The Harder They Fall (44 page)

“Why? I thought you were happy.”

“So did I, but…when I had my breakdown I started to realise that I needed more.”

“More than Shaunna?”

“More of me. I love Shaunna, and I didn’t mean to hurt her, but it turned out for the best in the end, because now we’re having so much fun together, and Krissi’s fine with it too, which was…”

“Hang on,” Dan interrupted him. “Adele said Shaunna was devastated and that you were still trying to work things out.”

“Err…” Kris screwed up his nose. “The thing is, we kind of made that up, for Adele’s benefit.”

Dan scratched his head. “Now I’m really bloody confused. Are you separated or not?”

“Yes, we are separated. No, we are not trying to work things out. That’s just what we told Adele.”

“Right. Gotcha. So…” Dan was still trying to decide if he should tell Kris or not, and in his hesitation had planted the seed of curiosity.

“So?”

“Before you confirmed the facts, I was going to tell you to have words with your wife, because she’s been flirting big time with Andy since we got here.”

“She’s a free agent now.” The words were dismissive; Dan watched him for a moment and decided it was safe to continue.

“And how would you feel if she and Andy ended up together?”

Kris laughed haughtily. “Even if he and Jess are finished for good, that’s not very likely, is it? Not with…” He spotted Dan’s raised eyebrow. “You think they might?”

Dan shrugged. “Whatever, I thought I’d mention it.” He wasn’t going any further with this. “Seeing as I thought you were trying to work things out.” There was no point.

“Well, as I say, she’s a free agent, although, with all due respect, I’d be bloody amazed if she went after Andy.” Dan faked a laugh and opened the door. The conversation was over.

Jess had returned in her bikini and bathrobe, to find the hot tub empty. It hadn’t been intentional, and George felt really bad about it, but there wasn’t a thing he could do right at that moment.

“I’m coming back in a minute,” he called over. “I’m just having a drink.” He held up his beer as evidence, and tipped the bottle to his mouth, half the contents running down his face. Josh caught a drip with his finger as it raced towards George’s belly button.

“Don’t!” he spluttered on a mouthful of unswallowed beer. “I’m having enough of a problem as it is.” Josh grinned and sucked the beer off his finger; the sexual overtone was probably unintentional, but even so, George had to concentrate to block it out. “I’ll get you back, you know that,” he said, twisting as he got up from the chair, so that his back was to everyone else. He pulled the towel over his trunks, a bulge still evident through the thick fabric.

“Ahem,” Josh said, averting his eyes. George struggled off towards the hot tub and stepped in as far as he could without taking the towel away, then whipped it off and threw it on the floor, submerging his lower body before anyone noticed. Jess joined him, and a minute later, Kris also climbed back in. The water was slightly cooler now, and the three of them sat chatting, enjoying the view and each other’s company. Adele and Shaunna were taking a breather, sitting in their bathrobes on the edge of the tub, and listening to the conversation. This was how things stayed for the rest of the evening, until people started making their way back to their own cabins or rooms; first Eleanor and James, then Dan and Adele, closely followed by Josh and George. Shaunna waited until Kris and Jess left, and locked up behind them, while Andy collected the empty bottles. He stopped at the kitchen sink for a glass of water. Shaunna waited until he became aware of her watching him.

Kris slowed to a stroll before they reached the steps to their cabin; Jess matched his pace. It was too dark to see her clearly.

“Did you get things sorted?”

“Not really.”

“Oh. It looked like you were getting on OK.”

“We’re on speaking terms, if that’s what you mean.”

Andy sipped at the water and grimaced. It was warm. He emptied the glass into the sink and tried again.

“I don’t wish to pry, and I know it’s difficult for the pair of you, but it’s pretty hard on the rest of us too.”

Jess sniffed. Kris reached into the darkness and gently rubbed her arm.

“It’s over between us.”

A silence followed. Their plans to intervene had not extended to this eventuality.

“Have you talked it through? Explained how you feel?”

“Why bother? Friends don’t lie. They don’t cheat. They don’t hurt each other. There’s really nothing left to talk about. It’s over.”

No more to be said, each wished the other a good night at the junction of their bedrooms and went to bed.

The next day saw everyone heading out on different excursions. Dan and Andy went back up to the sports centre, which was, in essence, a large log cabin with a shop full of equipment and a bored-looking student type sitting behind a desk. The previous day they’d booked a hang gliding session, and were given insurance forms to fill in while they waited for the equipment to be brought out and checked over. Meanwhile, Josh and George were going to explore the nearest village, which they’d passed through on their way here: a forty minute drive back down the mountains. Shaunna, Kris and Casper were hitching along for the ride to do the same thing, but independently. This left Adele, Jess, Eleanor, James and the children at the cabins, and the Browns offered to take little Shaunna out with them for a short ramble around the local area, culminating in a stop-off at the playground, which was distant enough from the other cabins to be almost a private facility. Hence, they were quite surprised to find three boys of around eight or nine years of age, playing on the roundabout when they arrived. Their bikes were dumped across the path, and they immediately apologised and came over to move them out of the way.

“Thank you, boys,” James smiled, setting Shaunna down. She immediately toddled off after Oliver, but he was too fast for her. Eleanor was carrying Toby in the papoose, and sat down on the tiny yellow park bench to rest her back.

“I don’t know how you cope with this,” she puffed, lifting Toby out and sitting him against her arm.

“I imagine it to be a lot like pregnancy,” James contended. She knew better, although it would most certainly have afforded him an insight, as the aches and pains she’d had in her lower back throughout the last three months of carrying Toby had returned in full force. James set off after Shaunna, who had made it as far as the slide, and was now pointing up to Oliver at the top of the steps.

“I-do-it,” she said. Oliver came flying down at speed, straight off the end, then back up again.

“I-do-it,” Shaunna repeated. James examined the slide. It was too narrow for him to fit, and Oliver was too small to hold on to Shaunna. All the while, one of the boys had been watching and now approached.

“Excuse me,” he said politely. “Would you like me to take her?”

“It’s very kind of you to offer,” James said, trying to think of a plausible reason why this boy—a stranger—shouldn’t take his friend’s daughter down the slide, other than the truth of it being exactly that.

“I’ve got a baby sister,” the boy added helpfully. “She loves the playground and I do it all the time.” James looked to Eleanor for guidance. She shrugged.

“I don’t suppose Adele will mind,” she said. It wasn’t as if they were leaving Shaunna with this boy and he sounded genuine enough.

“All right then. Thank you,” James said. The boy smiled and held out his hand to Shaunna.

“Come on,” he encouraged. She took his hand and he lifted her up, carried her to the top of the steps and sat her on his knee, dragging the soles of his training shoes along the sides of the slide to slow their descent, while she giggled with excitement.

“I-do-it,” she said again, once they’d stepped off the bottom. Dutifully, he carried her back to the top and down they came a second time, then a third, and so on until everyone had lost count. James was splitting his attention between this activity and Oliver’s swinging, in between the other two boys, who were showing him how to kick his legs so he could do it for himself without being pushed. So far, he’d set the swing wobbling from side to side, but was having some trouble with backwards and forwards. He was becoming quite frustrated by this, and one of the others came over to set him off with the right motion, before returning to their own swing. James was quite overcome by the kindness these boys were showing to the younger children, and made his feelings very clear several times over. He had learned from Alistair Campion the value of praise in encouraging the right kinds of behaviour, and it really couldn’t be given too often. He took over the pushing of Oliver’s swing to allow his new friends to enjoy their playtime; not long after this, one of them pulled an old and battered mobile phone from his pocket and signalled to the other two. Little Shaunna was just coming to the bottom of the slide, and James took her from the boy, placing a one pound coin in his hand, as he had for the others.

“If your mother wishes to know where this came from, tell her she is welcome to find us. We are staying in the cabins over there.”

The boy nodded and darted off after his friends, all three of them tearing back down the track, wheels leaving the ground as they cleared bumps and stones.

“Come on,” James said, taking Oliver’s hand. “It’s time for lunch.”

“Can I have a bike, please?”

“You already have a bike, at your mother’s.”

“I bring it here?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“Oliver. Please don’t ask silly questions.”

“Because it is too far away,” Eleanor explained patiently. “Maybe your dad might think about buying you a bike to keep at our house.” She looked at James as she made the suggestion. So far, her ‘interfering’ had been allowed to pass without comment, but she could see that he wasn’t happy.

“I will think about it,” he said sternly. Eleanor and Oliver both knew to say no more. They started making their way back to the cabins, with Eleanor giving little Shaunna a piggyback and James carrying Toby in the papoose. As they walked, they hit a pocket where there was phone reception and a beep sounded from Eleanor’s pocket. She took out her phone: missed call and voicemail, from her dying patient’s husband, which could mean only one thing. James took Shaunna from her and walked on ahead so that she could listen alone. Her patient had died the previous evening, with her family around her; it had been very peaceful and she was in no pain. The widower ended the call by saying how much he appreciated her compassion and care for his wife, both so grateful for all she had done. One of the last things she’d asked was that he personally thank Eleanor and tell her she wasn’t to feel guilty about not being there, but that she would honour her memory best by enjoying her new husband and family and making the most of every precious moment they had together. The line went quiet, and then the voicemail options sounded. Eleanor saved the message, intending to delay a while longer to allow the tears to subside, but her patient had been right. Every moment was precious. So what if she didn’t agree with some of James’s decisions? So what if she was crying like a baby and Oliver would have a hundred questions why? She cleared her throat and made her way back to the cabin, where James immediately put his arms around her.

“Why are you sad, Enna?” Oliver asked. And so it began.

While they were alone, Jess and Adele had taken the opportunity to enjoy a soak in the hot tub, and clear the air, albeit in a very superficial way. Adele was feeling very important indeed, with Jess telling her that she felt she ought to explain why she had been spending so much time with Rob, although it was only a means to an end, inasmuch as she knew that Adele would tell Dan, and therefore Andy would get to find out. Rob had got the money for his surgery now, his last text message confirmed, and he promised to call as soon as he had an admission date. Adele made all the right sympathetic noises and even gave Jess a hug and an apology. None of it was heartfelt, but both believed they had gained sufficiently from the experience to at least act like they were friends for the rest of their time in Wales.

Things weren’t much less tense a few miles down the mountain, where George had led his reluctant companion up a winding cobbled road that opened out onto the village green, across from which was a pub called ‘The Ferret’s Hat’. It was old and tatty, with missing roof tiles and flaking window frames. Outside there were three weather-bleached picnic tables and a sandwich board penned by an illiterate:

“We’ve been walking around this place for almost an hour,” George pre-empted, expecting Josh to dismiss the pub, like he had the three others before it.

“All right,” he sighed, stopping to wipe off the apostrophe with a dampened fingertip.

“Joshua!” George admonished, grabbing his sleeve to pull him inside. Josh jolted his arm away and made a big deal out of straightening his shirt. “Would you please stop moaning? It’s this or the chip shop.”

Josh followed him sullenly to the bar and glanced around the place listlessly, shrugging at the suggestions being made, leaving George to decide that they were having steak and ale pie and a glass of Coke.

“What’s the matter?” George asked, as they took their drinks and sat at a table outside.

“Nothing. I’m not that hungry.”

“You’re very fidgety today.”

“Am I? I feel fine,” Josh dismissed, whilst at the same time becoming very aware that he was jigging his leg up and down. He stopped immediately.

“You would tell me, wouldn’t you, if there was something wrong?”

“Stop worrying!” Josh smiled quickly and broke eye contact.

George didn’t ask any more questions. Clearly there was something bothering him, and he knew not to probe if there was to be any chance of receiving an explanation. It was just so infuriating to see him revert to his previous mood when things had been going so well and they’d been so open with each other for the past few days. The chill in the air wasn’t just because they were sitting in the shade, with the silence only temporarily suspended to thank the person who brought out their food. It was very well presented and tasted just fine to George, but Josh hardly touched his, so clearly desperate to leave. George ate as quickly as he could, giving himself indigestion in the process, and they were back on the cobbled road again thirty minutes later.