Ellie's Return by Bronagh Pierce

matter of time before even the public
charade ended and the way she addressed him in public was the same way she
addressed him at home. That would be not too long after the wedding, and he knew
he too was being as bloody minded as possible most of the time to avoid that
being discussed, except that when she decided it was going to happen it would
not really even need to be discussed, he just had to turn up and face the
firing squad. Everything up to that was just putting off the inevitable.
      “Your girlfriend has turned up again, so
we need to be on the same page about everything.”
    “What girlfriend?” he asked.
    “You’ve only ever had one proper
girlfriend Tom, and I know you haven’t forgotten her whatever she may have done
to damage you.”
    “I don’t need to know where she is,” he
said.
    “Just don’t act up, Tom. If she’s back for
good we can’t avoid her forever. Just behave. Go now, go, go!”
    She shooed him away, and Tom stood looking
malevolently for a moment, angry at her attitude but desperate to get away. For
a short conversation there had been some real highs and lows. On the plus side
he would not have to speak to Lola again today, but on the downside she was a
bitch, he was going to be tied to her for the rest of his life, and the woman
he had loved and who had betrayed him so completely might be dropping in for
tea to witness his humiliation when he had despaired of ever seeing her again. Tom
had not really thought about how his say to day existence could be more
miserable.
    The idea that Ellie could swan back into
their lives after what she had done would have seemed unthinkable a couple of
years ago, but now that he was able to see how quickly Lola could change her
demeanour from evil to good and back again and he was less surprised at how
people can change so suddenly. Once he could not have believed that anything
could come between him and Ellie but he had been wrong about her, and for all
that he seemed right now to be in a rut, and for all that the only way he could
see out of it could fail or fly, he was currently lacking any reason to move on
at all, the sense of life being better elsewhere having all but diminished from
his imagination.
    Lola called him back and he felt his neck
tighten at the arrogance of her demand. He returned to the kitchen door. She
did not look up to speak, continuing instead her stabbing looks at the
catalogue.
    “I’ve told you before, Tom, not to turn up
at the shop and put things in front of me when I’m on the phone or in a
meeting. I’ve told you I’m not going to sign anything without knowing what it
is.”
    “I’m sorry, it was urgent, you know the…”
    “I don’t have time now, Tom, just don’t ambush
me with things if there isn’t time to explain them.”
    “Well it was urgent and…” Tom had become
accustomed to starting sentences that had no particular ending because he knew
that Lola never allowed him finish. It made the parts he was able to say more convincing
than if the sentence really had to get to the end.
    “…I don’t care, Tom, make it the last
time, you’ve done it half a dozen times in a month and I’ve told you every time
not to. In fact, we need to schedule a catch up for you to explain what you have
been doing recently. How has that ask of dividing up the portfolio been going?”
    ‘That’s what I’m trying to say”, said
Tom,” it’s almost completed. Let me know when is good next week, should all be
good by then”.
    Lola looked almost pleased for a moment as
Tom sloped off. He had hoped to avoid that conversation altogether for a few
more days, but one way or another everything was going to come to a head soon,
for better or for worse. He could just do without any distractions for a few
days while he faced the possibility of a life sentence or, long shot, a
possible reprieve.     

 
    Eight

 
    Ellie had woken up on the sofa to some
gentle tinkering in the kitchen. Claudia’s kitchen was