Page 63 of The Reboot
The first Saturdayin May dawned bright and sunny, the first dry, warm day after two weeks of blustery rain. It was as if nature had produced summer to schedule. Monday was a Bank Holiday, and Ella had decided to use the long weekend to rest and recharge. So instead of joining Roly for an early morning run, she had a lie-in, luxuriating in her freshly laundered bedclothes. They’d agreed to relax their diet and allow themselves some treats, and Roly went by the Bretzel on his way home, returning with a bag of freshly baked bagels and croissants. While he went for a shower, Ella dusted off the mosaic bistro table and chairs on the terrace, and they had breakfast in the garden.
‘This is heaven,’ Ella sighed happily as she smeared apricot jam on warm, flaky croissant, the aroma of rich black coffee mingling in the air with the scent of flowers and warm earth. She closed her eyes, savouring her first bite of delicious buttery pastry. One of the nice things about dieting, she’d discovered, was that you enjoyed treats all the more when you had them.
‘The garden’s lovely,’ she said, opening her eyes and looking around. ‘Do you do it yourself?’ There were a couple of raised beds with flowers coming into bud, and several large colourful pots planted with lush trees and shrubs.
‘No,’ Roly said, smiling. ‘I haven’t a clue. I hired a gardener.’
He yawned and stretched, his T-shirt riding up to give a tantalising glimpse of stomach, which Ella couldn’t help noticing was attractively toned and approaching the much sought-after flatness. He’d installed a pull-up bar above his bedroom door, and did free weights most days now on top of his cardio workouts. It was really paying off.
‘Any plans for the weekend?’ he asked.
‘No, nothing. Unless you count not going anywhere and not seeing anyone as a plan.’
‘Apart from dinner tomorrow,’ he said quickly.
‘Yes, don’t worry. I’m not going to bale on that.’ Every week Roly told Ella she was invited to Sunday dinner at his nan’s, and she’d finally accepted the offer. When she’d moved in, she hadn’t expected her life to become so enmeshed with Roly’s. It just seemed to happen naturally, inevitably, their lives gradually merging together more and more. He’d been out with her workmates, and now she was going to have dinner with his family. She liked it, but she wasn’t sure it was a good idea in the long run. She felt she should cultivate more friends of her own, a social circle that didn’t include Roly. Sunday was traditionally family time, and should be the perfect opportunity for them to diverge and do their own thing, spend it with their own people. But her people were gone, and, she had to admit, she was glad to have Roly’s family step in to fill the vacuum.
‘I hope this weather keeps up.’ She turned her face to the sun. ‘I just want to chill out with a book and take it easy.’ She’d considered meeting up with someone over the weekend, but Hazel was going to Paris with her boyfriend, and Andrew was visiting his brother in London. She’d found herself perfectly content that neither of them were available. Her life had been busy the past few weeks, and she wasn’t used to that level of activity. She was looking forward to some down time with nowhere particular to be and no pressure to be social.
‘How about you?’ she asked Roly.
‘I’m meeting a few of the lads this evening for drinks. You’re welcome to come if you want?’ He rattled off the names of some of the guys he used to hang out with at school. It amazed her that he seemed to still be in touch with everyone from back then.
‘Thanks, but I’m looking forward to a quiet night in.’
‘On Monday I’m playing golf with Jack.’
‘Jack?’ He’d said the name as if it was someone she should know.
‘You know – Jack Golden?’
‘Really? You still see him?’
‘Of course. He’s my best mate. Don’t you see anyone from school anymore?’
‘No.’ She and Julie still sent each other Christmas cards, but that was it. Even the messages scribbled inside those had dwindled over the years, from letters catching up on each other’s news, to a well-intentioned promise to meet up in the New Year that never came to pass, to just a signature scrawled under the printed greeting.
‘I don’t see so much of him now, of course, since he’s had a baby.’
‘Jack has a baby?’
‘Yeah.’ Roly’s mouth widened in a fond smile. ‘Zoe. She’s really cute.’
‘Wow! I can’t imagine that – Jack with a baby.’ In her head he was still a teenage boy, frozen in time in his last year of school, forever poised on the brink of adulthood.
‘I know. Weird, isn’t it? Everyone’s all grown up.’
‘Except us,’ she said with a wry smile.
‘Yeah. We’re like…’ He snapped his fingers. ‘Who was it who fell asleep for like a hundred years and then woke up?’
‘Sleeping Beauty?’
‘No … it was a bloke.’
‘Um … Dracula? Edward Cullen?’
‘I think we did him in school…’ He frowned, thinking. ‘Rip van Winkle!’ he shouted with relief.
