The Back Road

33

As Ellie opened the front door, she sniffed lightly. She recognised that smell. Max had been cooking, and she knew it was spaghetti bolognese. He called it his speciality, but the truth was that it was the only thing he knew how to cook. She had really hoped to grab a cheese sandwich and disappear to bed, but she couldn’t tell Max that. She didn’t even know if they would be speaking, but at least Leo would be there to keep things on an even keel.

Dumping her bag in the hall, she made her way through to the kitchen, and paused on the threshold. The kitchen lights were dimmed, with only the light over the Aga shining brightly, and out through the glass doors to the terrace she could see a beautifully laid table, with candles burning in glass hurricane lamps. A brightly coloured jug stuffed full of flowers from the garden took pride of place in the centre.

Max was standing just inside the door, hovering anxiously. Given the mood she’d been in when she’d left, she knew that he wasn’t sure how she was going to respond to his efforts.

‘Where’s Leo?’ was about all she could muster.

‘Leo’s gone out - round to Tom’s. The twins are in bed and asleep - so it’s just you and me. Here, have a glass of wine and come and sit down.’

Max hastily grabbed a bottle of red wine from the worktop and poured two glasses. He picked up the iPod remote and Ellie was amazed to hear the soft tones of Snow Patrol coming through the speakers.

‘“Chasing Cars”? Are you okay, Max? You hate this sort of music,’ Ellie said, accepting the glass of wine that Max was holding out.

‘Tonight’s not about me. It’s about you. So it’s cheesy music all the way, I’m afraid. Come on, let’s go and sit outside for a moment while the water boils for the pasta. I’m sorry it’s nothing more exciting, but you know my limitations.’

Only a couple of short months ago, Ellie would have been overwhelmed by Max’s show of consideration for her, but she was struggling to decide if he was motivated by a guilty conscience or if this was a genuine act of love.

As soon as she stepped outside, Ellie could see how much effort he’d made and she felt a hot rush of tears at the back of her eyes. But she needed a bit of space before she could put on the performance that would be expected of her.

‘This looks incredible Max. Really it does. Do you think, though, that you could put the pasta on hold for ten minutes? I’d love to have a shower before we sit down, and pop in to give the kids a kiss. Is that okay?’

She saw a brief flash of disappointment in Max’s eyes. He clearly believed he had thought of everything, and she vowed to make it up to him when she came down. She was going to push everything else to the back of her mind, and focus on her husband. Maybe she could still save them from catastrophe.

She leaned over to brush her lips gently against his cheek, and made her way towards the stairs, picking up her bag from where she’d left it. As she walked upstairs, she sensed rather than heard her phone vibrating, and fished around amongst the debris of her handbag until she found it. She had two text messages. One from a number she didn’t recognise, and one from a blocked number. When had the pleasure of receiving a message turned into alarm?

Throwing her bag on the bed, she sat down and stared at her phone. A wave of panic swept through her. Opening the one with the unknown number first, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was from Leo, confirming that she would be staying at Tom’s for dinner. Feeling a bit more relaxed, she hoped the second message was going to be just as harmless.

It wasn’t.

IT SEEMS SOME THINGS RUN IN FAMILIES, ELLIE. I THOUGHT YOU WERE BAD, BUT YOUR FATHER? THAT MADE ME LAUGH. THE PERFECT FAMILY, HIDING SO MANY SECRETS. DON’T FORGET THAT I’M GOING TO NEED SOMETHING FROM YOU. IT WON’T BE LONG NOW. AND DON’T FORGET WHAT I SAID ELLIE - ONE WORD OF THIS TO ANYBODY, AND THE CAT WILL BE OUT OF THE BAG.

Ellie stared at the phone as if mesmerised by the words. The glow of the screen danced before her eyes. It had to be him. What was he playing at, blocking his number and sending her threatening texts? She knew he was trying to frighten her, but why? Was it because she wouldn’t agree to see him, or to leave Max for him? Was he just trying to break down all of her flimsy defences? Of all the nasty, mean things to do. She would never have expected him to stoop so low as to use tactics like this. And why bring her father into it? The older people in the village were bound to remember Leo’s background - where she came from and the welcome she’d had when she had arrived. He must have heard the gossip. It must be him.

Ellie punched the button to delete the message, and switched her phone off. The backs of her eyes were hot and stinging, but she fought back the tears. She couldn’t cry - Max would know. And she had to appear normal for him.

Determinedly stripping off her clothes, she flung them on a chair and went into the bathroom. At least her body could be clean even though her mind was clogged with the remnants of bad memories and foolish mistakes.

* * *

She knew she had been a long time in the shower, but the bolognese would keep, and at least she looked as if she had made an effort. She was surprised to catch Max slightly unaware, and as she saw him sitting dejectedly at the kitchen table, staring into space and idly tapping his fingers on the table, she wanted nothing more than to go to him and cradle his head against her. The room was quiet. He had no doubt turned off his least favourite music as soon as she went upstairs.

The second he saw her, though, he leapt up eagerly from the chair and moved towards her. Taking gentle hold of her face between his hands, he kissed her lightly on the lips.

‘Feel better, sweetheart?’ he said with an understanding smile. ‘Come on - let’s carry on where we left off.’

He steered Ellie towards the table outside, picked up her glass from where she’d abandoned it and handed it to her.

‘The shower was a good idea. You look more relaxed, and it’s dark now - so even more romantic. You take it easy, and I’ll sort out the pasta.’

With a final stroke of her still-wet hair, Max returned to the kitchen, flicking the iPod back on as he went. This time it was Keane singing “Bedshaped”. He had certainly pulled out all the stops.

Ellie tried to focus on the relaxing notes of the music, and not on everything else that was happening. She forced thoughts of Abbie from her mind too, and turned her head to look back into the house, where she could see Max jumping around waving his hand in the air. He’d probably spilled some of the boiling pasta water on himself; for such an athletic and co-ordinated guy he could be incredibly clumsy, Ellie thought affectionately.

The music continued to sooth her, as track after track of all her ‘soppy’ music was played. She wished she could talk to him. Really talk to him. But she was too afraid.

The spell was broken as Max brought out two bowls heaped high with spaghetti and sauce, and they settled down to eat. The atmosphere between them had relaxed considerably since this morning, but both knew there were things left unsaid. Neither wanted to break the fragile peace, and they talked quietly about everything but the big issues.

Just as they finished their pasta, the music changed once again - this time to Aerosmith. Max stood up.

‘Come here, beautiful,’ he said. ‘Remember this?’

Ellie knew what he was going to do - something they used to do regularly, but didn’t seem to have done for such a long time.

He held out his hand and guided her away from the table. Then he wrapped one arm around her waist, and with the other he grabbed her hand and pulled it close to his chest. He rested his cheek against her head, and her lips lay gently against his collarbone. Slowly they started to dance. Ellie finally felt herself begin to relax.

“Don’t want to close my eyes

I don’t want to fall asleep

Cause I’d miss you babe

And I don’t want to miss a thing”

Max gently sang the chorus softly in her ear, and she felt as if he believed every word of it. She couldn’t keep this up any longer. They had to share the truth, and they had to do it now.

‘Max,’ she whispered.

‘Bugger,’ Max said, as the phone began to ring in the kitchen. ‘Somebody’s got impeccable timing! I’m sorry, sweetheart.’ Max let go of her, and gently brushed the outer edge of her left breast with the fingers of his right hand, leaning in to kiss the corner of her mouth.

‘Wait right there. I’m not finished with you by a long way.’

Ellie plonked herself disconsolately back at the table as Max made his way into the kitchen, switching the iPod off as he went.

Silence returned to the garden, but it was an uncomfortable silence and Ellie felt a strange sensation - as if dark eyes were piercing the back of her neck. She shivered, and turned quickly to scan the bushes.

What was that? She could just make out a small bright light somewhere near the fishpond. As Max answered the phone and said ‘hello’, the light went out.

And then she knew. The light was from the screen of a mobile phone. Somebody was in her garden. The nerve endings all over her body pinged with the rush of adrenaline.

She heard Max repeating ‘hello, hello,’ several times, but Ellie knew the phone would be dead.

Then she heard it. A whispering voice began to sing the opening lines of the same song.

“I could stay awake just to hear you breathing

Watch you smile while you are sleeping

While you’re far away and dreaming”

A shadowy figure stepped forward as the quiet singing continued, and Ellie was about to scream when she heard Max replace the phone, muttering under his breath.

‘Nobody there, Ellie. Bloody typical.’

The shadow melted into the darkness.

Max came back through the open doorway, and held his hand out.

‘Now where were we sweetheart?’

But Ellie had started to gather the plates together noisily.

‘Let’s go back inside, Max. It’s getting a bit chilly out here.’

She wanted to kiss away the hurt that she saw on Max’s face, but she knew she mustn’t touch him. She couldn’t risk the shadow drawing closer.