AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘… to finish up and I’ll see you later …’ Henry slumped out the door.
Helen flopped back onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling. ‘Elle?’
‘Uh-huh?’ Elle was tackling the remnants of her braids with a tangle teaser brush.
‘In what kind of alternative reality are we in where you and Ish are hanging out with Henry and Nanny G?’
Elle paused and met Helen’s eyes. ‘The kind where the lead singer of Long Foolish Summer has followed me on Instagram …’
‘Isn’t that just another day in the life of Gabriella Estevez?!’
‘… and where Brody has just sent you a WhatsApp.’
Helen snatched the phone out of Elle’s hands:
Brody:Helen, I lost you last night! Let’s try to avoid doing that for a third time … coffee next week?
‘What do I say?’
‘I’d think about whether you want to say anything at all.’ Elle was definitely scowling now.
Helen sighed; wasn’t this exactly what she’d spent the past few months hoping for? No, it went beyond hoping: finding Brody had been all she could think about. She’d chased after trains, gone native at a festival, and now he was right here and she didn’t know what to do about it.
Her feelings swirled inside of her in a confusing mess. Was it because Brody wasn’t the perfect guy anymore? That God forbid he had some faults? Was this why Helen was really single: that she couldn’t accept anyone, and always focused on the negatives? Brody was smart, handsome, cool, successful, yes a little bit of a party guy … and did he know what he wanted? Last night it didn’t sound like it, but if he didn’t want anything serious why bother messaging her the next day? Why did he say he wanted his last first date? It didn’t make sense. Her dehydrated brain couldn’t connect the dots – and then there was Ish.
Even Helen had to be honest with herself here: Ish definitelylikedher. As Elle had been at pains to point out. ‘Love, you’relocoif you think this guy doesn’t like you, and even crazier if you don’t like him too,’ she’d hissed at Helen whilst Ish helped Henry load their backpacks into the Landy.
The fact he had driven hundreds of miles to find her, and come to her rescue (again) meant he liked Helen. The evidence was stacking up: that bar he took her to was far too nice for casual drinks, he’d walked her home, abandoned his own work to go and track down Vernon … he was doing everything right, and she was confused. Her mind flashed back to his bare chest in the tent this morning, the brief thought of ‘what if Elle wasn’t here?’ But they were just friends, right?
There was no doubt she liked how gentle he was, how much his stupid games made her laugh until her cheeks hurt, how he didn’t care too much what other people thought … But if they kissed, and they kept spending so much time together, what would that all mean? Wouldn’t that feel quite like a relationship?
‘So what about Ish?’ Elle shook her hair out into tight ringlets. Helen winced. ‘I am serious Helen, that guy is not just boyfriend material, he’s husband material, and that is coming fromme, and you know I ain’t getting married anytime soon.’
‘I know … I know he’s …’
‘… he’s?’
‘I just don’t know, it feels like a big step … and even if something did happen how would I introduce him to everyone?’
Elle lunged a pillow at Helen’s head, stood up and pulled the curtains open. ‘Babe, he’s already done that for you!’
Ish was stood talking to Helen’s family, her dad had temporarily stopped fussing about the mud stains they’d left on the carpet, her mum was busily talking about this being the best time of year for roses, Henry’s arms weren’t folded, and Nanny G was eating the last of her apple pie.
Chapter 36
As the light coming through her window shifted from yellow, to gold, to lilac, Helen’s brain felt like it was catching up with the day. She’d had a shower (and despite Elle’s protestations) was wearing her comfiest tracksuit bottoms and finally felt ready to leave her room. She hadn’t responded to Brody … yet. Not because two days at a festival had morphed her into the kind of woman who coyly played games, but because she just didn’t know what to say.
In truth she felt like she couldn’t say what she really wanted – that she was surprised that’s what his pendant was, that she was disappointed he’d left her when she clearly needed help, that her feelings had or maybe hadn’t changed … How were you supposed to put that into a message?
Helen lay back on her bed and listened to the shower running in the room next door. Elle had been in there for at least twenty minutes. There was a knock on her door.
‘Hels? Can I come in?’
Somehow she’d also successfully avoided Ish all day. Showering aside, she’d essentially hidden in her room, relying on her mum to bring her rounds of tea and toast, and hoped she could avoid any kind of honest conversation.
‘Yep!’ Helen pulled the scrunchy out of her hair, and flicked the lamp on. Though she didn’t really understand why she was suddenly worried about lighting.
‘How’re ya feeling?’ Ish had had a shower too, and sat awkwardly at the end of the bed in Henry’s XXL jumper. He’d rolled the sleeves up, his firm arms half gesturing towards her. ‘Not my best look.’
