The Harder They Fall (40 page)

“Just popping to the loo,” he said, making a quick getaway and pulling his phone from his pocket as soon as he was out of sight.

“All done,” Dan said.

“Good stuff. Everything OK?”

“Yeah. Andy’s waiting in the car so I’ve got to go. See you tomorrow. And thanks.”

“No problem,” Kris lied. As much as he really was feeling a little bit more sorry for Jess than when Dan roped him into this, he was as angry as the rest of them. Whether it was for Rob’s benefit or not, she’d been extremely selfish. He returned to the table and glanced at the unappetising baguette. He’d not long had lunch, and he picked at it until such time as it was suitable to suggest they left. Jess hugged him and thanked him for listening. At least he had the heart to feel a little bit guilty that it was all an act.

Coordinating transport and re-jigging the cabin arrangements was a military operation befitting the extraordinary talents of either of the most senior Davenport women, but Eleanor was not to be worried with such trivialities, Adele had declared. And due credit to her, she’d thought of everything, right down to motorway stops and consideration of the positions of the three cabins they would be staying in. She’d even printed off the driving directions and map of the holiday village, so she could check all was unfolding as it should be.

Thus, Andy and Jess were no longer travelling together. Instead, Jess was going with George, Josh and Kris, while Shaunna and Andy were with them in the 4x4, and Casper was in the half of the boot that wasn’t piled with suitcases and toddler accessories. It was this, or put Shaunna with Jess—a suggestion the former rejected in very clear and none too polite terms. Eleanor, James, Oliver and Toby accounted for the final car and the only unchanged unit in their group. Alas, the cabin arrangements were somewhat more complex, because neither Kris nor Shaunna was prepared to spend the week sharing with Jess. They wanted to stay together, which surprised Adele and she felt she had to say something to Shaunna about being a mug and giving Kris another chance, after what he’d done. Shaunna told her she was absolutely right, but asked her to let it go, for the sake of not causing further trouble, not with the situation with Jess and Andy. However, she was insistent, and in the end it was easier to give in than to try and explain.

So the cabin arrangements were essentially the same as the travel ones. The Browns had a two-bedroomed cabin, with a double and a single room; Josh, George, Jess and Kris were sharing the first of two three-bedroomed cabins, each with a double, a twin and a single; Adele, Dan, Shaunna and Andy were, of course, sharing the second, although how that was going to pan out was yet to be seen. At the moment, they seemed perfectly content, sitting either side of little Shaunna’s bumper seat, taking turns at Peek-a-boo, re-dressing dollies, or playing ‘Where’s Teddy?’. The toddler was giggling away happily and the radio station they were tuned in to was playing decent music, so all was well. Adele checked off the next set of directions on her printed map, even though the SatNav was doing perfectly fine without her assistance. Dan resisted the urge to tell her what she was doing was utterly pointless, and moved into the left-hand lane, as instructed.

“It says ‘stay right’ on here,” Adele said purposefully.

“But
she
said ‘keep left’.” A few miles further on, Dan smoothly transitioned onto the next motorway; Adele folded her arms and turned her attention to some sheep in a distant field.

Fifteen miles behind them (a gap that continued to increase the further they travelled) Eleanor was on the phone to the husband of her dying patient, who was still holding on, incredibly. She was trying her utmost to tactfully explain that she was not going to be around for the next week, and Doctor King would be making a home visit after surgery. The husband was very understanding, and wished her a pleasant honeymoon. The words were empty, yet she was so moved by them that she remained quiet for several minutes after, scrolling back and forth through the screens on her phone and temporarily unaware of her surroundings, until James had to swerve to avoid a lorry that had pulled out without indicating just as they were passing it. He drew in breath and exhaled very slowly; Eleanor looked over her shoulder to check on the boys. Poor little Oliver was totally wiped out, having spent the first half of Sunday under the control of his paternal grandfather, and the second half burning off all the pent-up energy he’d accumulated during the morning, through a variety of tried and tested techniques, including throwing himself off the couch, racing from the kitchen to the bedroom, bouncing on the bed and screaming until he was hoarse, and finally crying he didn’t want to go bed for an hour, then passing out before James made it to the door. So, with both boys fast asleep in the back of the car, Eleanor turned on the car stereo and set it at a low volume, settled back in her seat and let the sleepy jazz music float over her. James tapped along on the steering wheel, whistling sections of melody wherever it was loud enough for him to get away with it.

Running almost parallel with the Browns’ car (as in close enough to witness the lorry incident and currently behind, but they’d been passing each other intermittently ever since they joined the motorway) were Josh, George, Kris and Jess—not a particularly communicative group, with Kris listening to an audio book on his headphones, and Jess listening to music through hers. George turned to the front again and flicked over to the next page of the heavy text book on his lap.

“The anger management they describe in here is exactly the same as the prison psychologist uses. The success rate is appalling.” Josh heard but didn’t pass comment. “What you did the other night with…” George didn’t say, just in case Jess could hear him. “That works really well.”

“In limited situations.” Josh indicated to pull out, and passed James again, Eleanor and George wearily exchanging waves. “It was all down to trial and error, really. Having worked on
certain people
with
certain problems
for so long, I figured it would probably work on a
certain person’s
you-know-what too.” Josh pulled in again and settled behind a coach for a while. “But they will still have to have it out, and soon.” George glanced back at Jess, who was oblivious to their conversation, lost in the maze of her music and thoughts.

“Our first stop is in sixteen miles,” he said, as they passed a ‘Services’ sign. Josh brushed his hair out of his face and shifted his position.

“Perfect. I’m ready for a large cappuccino or two.”

Dan pulled into the services, and parked up. He was eager to stretch his legs and was flagging, with the last of the flu virus clinging on for dear life. He opened his door and stepped out, suddenly coming over dizzy.

“Whoa,” he said, grabbing hold of the back door as Andy opened it.

“You OK?”

“Yeah, but I think you’d best take over for a bit.”

“No worries.” Andy turned back and reached inside, ready to lift his niece out, once Shaunna released her from her seatbelt. She couldn’t quite reach far enough across.

“Can you unclip that for me?” she asked him. Andy obliged. As he was pulling his arm away, she noticed his knuckles were bleeding. “What’ve you done to your hand?”

“Had a minor collision with a hard object,” he said, lifting little Shaunna clear of her seat.

“Right. What kind of hard object, exactly?”

“One that wasn’t quite as hard as it first thought.” He smiled swiftly and closed the door. Shaunna opened the boot and waited for Casper to jump out, grabbing hold of his lead just in time to stop him tearing off across the car park. Adele beckoned her close and waited until Dan and Andy had walked on ahead.

“They went out last night, to see Rob, I’m guessing,” she said.

“You’re kidding!”

“No, I’m not. Andy said something about going to have a word and Dan offered to take him. They came back and didn’t mention another thing about it.”

“Oh crap. Kris told me last night that Rob’s got some kind of heart complaint.”

“How does he know?”

“Jess told him, when he took her out yesterday. Apparently he’s selling his bike to a collector so he can pay to go private for the surgery. It sounds pretty serious.”

“So he says,” Adele said haughtily.

“You think he’s lying?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me. There’s something very shady about Rob Simpson-Stone and he always did fancy Jess, but she knocked him back for Andy.”

“So he’s going for the sympathy vote, you reckon?” Shaunna asked.

“Yeah. I do. Anyway, I’m dying for the loo.”

The two women followed the brothers towards the service station, taking turns to visit the Ladies’ toilets, while one of them remained outside with Casper.

Fifteen minutes later, Josh pulled up next to Dan’s 4x4, and shortly after James arrived, reversing into the next space along.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Josh said, watching him expertly manoeuvre the long estate car into the very narrow stretch between the two white lines.

“Do you have to park next to
them
?” Jess asked. She’d taken her headphones off and was glaring at the 4x4.

“Yes, Jess, I do have to park next to
them
and for the next seven days, you’re also going to be living in a cabin next to
them
, so I recommend you try and reach some sort of truce.”

George pulled his seat forward and waited for first Kris, then Jess, to climb out. She stormed off sulkily towards the building and Kris rolled his eyes.

“This is not going to be pretty,” he said, as the three of them set off, watching her make her way to the toilets. Andy was standing by the games area, holding Casper’s lead whilst Shaunna attempted to control a virtual racing car; he was making a big deal out of laughing at her futile efforts.

“Last!” she groaned.

“Never mind,” Andy consoled. “They’re not as easy as they look, these games.” She pushed him and he flexed his chest.

“Oh. Now that’s very interesting,” George remarked, as they veered off towards the café. Kris had also gone in search of the toilets.

Josh frowned. “Hmm. As Kris said, or at least to paraphrase him a little, things could get ugly. You get the coffees and I’ll find us a seat with a view.”

“Right you are, boss,” George said and wandered off towards the coffee franchise. Josh sat down at the table closest to the exit and took out his phone to use as a ruse. Andy had gone into the newsagent’s by this point, so Shaunna intercepted Kris on his way back from the toilets, swapped Casper’s lead for his drink order and went to queue behind George.

“Whatcha doing?” Eleanor asked, coming up next to Josh.

“Keeping a strategic position, in case anything kicks off.”

“Ah.” She followed the direction of Josh’s gaze, observed Andy flicking through a car magazine, and scanned the vicinity. “Enemy fighter at seven o’clock,” she said, spotting Jess emerge from the toilets and also enter the newsagent’s. She walked straight over to Andy’s location, picked up a magazine, and stood right next to him. Neither of them spoke, nor did they look directly at each other, and then Andy put his magazine back and walked off. Jess kept hers and went to pay for it.

“Well that was boring,” Eleanor said, clearly disappointed. “I was hoping for some fireworks.” She walked around to the other side of the table and Josh shuffled over to give her space to sit. Toby was awake and rooting for food.

“What would you like?” James asked her.

“Hot chocolate, please,” Eleanor replied, lifting her t-shirt and positioning Toby inside. James nodded and left to buy drinks, sleepy Oliver plodding along beside him. Josh was trying not to watch what Eleanor was doing, but he was fascinated by the endearing, yet increasingly loud gulping sounds the baby was making.

“My God! He’s a noisier eater than George!”

“Yeah, he is,” Eleanor laughed. “You know that let-down reflex I was telling you about? Well this is it. And it’s really, bloody uncomfortable.” She put her arm under her non-feeding breast to support it.

“Is it worth the hassle, though?”

“Definitely. If you think about it, I would’ve had to sterilise and prepare two bottles this morning, just for a five hour drive, not to mention how much more stuff we’d have had to pack up for this holiday, but instead, I can just get my boob out.”

“You can’t even tell that’s what you’re doing,” Josh observed, although his attention had shifted elsewhere, as Jess had followed Andy outside and they were once again standing very close together, but didn’t appear to be saying anything. George placed Josh’s cappuccino in his hand and sat on one of the chairs opposite.

“Where are Dan and Adele? Anyone seen them?” Eleanor asked.

“No, come to think of it,” George replied.

Shaunna stopped to say hi on her way back to Kris, who had taken Casper out to the dog exercise area. “D’you know where Dan and Adele have got to?” he asked.

“Yeah. They’re on the massage chairs. Over by the toilets. They’ve been pumping money into the things ever since we got here.”

“I’ve got to see this.” George took a quick swig of his coffee, and went off towards the toilets.

“A-a-a-gh,” Adele groaned, her voice fractured by the vibrations.

“This is the business,” Dan said to George, as the chair came to a stop again. “You want a go?”

“No, thank you,” George laughed. “You carry on.”

“I think five in a row is probably more than enough already,” Dan admitted and slowly eased himself out of the plush, black leather. Little Shaunna put her arms up and he lifted her from Adele’s lap, where she’d been sitting throughout their extended electronic massage. Adele’s chair stopped, and she stayed where she was.

“Ooh. I don’t want to get up now,” she said, reluctantly doing so anyway.

They walked back to the café with George, and he filled them in on the current state of play in the Jess and Andy situation, or at least, how it was when he last saw them. However, things had progressed considerably since then, and whilst the glass building was sufficiently soundproof for them not to be heard, it was more than apparent that they were yelling at each other. George kept his eyes on them all the way back to his seat, only looking away to pick up his drink, so that their whole group was now staring at their two friends warring right outside the main entrance of a very busy motorway service station.