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Elle:I knew it!!
Helen:How come you’re up?
Elle:Going for brunch with Rex, I think he feels like he missed out …
But more importantly how about you??
Helen:Well let’s just say you were right …
Elle:Always ;-) But about what specifically this time??
Helen:Big dick energy.
2 hours!!!!
I’ll tell you more when I see you xxx
Helen pulled out of the chat and quickly glanced around the room to make sure Ish was still sleeping and he absolutely hadn’t seen her write that.
Hi, it’s now 3 a.m. and we’ve heard banging in your apartment for over an hour. I don’t know why you feel now is an appropriate time to be doing ‘DIY’ but please bear in mind we need to be up in four hours. We can hear EVERYTHING.
Helen bit her lower lip, that must be number 41.
Finally, she saw a message from her mum:
Hello darling, just wanted to see how Sophie’s engagement party went? Please send her our congratulations. Did you meet anyone nice?? Xx
Her mum’s messages always contained a distinct undercurrent of anxiety, which is where Helen must have got it from. She started typing a response:
Yes it was nice, Sophie looked beautiful in her dress. Nothing much to report …
Helen deleted the message and started again.
I had a great time thanks, you’ll never guess what but I ended up going with Ish, he stayed over and …
Delete!
It was nice, thanks Mum! Ended up going with Ish, and we had a really nice time. Will call you later to tell you all about Sophie’s dress xx
‘Cuddles?’ A low voice called out from her bedroom.
Helen put the phone back into her handbag and padded towards the bedroom door, slipping out of her dressing gown as she walked back in.
Chapter 47
Brody:Hey, haven’t spoken in a while and thought I’d see how your week is going?
Chapter 48
Nanny G was propped up at a table in The Boat Shed café. Currently her food groups had dwindled down to ginger biscuits, semolina and the occasional glass of warm port. Despite her mum’s protestations that she wasn’t having enough macro nutrients, Nanny G didn’t seem to care. Her arms were thinner now under her pink cardigan, and she had a constant wistful look in her eyes, like the wind was going to blow her away any day now, to a distant time and place.
It was Ish’s firstofficialtrip to meet Helen’s family as her boyfriend, and he’d clearly had no idea what to pack. He was wearing hiking boots, a ski jacket and an orange beanie, like visiting the countryside was akin to mountaineering. He seemed happy here though, probably because his presence was welcomed like that of a foreign dignitary by Helen’s mum. She had bought all his favourite foods, presented him with cooked vegan breakfasts every morning, and been merrily doing all his washing. Yes, it was deeply unfeminist, but if it made her mum happy, it probably wasn’t all that evil. Helen’s dad had also been almost pleasant, holding himself back from intervening as Ish finally got Alexa up and running for them.
She hadn’t seen too much of Henry, probably because he’d finally moved out, five minutes down the road, into a cottage with Nessy. They weren’t even thirty, and they seemed so much older than Helen: they had two rescue cats, a welcome mat, and a herb garden undergoing construction.
Helen turned to look out over the bay. It was low tide, exposing a sheet of shimmering sand down to the ocean. She couldn’t believe it was Easter already, and that the cliff tops were slowly turning from brown, to green, to golden gorse, and purple heather. It was nice to have some sunshine again, though winter hadn’t been its usual gauntlet of depressing TV romcom marathons, and awkward, ‘so have you met anyone yet?’ questions at Christmas parties.
Ish had spent Christmas up North with his mum (they were uncannily alike, right down to the Rolo eyes) and Helen had been happy to spend it with her family. Rather than dodging all questions romance, she’d regaled her mum with stories of the Christmas stocking Ish had made her (‘so thoughtful!’) and how he’d been helping her get her work back on track (‘see isn’t it nice to have someone so supportive?’)
