Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series

by Eliza Bradley

  “I can’t talk about it.” The words were barely audible as I shook my head, refusing to look at Leonora.

  “Fine.” She said eventually, standing slowly to her feet and wiping the tears away. “I guess we’re not the friends I thought we were.”

  I didn’t try to stop her. I just watched her gym shoes walk away from me, feeling that black hole grow worse.

  What had just happened?

  By the time dinner came round with my mum on the Friday night, there were so many ladybugs on the back of my hand that they looked like they were crawling up my wrist, fighting over each other to be the first one to reach my elbow.

  When my mum’s pale blonde bob appeared through the doorway of the restaurant, I felt a sudden outpouring of relief and love. I missed her. No matter how weird it was at the moment, I missed her. She must have felt the same because when she reached the table, she hugged me so tightly I thought she was going to leave an indentation of her arms across my back.

  “Oh sweetheart,” she whispered as the waiter bustled round us with menus. “I’ve missed you so much. We left it too long.”

  We really had, the blackhole in my stomach felt like it was gaping further open now that she was here. She was still my mother, I loved her, yet she wasn’t the same ever since Rosie had died. I sometimes wondered where my mum had gone.

  As we talked, I suddenly remembered why I had left it so long from seeing her. Though we did talk about uni and other things, the chief topic of conversation was the divorce. I think it must have felt like torture for both of us, it certainly was for me.

  Who ordered torture for two? A main course of bitter anger followed by a dessert of tears? Over here!

  She had also lost a lot of weight. It was too much than could be healthy. The only topic that did appear to bring a smile to her cheeks was the upcoming holiday, so every time she started mumbling with bitterness or her voice rose with rage, I would steer the conversation neatly back to Lanzarote. It never lasted long, she was addicted to talking about the bad stuff.

  “He’s just being so selfish,” she complained again as she stabbed at her New York cheesecake. “Did you know they are going on holiday too? Him and his tart?”

  “No,” I abandoned my crème brulé, feeling it was just too sickly to face. The truth is that my dad had kept ringing me. Nearly three times a week and yet each time I had just let it go to voicemail. I couldn’t let go of the fact that he had started up with this woman when he did. When mum and I were at home. The thought of it made me sick.

  “I heard it from the solicitor. To Scotland. She apparently has a holiday home there.” Her cheesecake was now smeared across her plate, she had stabbed it so many times with the silver prongs of her fork. Oh my mum was bitter – more so than a basket of lemons.

  “When did he exactly start… seeing this woman?” Even the words were hard to say. I sipped water carefully, trying to wet the sudden dryness.

  “Last year, I think,” she carried on prodding the crumbly base, as though it were a punch bag. The waiter walked by with a worried look for the state of their crockery. “In April.”

  “April?” I clamped my fingers together under the table, trying to stop the sudden trembling that took over my hands. Of all the months to start an affair… Did it not matter to him?

  Rosie had died in April.

  I felt nausea rise and I had no desire to see my dinner again. Retreat!

  “Erm, mum? If it’s okay, I might call it an early night. I have a headache.” I lied quickly, desperate to be away and abate the nausea.

  “Of course, sweetheart, I’ll get the bill, you run along. I hope you have fun at your friend’s house over Easter.” She hugged me tightly as we stood up. I hadn’t told her I was staying with Tye or that he was now more than a friend. It just didn’t seem right.

  “I hope you enjoy Lanzarote,” I really meant it. She needed her escape. As we all wanted escape. She also needed to put some weight on.

  A couple of minutes later I was debating calling a taxi as I stood under the eaves of the restaurant when I remembered my promise to Tye. He answered on the third ring.

  “How was your dinner?”

  “Over, thank god,” I sighed, staring up at the orange streetlamps as though they were floodlights on a stage.

  “Need a ride?”

  “Yes please.”

  “Be there in five.”

  When Tye pulled up, I had finally fought off the threat of tears. I hadn’t let them fall for years over Rosie, so I wasn’t going to let the divorce start me now. As I climbed in the car, Tye took one look at me and his face fell.

  “Ivy, what’s wrong?”

  “Can we go back to yours, please?” I asked quietly, holding my breath and desperately wanting him to agree.

  “You need distraction?”

  I nodded, unable to phrase the words.

  “Of course.” He wasted no time in getting us there. Once we had reached the car park, he pulled me out of the car and straight into a tight hug. I breathed against his shirt, just feeling safe in his arms for a minute and focusing on trying to make the black hole disappear.

  “Ivy?” He pulled back eventually, brushing the wisps of white hair out of my face and behind my ears. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  I shook my head. It was the last thing I wanted to do.

  “I have a better idea, then.” He took my hand and led me out of the car park, interlocking our fingers together. As we reached the flat, Savannah and Sam waved hello from the settee where they were watching a film. Tye acknowledged them, but hurried me through the living room, fully intent on reaching the bedroom.

  As he closed the door, he pulled me into another hug, his arms around my waist, mine around his neck.

  “It’s just been a shit couple of days,” I murmured eventually as he dropped his head to the crook of my neck. “What was your better idea?” I asked, pulling my head back so I could look at him.

  “You sure you want to know?” The corner of his mouth turned up with humour. “I think it would prove a very good way of distracting you.”

  “Then yes please. Definitely.”

  “Alright,” his face spread into a smile, his cocoa eyes gleaming. “We can stop any time, princess. You only have to say. Okay?”

  “Stop wha – ah!”

  I hadn’t realised he had backed me up to the bed – he toppled me backwards and crawled on top of me. His kiss was so deep, holding me so close that I sunk between his arms and the duvet. A jolt of excitement swirled in my stomach, then settled somewhere lower.

  “This okay?” He pulled back a second, waiting for me to respond.

  “Stop asking!” I snapped as I reached for his long-sleeved grey t-shirt, pulling it over his head to finally get a look at those tattoos. He laughed as he tossed the t-shirt across the room, coming back down to consume my mind with some very fun things indeed.

  Chapter 14

  “Why do you draw these?” Tye asked from our position in the bed. Our hands were interlocked, and he twisted my knuckles so he could look at all the ladybugs crawling across my hand. One of the bugs was doing a little pirouette.

  “Just a habit.” Well, it wasn’t completely a lie. It was definitely a habit of a kind.

  “Maybe you should get a tattoo,” he let my arm drop down again as he pulled me back towards him in the bed. “You’d stop drawing them then.”

  I wasn’t sure what I thought of the idea, but I was prevented from answering as he drew me back into another kiss. It had been one very interesting night. Perhaps the best distraction he could have thought to offer, and I had loved every minute of it.

  “Can we just stay here?” I asked as he trailed a path down my neck again.

  “Hmm,” he growled against the crook of my neck, making me giggle. “I wish we could, but we’re heading to mine today. Remember?” He reared up from his position, catching my eyes with his smile. We had planned to drive back to Sussex to spend a few days with his parents over
Easter before revision began. As nice a prospect as it had first sounded, now I just wanted to stay where I was.

  “Oh,” I pulled him back down towards me. “Just, half an hour more.”

  “What could we do in half an hour, do you reckon?” He whispered against my lips before he kissed me again.

  I was lost in his arms when there was a sudden loud bang on the door.

  “Ergh – what?” Tye raised his head and barked towards the door. “Bit busy in here!”

  “Funnily enough, we know! Couldn’t you hear how loud we turned the tv up last night?” Sam’s voice called back. “Keep it down this morning, Savannah’s parents are due any minute.”

  I covered my mouth and started laughing, both embarrassed and still delighted by the idea as Tye winked above me.

  “Like I haven’t had to take walks in the middle of the night to get away from the two of you?” Tye shouted back, still smiling.

  “What is this? Payback?”

  “Something like that!”

  “Savannah! We’ll meet them at the door!” Sam walked away, leaving us to it as Tye rolled me on top of him.

  It had been a long drive and my stomach had grown more and more into tight knots the closer we got. The last time I had seen Tye’s father he had been having a rather aggressive argument with Tye, and things had now changed. Tye and I were no longer just friends so to me it seemed rather soon to meet the parents had this not already been arranged.

  Tye’s worries did not exactly coalesce with mine. His were all out of fear of having to argue with his father again.

  “It will be fine,” I attempted comfort, knowing that I actually knew nothing of the situation really.

  “No it won’t, but thanks for trying to cheer me up,” Tye turned the car into a pebbled driveway that curved through the trees to reveal quite a large house.

  My jaw practically hit the car floor as I gazed at the huge 1930s structure, extended at the side with what appeared to be a luxury kitchen, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a magnificent wrap-around garden.

  “Bloody hell,” my words slipped out before I could stop them.

  “It’s not that bad,” Tye laughed, watching my face.

  “I’m starting to think you were being modest when you bought a BMW.” I shook my head in disbelief. My parents’ whole house would have fitted into about three rooms of this place.

  As we parked, Tye appeared to be steeling his breathing before daring to open the car door.

  “Tye,” my soft mention of his name earned his gaze for a minute. “He won’t argue with you in front of me. It’s too awkward for him to even try.”

  “Fair point,” he smiled at this thought. “You’re not leaving my side then, yes?” He winked before he climbed out of the car. I had barely taken a step outside across the gravel path when the front door opened and a young girl, appearing a similar age to me, though she was actually a year younger, sprinted out of the front door.

  This was Isabella. She launched herself at her brother, wrapping her arms around him.

  “You’re here! You’re here!”

  “Oof! Can I breathe first?” Tye complained as he embraced his sister back. She was taller than me, roughly Tye’s height with similar colouring and the most amazing eyes that also held the same cocoa tint. “Isabella,” he pulled his sister off him as I walked around the car. “This is Ivy.”

  “Hi,” I said meekly, before I was suddenly treated to the same welcome.

  “It’s so nice to meet you,” she spoke with glee as she barrelled towards me.

  “Ahh!” I backed a couple of steps as she embraced me. “Wow, friendly.”

  “That’s me,” she stepped away, her face delighted as it jumped between the two of us. “Come on in then, I’m so glad you’re here. This week will be so much better with you.”

  “Is it that bad already?” Tye asked as he collected our bags from the trunk. Isabella had taken my arm and was dragging me towards the house.

  “Worse than you think.” She steered me through the front door. “Dad has pretty much outlined a fifty-point plan to go through with both you and me.”

  “Is this about the business?” I asked as we appeared in the kitchen. It was the same extension I had seen from the outside. Clinical, pristine and contemporary, the granite worktop sparkled, practically from money rather than the stonework.

  “Oh yes, I see Tye has told you all. You will have to ignore some of what our dad says, you know. He’s a strange man,” she shook her head as she deposited me by a breakfast bar stool. “Here, sit. Drink? Tye, why are you taking so long?”

  She called back into the corridor.

  “Thanks for the help with the bags,” Tye laughed at her as he appeared and plonked them on the floor before taking a seat next to me. “Coffee please.”

  Isabella turned to one of those excessively fancy coffee machines. I couldn’t help but gaze past Tye and watch it intensely.

  “Don’t you have one of those?” He asked, as though it were completely normal.

  “Well, we have a machine that helps to make coffee.” I nodded with a smile. “The difference is I call it a kettle and it doesn’t look like a block of black ice.” He laughed at my analogy; it certainly did look like a strange thing.

  “Coffee, Ivy?” Isabella asked as she collected the cups.

  “Yes please.”

  “What is on this fifty-point plan then?” Tye steered the conversation back towards their problem.

  “We’ll discuss that later,” a familiar voice sounded behind us. Tye and I turned on our stools to see Tye’s father stood in the doorway, not a smile in sight.

  “Hello dad,” Tye’s smile had also vanished.

  To say conversation was awkward was an understatement, I had also been very wrong in my assumption that their dad would not want to bring up conversation about their contention when they had a guest. He decided to allude to it instead at every opportunity.

  We had a pleasant dinner where Tye’s mother proved to be a charmer. Bubbly and kind like her daughter, Ellen Aritza was a woman who by the end of the evening I had a great affection for.

  Ellen, Isabella, and I were intent on cheerful conversation. Tye and his dad, Héctor, were both incapable of a smile, as though it were an aberration that could never pass their cheeks. The other brother was out at his girlfriend’s house, so at the very least Héctor did not have someone present who would back up his case.

  I gathered from the evening that the brother, Michael, had been happy to go into their father’s business, this had caused even more problems when Michael couldn’t understand why his two other siblings didn’t want to.

  For me, part of the problem appeared to be anyone’s reluctance to tell Héctor to quit his behaviour. Any time Héctor made a snide comment I expected Ellen to send him a dark glare with a firm word of ‘not tonight’ or anything in that vein, yet it did not pass. Instead, she bore it all with a smile, as though the problem in front of her wasn’t really happening. In a way, I admired her for that. She was the host, after all, and seemed to be concentrating on making sure I was looked after and had all the food I could wish for.

  Isabella also tried her best to ignore her father, as did Tye, though Tye made no attempt at happy conversation either.

  Into the night, after many uncomfortable hours had passed, Tye and I retired to his bedroom where he quickly fell back on the bed, burying his hands in his hair with a sigh.

  “It’s official,” he murmured quietly. “My dad is never going to let this go.”

  “Tye,” I climbed onto the bed next to him, kneeling down and trying to gain his eyes that were half hidden by his hands. “Maybe it’s time to stop avoiding the conversation and just say bluntly it’s not happening.”

  “What do you think happens when we argue? That is me saying no. Just, in a roundabout way.” He took his hands away from his face, but there was a crack there. For some reason, I didn’t think he was saying it as bluntly as he could.

  �
�Then next time, call an ultimatum.”

  “Ultimatum?” His eyes settled on mine. “How do you mean? Like a threat?”

  “Not exactly.” I struggled for the right words as I looked around his room. It was a lot neater than his one at Exeter, after all, he had his mum to tidy up after him here. “More a kind of… this is it, Dad, moment. This is what I’m doing, end of story. If you can’t handle it, that’s your business, I’m not changing my mind.”

  “I can’t do that.” Tye lifted his hands again, covering his face as he struggled what to think.

  “I have an idea,” I returned my eyes to him as I thought up a plan.

  “What’s that?”

  I crawled over him, enjoying how he dropped his hands to look at me with a smile.

  “Distraction.” I let my hands wander up his t-shirt.

  “I think we have already proved we can’t be quiet. I’m not doing that to my mum, she’s downstairs,” he laughed.

  “I didn’t mean that,” I playfully hit him across the chest. “Just a little distraction,” I leaned down to kiss him, thrilled as he took control of the kiss and rolled me onto my back.

  “Well, maybe a little distraction.”

  Leonora was not responding to my texts.

  I wanted to make up, to apologise for refusing to speak to her and making her cry, yet no reply came, even though I could see she had read the message.

  As Tye and I escaped the house with his mum and his sister for a walk the following afternoon, I had grown pensive, repeatedly pulling out my phone from my pocket to check the blank screen. Still no reply.

  “What is it?” Tye asked as he took hold of my other hand.

  “It’s Leonora, we had an argument and she won’t reply to me,” I put the phone away again, feeling how angry it was really making me. I hadn’t apologised as such. I had tried to open the door to conversation, but with no reply, it had melded into me begging to get an answer from her.

  “What did you argue about?” Tye asked, his cocoa eyes narrowing in thought.