Page 70 of The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday
‘No,’ Ben said immediately. ‘No way. They made their choice; I just have to leave them to it.’
‘OK. And you’ve got friends here, now,’ Thea said. ‘Finn and Meredith, and Sylvia. But you can’t expect to leave your whole life behind, plonk yourself down in a brand new place and feel settled right away. Have you got work set up?’
‘Not really,’ Ben admitted. ‘I was always going to give myself a few months to get the cottage done first. I factored that in with the house sale and my savings. But it would help.’
‘You’re doing stuff for Sylvia.’
‘Not anything serious, and that’s not paid.’
‘People always need builders,’ Thea said, thinking of her conversation with Mel. It didn’t sound like she’d been in touch with him yet – if she was even planning to. ‘That might make you feel more at home, too. You’re addingbuilding blocks to your new life. Putting it together piece by piece – like starting a house-build from scratch!’
Ben chuckled. ‘You’re pleased with that analogy, aren’t you?’
‘Very.’ She pressed another tile to the wall, realised it was the most uneven one she’d done so far, and tried to remove it. ‘Crap.’
‘Having fun over there?’
‘Tiling isn’t easy, you know.’
‘I know.’ Ben kneeled next to her and used his chisel to dislodge the wonky tile. ‘It took me years to get the hang of it. You’re doing great.’
‘If you pat me on the head, I don’t know what I’ll do, but it won’t be pleasant.’
Ben sat down, leaning his back against the shiny new bathtub. It was deep, with curved edges and gleaming taps in the middle. It could easily fit two people, one at each end.
‘Did you ever confront Genevieve, or those boys?’ he asked.
‘What?’ Thea placed the tile she was holding carefully on the pile.
‘After what they did to you, did you ever speak to them about it? I know you were a teenager, that it was probably the last thing you wanted to do, but did you ever get …’ he winced. ‘Closure? It’s something they mention in that book.’
‘I didn’t,’ Thea said. ‘I avoided them as much as possible. I didn’t think anything could come of it except more humiliation. And then Esme told me it wasn’t worth it, and I started spending time with her, instead. The shame andhurt faded, and I was glad to put it behind me.’ What had happened the previous summer felt a lot rawer, because it was much more recent, but then, too, she’d just been pleased it was over.
‘That’s how I feel,’ Ben said. ‘I was an idiot for not realising what was going on, for not spotting the signs – because they must have been there. But if I try and talk to Damien or Allie, the anger I’m starting to let go of will come back with full force. I don’t want to feel like that again.’
‘I get that,’ Thea said, picking at a bit of glue that had stuck to her finger.
‘But?’ Ben asked.
‘What happened to me at school – it’s sofar in the past. And ithaschanged the way I look at things sometimes, even now. But for you, it’s all fresh, and it was a big enough trauma that you moved to the other end of the country because of it. I just wonder if talking to them would help? Even if you know nothing can be done, telling them how it’s affected you – I don’t know.’ She shrugged. ‘Don’t listen to me.’
Ben was tapping his chisel against his knee, and Thea could see a jagged cut, mostly healed, running across the skin there. Her fingers itched to slide over it, to soothe it somehow, even though it probably didn’t hurt any more.
‘You’re quite hard to ignore,’ he said eventually.
‘I’ll be more careful what I say, then.’
‘No, Thea—’
‘I’m joking. Sorry. This is …’
‘Had enough of tiling?’
She nodded.
‘Me too.’ He glanced around the room. ‘Give me half an hour to finish this row and get everything tidied away.I would say you could relax downstairs, but I’m aware of how unlikely that is. Shall I join you at yours?’ He ran a hand through his hair, and dust drifted down onto his T-shirt.
‘What about a shower?’ Thea asked.
