The blackout blinds did their job so thoroughly that Eve couldn’t fathom where she was when she woke up, yet the presence of Lizzie beside her was a rapid reminder. It took more than a minute to disentangle herself without disturbing Lizzie too much and then she managed to make it downstairs without making a racket.
Although it was early, she was wide awake and unable to turn her mind away from what had happened last night. She spent a lot of time brooding on that until she heard footsteps on the stairs and realised Lizzie was about to appear in the doorway.
Eve rose, ready to greet her, but she wasn’t prepared for the swirling euphoria that engulfed her the moment Lizzie stepped into the room and she couldn’t bring herself to speak. Perhaps it was the fact that now she knew everything that dressing gown camouflaged, knew how astounding Lizzie’s body felt underneath her fingertips. That simple recollection derailed all the sensible words she’d been assembling to ease any awkwardness and she saw the flare of panic in Lizzie’s face. To combat that, she stepped forward, stretching out a hand to lightly graze her arm.
‘Morning,’ she said.
Lizzie’s shoulders relaxed and she pushed forward to wrap two arms around Eve’s waist. It felt exactly as it had last night, something that should’ve scared Eve more than it did. With Lizzie’s head nestled against her chest, she could believe that nothing else mattered beyond the two of them. It had been so long since such a thought crossed her mind that she allowed it to absorb her for a few moments, revelling in the glow.
‘I was worried when you weren’t there,’ Lizzie said as they separated. ‘I thought you might be regretting it.’
Eve rested her a hand on her cheek. ‘Overthinking it, yes. But not regretting it. I could never regret it.’
‘So, we’re okay?’ Lizzie asked. ‘You know, it feels like nothing’s changed and everything has at the same time.’
‘I know what you mean, I feel it too.’
Lizzie smiled, leaning forward to kiss her. It was chaste, nothing more than a sweet way of saying a proper good morning, yet it signalled something weightier in her mind. When they drew apart, Eve moved to the kettle in a bid to distract herself from the ramifications of that and began making them both coffee.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ Lizzie said after a minute. ‘I reckon I should go see Paul at lunch.’
Eve spun around, almost knocking their cups over. ‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’
‘Not really, not completely. But I don’t want him turning up here again, I don’t want him coming anywhere near you. He just causes trouble. I need to get through to him, make him realise it’s over.’
‘Can’t you do that over the phone?’ Eve queried.
‘He’d just come round here anyway. And I’d rather I saw him in public then he might keep a lid on it, you saw what his temper’s like.’
‘Isn’t that a reason not to see him?’
Lizzie shrugged. ‘I know.’
Eve resisted the impulse to press the issue. She had no right to dictate what Lizzie should and shouldn’t do, nor would she want that sort of power. She was too familiar with where it led.
‘Okay, but please be careful,’ she said finally.
‘I will,’ Lizzie promised. ‘I’ll send you a message after, let you know I’m all right.’
Truth be told, Lizzie wasn’t as sure about this as she’d made out to Eve. But she’d known that showing any doubt would mean that Eve’d try to talk her out of it. If the roles were reversed, Lizzie definitely would’ve.
So, when she got into the office, she rearranged her lunchtime with Brenda, giving her chance to get to the garage dead on 1pm just as Paul was heading out to pick up his butty.
A smirk settled on his face when he saw her.
‘Got wise to it already?’ he asked.
‘I just want to talk for a minute, all right? You go get your butty and I’ll meet you on the bench near the war memorial.’
He rolled his eyes and strode off in the direction of the sandwich shop. Lizzie couldn’t help glancing back towards the garage to see if she was being watched, but none of the other mechanics were in sight and she made it away from there without talking to anyone. It wasn’t likely Paul had told his mates what was going on, so maybe they’d reckon this was a social call like she’d made a few times before.
The square around the war memorial was a bit of a spillover from the community centre just inside the Chinterton Estate. It had a huge wooden noticeboard covered with a sheet of unbreakable plastic, though unbreakable didn’t mean kids couldn’t scrawl all over it in black marker pen.
Lizzie stood in front of it trying to keep her mind occupied while she waited for Paul, skimming the posters about play groups and local police initiatives. She was halfway through reading about an upcoming family fun day when she saw the logo on the bottom and grimaced. Anything with the Caldwater Foundation’s name attached reminded her too much of Isaac, even before you got into the fact it was all sponsored by Paul’s boss. There was no chance she was going anywhere near that.
‘What do you want then?’
She flinched at his voice, turning around quicker than she should’ve and nearly falling over. Paul crossed his arms, one hand gripping a paper bag so hard that his knuckles were gleaming. That didn’t help much, reminding her of his fingers wedged around her throat, and it wasn’t helped by the way he was scowling at her.
‘Don’t think you can come crawling back,’ he warned.
‘I’m not,’ she replied.
Paul clenched his jaw. ‘Then what you doing here? Has she been at you? All that dykey crap -’
‘Give a rest. Look I just want you to keep away, that’s all. I’m not having you turning up every five minutes screaming at her for something that she isn’t, something that she didn’t do. I meant what I said last night - if you carry on, I’ll call the police and tell them what you did at the Majestic. Screw what might happen to me for keeping it quiet, I don’t care.’
‘Don’t be thick,’ he muttered.
‘I’m not, I’m telling you that I’m serious. Anyway, it’s a first offence for me, right? I’d get a caution probably, but you’d be looking at a suspended at least.’
‘This coming from her, is it? Legal bullshit.’
‘I haven’t told her you’ve got a record, if that’s what you mean.’
He scoffed. ‘Am I meant to be grateful? I’m trying to look out for you and you don’t give a shit. Yeah, I shouldn’t have hurt you. I hold my hands up to that and it won’t happen again -’
‘It always happens again.’
‘Not with me. I’m not like that.’
‘You stood back while your mate hit me.’
‘You shouldn’t have got in the bloody way! Let him have that Evelyn and give her a whack. She deserves it.’
Lizzie pressed her lips together, willing herself to keep calm. She didn’t want a public row and she especially didn’t want him having more reason to get mad at Eve. What she’d come here for was to get him to leave it alone, so she had to get back to that.
‘It’s not a debate,’ she said finally. ‘You and me are done and I want you to stay away from Eve or I’ll call the police. That’s it.’
As she took a step away, he stretched out for her arm. She yanked it out of his reach and he growled.
‘Just go back to Meg’s. I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want, but go back to the flat and stop being a silly cow.’
Lizzie blinked at him. ‘That’s how come you followed me yesterday. Megan told you that I’d called about giving up the room.’
‘She’s looking out for you, that’s all.’
‘Oh, come on, she couldn’t give a toss about me. Neither of them like me, they can’t wait to get rid of me.’
‘Maybe if you weren’t so up yourself -’
‘If I’m that stuck up, why are you bothered that we’re finished?’
Paul’s shoulders sagged then he lifted his chin. ‘You’re mine, that’s why. No one else was looking at you.’
The words cut into her more than they should’ve. All that time she’d spent with him, she’d known he thought she wasn’t trying hard enough to fit in with what he liked, but she’d reckoned there was something deeper underneath it than pity.
‘I didn’t mean that,’ he said after letting it sink through. ‘You’re gorgeous, I love you. That’s why I don’t want to lose you.’
‘Too late,’ she replied.
‘Don’t say that -’
‘Paul,’ she interrupted, ‘I’ve said I’ll call the police if you turn up again and I mean it. Back off, all right?’
She set off along the road, trying to get to the pedestrian crossing before the lights changed.
‘What happens when she tries to get into your knickers?’ Paul yelled after her.
Lizzie ignored him and made it to the road just as the lights changed. Since there wasn’t much traffic, she darted across and left him behind, ducking around the first corner she came to and breaking into a jog.
A message from Lizzie saying she was back at the office had settled the worst of Eve’s anxiety about the meeting with Paul. No doubt she’d get more details later, but she could concentrate on administration during the afternoon in a way she hadn’t managed so far today.
At least, that was the plan until she received a garbled phone call from Jamie begging her to come straight to the Majestic. He sounded so panicked that she grabbed her coat immediately and walked over there as quickly as she could.
He was serving a small queue of customers when she arrived, although his affability seemed strained. Once the customers had dispersed, he beckoned her over into the corner near the posters for upcoming blockbusters.
‘I screwed up,’ he said, switching his weight from foot to foot.
Eve frowned at him. ‘What do you mean? What’s happened?’
‘Someone came round earlier, making me an offer to buy this place. It was more than the offers I’d had before, more than that journalist was talking about or when the council guy was here. It’s like he knew that and was expecting me to bite his hand off.’
‘Go on,’ Eve pressed when he hesitated.
‘He was going on about having council backing and it’d be easier for everyone if I agreed to sell up now. I’d get paid handsomely for it - that was his word, not mine. I swear I didn’t know who he was, I didn’t mean to drop you in it.’
‘Isaac,’ Eve murmured.
Jamie grimaced. ‘Yeah. He didn’t give me his name, not till after I’d said someone who’d been here that night had helped me out. Somehow he knew I’d had to borrow money, he was hinting I wasn’t good for it or that I’d gone with a loan shark. If you want the money back -’
‘Of course I don’t,’ she interrupted and he slumped against the nearest poster. ‘I know it isn’t your fault and I don’t want repaying - now or ever, come to that.’
‘I’ll pay it back,’ he insisted.
‘When you can, no sooner.’
He mustered a smile but didn’t speak. Eve gingerly patted his arm, hoping that it was a more reassuring gesture than it felt like from her perspective. Her mind was turning over the details he’d related and, after a few moments, she voiced her thoughts.
‘What I find very interesting is that Isaac made an outright offer and that he did it himself. That demonstrates how much he wants the land this place is on, and that doesn’t chime with the idea that it’s the council who want it so badly.’
‘What do you mean?’ Jamie questioned.
‘I’m not sure,’ she admitted. ‘I’m just beginning to believe there’s more going on here than Isaac has disclosed so far. How did it end between you? What did you say to him?’
‘Told him the Majestic wasn’t for sale. Said he better tell his mates at the council that as well.’
‘And how did he react to that?’
Jamie rubbed his forehead. ‘That the licence review would prove what the council needed to know then they’d make their decision based on that, not what I said or what I thought. He wasn’t threatening or anything like that, but it was obvious what he wants.’
‘The Majestic,’ Eve said quietly. ‘Well, that’s not going to happen, is it? Let me know if you hear from him again, we’ll see what his next move’s going to be.’
There was a long pause and she realised that Jamie was staring at her. Before she could question why, he cleared his throat.
‘Sorry, was just thinking that you’re nothing like your brother. I can’t get over the fact you’re related to him.’
Eve’s chuckle was genuine. ‘Thank you, I appreciate the compliment.’