Page 29 of A Summer Wedding at Pennycress Inn
‘Haha, I care immensely and, yes, I can now hold my own in even the most prestigious of cooking competitions.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Or perhaps one which isn’t very competitive.’
Ellie shrugged. She was shattered and could quite easily close her eyes standing right there and fall straight asleep, but the conversation she’d had with Fiona was still replaying in her mind and the distraction might just help. Plus, at the mere mention of food, her stomach grumbled, reminding her she hadn’t had a bite to eat since lunch. ‘Okay. Why not?’
‘Seriously?’ Murray widened his eyes.
‘Hey, if you’ve changed your mind and want to go home and enjoy all your veg by yourself, then be my guest.’ She held her hand out, indicating the gate at the end of the garden path.
‘No, no. I’ll come in.’ Murray grinned. ‘Thank you.’
Stepping back, she held the door open for him and watched as he stepped inside and slid off his trainers before walking the few short steps to the living room door.
‘Oh, wait!’ Ellie called out just as he used his elbow to open the door. How could she have forgotten about the distinct lack of ‘stuff’ left over from Rick’s departure? It had only been a few days, but she’d been so busy she’d just been getting on with life, but now Murray was about to take a look around the cottage and realise she didn’t even have the very basic of belongings.
‘Is your kitchen through there?’ Nodding towards the end of the room, he shifted the box slightly in his arms.
‘Yes, that’s right.’ Frowning, she led the way into the kitchen and indicated the bare work surface. ‘You can just pop it down there.’
‘Great.’ Lowering the box, he then turned around and pointed to the cupboard next to the oven. ‘Saucepans? I think we’ll need at least three for what I’m thinking about cooking.’
She swallowed. This was it. This was the moment when she’d need to be honest with him and then likely watch his expression turn to disgust. How could someone have let this happen? How could she? She was a perfectly capable person, and yet she’d allowed Rick to run rings around her, and she still hadn’t been able to get anything back from him despite all the calls and texts she’d sent the day after he’d left. She should have continued contacting him until he relented. Or threatened him with court action. Something. Anything. But she hadn’t. She’d continued to live like this, and she’d just got on with her job, with everything.
Bending down, Murray opened the cupboard door, likely expecting to rummage through a bazillion pans and kitchen gadgets. After taking one look in the cupboard, he turned and looked at her before standing up again. Spinning slowly on the spot, he glanced around as though realising for the first time since he’d stepped inside that there was a significant lack of things in the place.
‘I… I have a saucepan.’ Hurrying to the draining board, she held up the small pan Rick had left her and watched a dribble of water run down the handle and onto her skin.
Placing his hands in his jean pockets, Murray frowned, concern etched across his face. ‘What’s going on, Eleanor?’
She lowered the saucepan quietly back on top of the single plate, knife and fork, which had been on the draining board too. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I know you. Not in a million years would you only have one saucepan, not to mention no toaster or anything else for that matter.’ Pausing, he walked back through to the living room and stopped in his tracks. ‘Have you been robbed? Has someone broken in? Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine.’ Ellie held her hands up, palms forward. ‘And no, I’ve not been burgled. Nothing of the sort.’
‘Then what? You’ve never been a minimalist, and this…’ His forehead creased as though he were thinking. ‘Although it’s a lovely cottage, this isn’t you. The room’s empty besides a sofa.’
‘I…’ She crossed her arms as a rush of anger filled the bottom of her belly. How dare he think he could come into her life after running out on her and presume that he still knew her, knew what she liked, how she liked her home? ‘You don’t know me anymore.’
He pointed towards the socket for the aerial, the bare space which had clearly once held the television. ‘You don’t even have a TV.’
‘Maybe I don’t want a TV.’ She blew a strand of hair from her face, scrunching her nose as it fell again.
‘Okay.’ Murray shrugged and began to walk towards the kitchen again before pausing, looking down at his feet and turning back to face her. ‘No, I’m not going to take that for an answer. You’re clearly thoroughly annoyed with me for some unknown reason, but that’s neither here nor there. I’m ringing the police.’
‘Pardon?’ The police? Why would he ring them?
‘You heard. I’m ringing the police.’ He pulled his mobile from his pocket and unlocked it, the screen lighting up.
‘You can’t. I’ve not done anything. I…’
Catching her eye, Murray frowned. ‘I’m ringing because you’ve clearly been burgled and, for one reason or another, you haven’t alerted them yet.’
Slumping her shoulders, Ellie looked at the floor, focusing on a knot in the wooden floorboards exposed by the lack of the rug. ‘I’ve not been burgled. My ex took it all. He thinks that because I was the one who got to renew the tenancy on the cottage, it meant he could take everything else.’ There, she’d said it. She sounded pathetic even to her own ears.
‘Your ex took all your stuff?’
‘That’s what I said, wasn’t it?’ Ellie rubbed her forehead, the headache well and truly settling in.Please don’t make me repeat myself.
Murray looked around the room again as though Rick might just jump out from behind the sofa or appear in the kitchen doorway. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
