by Sue Welford
Yeah, I know, Drew thought. I’m just the person he wants to see.
‘.... just the person I wanted to see,’ Jim Appleby said.
The head caretaker got up and went to his filing cabinet. He took out a file and thumbed through it. Then he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Drew. ‘We’ve just had a delivery of three new dressing tables to replace those in these rooms.’
‘Right,’ Drew said.
‘They’re in the store... I want you to assemble them and take them up to the suites, OK?’
‘OK,’ Drew said.
‘Get one of the porters to help you.’
‘Right.’ Drew took the piece of paper from him and scanned it quickly. ‘Are all these rooms empty?’
‘Yes, but they’ll be occupied from tomorrow so I want the job done tonight. If you have to put in any overtime let me know.’
‘OK.’ Drew shoved the list into his top pocket. He went out and made his way along to the store room. He would have to get a move on if he was to be finished by ten.
The job took longer than he’d thought. First he had to get all the packaging off the dressing tables. It took him half an hour to put each one together. Then when he’d done that he had to wait until one of the porters was free to help him transport them up to the rooms. It was just gone ten o’clock before he finished.
He ran along the corridor into the gym.
Max was ready to leave. He handed his set of spare keys to Drew and said goodnight. Drew had hardly time to take off his overalls when the door opened and Cindy came in.
The gym was fairly quiet. A few people were using the machines but that was all.
He heard the door go and looked up. She was standing there, gazing at him.
He swallowed quickly. ‘Hi,’ he said flatly. ‘Come for your work-out?’ He knew it was a stupid thing to say. What else would she have come for?
‘Yes.’ She gave him her card and he ran it through the machine.
‘Where’s Carl?’ Drew couldn’t help asking.
‘Er... he’s gone to a cricket club meeting or something.’
‘Don’t you know?’ Drew said bluntly. ‘I thought he was supposed to be your boyfriend?’
As soon as he said it, he was sorry. He saw her flinch. She was obviously going through a bad time. Her eyes were red and it didn’t look as if she’d washed her hair for days. His acid remarks wouldn’t help her one little bit.
She didn’t reply to his comment. She just shrugged and went off to the changing room.
They didn’t talk to one another any more after that. When she came out and started using the machines Drew had his head in a health and fitness magazine. He spoke now and then to customers as they went out. He changed the C.D. and put the pop videos into a neat pile under the counter.
It was time to close up when Cindy finally spoke to him again. She had showered and changed and was just going out of the door.
‘Bye, Drew.’ Her eyes met his. Her hair was damp and her skin glowed from the shower. She gave him a sweet, sad smile that made his stomach turn over. ‘See you.’
He cleared his throat. ‘Yeah, see you,’ he said softly.
He held her gaze for a minute. Her lips were red, slightly parted. She looked as if she was going to say something else. He waited but she didn’t. She just lowered her lashes and put her hand on the door. She pushed it open and disappeared outside.
He stared at the closed door for a moment. Then he sighed and turned off the C.D. player. He unplugged it. He cashed up, checked the money with the till receipts. Then he switched off the lights and locked up. He made his way across to the main building, gave the cash box to the night porter to put in the safe, said goodbye and left.
The car park was empty. Drew stood looking up at the stars. The night was clear. The stars so bright it seemed as if you stretched out your hand you might be able to touch them. The moon was silver, almost full. Somewhere, in one of the trees that bordered the riverside gardens, a nightingale sang. Drew held his breath, amazed that such a tiny creature could make such a beautiful noise. The sound brought a lump to his throat. Then, suddenly, it stopped. He waited but it didn’t come again. All he could hear was a train in the distance and the sound of a jet engine way up in the night sky.
Half way down the road towards the town centre, a Mini was parked by the kerb. He shot past before he realised it was Cindy. He had caught sight of her in his mirror. She was sitting in the driver’s seat staring out of the windscreen. What on earth was she doing? Waiting for someone maybe? Well..it really wasn’t any concern of his.
He drove on through the High Street. There were several people about. One or two drunks reeled in the gutter and a group of youngsters were pulling flowers from the hanging baskets outside the shopping mall. A black car passed him, then it slowed down as the driver stopped to speak to a couple of girls walking arm in arm, window shopping. He suddenly thought about Cindy again. He must have been crazy leaving her like that. She could have broken down. Run out of petrol. She might be ill, she’d certainly been under a lot of stress lately. If anything happened to her he would never forgive himself. He felt one moment of blind panic then did a rapid, rubber-burning U-turn and headed back in her direction. She might not thank him for it but he had to see if she was OK. He had spotted a battered white transit van parked at the junction opposite the hotel as he’d ridden out. There were two scruffy looking men in it. You never knew what kind of people were lurking about this time of the night.
To his immense relief, she was still there.
He pulled up behind the car and got off. He took off his helmet. He could still see her, just sitting there, staring into space.
He tapped on the window. ‘Cindy.’
When she turned to him, he saw she was crying. Of course, it must be her mum. He had been so full of his own selfish thoughts he hadn’t even remembered to ask how she was.
When Cindy saw him, she turned away. She began to fumble in her bag for something. He rattled the door handle. ‘Cindy... please.’
‘Go away, Drew,’ she shouted.
‘Cindy, open the door!’
‘Go away!’
He was beginning to get exasperated. ‘Cindy!’
She flung him a look of despair. Then she leaned across and opened the passenger door. He went round and got in.
She was still gazing straight ahead, a soggy tissue screwed up tightly in her fist.
He turned towards her. ‘Cindy... what’s wrong?’ He wanted desperately to touch her, to put his arms around her but he didn’t dare.
‘Nothing.’ She was looking in her bag for another tissue. He took his grubby, oil-stained hanky from his pocket and gave it to her.
She sniffed, then blew her nose. ‘Thanks.’ She kept it screwed up in her fist.
‘Is it your Mum? She’s not...?’
Cindy shook her head. ‘No. She’s not brilliant but she’s getting on OK. They say the operation should be a success.’
‘What is it, then?’
Cindy looked down, clicking her thumbnails together. ‘Nothing, honestly. I just felt fed up, that’s all. I’m OK, now.’ She tossed back her hair and looked at him. She nodded. ‘Really, you don’t have to look like that. I’m OK.’
Drew suddenly wondered if Skip had been right about something else. If she had found out about Carl’s other girlfriend. He could hardly ask her, though. If she still didn’t know what he was talking about he’d have really let the cat out of the bag. However much he thought she should know he still hated the thought of her being hurt.
‘Not seeing Marie tonight?’ she said suddenly.
For a second he wondered what she meant. Then he realised Cindy must really think he was going out with Marie. ‘No,’ he said, not wanting to explain.
She was staring into space.
‘Well...’ He half opened the door. ‘If you’re sure you’re OK. It’s not a good idea to hang around here on your own at this time of night, you know.’
‘No.’ she
said flatly.
‘I’ll be off then.’ He had put one leg out onto the pavement when he felt her hand on his sleeve.
‘No,’ she said with a kind of panic in her voice. ‘Don’t go, Drew, please.’
He turned. ‘Cindy, I shouldn’t even be here. Someone might...’
‘I told you,’ she said. ‘Carl’s at a meeting. They were going on to a club afterwards.’
‘Yeah, well his dad might still be around. He was the one that caused most of the trouble last time.’
‘No, he won’t. He and Aunty Jane were at the hospital earlier visiting Mum. They said they were going straight home. There was some old movie they wanted to watch on TV.’
‘It’s still not a good idea.’
‘Drew, I just don’t want to be alone right now.’
He pulled his leg back into the car. He turned his head to look at her. The glow from the overhead lamp reflected the cornsilk in her hair. She sat, not looking at him, her hands twisting themselves together in her lap making knots in his grubby hanky. She looked so unhappy that the desire to touch her, take her in his arms almost overwhelmed him It was no good, he had to get out.
He thrust the door back open. ‘Cindy, I’m sorry, I’ve really got to go.’
‘Drew.. please.’ She put her hand on his leg.
He looked down at her fingers, resting softly on his thigh. His flesh tingled. He gave a small groan, closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. If she was stringing him along, then, boy, was she good at it.
She snatched her hand away. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, I’ve got no right... it’s just that Dad’s had to go away on business for the night and Emma’s staying with a friend. I just couldn’t bear the thought of going home to an empty house, that’s all. I know it’s stupid...’
‘No,’ he said. ‘It isn’t.’
‘Uncle John said I could go and stay there but I didn’t really want to do that.’
Drew wondered why not. Maybe she hadn’t wanted to lay in bed wondering what time Carl was going to get home.
‘Drew...’ she was saying. ‘Could we go for a coffee or something?’
He groaned again. ‘Cindy, that is not a good idea.’
She sighed. ‘No, you’re right. It isn’t. Anyway there won’t be anywhere open.’
Suddenly he knew he just couldn’t leave her, whatever the consequences. He had gone home to an empty house lots of times. When his mum was on nights and his sister was staying somewhere. He hated it too. It was a bit like going in to the Marie Celeste. As if the whole family had deserted you.
‘I can ride back with you and see you safely indoors, if you like,’ he said.
She smiled and looked as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. ‘Drew, would you?’
‘If it’ll make you feel better.’
‘It will, honestly.’
‘OK, let’s go.’ But before he could get out she put her hand on his arm.
‘Drew, I’m being a real pain, I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t keep saying sorry,’ he said with a grin. ‘I just hope your precious boyfriend isn’t around, that’s all.’
‘He won’t be, I promise. The club won’t shut till the early hours and he always stays until the end.’
I don’t know why I’m doing this, Drew thought as he followed Cindy’s Mini to Manorfield. After all my resolutions not to think about her, see her, talk to her even... care about her. Here I am going home with her. I must be completely nuts.
Outside her house, he sat astride the bike with the engine still running. She had pulled into the drive and came back to speak to him. He took off his helmet. ‘I’ll wait until you’ve gone in if you like.’
‘Drew, I don’t suppose you’d come in for a coffee?’
‘No,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You’re right, I won’t.’
She lowered her lashes. ‘OK. Thanks for coming home with me.’
He watched her go down the drive to the front door. The house seemed somehow dark and forbidding. There were no lights on anywhere, not even in the front porch. At least his mum always put a light on for him if he came home late. Whether she was home or not. He suddenly realised how lonely Cindy would feel... all night in that great big house on her own. Her mum sick in hospital, her Dad away somewhere. OK, so what if she was stringing him along. One cup of coffee wouldn’t hurt. He felt all his resolutions tumble in a heap around him. He had just got to face it... being with Cindy was all he wanted.
He switched off the engine and swung his leg over the saddle. ‘Cindy,’ he called.
She turned swiftly. He propped his bike up on its stand and ran down the drive. ‘OK,’ he said, grinning. ‘A cup of coffee.’
Her face flooded with pleasure. ‘Brilliant.’ she said. ‘Come on in.’
Drew didn’t know how long they sat talking. He only knew that when he glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall it said two-thirty. They had talked about everything. Their parents, their friends. She had told him what it was like living down-under, her school, all the things she had dreamed of as a kid. He told her of his dream... to ride a Harley across the United States, free on the open road. She teased him.
‘You’ve seen too many of those old seventies movies.’
‘I know,’ he admitted. ‘But I still want to do it.’
He told her how he felt about his father coming home. They talked about movies they had seen, music they liked, books they had read... the three hours had gone like wildfire. He had sat with her before in that kitchen. But somehow now it was different. Maybe it was because they had shared that kiss. The kiss that neither of them had mentioned even though he desperately wanted to talk about it. The memory seemed to lay between them. Silent. Unspoken. Yet undeniably there. Maybe she was too embarrassed to mention it again. Drew didn’t know. All he knew was in spite of that, he felt more at ease with her than with any other girl he had ever met. He wished he could stay there for ever.
‘Cindy,’ he said when he had finished his third mug of coffee. ‘I’d really better go.’
She sighed. ‘OK.’
She stood by the door as he went out.
‘You’ll be OK now?’
‘Yes. Thanks Drew, I’m really grateful.’ Her eyes were bright in the light from the lamp. Drew let his gaze rest on her face for a moment. Then he knew, without a doubt, that he had to go, quickly, before he did something he would regret.
He put his finger out and touched her under the chin. ‘‘Night, Cindy,’ he said softly.’
‘‘Night,’ she whispered.
If she had been anyone else, looking at him like that, he might even have thought there were promises of heaven in her eyes. But as it was, she was just grateful for having had someone to talk to, someone to cheer her up when she was feeling down. He thought about Carl, out at a so called ‘meeting’. He must be nuts, leaving someone like Cindy on her own. Some guys didn’t know when they were well off. What he did know for certain was that Skip had been wrong. She hadn’t wanted to pump him for information about Carl. In fact, for a change, they hadn’t even mentioned him. All she had wanted was a bit of companionship... well, that was OK by him.
The bike engine sounded like thunder in the stillness of the warm night. His last vision of her was standing with her cheek against the door frame, watching him roar off down the road.
He was well over the speed limit going home. He didn’t give it a thought. All he could think of was how good they could have been together. How deeply he could have loved her if she’d let him. How he would like to have told her, just once, how he felt. He didn’t even care about Carl any more. To hell with him. To hell with his threats. If Drew did lose his job then he get another one. John Hickson couldn’t know everyone in town. He had been a fool to believe what Carl told him.
Max had been wrong when he said he would get over Cindy. He would never get over her. Not that it really mattered. She didn’t love him anyway. Never would. So what difference could it possibly make to an
yone but himself.
9
The following morning Drew woke up to the sound of his mother calling him up the stairs.
‘Drew, are you awake?’
He turned over and opened his eyes. He glanced at the clock. Seven thirty. He’d got to go to work and had only had four hours sleep. He’d be like a zombie all day. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his hands through his hair.
‘Drew!’
‘Yes, Mum,’ he yelled. ‘I am now!’
She came half way up the stairs. ‘I’m off to work. Don’t forget you promised Sophie you’d give her a lift into town.’
Drew blinked. ‘Did I?’
She came right up and peered round his door. ‘Yes,’ she’s meeting a friend at the Mall.’
‘I’ve got to go to work,’ he said, still blinking, still hardly knowing what day it was.
Mrs Devlin sat on the end of the bed. ‘Drew, you didn’t get in until almost three.’
‘Sorry. Did I wake you up?’
‘Not really. I never really settle until you’re home. You know you should get more sleep if you’ve got all that studying to do and go to work as well.’
Drew yawned. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ He thrust back the duvet and sat up. ‘Anyway, I’ll drop Soph off on the way to the Pavilion. She’ll have to get the bus back.’
His mum stood up. ‘That’s fine. Make sure she’s got her key.’
When Mrs Devlin had gone Drew lay down again. He turned over on his stomach and buried his face in the pillow. He still felt dozy. He must have woken about six times during his few hours sleep. He had no need to remind himself why. Cindy, of course. How was he ever going to get her off his brain?
Eventually, he dragged himself out of bed. He pulled a face when he saw himself in the mirror. Hair all over the place, eyes red-rimmed and bleary. A spot on his chin. What a wreck.
He shouted to his sister. ‘Get up, Soph if you want a lift into town.’
A voice came from downstairs. ‘I’m up already, aren’t I?’
‘Oh,’ he mumbled and staggered into the bathroom.
He had just finished shaving when the phone rang. Then Sophie yelled up the stairs.