Summer Daydreams (43 page)
Outside, he jumped back into the car – the car with no back window and shattered glass all over the rear seat. How was he going to explain this to the rental company? For now, that was the least of his problems.
*
Six hours later and his plane was ready to taxi down the runway. Later tonight he would be in Heathrow and it couldn’t come a moment sooner. It had cost him another bundle of dollars to book his ticket, but it was well worth the money. All he wanted to do now was leave this wretched place and get back on home turf. Get back to the ones he loved. The ones who loved him.
The rental company had kept his deposit but it seemed a small price to pay for the damage inflicted on the car. He’d had to fill in a report too but, perhaps unsurprisingly, they didn’t seem unduly fazed by the return of a shot-up car. Maybe it was more common here than it was in Hertfordshire.
On the plane, the air steward had insisted in prising the holdall filled with cash out of his fingers and putting it in the overhead locker for take-off. Reluctantly, he’d parted with it. There was no way he wanted it out of his sight for a second. It was his – his and Nell’s – and no one was going to take it from them again.
Thankfully, he’d got this far without Benito or Lola Cody chasing him, which had to be a good thing. He’d spent an anxious afternoon in the airport expecting them to come crashing through into the departure lounge at any moment, guns blazing – but they hadn’t. Thankfully.
Olly had checked the in-flight entertainment. The films were all high-action thrillers, shoot ’em up stories that were way too strong for the current state of his stomach. He’d opt for the Cartoon Channel instead and, with a restorative brandy, would look forward to nine hours of some of Petal’s favourites –
Monsters Inc
,
Finding Nemo
and
Toy Story III
. That should help relax him.
The plane hurtled down the runway and lifted into the air. It swooped away over the sparkling sea, the golden beaches, and the art deco hotels of Miami. None of which he’d seen. Perhaps one day he’d come back here with Nell and Petal for a family holiday. But, then again, perhaps not.
Jen’s phone beeps and she stops doing the Cinderella jigsaw with Petal and glances at the text which has just come in. We’re all sitting on the floor of the living room and Petal is already bathed and ready for bed.
‘Wow.’ Jen looks up, surprised. ‘I’ve got an offer of a date tonight.’
Now I tear my attention away from the cherry blossom tree that I’m puzzling over. ‘Good for you.’
The picture is of Cinders and her prince dancing together in an enchanted garden, bluebirds flitting round their heads, his magical, ten-bedroom castle in the background. Just like real life, eh?
‘It’s only someone who’s been coming into the pub for a while.’ She shrugs as if it’s of no consequence, but I can tell that she’s excited. ‘No big deal.’ Avoiding my eyes, she fiddles with the piece of unfeasibly blue sky in her hand. ‘Thing is, I’m not sure I want to leave you.’
To prove that I’m perfectly fine, I give a little laugh. ‘You’ve been fantastic, Jen,’ I tell her. ‘I don’t know how I’d have managed without you. But I’m a big girl. I have to cope on my own some time.’
‘I’m a big girl, too,’ Petal pipes up.
‘You are, and we both think that Auntie Jen should go on her date, right?’
‘Yay!’ Petal shouts. Then, ‘Can I come too?’
‘Maybe another time,’ Jenny says. She turns to me. ‘Are you sure, Nell? I don’t have to go.’
‘Of course you do,’ I insist. ‘You should spend your night off doing something more interesting than Disney jigsaws.’
Petal’s face says that she can’t imagine
anything
more interesting than Disney jigsaws.
‘Besides, I can’t keep you prisoner here for ever. Much as I’d like to.’ The house has run like clockwork since my friend swooped in and took over. It’s given me just the break that I needed, but now I ought to step back into my own life and do it myself again. I’m certainly going to miss Jen though. We’ve never enjoyed so many home-cooked meals – half of them from Jen, the other half from Constance. Mind you, I think I’ve put more than a few pounds back on because of it. The house will certainly seem quieter without Jen, and Petal adores her. I can see why Olly might have… well… let’s just leave it at that.
My thoughts wander again to my absent husband – not that he’s ever far from them. If he doesn’t come back to me, will I find myself going out on date nights with Jen? It doesn’t bear thinking about.
Jenny texts her date back to find out when and where they’re to meet. ‘I should go home and get myself ready,’ she says.
‘You’ve got Cinderella to finish first,’ Petal points out.
She kisses my daughter. ‘I’ll have to do that tomorrow, darling.’
Petal tuts. Now is not the time to point out that one day men will be a lot more important to her than her Cinderella jigsaws. But I hope that it’s a day that’s a long time coming. Instead, I content myself with, ‘It’s your bedtime now, little lady. Kiss Jenny good night.’
Without protest, she does, then I kiss Jenny too and she shrugs on her jacket. ‘Text me and let me know how you get on.’
‘Wish me luck,’ she says.
‘You don’t need it,’ I assure her. ‘You’ll be fabulous.’
As I watch her go, I do hope that Jenny finds herself a nice man. It’s clear that all she wants is a home, a family of her own. That’s not a lot to ask for, is it?
‘Bedtime,’ I remind Petal. ‘Now.’
My chubby-legged child pads through to my bedroom and climbs onto the bed. ‘You could have your own room tonight,’ I point out. ‘Jenny’s staying at her own house tonight.’
‘I like your bed,’ she says.
I sigh. ‘OK.’ But to be truthful, it’s nicer having Petal here rather than sleeping alone.
She snuggles in under the duvet and demands, ‘Story.’
‘A
short
one.’ I slide in beside her and read from a book called
Fussy Freya
, which we got out of the library last week.
‘When is Daddy coming home?’ she asks sleepily.
‘I don’t know, sweet pea.’
‘Doesn’t he love us any more?’
‘He adores you.’ See what I did there? That neat deflection? I have no idea if he adores Mummy any more is what I really mean.
‘Then I wish he’d come back. I can only have
The Gruffalo
when he’s here. Daddy’s better at it than you.’
He is. I can’t argue with that. He’s an excellent father. None better. That’s why his continued absence is all the more confusing. As Petal slips her thumb into her mouth and sinks into sleep, I think I might join her myself. The night is young, but I’m not. I give in to a glorious yawn. I could force myself to stay awake and sit on the sofa watching rubbish television by myself, but what’s the point? Might as well have an early night.
I’m curled up next to Petal, drifting in and out of sleep, when I hear a key in the front door. Dude barks and bounds out of the bedroom wagging his tail like a loon.
Rousing myself, I glance at the clock. Not yet midnight. I thought Jenny wouldn’t be back this evening. Perhaps her date didn’t go as planned and she doesn’t fancy spending the night alone. Slipping out of bed, I pull on my dressing gown. We can have a cuppa and a data download together about her evening before she goes to bed. Hopefully, that will make her feel better.
In the living room, I flick on the light and then jump out of my skin. It isn’t Jenny. It isn’t Jenny at all.
At the top of the stairs, there’s a man standing there and, probably because I’m disorientated with sleepiness, it takes me a minute to realise that it’s Olly.
‘Hi,’ he says and the familiarity of his voice makes my heart contract.
He drops the holdall he’s carrying on the floor and, seconds later, we’re in each other’s arms. I hold him tightly, feeling that if I let go for even a moment, he might just disappear again.
‘Where have you been?’ I ask as I smother him with kisses.
‘Miami,’ he says as he smothers me back.
That makes me pull away. ‘Miami? What on earth have you been doing there?’
Olly sighs. ‘It’s a long story,’ he says.
Olly whips open the holdall on the floor. He pulls out the dirty shirts and pants and socks, tossing them onto the carpet with abandon. Underneath it all is a whacking great pile of cash.
I gasp out loud. ‘Have you robbed a bank?’
‘This is straight from Lola Cody’s safe.’ More gasping. ‘It’s
our
money?!’
‘All of it,’ he says.
Throwing my arms round him, I hug him again. ‘You did that? For us?’
‘I couldn’t let them get away with it, Nell. I couldn’t have lived with myself, so I sold the Vespa, bought a ticket with the money, and went to stake out the offices of Home Mall.’
He’s
sold
the Vespa. Good grief, I know how much that scooter meant to him. I never thought he’d consider parting with it. Pulling my dressing gown round me, I cuddle up next to him. For the next few days, I think I’m going to be glued to his side – as I’m sure Petal will be too.
‘But why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you let me know where you were?’
‘Because you would have told me it was a bad idea. You would have wanted me to come straight back.’
He does have a point.
‘Say you understand,’ Olly urges. ‘I needed to do it without any distractions.’
I don’t like to tell him that in doing it this way he’s driven
me
to distraction. ‘I’ve been out of my mind with worry.’
‘Now you don’t have to worry any more,’ he says.
While we both sit on the floor and stare at the money, Olly fills me in on the details: the dreadful serial killer motel, the long days sitting in the rental car, the dodgy neighbourhood, the scuffle as he tried to leave, the two burly mechanics who came to his aid.
I’m just so filled with emotion that he would think to do this for us and I could also kill him for putting me through the agony of thinking that he’d run off with another woman. But as I look at him I can see the hollows round his eyes, the tiredness there. His clothes are rumpled and he smells like a skunk. It doesn’t look like he’s been eating properly either. There’s a bad cut on his ear and I wonder if the unexpected fight as he left was more difficult than he’s letting on.
‘We could have done it together, Olly,’ I say.
‘We couldn’t. I had to do this alone. If it had gone wrong… ’ Suddenly, his voice cracks and his words are thick with emotion. ‘If something had happened, I couldn’t have lived with myself.’
I wrap my arms round him tightly once more. ‘But it didn’t,’ I say. ‘You’ve come home safely to me. We’re a family again.’
‘That’s all that matters, isn’t it?’ Olly strokes.
I nod, uncertain of my own voice. ‘I’m so pleased you got the money back,’ I whisper. ‘Delighted. Thrilled.’ I let my fingers trace the contours of his face. ‘But all I really wanted back was you.’
His lips find mine and there is nothing that has ever tasted sweeter. If I’m kissing these lips for the rest of my life then I’ll die a happy woman.
Olly’s body presses against mine and together we lie down on the carpet. He undoes the belt of my dressing gown and I shrug it off so that it becomes a blanket for us.
In my haste to get my husband naked, my fingers fumble with the buttons of his shirt. I give up and help him to tug it over his head. His ribs are black with bruises and I trace the outline of them, wondering how these were caused.
Olly stills my hand with his. ‘Explanations later,’ he murmurs. He sinks on top of me once again.
The door crashes open.
‘Daddy!’ Petal cries. ‘I thought I heard you.’ She launches herself across the room and barrels into him.
He lets out an ‘ouff’ as she crashes into his ribs. Olly envelops her in a bear hug. ‘Have you missed me, Petalmeister?’
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘Mummy isn’t a very good daddy. You’re much better at it.’
Olly looks over at me and smiles. ‘I’m glad to hear it.’