Summer at the Dog & Duck
Page 13
‘I think that’s a very reasonable price,’ I piped up. ‘When you think that people will be getting a three-course meal and live entertainment, and a brilliant time to boot. And there’s still enough room in that price for us to hopefully raise some funds for our chosen charities. Because, after all, that’s one of the main aims for this event.’
‘Good point,’ said Josh. ‘Which leads us on quite nicely to the thorny topic of where we want the proceeds from our summer extravaganza to go. Last year, our two charities were the Calais refugee fund and the local children’s’ hospice. Two very worthwhile causes.’
‘I don’t doubt that’s true, them being worthwhile and everything,’ said Bill, ‘but so is every other charity out there. And there’re so many of them. The village and the pub, in particular, have done a lot of fundraising for the refugee fund, but I wonder if we shouldn’t look at charities a bit closer to home now.’
‘Oh, I do agree,’ said Betty. ‘The summer fair is very much a village affair. It would be nice for the proceeds to go to organisations within the village. We want to keep supporting the hospice because they do such vital work, but there are plenty of other groups locally that could do with a bit of help too.’
‘Yes, you’re right, Betty. I think we should support those local charities, but I also think there’s room for us to give to an international charity too. You only need to turn on the news or look in the newspapers to see all the terrible things going on in the world today. It would be nice to think we could do something small to help. You never know our money could go to help out people living in a village just like ours, on the other side of the world. How about we come up with a list of the charities we think we might want to support and then go from there?’
In the end, and with less arm-wrangling than I’d expected, we agreed that proceeds from this year’s Little Leyton summer fair would go toward four charities. Three local charities – the children’s hospice, the scout hut new roof fund and the local dog and cats rescue centre – and an overseas aid fund too.
‘Right, well I think we’ve covered everything,’ said Josh, looking relieved to have got through the agenda without any major fallings-out. ‘Unless there’s anything else anyone would like to mention?’
‘I was thinking,’ said Mary, ‘as we’re going all out this year, if we might be able to rope in a local celebrity to do the grand opening of the fair. It would be good publicity and might bring in some more people from outside the area.’
‘That’s a great idea,’ said Tim Weston. ‘It would definitely generate some interest and make for good copy in the paper.’
‘Yes, depending on who it is, we could ask them to donate something to the charity auction too. A signed football from a footballer or a dinner for two cooked by a celebrity chef,’ said Josh.
With a lot of head nodding, everyone was in agreement that it was a fantastic idea.
‘Only trouble is, do we know any local celebrities we could ask?’ said Ann.
‘Hmm, well Sylvia Robbins used to live in Upper Leyton,’ said Tim.
‘Who?’ I and Ann asked in unison.
‘She’s an actress,’ explained Tim. ‘Appeared in those old Ealing comedy films. She was a real beauty in her day.’
‘Didn’t she die a few years ago?’ asked Betty.
‘Oooh.’ Tim grimaced. ‘You might be right there. Alive and kicking celebrities need only apply then.’
We all fell silent for a moment, obviously going through our address books in our heads to see if we could find any famous people lurking there. Going by the blank expressions it wasn’t looking hopeful, but our attentions were soon interrupted by someone appearing in the doorway.
‘Oi, oi,’ said Tim, jocularly. ‘Here’s the Lord of the Manor. Perhaps he should be our celebrity for the day. What do you reckon?’
Everyone laughed, amused by the interruption, but not me.
‘Max?’ I said, my heartbeat immediately going into overdrive.
‘I need to speak to you, Ellie. Now please.’
Was he really expecting me to jump up from my seat and go running to him. Er no, especially not when he had that pompous voice on and a disapproving look in his eye. I raised the palms of my hands to the air, gesturing to the people around me. Had he failed to notice that I was in the middle of something here?
‘I’m busy at the moment, Max.’
He’d had plenty of occasions to talk to me about Sasha, but he’d decided now was the time that suited him. Well tough luck, I wasn’t about to drop everything just to fit in with him.
‘This is rather important,’ he insisted.
‘Yes, and so is this.’
A nervous giggle came from Betty which cut through the tension currently radiating between Max and me. She leant across the table and picked up the piece of paper with the agenda on.
‘Let’s have a look here,’ she said. ‘Ah yes, as I thought, under Any Other Business – Max to talk to Ellie.’
I glared at her, really not appreciating the comment, and she gave an apologetic shrug.
‘Well actually, I think we’re all pretty much done here.’ Josh picked up his pile of papers and tapped each side of them on the table, indicating that he was bringing the meeting to a close.
‘No, no we’re not. We were just discussing our local celebrity. Go away, Max,’ I said, pointing to the door, unable now to hide my irritation. ‘Whatever it is will have to wait until we’re finished.’
‘Right,’ he said brusquely. ‘I’ll be in the other bar.’
I breathed a sigh of relief when he went. How dare he waltz in here and expect me to drop everything for him. Causing an unnecessary scene in front of my friends.
‘Sooooooo…’ Josh attempted to pick up where we’d ignominiously left off, while Betty took a sip of water, Bill smiled, and everyone tried to act as though that whole embarrassing episode had never happened. ‘I think we’re all agreed that having a celebrity to open the fair is a good idea. It’s just a case of finding one. Perhaps, I can leave that with you, Ellie? You have a lot of contacts locally. Maybe you can find us someone?’
‘Sure, leave it with me,’ I said resignedly. Alongside running the pub, and sorting out all the other hassle going on in my life right now, I was certain finding a local celebrity would be an absolute breeze.
Fifteen
After the members of the committee had left, I took a moment to compose myself, hoping that Max would have given up waiting and gone home. I really didn’t want to face him now. Tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep, I could go down to the manor and we could talk everything through in a calm and reasonable manner. Although obviously I would need to practise calm and reasonable thoughts in my bed tonight.
No such luck. As soon as I ventured out of the back bar, Max jumped up from his stool and came over to my side.
‘Look Max, can we do this tomorrow?’ I asked. ‘I’m tired. It’s been a long day and I really don’t think I can face this right now.’
‘Don’t you? Well, it won’t take long.’
Why was he being so arsey towards me when I hadn’t done anything wrong? What had Katy told him? That I’d been upset and angry after we’d bumped into Sasha? What else would he have expected?
I led him into the kitchen away from prying eyes, annoyance prickling the length of my skin. ‘Right.’ I turned to look at him, caught by the intensity of his gaze. ‘What is it, Max? What’s so important?’
I braced myself for his reply.
‘You really need to ask me that?’ His shook his head, his jaw held rigid with tension. ‘Is there anything you want to tell me, Ellie?’
‘What?’
No. He wasn’t going to turn this on me and make me feel guilty somehow. He was the one who wanted to talk, so he could go right ahead and start talking. Only he didn’t. He just stood there, filling my kitchen with his imposing presence, staring at me accusingly.
A knot of unease grew in my stomach.
‘About my sister,
perhaps?’ he said, finally.
‘Katy?’ I said, tentatively. What had Sasha being pregnant got to do with Katy? And why was he angry at me?
‘Yes, that’s right. Katy! That sister. Remember? The one who’s seventeen years old and was apparently in here the other night paralytically drunk, making out with a load of guys. What would you know about that?’
‘Oh Max!’
I turned away from the intensity of his gaze, trying to get my head straight. Max wanted to talk about Katy? But what about Sasha, I wanted to scream. Didn’t I deserve some kind of explanation? Emotion flared in my chest, but throwing his ex-girlfriend’s name into the mix right now would only make matters much worse. I took a deep breath.
‘Look, I know how it must seem, but it wasn’t like that. She was just a bit tipsy that’s all.’
‘Right. So you were aware that my sister was drunk, tipsy, call it what you will, and yet you decided not to mention it? I came back from Ireland and both of you looked me in the eye and told me everything had been fine in my absence. I had to find out from someone I barely know while out in the village this afternoon. What the hell is wrong with you, Ellie?’
My whole body bristled as Max looked at me, contempt in his eyes. ‘Don’t you dare blame me!’ I brushed past him and pulled the door closed so that our voices wouldn’t reach into the bar. Half my clientele thought I was a temperamental woman as it was, I didn’t want the other half jumping on the bandwagon too.
‘What were you doing serving her in the first place? She’s just a kid!’
‘I wasn’t even here. I’d been out with Polly, round at Josie’s, and when I came home I found her in the back bar with a group of lads.’
‘That’s no excuse. This is your pub and you have responsibility for who gets served. Don’t you train your staff to look out for underage drinkers?’
‘Please do not presume to tell me how to run my own pub.’ I could I have cried I was so annoyed at him, but I wasn't about to give him that satisfaction. I steadied my voice. ‘I know that it’s my responsibility and I take that very seriously, but Katy had managed to get a fake ID from somewhere – it was very convincing.’
‘Oh come on! You only need look at her to tell she’s underage. God, Ellie, I wouldn’t have expected this from you. I go away for one night and this is what happens!’ He lifted his hands to the air, shaking his head.
‘Max,’ I said, trying desperately to keep my bubbling frustration and anger under control. ‘You’re acting as if this is my fault. It isn’t. Yes, it was unfortunate that she got drunk, but it certainly won’t be happening here again.’
‘Unfortunate! It was more than bloody unfortunate. Anything could have happened to her. It doesn’t bear thinking about.’
‘Yes, well it didn’t. And she seems none the worse for the experience. Come on, Max, you were seventeen once. You must know what it’s like. She’s probably learned a valuable lesson from what happened the other night.’
‘Oh believe you me, she’s learnt a lesson, all right. She’s grounded. Until further notice. If she’s going to act like an irresponsible teenager then that’s how I’ll treat her.’
‘For goodness sake, Max!’ His indignant self-righteousness was seriously winding me up. ‘ She’s struggling with enough as it is. You laying down the law will only make matters worse.’
He turned to glare at me. How could such dark and beautiful eyes that held the power to seduce me with their intensity now appraise me so dispassionately.
‘I really don’t need your advice on how to look after my sister. Not when you think condoning her behaviour and keeping secrets from me is a responsible way to behave.’
‘And I really don’t need to listen to this. You’re completely out of order. If you want to question anyone’s behaviour then you’d do better looking at yourself than blaming me. If you hadn’t gone swanning off on yet another business meeting then all this would never have happened. You left a seventeen-year-old girl alone, what did you expect to happen? Katy admitted she doesn’t like being stuck in the manor on her own and I don’t blame her. How much time have you spent talking to her? Really talking to her. Finding out what’s troubling her? Finding out what she does and doesn’t like? When I took her home, she was really scared about being left alone. Thankfully she was so tired, she fell straight to sleep, but she shouldn’t have been put into that position.’
‘You took her home?’
‘Yes, and Polly. You don’t think I’d leave her to make her own way home in the state she was in, do you?’
‘Right.’ His mouth was set in a firm, hard line. ‘Well thanks for that anyway,’ he said, begrudgingly.
‘I don’t want your thanks, Max.’ I turned away from him, biting on my lip, not trusting myself to come out with something much worse, clutching my arms around my chest. I was furious at his attitude, that somehow this whole situation was down to me. Only a few days ago he’d been whispering sweet nothings in my ear and now he was spitting venom at me.
‘What I don’t understand is why the hell you didn’t tell me about it. You had the perfect opportunity at the house. Instead you keep me in the dark and let me find out from some guy I just happened to bump into in the High Street. That’s what pisses me off the most, Ellie. She’s my sister. You don’t have the right to keep those sorts of things from me.’
‘Oh get over yourself, Max. I didn’t tell you because she asked me not to. She got drunk, it’s not the biggest crime in the world. She knew what your reaction would be and swore me to secrecy. What was I supposed to do? She put her trust in me and I didn’t want to abuse that trust. I get the distinct impression that Katy could do with some friends around here. There wasn’t some great conspiracy to keep you out of the picture. It just seemed like the easiest way to deal with the situation.’
‘Why does that not surprise me. That you’d take the easiest option rather than doing the right thing.’
‘What! Don’t twist my words.’ I span round to look at him again. Our eyes locked in mutual loathing. ‘You know that’s not what I meant. I can’t believe you would even say that. I went out of my way to help Katy and all you can do is have a go at me.’ Suddenly I wanted him out. Out of my pub and out of my way. I didn’t want to look at him anymore. To hear his voice, sharp and unforgiving. ‘Just go, Max.’
‘I really didn’t need this, not today. Not from you, Ellie.’ He stormed towards the door, flinging it open and strode out.
Unthinking, fury filling my veins, I ran after him.
‘There you go again! Blaming me! This wasn’t my fault and you are being totally unreasonable. You’re an idiot, Max Golding,’ I called after him. ‘Do you know that?’
‘Thank you. I’m glad you hold me in such high esteem, Ellie.’
I could have said so much more. It took all my self control not to confront him over Sasha, to demand to know what secrets he’d been keeping from me. It was only knowing that there were still some customers drinking in the bar that stopped me. But although there were plenty of people around, I realised, with a pang of sadness, I had never felt more alone in my life.
Sixteen
It had been a less than peaceful night as I’d lay tossing and turning, mulling over the argument I’d had with Max, and now it was a less than peaceful morning. A loud banging on the front door accompanied by the chorus of a rabble of barking dogs roused me from my bed. I dashed along the landing to the front bedroom and peered out of the window overlooking the High Street to see Katy standing below with Holly and Bella at her side. ‘Hang on a minute,’ I said, relieved to see her. ‘I’m coming down.’
I pulled open the door. ‘Crikey, you’re an early bird,’ I said, checking my watch. ‘And anyway, I thought you were grounded?’
‘I was, but I offered to walk the dogs and Max agreed. You don’t mind, do you? Me just turning up like this. I wanted to see how you were.’ We wandered through into the kitchen and Digby gave a friendly welcome to the other two dogs before they a
ll scooted outside into the beer garden. I popped the kettle on and Katy sat down at the kitchen table. ‘I know Max came down to see you last night and I was worried. He was in such a filthy mood when he left and then an even worse one when he came home again. I really hope I didn’t get you into too much trouble. It’s not fair that he had a go at you about it though. It wasn’t your fault. You were only trying to help me. I told him as much, but he wasn't really listening.’
‘Well, he’s your brother. He’s bound to feel protective towards you. And I don’t think he took too kindly to me not telling him what happened.’
‘I’m so sorry, Ellie. You two are still good together though?’ she asked, looking concerned.
To be honest, I had no idea. A couple of days ago and I’d thought my future with Max had been looking promising, but in the space of twenty-four hours we’d had our first humdinger of a row and I still didn’t know why he was suddenly taking such a keen interest in the life of his pregnant ex-girlfriend.
‘I’m sure it will all blow over,’ I said noncommittally. One way or the other.
‘And what about Sasha? Did you tell him we ran into her?’
‘No.’ So clearly Katy hadn’t mentioned it either. Thankfully. After our row, I really couldn’t face any more confrontation just yet. ‘We never got round to it. I will have to talk to him some time though.’
She took the mug of tea I proffered and blew on it, before taking a tentative sip. She winced as the boiling hot liquid stung her mouth, but it didn’t deter her, as she immediately took several more lip-burning sips. Her gaze drifted around my kitchen, searching out the worktops, lingering over the bread bin, and eyeing up the couple of boxes of cereal on the side.
‘Are you hungry by any chance?’ I said, laughing. ‘Would you like some breakfast?’
‘Oh well I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble,’ she said, smiling sweetly, as though the idea hadn’t occurred to her.