United States of Love

‘Thanks, Anna. That's the first time someone's made a cup of tea for me in ages.’

‘Why don't I take Emily out as well? She doesn't seem too full of cold this morning. As long as you wrap her up warm the fresh air will do her good. What do you think, Emily? Want to come to the park? Mummy can have a nice, long soak in the bath, or sleep in bed, do whatever she fancies. Veg out in front of some cooking show.’

Zoe didn't even pretend to make a ‘oh, you don't have to’ or ‘it'll be too much for you’ type of protest. She didn't have the energy or the inclination, it seemed.

Having spent a good couple of hours at the park with the children then walking into town, treating them all to a McDonald's, Anna was glad to be back home. She really could do with a sleep. A boozy night, followed by an early morning and all that running around in the park had worn her out.

Any notion she had of a quiet afternoon was shattered pretty much as soon as she walked through the front door to her house. Luke jumped up from the sofa and turned to face her angrily.

‘What did you say to Dad?’ he demanded.

‘Oh, hello, Mum. How are you? Want a cup of tea? Oh, I'm fine thanks, Luke. A bit tired but I'd love a cup of tea,’ she said, annoyed at the abruptness of Luke's greeting.

‘Sorry,’ mumbled Luke. He went out to the kitchen and reappeared a couple of minutes later with a cup of tea.

‘Thank you.’ She took the cup from Luke and put it on the coffee table in front of her. ‘Now, what’s up?’

Luke flopped down into the chair by the fireplace. ‘Dad! He was supposed to be taking me out for a curry tonight and then we were coming back to watch the football.’

‘And now?’

‘He phoned to say he wasn’t coming back tonight because of you.’ Luke glanced up at Anna before reverting his gaze to the television.

‘Me? What have I done?’ What had she done to make Mark leave? She had no idea. ‘Did he say anything?’

Luke let out a sigh. ‘No, just that he thought it was best if he stayed out of your way for a bit.’

Anna could see the disappointment Luke was trying to hide behind his sullen expression. So it hadn’t taken Mark long to let Luke down. Selfish pig. And as for using her as an excuse! Right, where was her phone? She was going to phone Mark and get to the bottom of this.

He answered on the fifth ring.

‘Mark, I just wanted to check if you were coming back tonight or not? Only Luke doesn't seem to think so.’ She tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.

‘No, that's right. Thought I'd stay over here the night. Why, is there a problem? I didn't think I had to clear things with you these days.’ Mark's response was terse. Then, as if catching himself, he spoke more cordially. ‘I just thought I'd give you the headspace that you asked for. Give you time to think about us.’

Anna sighed, glancing at Luke before she walked into the kitchen and spoke in a quieter voice. ‘Mark, there hasn't been an “us” for a long time now.’

‘So last night was your way of getting a bit of revenge then?’ The terseness was back. ‘Giving me the green light then switching to red at the last minute. Is that your way of getting your own back at me?’

‘Do you really think I've been waiting all this time to get my own back? Besides, what happened last night could hardly be considered as like for like.’ God, now she was being drawn into an argument with him about their marriage. Hadn't they done all this a year ago?

‘Mark, please just listen to me a minute. This isn't getting us anywhere. Last night I had, well, we both had, too much to drink. I thought we could just have a nice evening out, which was at your suggestion. We were both a little worse for wear. We both knew it wasn't the right way to go. If you thought otherwise, I'm sorry.’ Damn, somehow she had ended up apologising. ‘We can't take our misunderstanding out on Luke. It's not his fault.’

‘Which is exactly why I'm giving us a bit of space,’ said Mark.

‘Perhaps you can spend some time with him tomorrow then. Give him a call later. It will cheer him up.’

‘Yeah, okay. I've got to go. Me and Gary are just on our way out. Gary says hello, by the way.’

‘Say hello back,’ said Anna, somehow feeling like the villain. ‘See you tomorrow. Do you know what time?’ Too late, Mark had hung up.

Anna leaned back against the worktop and closed her eyes. Her head was hurting again. At least tomorrow was a bank holiday so she would have a full day to recover before beginning her new job. She wanted to make sure she started off well, to impress not only Jamie but Tex also. She was going to be totally organised – her clothes, her work bag, check the directions, go over some basic building terms and procedures in case she needed to sort anything out. She wasn’t going to leave anything to chance.

Chapter Seven (#u71ac035c-2898-536a-9871-7aebd3129a67)

It was not the best start to the first day in her new job. To begin with, Mark had extended his stay in Southampton, much to her annoyance and Luke's disappointment. It was now Tuesday, and because of Mark's change of plans, she didn't have her car today to drive to Arundel. She took the train instead and walked down from the station into the town to Tarrant Street. The walk itself wouldn't have been too bad had it not been raining, and even less had the wind not been so strong it had turned her umbrella inside out.

Peering out from under the hood of her parka coat, the old United Reformed Church stood back from the row of shops lining Tarrant Street, with a paved area at the front used as outside seating for when it was a coffee shop. Today, instead of tables and chairs were three vehicles: a white transit van, a Volvo estate and a Ford Ranger pick-up style truck. The builder, the architect and Tex, she concluded.

Anna wasn't sure if she should just go straight in, whether she should knock, or try to find a side door. However, her dilemma was solved when the door opened and out stepped a man.

‘Are you here for the meeting?’ he said, popping his glasses into his shirt pocket. He sidestepped her and sprinted over to the Volvo, from where he removed three large cardboard tubes from the back seat.

‘Yes, that's right,’ she called, holding the edge of her hood up a bit so she could see him properly.

He nipped past her, back through the door he’d left open and into the dry. ‘You'd better come in then,’ he said, gesturing. ‘You'll get soaked standing out there.’

‘Thanks.’ Anna was grateful to get in from the rain. She entered into a small hallway. Through a set of double glass doors she could see the main hall.

‘I'm Graeme Roberts, by the way,’ said the man, just managing to stick his hand out as he struggled to keep the cardboard tubes from falling. ‘Mr Garcia’s architect.’

‘Anna Barnes. Mr Garcia’s PA.’ Anna shook his hand, and then held one of the internal glass doors open for him to get through.

The trestle table with the cross-section model of the restaurant had been moved to the side of the hall. Graeme scurried over to it, dumping his things on the floor before beginning to examine the plans.

Anna could hear the dull tones of voices coming from one of the rooms at the back and assumed it was Tex and the builder. She walked over to the table and took off her wet coat, which she hung on the handle of the window. Taking her phone from her bag, she switched it onto silent.

The door at the back of the hall opened and a large burly man, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, came out.

‘Hello, Rod. How are you?’ said Graeme. He turned to Anna. ‘This is Rod. He's one of the building contractors tendering for the project. Rod, this is Anna, works for Mr Garcia.’

Rod shook her hand. ‘Pleased to meet you. He won’t be a minute, he's just taking a phone call.’

‘Anna, would you mind giving me a hand with these?’ asked Graeme, indicating the large sheets of drawings for the renovation works he had removed from the tubes and was now attempting to lay out. ‘Got some more detailed plans to look at today. Could you hold the ends while I tape them down?’

‘Sure. It looks complicated,’ said Anna, popping her phone onto the windowsill. ‘I mean, the drawings, not the taping.’ She stretched her arms out and held down each edge of the drawing as Graeme unpicked the end of the masking tape.

He smiled and looked as if he were about to answer, when his attention was caught by the sound of one of the doors at the back of the hall opening and closing.

‘Good morning.’ The rich accented voice sounded out, flirting with Anna’s eardrums.

Still leaning over the table, arms outstretched while Graeme seemed to take an age finding the end of the tape, Anna looked back over her shoulder and smiled at Tex. ‘Hi!’

With more than a hint of amusement on his lips, Tex raised his eyebrows slightly. ‘Nice view.’ Then he seamlessly moved on to greet Graeme.

Anna felt her face burn hot with embarrassment and stood up abruptly, letting go of the drawing, which pinged back into a roll and fell to the floor. By now, Tex was by her side and stooped to pick up the drawing, placing it back on the table.

Anna was grateful for the few seconds to compose herself before Tex turned to her.