by Dizzy Girl
“They’ll come back later” he said.
“It could be Charlie” I said. “I haven’t texted her yet as my battery died. You shower, I’ll go and check, I should be back in a minute.”
Maybe it was door to door salespeople, I hoped, then I could be back upstairs in seconds. I barely looked as I opened the door, about to shout “no thanks” and slam it, when I noticed a little boy waiting patiently on the doorstep. Charlie was stood behind him, I threw the door open, and noticed that she a huge grin on her face. Mark was stood beside her looking sheepish. “I think you guys better come in” I said.
I led them into the kitchen and put the kettle on. I got Jason a cup of juice and found some old cars that my dad had stashed away still from when I was little.
“The wanderer returns” I said. “Where were you?”
Mark sat down and tousled Jason’s hair, as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. “I left my clean clothes in the hall” Sunny shouted.
“What have you guys been up to?” Mark asked, “or do I not need to know?”
Sunny walked into the kitchen wearing only a towel wrapped round his waist. “Where did you… Oh” he said, as he noticed we had company. “I’ll just get dressed, I’ll be back in a second. Then you have some explaining to do my man,” the last bit directed at Mark.
I made a pot of coffee and set some biscuits on the table. “Sorry to have worried you all so much” Mark started. “I honestly didn’t mean to be any trouble.”
“What happened?” I asked. “I know you like your own space, but disappearing on us seemed a bit odd, even for you”.
“Thanks a lot” Mark said, with a chuckle. “I did ring to say not to worry.”
“Before you disappeared for a week with no further contact. Honestly, we’ve just spent a night camping at a festival looking for you” I told him.
“I know” he grinned. “Charlie told me. I still can’t believe you got Sunny to go too. How did he manage with the bogs?”
“We did nearly have to come back suddenly last night” I said, and began to recount some of our adventures.
Sunny walked back in, fully dressed, and I must admit I felt disappointed that he wasn’t in just the towel anymore. “Where were you big fella?”
“I wanted to get my act together” Mark said. “Charlie and I have been spending a lot of time together recently, and I wanted to do the right thing by her and Jason, so I’ve been thinking. I’ve given up smoking mari…” he paused, half way through the word and looked at Jason. “I’ve given up smoking” he continued.
“But where did you go?” I asked.
“Amsterdam” Mark replied.
“Let me get this straight” said Sunny, “you gave up D O P E” he spelled the word out letter by letter, looking at Jason as he did, “and to do this, you went to Amsterdam?” He shook his head.
Charlie laughed. “Jason is eight, he can spell by the way.” Luckily he was too distracted by the biscuits to notice.
“I know, I know, I used to get there to enjoy the, er, cafes. But I also remembered some of the jewellery shops, so when I starting thinking, I just found myself on a train to the airport, and a few hours later I was there, eating chips and mayonnaise in the sun shine by the side of the Canals.”
“Let’s backtrack a minute” I said. “You went all the way there to go to a jeweller?”
He nodded and I saw Charlie grinning. I looked at her left hand and twigged her expression, but Sunny still seemed confused.
“Ok, let me put it this way” Mark said, getting off his chair and getting down on one knee in front of Charlie. “Would you do me the honour” he turned to face Sunny “of being the best man at our wedding?”
The penny finally dropped and as Mark stood up Sunny wrapped him in a bear hug.
“Well done mate” he said. “Well done.”
Jason grinned too. “Mum said I get to be a best man too” he said.
I hugged Charlie. “I’m so happy for you” I told her.
“We need to be going now” she said.
“Oh” said Jason. “I want to stay and play cars.”
“We can come back again soon” Charlie told him, and I agreed that they could.
“Any time you like” I told him.
“Then why do we have to go now?” he asked.
Charlie looked from Sunny to me and back. “I think Amy had a long weekend and she needs time to have a shower too” she said, and winked at me.
Chapter Fourteen
It happened one evening, about a month after our trip to the festival, and Mark’s disappearing act. Sunny and had been spending a lot of time together. He was on nights though for a week so rather than stay on my own in his flat I’d gone to stay at my parents’ house again. With hindsight, the first clue should have been how surprised they were to see me at dinner time. They were happy to see me, of course, but there were only two places set at the table when I let myself in.
The most telling clue, though, was that night when I went to bed and realised that I didn’t have my PJs or toothbrush there anymore. I went back downstairs to where my dad was sat on the sofa, cat on his knee, both fully engrossed in an old Top of the Pops episode on BBC9 or something.
“Dad”, I started. He turned to look at me. “I think I might have moved out.”
He smiled, but then saw the look on my face and realised that I was genuinely surprised. He patted the sofa next to him and I sat down. He handed me his nightcap. I sniffed the glass, sherry, and took a swallow. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy, but I hadn’t really thought about it. None of my stuff is here anymore.”
He put his arm around me. “Every time you go to Sunny’s you pack another bag” he said.
“I know, but he does the laundry and irons all my clothes for me.”
Dad laughed “you get that from your mum. When we got married she’d told me she had no problem with the ‘for richer, for poorer’ bit, meant the’ in sickness and in health’ part truly, but if I ever expected her to do the ironing it was over.” He hugged me again. “So what do you want to do? Want me to walk you home?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ll go back tomorrow. I want a night here, just to get my head around it. I really am happy, Dad.” I told him.
“I know sweetheart” he said. “Otherwise I promise you I’d have said something earlier. Come on, I’ll grab you some of your mum’s pyjamas and I’m sure there’s a new toothbrush in the bathroom cabinet you can use.”
“I didn’t mean to rush into anything” I said. “Especially having only just left Patrick.”
“Do you feel like you’re rushing?” he asked me.
I paused to think. “No. I don’t.”
“Then what are you worried about?”
“I don’t know. I thought I’d be worried about getting hurt again, but honestly, with Sunny I never felt that way. Does it seem too quick to you?”
“You’re happy” he said. “And so is Sunny. He smiles when he sees you, he looks at you. I don’t think it matters what anyone else thinks. I remember how hurt you were when he went away, but that was a long time ago.”
“And he didn’t have any choice then, Dad” I said.
“No, I’m sure he didn’t. I never did get the full story, but I remember what his dad was like. He never was warm when I said hello in the street. Once Sunny was away he stopped speaking to me all together. But that was him. Sunny is a different man. A much warmer, kinder man.”
“He is” I agreed.
“Did I ever tell you what my mum said to me before I got married?”
I shook my head. I loved hearing stories about my Nanna. She had been a wise old soul and I still missed her.
“She said getting married is easy, staying married is harder. Especially when you have kids, and you’re tired. At the end of the day, the person you marry needs to be your best friend. You have to care about them so much, and they you, that you pull together to get through those times, rather than pull each other apart
. When I knew I felt that way about your mother, that was when I proposed.”
I smiled. He looked at me. “You feel that way already too, don’t you?”
“I do,” I said. “We do.”
“Then it isn’t too fast. It is just right, and that is all that matters.” He kissed me on the top of the head. “Come on, I’ll get you some pyjamas. But don’t wake your mum, she’ll be like a bear with a sore head tomorrow if she doesn’t sleep well. I love her to bits but I’d rather not risk that if you know what I mean.”
I laughed, and went to bed feeling very much at peace.
There is something comforting about sleeping in your childhood bed. Maybe it is something about being transported back to more innocent times. I don’t remember what I dreamt, but I woke up to find sunlight flooding into the room, brightening it despite the curtains still being drawn.
I had to go back to the flat to get changed before going to work, and as I let myself in I thought about how it felt, calling this home instead. I wandered into the kitchen and put the kettle on, making myself one last cup of coffee before catching the train. I not only had my own drawer in Sunny’s bedroom, I had my own space in the kitchen cupboards too for the things I liked but Sunny didn’t. If we were going to live together though it was time to stop feeling like a guest. I put my hot chocolate in the cupboard next to Sunny’s tea, and my honey next to his marmite. I nearly straightened them so they were facing label forward, but I figured if we were going together successfully there were some things that were going to have to change.
I was just walking round the living room thinking about what else I’d add to make it feel more cosy and less functional. Some photos definitely, and cushions. Lots of cushions. I grabbed a notebook to start making a list. I was just looking through the DVDs on the shelf to see if I could make space for mine when Sunny walked in. He looked tired, having worked all night, so I thought I’d wait til after work to talk to him.
The morning dragged though, it turns out that wading through local council policies is not much distraction when your head is full of thoughts of new furniture and working out how we might share one small wardrobe. Finally though it was lunchtime, and I escaped the office for a few minutes in search of food and new sheets for the bed. Sunny’s were comfy, but they were simple and a cold shade of pale blue, not as snuggly as the cream ones with beautiful embroidered flowers that I’d left in my old flat.
I rang Lucy as I browsed through the home section of the big new M&S in Westfield.
“Shall I go for pink with little flowers, or lilac with pink stripes?” I asked her.
“What for?” she said, sounding confused. “I never had you down as someone who wore much pink.”
“For some new sheets for Sunny’s flat, our flat” I told her.
“Wait a minute, are you telling me you’ve moved in together?”
“Well, it looks like it” I told her, explaining what had happened the night before.
“Slow down” she cautioned, don’t you think you should wait til you’ve at least had chance to talk about it? You haven’t actually checked yet that you’re both on the same page about this.”
I sighed and put the packet of sheets back on the shelf. “You’re right,” I told her. “I just got so excited.”
“Then have a chat tonight, go back for the sheets tomorrow” Lucy said, sensible as ever.
I reached out one finger and stroked the beautiful stitching, then headed back to work.
Chapter Fifteen
I had back to back meetings all afternoon and by the time six o’clock rolled around my head was throbbing. I couldn’t wait to leave the latest draft of the report on my desk and go home for a long hot soak in the bath. Of course this would be the day that the trains were running late, and though I was only on the train for a few minutes, spending most of them breathing in the mingled scents of the other passengers was not helping me to feel any better.
I skipped off as soon as the doors opened and half walked, half jogged home, hoping to make it back before Sunny left for his last night on duty that week. Luckily I made it, and as I opened the front door wafts of bacon greeted me. I dropped my bag and kicked my shoes off, breathing a sigh of relief as I relaxed. Sunny walked towards me, stooped to pick my shoes up and place them on the shoe rack, then pulled me into a hug.
“I’ve made breakfast” he told me, as he gently guided me to a seat at the table. “Well, dinner for you and breakfast for me, so you have your favourite of beans on toast, and I have the same but with added bacon and eggs to keep me going. It’s going to be a long shift, overnight on a Friday, there’s bound to be some drunken idiots out tonight.” He grinned, “and tomorrow it’s the weekend. Once I’ve had a few hour’s kip why don’t we go out somewhere nice?”
“I’d like that,” I told him. “Maybe we could just have a nice meal together, have chance to chat. It would be lovely to catch up properly, we’ve been ships passing in the night this week.”
I was barely half way through my tea as Sunny ate the last bite of his and carried his plate back through to the kitchen. He put it in the sink and turned the taps on.
“Don’t worry about the washing up” I called out. “I’ll do it after I have a bath.”
He smiled and walked back in to kiss me. “You won’t.” I pushed him away as I laughed. “You’ll mean to, but you won’t, you’ll have a bath, curl up on the sofa, ring Lucy and fall asleep. And you deserve the break, you’ve had a long week too. I’ll do it tomorrow, don’t worry.” And he picked up his jacket and headed out the door.
It’s amazing how much better life feels once you’ve washed the stress and sweat of the week away. As Sunny was out I didn’t bother with my sexy pyjamas, instead pulling out the old jogging bottoms and oversized t-shirt combo that had got me through many a hangover in the past. I grabbed a peppermint tea, and curled up on the sofa to ring Lucy.
“You remember that girl I met a few weeks back?” she asked, as if we were already mid-conversation as she answered her phone.
“Lola-Lauren-Laura?” I asked. And I wasn’t being cheeky. Lucy had told me about how they’d hooked up, but at the time she’d been a little less clear about what her name actually was.
“Turns out it was Laura, and she was a medic, not a maths student after all. Well, I rang her last week and we went out for a drink, but we stayed the right side of merry this time, it was fun. She’s actually really nice.”
“I’m happy for you” I said. And I really was. Lucy was never short of a date, though it was unusual for her to have the same date twice.
I heard the sound of a bottle being opened. “What are you drinking?” I asked her.
“White wine. It was such a busy day. I was in court all day with one of my stroppiest clients. I swear I almost begged the judge to lock her up by the end of the trial.”
I got up and walked into the kitchen. There was a bottle of wine in the fridge so I poured myself a glass too and we said our “cheers” over the phone.
“I wish you were here Lucy” I told her.
“You need some company for a decent night out?”
“You’re pretty good company even from here” I told my old friend. “I just miss you. You got me through the last few months with the Prick, I want you to see me now I’m happy again. Let me know if you do decide to start seeing Laura properly. Maybe we can put you guys up for a weekend while you do London.”
“I’ll ask her later” Lucy said.
“You’re seeing her again tonight? Good for you” I said, not able to keep the surprise out of my voice.
“I like her, Amy” Lucy said. “It’s nice to get to know her, she makes me laugh. And she really likes me.”
“How do you know, bighead?” I asked.
“She told me.”
“You guys talked about that already? Blimey. It really must be easier with women. It took me a month to even get Patrick the Prick to notice that I was there” I said. “Not that that was worth it in the en
d.” I laughed again.
“I take it you haven’t told Sunny that you’re living together yet then?”
“He was leaving for work as I got home” I protested. “But it’ll be fine. I’m sure it will be. I think.”
I woke up as Sunny lifted me into his arms and carried me from the sofa into the bedroom. The room was still dark, with just the gentlest hint of the warmth that the day was going to bring. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his neck. He kissed my lips, and laid me gently on his bed. He pulled the duvet up to cover me.
“Hold that thought” he said to me. “I just need a wash and I’m all yours.”
I tried to stay awake, the thought of Sunny in the shower was tempting, but the bed was so soft and cosy, I closed my eyes, thinking I’d wake up again when he came back in, but the next thing I knew it was really the morning. I turned to see Sunny lying beside me, his bare chest rising and falling gently as he slept. I crept into the kitchen and made myself a coffee.
As I sat sipping my drink, I thought about what the last few months had brought me. The peace of mind of being out of an unhappy relationship, how much more confident I felt without the put downs and criticisms that the last few months with Patrick had held.
There were a stack of brochures on the counter so I flicked through them as I sipped. Lots of brooding models posed unnaturally, as if what grooms mostly did at their weddings was to stare off into the distance. I could picture Sunny looking at home in one of the suits, but I couldn’t see Mark in one somehow. I’m not sure how many men who thought that shorts were smart when they didn’t have any holes in they usually catered to.
Sunny walked into the kitchen, yawning and running a hand over the stubble on his chin. “Why don’t you go back to sleep, love?” I asked him.
“I promised Mark I’d meet him to try on suits later” he said. “I know we were hoping to go out today, but he texted yesterday when I was at work to say he needed some moral support so I thought I could meet him first for an hour, if you don’t mind.”