‘Ouch! But, yes, I deserved that. Listen, Mally, please. I spoke to Ryan earlier. Or last night. Or whenever it was. I shouted at him if you want to know the truth. He told me everything. It was only him who was in touch with Elle, and she’d sworn him to secrecy. Apparently, the plan all along had been for Ryan to bring Darren to the pub quiz that night in an attempt to set you up on a disastrous date for your article. And she’d booked that poky rental purely because it was so close to The Star.’
‘Yes, I know all of that. But didyouknow I was going to be in Scarnbrook last week?’
‘No, I didn’t. I swear. When I’d ended up calling Ryan from the petrol station disaster, he and Elle couldn’t believe their luck. She convinced him to hang on to the car for as long as possible to keep you in Scarnbrook so you could gather more material for your piece. I feel so awful for what’s happened, Mally. And I’m so sorry that I seem to have inadvertently fuelled the flames of their deceit.’
Fuelled the flames of their deceit.Gosh. Despite everything, I couldn’t help but feel a little wobble of longing triggered by his turn of phrase.
‘What about Carly? And Becky?’
‘They had no idea, either. In fact, Ryan has begged me not to say anything to Carly for fear of what it might do to their relationship given his history with Elle.’
‘Yeah, he asked the same of me.’
‘Well, there you go then.’ Tom’s teeth chattered as he spoke.
‘Shit, you’re still cold.’
I felt the nearest radiator. It was freezing – the heating wasn’t scheduled to come on for a couple of hours. I boosted the thermostat on the mantelpiece but the warmth wouldn’t kick in for at least thirty minutes. And the wood burner would need hours of fuel – and actual logs, which I hadn’t restocked for at least a couple of years – before it finally threw out any kind of heat into the room.
‘Right, don’t argue with me but I’m going to run you a bath. It’s the quickest way to warm you up. You can take your cuppa in with you.’
‘Um, yeah, okay.’
I glugged a decent amount of Feel Relaxed Radox into the running water, wondering to myself exactly when I’d last Felt Relaxed, and sloshed it about with my hand while Tom watched on in the increasingly steamy room.
‘There you go. Have a soak and just shout if you need anything.’
‘Thanks, this is… all a bit embarrassing.’
‘Tom, you were mopping up my vomit not long ago. I think my shame still tops yours.’
‘Yeah, fair enough.’
I stepped out into the hallway and started panicking internally. I was acutely aware that I was looking my absolute worst while Tom Brinton’s naked skin was absorbing the warmth of the water mere inches away. Inmybathtub.
I crept into my bedroom and examined myself in the mirror. Argh. So bad. I hadn’t changed out of my tatty pyjamas for over a day, let alone crossed paths with any shower gel. I changed into my ‘best’ PJs under my dressing gown (so it didn’t look like I’d made an effort), slapped some nice-smelling moisturiser onto my face, ran a brush through my hair and sprayed some Impulse down my pyjama top. I was about to scrabble about for something minty to chew on when Tom called out from the bathroom.
‘Umm, Mally, can you hear me?’
‘Yep!’
‘It’s just that I need a towel.’
‘Shit, yeah. Hang on.’
I fetched a soft beach towel from the top shelf of my wardrobe, deducing that my standard towels probably wouldn’t be big enough for him. I tapped the bathroom door, which opened a crack, his long, damp arm poking out. I pressed the towel into his outstretched fingers.
‘Ta.’
The door closed and I made my way back to the living room to make a start on my cup of tea. He joined me on the sofa a few minutes later.
‘Warmer?’
‘Yes, thanks.’
But I could still detect a tremor in his voice.
‘You’re still shivering, though. Let me grab you a blanket. Or I can see if I’ve got any tin foil if you prefer?’