Page 31

Twenty-Nine

One thing was clear.

I was a danger to the dental profession. Dr Lauren, my boss, had been concerned about me all day.

“You really don’t look well, Ellie. I think you should go home, go to bed,” he said, his kind grey eyes looking at me, his mouth twisted in concern. I felt like an utter fraud. Little did he know that the reason I had hit a wall by midday was because I had been shagged within an inch of my life.

“Thanks, Dr Lauren, I might just go home and take it easy.”

“Good idea.”

I felt terrible, not only from the lack of sleep, but for the fact my reasoning was too mortifying to be truthful about.

I was going to hell with all the lies I had been telling lately.

I gathered my things from the back-room cupboard where all the staff members’ personal belongings were stored, slinking my way out to reception, seeing Sheila swinging back and forth on her chair, her head set permanently affixed to her.

“You off then?” She beamed; her spikey dark hair was always streaked with a different colour. Today she’d chosen red.

“Yeah, I’m not feeling too well.” Trying my best sullen pout.

“Big weekend, huh? How was the engagement party?”

I glanced back down the hall, hoping that Sheila’s voice hadn’t carried to Dr Lauren’s office.

“Yeah, it was all right,” I said lowly.

Sheila leant forward in her chair, lowering her voice. “Did you get on it?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

I could actually for once answer truthfully, because as far as the engagement party went I hadn’t actually drunk at all; it was a fact that still shocked me.

“Nope, I just must be coming down with something,” I lied. I couldn’t be truthful for too long, it seemed.

“Oh, that’s a shame, because guess who has been begging me to get you to call him?”

My eyes narrowed at the phone log that lay out in front of her. Had Adam phoned while I was busy working? My heart rate spiked at the very thought; maybe he was sticking around for lunch? Or maybe he was letting me know he had arrived back safely.

But wouldn’t he have rung my phone?

I played Sheila’s guessing game anyway. “Who?” I asked, fearing to hope.

Sheila smiled. “Rory Franklin.”

The shock must have been evident all over my face.

“Excuse me?”

“Ugh, I ran into him on the weekend and he hassled the shit out of me to get you to call him. He said he felt like shit and hadn’t been able to get you out of his head, blah-blah-blah.”

“Was he drunk?”

“Sober as a judge.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think so,” I said, hooking my handbag over my shoulder.

“Oh, come on, Ellie, everyone deserves a second chance. It doesn’t even have to be dinner, maybe just a casual lunch or something.”

“Sorry, luv, guess this is just one heart that has to remain broken. See you tomorrow.”

And with that I left work early, wondering why you only ever heard from all the people you never, ever wanted to.

After creating a semblance of neatness in my flat, clearing out takeaway containers, and dumping the last of the stale popcorn in the bin, I somehow managed enough energy to strip my bed, put on fresh sheets and simply face-plant onto the mattress for the rest of the afternoon.

I knew I was seriously screwing with my clock by doing so and that after my nanna nap I would probably be awake all night, but for now I really just needed to sleep, and to not check my mobile every two minutes wondering why Adam hadn’t messaged me.

I wondered if Adam was taking a nap too, something I seriously doubted. If there was one thing that came from him joining the army, it was that he had incredible stamina. He was probably going for a run or something, making my efforts seem pretty deplorable.

The sun had long gone down before the painfully loud ringing of my Nokia woke me.

At first I was disorientated by the darkness, not fully aware of where I was or how I had got here; had what happened been a dream?

I had a split second of thinking as much and it made me feel ill, and then of course I remembered.

Nope, it was very real. Surreal, but real.

The phone lit up the darkness, vibrating and shifting across my bedside table. I dived on it, wanting to put an end to the assault on my senses.

“Hello?” I croaked. Rolling onto my back and waiting for the voice to speak on the other end, it took a minute before the silence was actually broken.

“Did I wake you?”

I sat up straight in bed, pulling the phone away from my ear to look at the screen, and sure enough I wasn’t hallucinating. “Tess?”

“What, were you expecting Megsy?” Tess joked. It was a good sign to hear the lightness in her voice.

“Oh God, no,” I said, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“Listen,” we both said at the exact same time, that had us both laughing.

“You go,” Tess said.

“Listen, I’m sorry, I should have told you about the whole Adam thing. I was just, I don’t know, in denial, I guess.”

“I’m sorry too. I am the last person that should be lecturing anyone from keeping secrets, and Adam told me about last night.”

“WHAT?”

He did what?

“He said that he told you about his mum.”

My shoulders physically slumped. “Oh, yeah.”

That!

I threw myself onto my back, relief washing over me.

“Which is so good, everything out on the table now. No more secrets.”

I grimaced, hearing Tess’s words.

Yeah, no more secrets.

“Yeah, um, about that,” I said.

“Whaaat? Please don’t tell me Sean and Amy have organised a surprise wedding; that’s where I do draw the line.”

I laughed, not putting it completely past them. “No, this is a whole other kind of crazy.”

“Should I be sitting down?”

“I think so.”

I didn’t know how Tess would take it, so the long, drawn-out silence on the other end of the phone wasn’t a complete shock.

“You still there?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry. Just processing.”

“Take your time,” I said, pacing back and forth in my bedroom, trying not to look for too long at my bed, because every single time I did a sordid flashback would appear in my vision. I didn’t have time to think about that.

“I mean, not that it changes anything. It was just something that happened.”

Multiple times.

“I mean, everything is as it was: zero weirdness.”

Kind of. Sort of.

“So, you spoke to Adam then?”

“Yeah, we had dinner.”

“Oh, nice,” I said, trying not to sound like it was a big deal. “And he never alluded to—”

“No, he never said a word, just that he had to drop you off because you missed the bus.”

Had to? Sounded like a chore.

“But let’s face it, Ellie, he’s not going to talk to me about it, is he?”

“I guess not.”

“Which brings me to my next point. You haven’t exactly shared any of the juicy details about last night.”

I stopped in my tracks; it was like I was under a sudden spotlight and for once in my life I really didn’t want to be.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Some things are just … private.”

Tess burst out laughing on the other end. My brows narrowed. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, Ellie Parker, you really are in love.”

Hearing Tess spell out the obvious, saying it out loud, I knew she was exactly right.

I was in love with Adam Henderson, and I was in so much trouble.