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‘Why Sunday?’
‘Because Dee’s taking me and Josh to see the teen club double bill at Salisbury Odeon. It’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts One and Two which is like five hours long. If you tell him while we’re gone, he’ll have lots of time to get used to the news before we get back.’
Well, at least that solved the problem of when to tell Art.
‘This is true.’ Ellie slung her arm round Toto’s shoulder, and gave her a quick squeeze. ‘Good thinking, Batman.’
Toto chuckled, the sound sweet and childish and uncomplicated. Ellie
’s heart swelled, the pang hitting her square in the chest.
She could do this thing. She must not be a wimp.
All she had to do now was figure out how to get Art alone on Sunday afternoon without anyone seeing them together. And how exactly she was going to broach the subject so that she didn’t freak him out, or freak them both out when his casual sex fling gave him the news that his daughter was becoming a woman.
No problem.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
‘Give me a couple of the tartlets too and some of Dee’s fried chicken,’ Ellie said.
Maddy finished packing the picnic basket then rang up the sales. ‘Shall I stick this on the shop’s expense account?’
‘Don’t be daft, I’m a paying customer.’ Ellie counted out the bills.
‘Who’s the picnic for?’ Annie leaned over from her spot at the espresso machine while she frothed the milk for a family of four who had ordered baby-chinos for their toddlers. ‘I thought Josh and Toto were in Salisbury today with Dee?’
‘I thought I’d take a book down to the millpond and stuff myself during my day off.’
Annie’s eyebrows lifted. ‘You’re kidding – you’re planning to eat all that on your own?’
‘Maybe I’ll rope in Art,’ she said, pretending she’d only just thought of that idea. ‘I think he’s almost finished the caravan, he might be in the mood to celebrate,’ she added, using the strategy she’d worked out over the last few days: hide in plain sight.
Annie and Maddy shared a look. ‘You and Art, eh?’ Annie said, her look speaking volumes, most of them pornographic. ‘I hope your toenail polish is still intact.’
‘Hardly,’ Ellie said jauntily, taking the teasing in stride. If Annie knew what she and Art had been getting up to in the last fortnight, she’d know hot toenail polish was entirely unnecessary. But this picnic wasn’t about seducing Art, it was about fulfilling her promise to Toto, on Toto’s timetable. ‘But it doesn’t matter,’ she added. ‘Because Art’s not going to be seeing my toes.’ Or any other part of my anatomy currently covered.
One thing she definitely could not do was let this picnic get out of hand. Because that would only confuse the issue further. As if it wasn’t confused enough already.
‘Pity that,’ Annie said with a cheeky grin.
Ellie picked up the basket, and sent Maddy and Annie a wave as she left the shop. ‘See you tomorrow, ladies. I’ve got an important date with Tess of the D’Urbervilles and my mum’s amuse-bouche.’
Not to mention my friend with benefits. Even though there will be no benefits.
She left the shop, before either of them could question her further. She headed to the farmhouse and grabbed some beer from her mother’s pantry. She had a feeling she was going to need some liquid courage for what she had to say to Art – she had no idea how he was going to take the news that Toto was growing up, but she planned to deliver it as painlessly as possible.
Walking through the back orchard, she arrived at Art’s workshop.
He stood on a footstool, his T-shirt sprinkled with paint as he dabbed at the intricate ivy motif he was painting on the caravan’s front arch. Bruce Springsteen blared out from the radio perched on the front step.
He’d told her last night, after they’d exhausted each other, he only had a few more days to finish off the paintwork before the buyers arrived to get the caravan on Friday. The vehicle looked magnificent, the intricate artwork on the side shining from the fresh coat of varnish – the designs as detailed and exquisite as the rest of it. He wasn’t just a master craftsman. He was a talented artist.
She thought back to the first time she’d come into the workshop, ready to confront him about his objections to the shop, and seen the bare bones of the caravan’s shell laid out on the floor. It was hard to believe how long ago that felt now. And how much had changed between them.
Her ribs felt as if they were crushing her heart, the rhythmic pounding becoming deep and uneven.
Don’t get carried away.
