Restoring Grace (49 page)

‘
I did! But
it's complicated. We don't know how we
feel
about each other really, and you shouldn't go to bed
with people just
because you want to!'

‘Why not? We're both single.'

‘Just look at the trouble it's caused!’

He sighed. 'The only
trouble it's caused is in your mind,
Grace. Now let's go in. You're
getting cold.'

‘
I can take
responsibility for my own temperature,
thank you! And I've got a thick
coat on.'

‘Oh, shut up and come on.’

As arguing didn't seem an appealing option just
then, race went.

*

Ellie could tell straightaway that things weren't quite
right between
Flynn and Grace. What was wrong with
the woman? she wondered as she offered tea and put
more bread in the toaster. Flynn was so lovely.
Attractive,
sexy and kind. Why couldn't Grace see what a jewel she
had in him? Was she still hankering after Horrible
Edward?
If so, why?

‘
Hi, guys. Scrambled
egg? We've just about got enough
eggs.'

‘
Actually,
we've decided to go out for dinner, if you
two won't miss us too much,'
said Flynn.

‘No, we haven't!' said Grace. 'You didn't even
ask me!'

‘
I wouldn't
have got an answer if I had. Now go and
get the brambles out of your hair and hurry up. You don't
need to
change.’

Grace frowned at him for a moment and then
decided
that being told what to do was
rather restful sometimes.
Obediently, she left the room.

When they had both gone, ten minutes later,
Demi sighed deeply. 'For an older man, Flynn is definitely attractive.’

Chapter Twenty

 
Ellie
and Demi didn't mean to wait up for Grace, but
Demi, having been asleep all day, wasn't tired, and there'd
been
a film they wanted to watch on
telly. Ellie had slept through it all, but woke up with the closing credits.

‘Well, I do hope Grace asks Flynn if we can
stay with
him,' said Demi, stretching. They
were curled up together
on Demi's
bed, covered with a duvet. 'If you say we've
all got to get out of the
house on Monday, I'm not going home.'

‘
I suppose
I could go home, if I had to.' Ellie considered
her parents
magazine-standard house and shuddered, although it was far warmer than
Luckenham House.

‘
But what
about Grace? I shouldn't think she'd want
to stay with her sister or
anything.'

‘
Good God,
no! She lives far too far away, for one thing.
And I wouldn't want to
stay with her.'

‘Nor me. It's mad her being friends with my
mother. What sort of coincidence is that?'

‘
A bit like
the sort of coincidence that you were at a
party at Rick's house,' said
Ellie, who felt it was time to ask Demi a few questions.

‘
Oh,' she
mumbled. 'That wasn't a coincidence, actually.’

‘
No?'

‘
I knew
where he lived because I'd been there with you,
and he's so gorgeous!' Demi pleaded. 'Although of
course, a
complete dopehead.' Demi tried to give the impression that this cancelled out
all his attractiveness.

‘And a bit older than you?'

‘Well, that doesn't matter. My father was ages
older than Grace—'

‘
And it
didn't work out!' Then Ellie frowned, aware
she was interested in an
older man herself. Just as well Demi didn't know about it.

‘
No, but
not because of that. It didn't work out because
he found someone else.'
She looked down and fiddled
with the duvet.
'He always does. He's such a tosser some
times.'

‘Demi! You're talking about your father!' said
Ellie, who'd muttered similar things about her parents in her time. 'But
anyway, you still haven't told me how you got yourself to a party at Rick's
house.’

Demi sighed, not particularly looking forward
to this
confessional, but aware she might
feel better afterwards.
'I told you I
saw him on his motorbike? He actually
bought
me and my friend a drink in the café and we had
a chat. Well, he was really friendly, and said to come over
any
time, and so one day I went round there, with my friend, after college. He was
really nice.'

‘I bet he was,' said Ellie. Suddenly it all
made sense. 'You're a pretty girl, Dem.'

‘Am I?'

‘Yes, and you've got a great figure.'

‘I'm too fat.'

‘
Rubbish. And
men don't like really skinny girls,
anyway.'

‘Don't they?'

‘Well, Rick invited you to his party, didn't
he?'

‘No, actually, he didn't. We sort of invited
ourselves,
and then my friend couldn't come,
so I went on my own.’

‘
That was
brave!'

‘Yeah. Too brave, really. I was so scared I got
another
friend to buy me some vodka and I
drank quite a lot of
it before I got there. Then when I arrived I drank
quite a lot of other stuff as well.'

‘
What stuff?'

‘Can't
remember.'

‘
And what about the dope?' Ellie was becoming insistent.
She and Rick had had plenty of arguments about
how much of it he smoked, and how Ellie was fed up
with him being
in a semi-permanent daze.

‘It was only weed, for God's sake! I wasn't
mainlining heroin or taking ketamine!'

‘I'm glad to hear it!' Ellie knew she was
sounding a bit prim, but forged on. 'And you didn't take anything else? God
knows what rubbish there is at Rick's parties now I'm not there.'

‘There was other stuff, but I was too scared to
take it.' Demi smoothed out the duvet over her knees. 'I only smoked one joint.
I didn't really like it. It made me feel sick.'

‘
From what
I hear it made you actually
be
sick, several
times.'

‘
Yeah. I
don't think I'll take it again. And you know,
it's really quite
expensive!'

‘I do know. I used to get livid with Rick
spending so much money on it, when we had so little, and what we did have, I
was earning.'

‘
That's so unfair!'

‘
Yeah. Oh—' The sound
of a key in the front door made
Ellie
sit up. 'That's Grace! Let's go and see how her
evening went.’

It was hard to tell in the very dim light of
the hall, but Grace appeared to be blushing. 'Oh, hello. I hope you didn't wait
up for me.'

‘
No,' said
Demi. 'We were watching a film, or at least
I was. Ellie snored her way
through it.'

‘
I don't snore!'

‘No, not
really. So, how did you get on?’

Grace sighed
for a moment, deeply happy, and determined to hold on to the feeling before her
worries started to batter away at it. 'We had a lovely meal.’

‘And?'
demanded Demi.

‘
And - well, he
persuaded me that we should all go
and stay with him while the dry rot
is fixed. But we're having our own bedrooms.'

‘
So I should
think!' said Demi. 'He lives in a bloody
great mansion. He surely
wouldn't expect us to huddle together in one bedroom.'

‘In the attic,' said Ellie, fanning Demi's
indignation. 'Using just the cold tap in the yard for washing in.'

‘
What are you
two going on about? I mean Flynn and
I
are going to have separate bedrooms. And two of us
will share the twin
room. But there's another perfectly nice spare room with its own bathroom.'

‘You're not sharing with Flynn?' said Demi.
'Why not? He's so cool!'

‘
Well, yes,
he is. But I don't think - I mean . . . Anyway,
it's none of your
business, and I'm really tired.’

She went up to bed,
holding close to her heart the sound
of Flynn's voice, the little things
he had said to her - not declarations of love, but casual endearments which
reminded her of the intimacy they had shared the
previous night. How she had held out for separate
bedrooms
she didn't know, but although she was beginning to feel that the warm feelings,
the tenderness, and, she had to admit it, her desire for him might amount to
something like love, she wasn't ready to submit to
the
fire that had so nearly consumed her the last time she tried it.

Ellie went to her own room feeling lonely, and
envious of Grace for having Flynn so obviously devoted to her. Not that she
begrudged Grace her happiness, or more accurately her potential happiness, but
she so wanted some for herself.

She knew she wouldn't get
what Flynn gave Grace from
Ran. He was such a different sort of
person. But she did
want what she felt he
could give her if only he weren't
so stubborn. By its nature any fling
would have to be short, but it could be very, very sweet. And she wanted
something she could remember and hold close
during the
long months – years possibly – before she could have a
proper, full-time relationship. It wasn't that she didn't
want that from Ran, she did, but would he ever
want the
same from her? Sometimes he seemed to like her, fancy
her, even, but then he would go back to treating
her as a
child and strictly off limits. There was probably no hope she
could change him. Even if she did ever manage to seduce him, a quick affaire
was all she could hope for. Anything deeper and more permanent was out of the
question. There was no point in her even thinking about that: crying for the
moon never got you anything except
a sore
throat and angry phone calls from the neighbours.

She chuckled to herself as
she thought of Flynn, as their
nearest neighbour, ringing up to
demand to know what was going on at Luckenham House. And then a thought
occurred to her. Why shouldn't she stay with Ran while
Grace and Demi stayed with Flynn? It would make perfect
sense, or
at least, it would by the time she'd framed her argument. She was seeing Ran
tomorrow. She smiled as she put toothpaste on her brush. She still had a chance
of a fling, even if it was a bit flimsy.

*

Ellie was determined that she would be very
cool today. She was not going to tear off her clothes, tear off Ran's clothes,
or generally behave in an undignified way. But
she couldn't stop her heart racing at the thought of seeing
him,
couldn't help taking great pains with her appear
ance – unnecessary pains given that she was going to be
doing
dirty work, and might well end up just sweeping the studio floor. She liked him
a great deal. If she was honest, she knew she might be in love with him, but he
wasn't in love with her. It was sad, but
there was a certain
relief in
admitting how she felt. And at least she got to
see the object of her
adoration. She thought of Grace, abandoned by Edward, whom she went on loving
for a tiresomely long time after he had proved he was totally unworthy.

Ran let her in almost as soon as she rang the
bell. 'I'll give you a key,' he said. 'So you can come and go as you need to.'

‘Thank you,' said Ellie, feeling this was
progress.
'After all,' he went on, spoiling
the effect of his previous
statement, 'I may not always be in when you
come.’

‘
No.
Actually . . .' She bit her lip as he stared at her. She
hadn't actually
formed a plan on how to ask Ran if she
could stay. Perhaps the
direct approach was best.
'What?'