The Right Time (47 page)

‘Have you ever thought that could be for the better?'

‘I don't know, possibly, down the track. But they've made it pretty clear they're not that comfortable about their father dating. And knowing that, I don't feel right about exposing them to any more changes.'

Finn was just staring at her. ‘Well, it sounds convincing. I think you may have even convinced yourself.'

‘What's that supposed to mean?' Ellen frowned.

‘You've made a pretty iron-clad excuse for yourself there. Every thing's for the sake of the kids. And who can argue with that? I just wish I could understand what you're so afraid of.'

Ellen was sick and tired of being accused of that, and of everything else every man and his dog seemed to be throwing at her lately. Why had she suddenly been put under so much scrutiny? What gave people the right to think they understood her better than she did herself and, worse, to judge her.

‘I'm not afraid of anything,' she said defiantly. ‘It's just not the right time.'

He folded his arms in front of himself. ‘And when do you think it will be?'

‘I told you, I haven't thought that far.'

Finn nodded as though he was expecting that. ‘Well, don't worry, you won't have to think about it any more.'

Ellen felt her heart drop. ‘What are you saying, are you breaking it off?'

‘Breaking what off? What's there to break? You don't want me to be a part of your life, so fine, I'll stay out of it.'

‘I didn't say that, Finn.'

‘You didn't have to.' He turned around to the door that led to the garage. ‘Don't worry, I'll still service your car, if that's what you want,' he said, glancing back at her. ‘You seem happy enough to have me as your mechanic.' Then he walked out.

‘Everyone loves you,' Evie exclaimed. ‘Really, everyone loves her,' she repeated, looking around at Liz and Ellen.

‘You don't have to say it like it's so remarkable,' Emma muttered out of the side of her mouth, her face pushed in against the
pillow. She had yet to find a truly comfortable position, but lying on her stomach, her head at the foot of the bed, and propped up by pillows, meant at least she could join in the conversation with her sisters, who had arranged their chairs in a semicircle facing her.

Evie had spent the entire day yesterday going through Emma's files and making calls according to priority. It was no use worrying about the dresses, for example, they were all done, with only a final payment owing. But the venue, the cake, the flowers, the cars – the list went on and on – there was still time to cancel most of them, even if the deposit had to be forfeited. But Evie had been surprised, to say the least, by how accommodating every one had been.

‘One man even started to cry,' she told Emma.

‘Nigel, right?' she said. ‘He's the florist. Cries like a girl at the drop of a hydrangea.'

‘Anyhow, people have been waiving deposits altogether,' said Evie, ‘or cutting them right back only to cover any costs they've run up so far, and this is despite very strict cancellation policies. They said you're not to worry about anything, just to get better.'

‘We said cancer would get the best sympathy vote,' Emma winked at Ellen.

‘Oh, don't you two start that again,' Evie scolded.

Emma tried to shift her position slightly, making her wince.

Liz jumped up. ‘Are you okay? Let me take a look at that.'

‘You've looked at my wound three times since you got here, Liz,' said Emma. ‘And the nursing staff have looked at it as many times in between. Give it a rest.'

Liz sat down again. ‘I really think it is going to heal up nicely though.'

‘As long as I never attempt to move my shoulder again.'

‘That's not true,' Liz assured her. ‘It just feels like that for now. In fact, you'll probably have the physio up here tomorrow to start you on some exercises.'

‘Already?'

‘They'll only be very gentle, but you have to keep movement in your shoulder, or else you'll end up with more issues.'

‘Great,' she said wryly. ‘So how much longer do they expect me to stay in here?'

‘Probably only another day or two,' said Liz. ‘To make sure the wound is draining okay, and that you do get some movement back in your arm.'

Emma sighed. ‘I don't know why I'm in such a rush to go home to an empty apartment.'

‘Well, you shouldn't be left alone anyway,' said Ellen. ‘One of us can always stay with you.'

‘I can't expect you to disrupt your lives like that.'

‘I have every second weekend free, remember?'

‘What about the mechanic?'

‘What about what mechanic?' Evie frowned.

‘I wouldn't feel right taking your Tim Tam rations away,' added Emma with a wink in Liz's direction.

‘Is this another one of your in-jokes?' said Evie, a little frustrated.

‘Sorry, Evie,' said Ellen. ‘I haven't said anything about this to you, because, well, mostly I haven't had the opportunity, but also there wasn't really much to tell, it's not like it was super-serious or anything . . . so –'

‘Oh would you just tell her?' said Liz.

‘Okay,' she relented. ‘So Evie, I've been kind of seeing this guy, he's the mechanic where my car was towed that time it broke down, not my usual place. My usual mechanic,' she pulled a face, ‘I wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.'

‘That's such a Mum-ism,' Emma grinned.

‘And what exactly does it mean?' said Liz. ‘That there are people you would touch with a barge pole? And who's carrying barge poles around anyway, to test the theory?'

Evie was shaking her head. ‘Can you get on with the story about the mechanic, Ellen? And does he have a name?'

‘Finn,' Emma and Liz said at once.

‘Oh, that's unusual,' Evie remarked. ‘Nice, though.'

‘It's a shortening of his surname,' Emma explained. ‘Did you ever find out what his real name is, Len?'

‘I did, as a matter of fact,' said Ellen. ‘It's Michael.'

‘Well there's nothing wrong with Michael,' said Emma. ‘I expected something hideous for him to go by his surname.'

‘It's a long story,' said Ellen. ‘He was named after his father, who was a real bastard apparently, abandoned the family. So he didn't want to go by that name any more.'

‘Oh,' said Evie. ‘That's sad. So he's a nice guy?'

‘Of course he is.'

‘Is he hot?' asked Liz.

Ellen shrugged. ‘Kate thought he was cute for an old guy.'

‘So he's met the kids?' Liz sounded surprised. ‘Ooh, it is getting serious then?'

‘No, that's what I've been trying to get to,' said Ellen, ‘if you'd all stop interrupting. So, Evie, we were kind of going out . . .'

‘By that she means they've been having sex,' Emma broke in. ‘Really great sex.'

‘Emma!'

‘You're blushing.'

‘So it is quite serious, then?' Evie asked.

‘No, actually, it's not,' Ellen insisted. ‘I know you probably think it should be, if I've been having sex with him –'

‘And introducing him to the kids,' Liz added.

Ellen sighed, exasperated. ‘Look, I'm not even seeing him any more,' she said, cutting to the chase.

‘You're not?' said Emma.

‘You broke up?' added Liz.

‘No, we didn't “break up”,' she insisted. ‘There wasn't anything to break up. It was only a casual thing anyway.'

‘Okay, since when did you stop “casually” seeing him?' Liz persisted.

‘Since he started making all these demands,' she said. ‘In the middle of everything that's going on, he's ringing me, leaving messages –
How's your sister?, Thinking of you
. He even came round to my house when the kids were there.' She turned to Evie. ‘The kids didn't know about him, for obvious reasons.'

Evie was beginning to get confused.

‘So anyway, I had to put on this whole charade that he was just the mechanic and he was returning the spare car key, and I got rid of him. And then he was all miffed.'

‘I can't imagine why,' Emma said.

Ellen ignored that. ‘He wanted to know what we were doing.
He accused me of calling all the shots, not including him in my life, only wanting him for sex.'

‘And he had a problem with that?' asked Emma. ‘He is a guy, isn't he?'

‘A guy who wants more out of a relationship than just sex.' Liz shook her head. ‘Bastard.'

‘Very funny,' Ellen said. ‘Look, I have to think of the kids. I don't have the time or the energy for a relationship, having to worry about his needs and his feelings . . .'

‘Wow, now you sound like a guy,' Emma said.

‘Well, maybe I should be more like a man,' said Ellen. ‘They seem to get everything their own way, and if they don't, they have little hissy fits. You know,' she went on, ‘women lose power when they go into a relationship. They've done studies which show that single women are the happiest.'

‘Who did that study?' Liz said, raising an eyebrow.

‘It's true,' Ellen insisted. ‘Single men are the least happy, and their happiness increases when they marry, whereas a woman's happiness decreases when she marries. What does that tell you?'

‘That they can do a study to pretty much prove anything,' said Liz.

‘Hear, hear,' said Emma.

Ellen rolled her eyes. ‘I'm just saying that maybe women would be a lot better off if they stopped thinking that having a man is the be-all and end-all.'

Liz was thoughtful. ‘Maybe she has a point.' She looked around at her sisters. ‘I don't think Andrew's ever going to leave his wife.'

‘You've just figured that out?' said Ellen.

‘For someone so smart, you sure can be dumb,' Emma added.

‘Fine, okay, I guess I deserve that,' said Liz. ‘I've planned my whole life around an eventual future with Andrew, but I don't think he sees us as the future any more. It's just time out, a way for him to escape.'

‘I would suggest that's all it's ever been,' Emma said archly. ‘Ah, but who am I to talk? I'm beginning to think Blake never really saw a future with me either.'

‘Oh, that isn't true, he asked you to marry him, Emma,' said Evie.

‘And then he ran out at the first sign of trouble.'

‘He might have had his reasons,' Liz offered.

‘Yeah,' said Emma, ‘it was all getting too hard.'

‘Bloody men,' said Ellen. ‘See, what was I telling you? More trouble than they're worth.'

Emma and Liz murmured in vague agreement.

‘So Evie,' Emma said, noticing she had gone quiet, ‘looks like you're the only one left standing.'

‘Hm?' she stirred.

‘Out of all of us, you've ended up with the most successful relationship,' Emma explained.

‘Yeah,' said Ellen. ‘What's your secret?'

Evie looked around at her sisters, her mouth opened as if to say something, but then, quite unexpectedly, and quite violently, she burst into tears.

‘Oh, Evie,' said Liz, putting her arm around her. ‘You take things to heart too much. Don't be sad for us.'

‘I didn't mean to imply people who were married couldn't be happy,' said Ellen, reaching over to pat her shoulder. ‘You're allowed to be happy.'

‘But I'm not happy,' she sobbed. ‘I'm not happy at all!'

‘What's wrong?' said Liz. ‘What's happened?'

‘I can't tell you, it's too awful.'

They all looked warily at one another.

‘Come on, Evie, you can tell us,' said Ellen. ‘It's not as though any one of us is in a position to judge.'

‘What is it?' Liz urged.

Evie was shaking her head. ‘I don't know if I can say it, even though I've been dying to tell you all for so long.'

‘Evie, just spit it out,' said Emma.

She sniffed, wiping her eyes with the tissue Ellen had passed her. ‘Craig and I . . . well, it was Craig's idea, and I didn't want to go along with it, and I didn't, actually, in the end . . .'

They were all hanging on what she was going to say next, their expressions a mixture of anticipation and dread.

Evie took a deep breath. ‘We went to a swingers' club.'

Six eyes widened and three mouths dropped. Then Liz made a snorting sound and started to laugh. She held up a hand to her mouth.

‘I'm sorry, Evie, inappropriate laughter response,' she explained, composing herself. ‘I'm not laughing at you. I think I'm in shock, actually.'

‘You said it was Craig's idea?' said Ellen, trying to make sense of it. ‘And that you didn't go along with it? Or you did? Sorry, I'm confused now.'

Evie sighed heavily, and the whole sorry tale poured out of her.

‘I just can't believe it,' Ellen was shaking her head. ‘I mean, I believe you, of course, Evie, but you are the last person . . .'

‘I wasn't the one who suggested it.'

‘Of course you weren't,' Ellen assured her, giving her arm a rub. ‘As if you could ever . . .'

‘What on earth was he thinking?' Liz grimaced.

Evie looked around. ‘So you do think it's weird?'

‘Absolutely,' they chorused.

‘I could never even entertain the idea,' said Ellen. ‘Not that I can imagine Tim would ever have suggested it.'

‘If Blake had ever suggested something like that I'd have cut off his balls,' said Emma.

‘I'm so relieved,' Evie sighed. ‘I wondered if I was naive, or even frigid.'

‘No way!' Liz exclaimed.

‘You should have told us sooner,' said Ellen. ‘You would have had a better perspective on this. You might have stood up to him with our support.'