Ellen’s almost prudish nature was sweet, especially when set as a contrast to Suzy’s open-mouth policy of putting it all out there.
At one point Ellen had even tried silencing Suzy by putting her hand over her mouth, just to stop Suzy describing Matt’s favourite sex positions!
Matt, on the other hand was completely unfazed by his wife’s over the top descriptions of their sex life, and played along with Suzy beautifully.
“God, I’m going to be scarred for life.” Ellen huffed, flopping down into her chair, as Matt and Suzy cleared the table. “I’d ask Matt how he puts up with her, but the asshole is every bit as bad as she is.”
Luke nodded sympathetically.
“I thought the guys I bunked with could talk shit about sex, but that lady has a mouth on her!” He grinned. “No wonder Matt looks so happy to be home.”
“Please don’t start talking about Suzy’s mouth.” Ellen hissed, leaning over to stop the other two hearing them. “She has stories about what she’s done with that too!”
Luke nearly choked on his dessert.
“You know…” He looked straight into her eyes. “I can’t figure you out. One minute you’re ball-busting me, the next you’re giving Lolita over there a wise-ass come-back. Yet the previous times we met, you’ve had your head down, scurrying past as if you don’t want the world to see you. So, which one is the real Ellen? Hmm?”
Ellen jerked her head up to look at him. He guessed he was too near the mark!
“All of them. None of them. Take your pick?” Ellen twisted the tablecloth in her hands. “Aren’t we all different people to different folk? Wearing different masks?”
Luke nodded. “I guess. But I’d like to meet the real you someday. Would that be Ok?”
Ellen looked stunned.
“Ok.” She surprised him by agreeing.
And Luke realised that he really meant it. He wanted to get to know this woman. She was a puzzle.
Yes, he had no doubt she was a little bit broken. Hell, weren’t they all? But she was smart, funny, and completely without artifice. At this moment, he thought she was quite lovely, and his fingers itched to pull off her glasses.
Stand down, soldier!
He had to keep himself in check, for fear she’d run a mile. She was as timid as a squirrel.
Still, it didn’t frighten him one little bit to realise that if she ran from him, he’d probably give chase.
The conversation hummed on around them as he tried to study the woman sitting to his right. She was smart, much more so than he’d originally given her credit for, and she had opinions on a varied range of subjects, from music to politics.
She never forced them on anyone though. She just offered a differing point of view to the one being discussed, and waited as people found their own path to her way of thinking.
Yeah, she was clever all right.
So why was she waitressing? It didn’t make much sense.
“So, tell me, Ellen.” He began. “How is it you’re waitressing in a small town in the Midlands, when your accent sure as hell isn’t local, and you sound as though you’ve had a pretty decent education? What’s the story behind that?”
Ellen blushed, and looked at her plate. “Not everyone has to have a story.”
“Hmm, but most of us do!” Luke grinned.
“Well, there’s nothing interesting about it.” Ellen began. “Family home in Kent, mum died of cancer when I was young, so my dad raised me. I went to University, but I ended up alone just as I was almost finished with my education, so as I didn’t have any other family, I packed up and moved north.”
Ok, so she was giving them the impression that her father was dead, but for all intents and purposes, he may as well be. So, while technically it was a lie, there was light and shade in that argument.
As for her education, yes, she had her Bachelor’s degree and her Masters in Modern Languages, but it had always been her ambition to get her Doctorate and after spending some years travelling and making use of her linguistic skills, she wanted to come back to her college and become a lecturer.
So technically, she wasn’t lying, although saying that her education was incomplete was maybe stretching things.
She really didn’t want to lie to her friends, and, yes, she included Luke in that category.
“Oh, Hun!” Suzy exclaimed. “All this time and you never told me you’d had to quit your education. And you’ve let me moan and groan about my degree course for the last two years, without ever mentioning that you’d given yours up. Shit, I feel like such a bitch!”
“You shouldn’t!” Ellen squeezed her friend’s hand tightly. “I haven’t given up on the idea of finishing my education at some point, maybe in a few years when things are, well, different. But for now, I’m happy to listen to your moaning and groaning about your course. It brings back some good memories.”
“What did you study?” Matt asked, his mouth full of dessert.
“Languages.” Ellen replied, not sure how much she information she should give. She didn’t want to lie to them, but she certainly wouldn’t be telling them she went to Oxford!
“Which ones?” Luke asked. “Do you speak them fluently?”
“I speak maybe five fluently,” Ellen admitted not looking up from her plate. “And another three or four to a level where I could get by and not tell someone I slept with their horse when I was trying to buy a loaf of bread.”
She grinned up at them, only to find all three of them staring at her, slack-jawed as though she’d just admitted to being from Mars, and speaking fluent Martian.
“What?” She asked, blushing.
Luke coughed to clear his throat before speaking.
“You realise you just admitted to being able to speak nine languages? That’s, like, a lot more than the average person, you know that, right?”
“Ten.” Ellen muttered.
“Ten what?” Matt asked, his brows knitted together.
“I speak ten languages. I didn’t include English.” Ellen admitted.
“Holy shit!” For once Suzy was almost speechless. But not for long.
“And why the hell have you never mentioned this to me before? Do Fran and G know about this?” Suzy burst out.
“G knows I speak Italian.” Ellen confirmed. “But I guess he just thought I had Italian in my family.”
G knew, because having served an Italian family at the restaurant a few years ago, G had come upon Ellen having an animated conversation about an area of Italy that Ellen knew well from her holidays with her father.
Every school holiday had been spent travelling through Europe, which, Ellen suspected, was her father’s way of avoiding having to spend holidays at home without her mother.
“So, I’ll ask again…” Luke grinned. “Why are you wasting your talent as a waitress?”
Ellen looked Luke straight in the eye, not sure what she was hoping to see.
“Sometimes the only way forward is to take a step back, you know?” Ellen said quietly. “Things happen, and if you can’t change them, you just have to accept them.”
Ellen was thinking of her father again.
“So, you stop, take stock, and then take another path. Sometimes just for a while, sometimes for longer, and you keep trying until you find the path you want to be on for the rest of your life. Your true path.”
She looked up at three pairs of eyes, staring back at her.
“Sorry, I don’t know how else to explain it. Does that make any sense?” She whispered.
Luke put his hand over her much smaller one,
and squeezed gently.
“More than you know.” He agreed, as Matt and Suzy sat quietly, nodding their heads.
Chapter 17 - Ellen
As Ellen sat on the floor with little Charlie on her lap, she could barely hold in the yawn.
“Well, my little man…” She blew a raspberry on his cheek, making him giggle. “You done tuckered me out.”
Charlie blew his own version of a raspberry, covering her face with baby spit.
“Gee, thanks!” She laughed.
Suzy’s mum had brought Charlie home at four o’clock, which had given them a few peaceful hours to eat and socialise.
From the moment Carol had walked in the door, Ellen had swooped in and gathered up the gorgeous bundle of trouble, and she had kept him happy and entertained for almost three hours.
“I don’t know how you do it, but that child never seems as happy as when you’re here.” Suzy grumbled.
“That’s just because he doesn’t see me every day.” Ellen smiled back. “I retain the novelty factor. Besides, he loves it when I CHOMP his legs!”
As she raised her voice excitedly and then began sucking on his legs like they were the best dinner, Charlie screamed with laughter and wriggled almost out of her lap.
Matt laughed at her antics, and asked, “If we pay you by the hour, could you come around every evening from five until seven, just to wear him out? It’s only when he’s played with you for hours that he actually goes to sleep on time and stays out for the count for at least ten hours.”
“Nah, we’re good.” Ellen laughed, handing the wriggling monster off to his mother. “The downside is whenever I play with him for a few hours, I’m the one in bed for eight o’clock, and I’m out cold until morning. Kids are tiring!”
“Ya think?” Suzy grinned.
“Yup, and I think it’s time for me to be heading home.” Ellen groaned as she stood up and stretched.
“Let me give you a lift.” Luke stood up and looked at Ellen, grinning sheepishly. “Come on, it’s the very least I can do. I have to head out shortly anyway, as I’m driving back to London tonight.”
“Damn straight it is!” Suzy agreed with him.
Ellen didn’t want to accept, but she really didn’t have a choice without being extremely rude.
“Ok, thanks.” She smiled. “That would be great.”
Ten minutes later, she was sitting in Luke’s BMW as he helped buckle her in.
“You know, it’s probably lucky for you that you were Matt’s friend.”
“Oh?” Luke looked at her with his brows raised.
“Hmm-hmm.” She nodded. “If I’d had to sit inside Suzy’s house all afternoon, seething about being wet and dirty, I think I’d have probably snuck back out and let your tires down.”
“That’s criminal damage!” Luke huffed, totally faking the whole taking offence act. “I can’t believe that someone as sweet as you would be mixed up with anything criminal.”
Ellen blushed, and turned her face away. God, if only he knew!
Luke put her postcode into the satnav before pulling off, but as they reached the third junction, the woman’s voice instructed, “In one hundred meters, bear left.”
“What? No!” Ellen sat up. “That’ll take you the wrong way up the one-way system.”
Luke grinned.
“See! I told you it was this good for shit satnav that was at fault. I was as much a victim as you were this morning.” He batted his eyelashes at her innocently.
“Yeah, right!” She scoffed, but for the first time, she actually started to believe him.
Switching the satnav off, he asked her to give him directions, and Ellen guided him back across town to where she had her little flat close to the restaurant.
As he pulled up, she realised that she had actually had a great time.
Ok, she always enjoyed her time with Suzy and Matt, but with Luke there she hadn’t felt like the third wheel. It had been fun.
“So, how long will it take you to get home tonight?” She asked.
“A couple of hours or so. I live this side of London, so it’s not so bad.” Luke smiled at her.
“Well, thank you for the lift.” Ellen felt suddenly embarrassed. She didn’t want to get out of the car, but she really had no excuse to stay.
Any more small-talk and this utterly gorgeous man would know she was just stalling.
She un-buckled her belt and turned to him, holding out her hand.
“It was good to meet you.” She grinned. “Well, the second encounter today was good anyway.”
“It was good.” Luke smiled, reaching to take her hand.
Only he didn’t take it to shake, as she had intended. He took it in his large hand and held it gently, as if afraid he’d crush it.
“I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed such a simple pleasure as a good meal and great company.” Luke looked into her eyes, and Ellen found herself mesmerised.
“I’m not certain what I’ll be doing in the long-term, as too much is up in the air with the business. But, I’ll probably be making a few more trips up here on weekends.” He studied her reaction. “Would it be Ok if I saw you when I came up? Maybe go for a drink or something?”
He must have seen the shock on her face. Men like Luke didn’t ask women like Ellen on dates. At least, not the way she looked now.
Invisible!
Five years ago, when she was a pretty blonde with gorgeous blue eyes, maybe she would have gotten a second glance from a man like him. But back then she was too caught up with her studies. She’d never had time for boys or men, always thinking there would be time for that later.
Well, by the look in his eyes, and for the life of her she couldn’t fathom why, it looked like ‘later’ was turning into ‘now’.
“Why?” She blurted the word out before she’d even considered what she wanted to say.
Luke chuckled.
“Why?” He sounded surprised. “Why would I ask you out? Why would I seek out your company? That ‘why’?”
Ellen nodded, unable to speak.
Luke looked away from her for a few seconds, as if trying to compose a suitable response. Then he looked down at their joined hands.
“I spent ten years in the army. Working hard, playing hard. It never seemed right to get into a relationship back then, because it can take a toll on the women.”
Ellen stayed silent, unsure where he was going with this.
“I got out a few years ago, but I think it took my mind a while to catch up.” He smiled sadly. “But seeing Matt and Suzy, and Charlie, happy, laughing, loving. It makes me think that being with someone wouldn’t be the cluster-fuck I thought it would be.”
“Wow!” Ellen couldn’t help but grin. “Is this your chat-up line? Because I have to tell you, it sucks rotten eggs!”
Luke chuckled deeply. “I guess it didn’t come out quite as well as it sounded in my head.”
“Not so much, no.” Ellen laughed.
They sat silently for a minute or two.
“So, what you’re saying is that you want me to be your rebound.” Ellen smirked at him.
“My what?” Luke’s lips twitched.
“Your first relationship since you broke up with the military. Your rebound.” Ellen grinned.
“Yeah! When you put it like that I suppose that’s exactly what it is.” Luke laughed.
Ellen looked at him again. She was equal parts scared and excited.
“Look, I have to tell you that I’ve never done this… thing…” She waggled her finger between the two of them. “Ever!”
She struggled to meet his gaze, but she didn’t want there to be any doubt in his mind as to what she was telling him.
“Ever.” Luke repeated, not seeming to understand.
“Not ever.” She repeated quietly.
As if a light had come on, Luke’s eyes narrowed as he stared at her.
“You’re saying that you’ve never…” He stopped as though he was afraid to finish the s
entence. “You’ve never had a boyfriend?”
“Not even one!” Ellen blushed. “So, I don’t think I’m going to be much of a ‘rebound’ for you.”
He squeezed her hand slightly.
“I wouldn’t say that.” Luke murmured.
They sat in silence for another minute or two.
“Look, I don’t know how many times I’ll be back up here. Could be two or three. Could be more. But the truth is, I like you. I’m ‘interested’ in you.” Luke shook his head. “God, I’ve never said that to a woman before. I’m cringing even saying it. But I’d really like to spend more time with you, and get to know you a bit more.”
Ellen knew this sort of conversation wasn’t something Luke was accustomed to, and she was amazed that he was bothering to have it with her.
“Can we just meet up a few times, while I’m up here, and see what happens?” Luke asked hopefully. “No pressure, no promises? Just company?”
Ellen blew out the breath she’d been holding.
“Yeah, I’d really like that.” She blushed as she smiled at him.
“Great.” Luke sounded relieved. “I’ll arrive on Friday evening, probably around nine o’clock, so if you’re working, maybe I could stop by the restaurant for a meal?”
“That would be Ok.” Ellen confirmed. “I mean, I’m working Friday and Saturday, but I could take a late break and join you for a little while?”
“That would be great.” Luke nodded. “I’ve got things to do on Saturday, but still, if you’re free, we could go out on Sunday? Lunch and a drive around? See some sights?”
Ellen wanted to scream with excitement. She hadn’t done anything remotely interesting for so long, and frankly, never accompanied by a gorgeous man. She could barely contain herself.
“That would be lovely.” She grinned, trying to block the thought from her mind that his Saturday would be spent tracking down the former residents of Hanson Road.
Luke turned his body fully around to face her.
“I’d like to kiss you.” He said quietly.
It wasn’t remotely a question, Ellen thought, more of a five second warning. And she didn’t even think of moving away.