31 Days of Winter (25 page)

‘Let me help you,’ I whispered back. ‘Talk to me.’

‘I don’t want to talk.’

‘What can I do to help?’

‘Just sit here with me. This is nice,’ he nodded.
I sighed and tucked myself back under his chin and listened to the crackle of
the fire and his heartbeat. It was going too fast, but as we sat in silence it
gently started to slow, and with his hand rubbing up and down my arm I drifted
off into a contented sleep.

Ellie

I woke up in bed, in just my
knickers again and looked around to see if he was sitting watching me again,
but he wasn’t.

‘Dan?’ I called, but there was no answer. I looked
at my watch, it was half past nine and I could see it was snowing again. I
dressed in fresh underwear and put on my lounging bottoms and a tracksuit top
and headed down stairs and made a coffee. When I opened the fridge to get some
eggs out I noticed that he’d taken his dinner with him. I picked up the phone
and dialled him.

‘Miss Baxter,’ came his voice, but it was
different, the warmth that had filled it yesterday had gone again.

‘Good morning,’ I breezed, determined not to let
him get to me.

‘What can I do for you?’

‘Are you ok?’

‘I’m fine, thank you. What do you want?’

‘Stop being so cold for a start,’ I sighed, my
determination failing me miserably.

‘Cold?’
How could he possibly sound so
surprised?
I wondered.

‘Yes. We had a really nice day yesterday and I
fell asleep in your lap after sobbing my heart out and you put me to bed. Now
you’re being all cold with me.’

‘We did have a nice day, but I have a lot to do
today.’

‘What?’ I almost laughed. We were in the middle of
nowhere, and other than chopping logs and increasingly aggravating me with his
constantly changing moods, and yo-yoing sexual desire, I really didn’t know
what occupied his time.

‘Is there something I can do for you?’

‘You didn’t answer my question of what you were
doing. I thought we could go for another walk.’

‘I’m busy. I thought you came here to write in
peace.’

‘So now you’re using logic with me?’

‘What do you want, Ellie?’ he snapped. I scowled
at the phone.

‘Nothing. Sorry to trouble your obviously hectic
schedule, have a lovely day on your own,
Stan
.’ I hissed angrily. I
didn’t mean to but I cut him off abruptly and banged the handset back in its
cradle. I stood watching it for a minute, expecting him to ring and apologise,
but he didn’t and I wasn’t about to, either. This man was going to drive me
completely crazy and I had another damn twenty-one days of him to go. I
distracted myself with more caffeine and scrambled eggs.

I groaned and stretched from my hunched up
position over my laptop. Maybe Dan had done me a favour by staying away, I’d
had nothing to do today but write and I’d done over eight thousand extra words,
which I thought was pretty good. Word wise
and
content wise. It was dark
outside and I was typing just by the light of the laptop again, no wonder I had
a headache. I went to the bathroom, swallowed some tablets and headed
downstairs, trying to remember how he’d shown me to light a fire. I stood back
pleased with my efforts and put on the soft table lights and went and grabbed
myself some water, skipping the wine this time. After eating I took my iPad and
unfinished book back to the sofa and curled up. I had a couple of emails from
Zac and an email from Brooke and went with hers first, smiling as I opened it.

Ok, I’m pissed with you. You were supposed to
email me morning and night. I got nothing yesterday and haven’t heard from you
this morning and the news is saying how bad the snow is up there. Are you ok?

I’m so sorry Brooke, please don’t be mad with
me. We went out walking and ended up spending an amazing day and evening
together, but this morning he’s gone back to being all cold and distant. Every
time I think I’m getting somewhere with him, he shuts down again, it’s so
frustrating. Distract me. How’s Molly’s tongue? Hope you had an amazing Sunday
too! I’ve done a load of writing today but I’m thinking that I still need a
steady income, so I’m really considering taking the Captain’s offer. I’ve been
looking at rentals in the City so hopefully you won’t have to put up with me in
your spare room for long. LYMY xx

Morbid curiosity overtook me and I had to open
Zac’s emails to see what he’d come up with to try and tempt be back this time.

Reason One – I love you. Zac xx

‘O, then all is forgiven, Zac,’ I muttered as I
pressed delete and opened the second.

Reason Two – Your amazing heart. Zac xx

‘A heart you chose to squash and trample all
over,’ I reminded him via the screen. If he thought a few sentimental words would
make me forgive and forget everything, then he had another think coming.

I spent some more time browsing properties and
bookmarked a few and then suddenly remembered that I hadn’t looked at the
photos Dan and I had taken of each other yesterday. I flicked through them,
there were so many of me, he’d just taken one after another and it made me
smile to see how happy I looked, if not a bit bizarre in my black bra and
knickers against the backdrop and the snow. I went and looked in my albums of
Zac and I, and was amazed at the difference. I was smiling with him, but my
eyes weren’t alive and sparkling like the pictures from yesterday and I could
see from my body language that I wasn’t completely happy and relaxed.
How
had I not realised this at the time?
I wondered. I went back to the photos
from yesterday and flicked on until I stopped as I came to Dan’s and those
butterflies started fluttering again.

‘O. My. God. Ellie. He’s sooooooo hot,’
I
groaned. I was having trouble making up my mind which one I liked best, but
went for the shower pose recreation and saved it as my wallpaper. Then attached
it to another email to Brooke.

Do you forgive me for going incommunicado now?
Xx

Seeing his body inspired me to one of two options,
masturbate or write more of my saucy novel. I decided I could masturbate
whenever I wanted, inspiration to write didn’t hit often and I needed to take
advantage. I brought my laptop down and made another start and got another
chapter under my belt before my stomach growled. I’d not eaten since my
scrambled eggs this morning. I made a big lasagne from scratch and decided
against ringing him to invite him over. Not after his attitude earlier,
besides, it was easier for me to get on without him distracting me. I ate mine
at the island with a small glass of wine, then set myself a plate aside for
tomorrow and covered the square dish with the remaining large portion with
cling film. I grabbed my boots and the ski jacket he’d left for me to use and
headed down to the boathouse. I tried to walk quietly, but the frozen crunch of
the snow made it nearly impossible, and as I stepped up onto the veranda he
opened his front door.

‘Is everything all right?’

‘Fine, thank you,’ I replied as emotionless as I
could. If he wanted to play detached, so would I. ‘Here’s some lasagne for your
dinner.’ I stayed where I was and held it out and he paused for a second before
stepping out and taking it from me.

‘Here’s your jumper from the first night as well,
I’ve washed it for you.’

‘Thank you.’ He stood staring at me with a crease
in his brow. ‘Ellie, I…’ he started.

‘Good night,’ I interrupted and turned and quickly
walked away.

‘Ellie, wait,’ he yelled.

‘It’s Miss Baxter from now on, just how you always
wanted it,’ I yelled back and locked myself in, leaving the key in the door.

Ellie

I spent the morning
writing with no interruptions, other than the occasional coffee. More snow was
falling and it had got to the point where it was creeping up the wall of glass at
the front of the house, it would be at knee height by tonight if it carried on.
I took a break a two o’clock and put some chicken, bacon, button mushrooms and
baby onions in the slow cooker with a nice stock, wine, herbs and garlic and
left it to cook on low as I made myself some cheese on toast and another coffee
before heading upstairs.

I ate and drank as I leaned back in the chair
looking outside, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and saw him
leave the boathouse and I tensed up wondering if he was coming up here, but he
went up the side of it towards the cabin up the hill. I assumed to go and work
out as he couldn’t get the boat out for his usual mysterious afternoon routine.
It was really bugging me not knowing what he did. I wiped my mouth and checked
my emails and was surprised to see one from the boathouse’s email address, the
one that had confirmed my reservation.

Miss Baxter. As discussed, a contact from an
agency in London has looked into your rental requirements within the budget
set. As you are aware your budget is low for central London, however one of
their clients has left his property empty for many months, being unwilling to
entrust his furnished property with someone he didn’t know. Given my
relationship to the owner of the island, my opinion is held in high regard and
I have recommended you as an ideal tenant without reservation. The property can
therefore be yours on an initial two year lease agreement, which I have
attached for your perusal, along with the property particulars. You would
however have to stretch to your maximum budget of £2,500.00 per calendar month.
I’m sure when you see the property, you will realise that he could fetch
upwards of £10,000 per calendar month, so I would urge you to make a quick
decision in case your interest considers him to rethink his options. Please
contact the agents directly if you wish to proceed. Kind regards, Dan.

I sat back and looked out at the view again, not
quite sure if I’d read that right, or if that had been Dan emailing me. It was
so formal and cold. There again the way he’d been with me on the phone
yesterday why should I be surprised? I read it again, surely no one who could
get that much for a property would be willing to let me rent it for £2,500 per
month. I opened the attached brochure and put my hands over my mouth as my eyes
filled up. It was a delightful three storey mews house, set in a cobbled
street, with brick to the lower part and painted white weatherboards covering
the walls of the top two floors, the middle floor having sets of French doors
that opened up with a white wrought iron railing. It was beautiful. I quickly
scrolled down to look at the pictures and my heart soared. It was pretty much
my taste all the way through.

I printed off the brochure and looked closely at
the floor plans. The ground floor had a garage for one car with a large utility
and cloakroom at the back with a door to an inner lobby from which the stairs
led up. On the other side of the stairs was a modern large kitchen diner, which
you walked into from the front door. It looked like every chef’s dream kitchen
and hardly used. As you doubled back on the stairs to the first floor it had a
modern family bathroom on the right, a large double bedroom on the left and
ahead was a lounge which stretched the whole width of the building. I shook my
head and pinched myself, was this for real? I followed the plans up to the top
floor and looked at the pictures again. The top floor was a complete master
suite and had slightly sloping ceilings being in the eaves. On the right was a
large open landing that had been set up as an office with a window overlooking
the small decked garden full of pot plants outside. There was a large family
bathroom above the double bedroom downstairs and the master bedroom was the
same footprint as the lounge, with a walk in wardrobe. The whole top floor looked
like it had so much space and light.

I looked at the property particulars more closely,
reading the description and nearly died when I saw that it was in Pavilion
Mews, Knightsbridge. That was a really affluent area and that mews house had to
be worth over £5 million, at least.
What the hell was the owner thinking
agreeing to rent it out to me for £2,500 per calendar month?
Dan’s opinion
pulled some serious weight with his friend and I guessed having lots of money,
he wouldn’t mind having a low regular income from a recommended tenant. I
realised my heart was racing and my hands were trembling. It was a stone’s
throw from the tube, walking distance to my office and all the shops of
Knightsbridge, it couldn’t be more perfect unless it was physically plonked on
top of my office building. I wanted to ring Dan and ask if this was a wind up,
but I hadn’t seen him return yet. Instead, I opened a reply from Brooke and
chuckled as I spotted another email from Zac, and wondered what he had to say
this time. He could wait, Brooke’s was more important.

Fuck Molly’s tongue, I want a piece of that
action. OMFG.WMKWC!!!! You HAVE to go all the way with him. Promise me or our
friendship is over. Salacious details of your fun day Sunday and all will be
forgiven. I think I’m in love with men again. xxx

I’m laughing and also puzzled. What’s WMKWC?
I’ll email you about Sunday later, take a look at this and tell me if I’m crazy
for thinking it’s too good to be true?

I attached the brochure and lease agreement and
pressed send, then printed off the lease and went through it really carefully,
but there was nothing I could see that was anything other than a standard
lease. It was owned by a Mr. Oliver D. Davenport whose main residence was
listed as San Francisco and he was allowing the agency to act on his behalf
with regards to receipt of rent and any issues with maintenance. I would need
to pay two months rent in advance, one being a refundable security deposit. If I
was going to go for this, it was a good job I had enough in my savings, but I
really needed to make a decision on the Captain’s job offer. I’d have enough
space here to work from home and the office in the same day if required, a
spare room for Brooke coming over and a garage for Maisie. If it wasn’t working
out with Captain, a position as Junior Partner would look good on my resume and
I could look for something else, all while the income flowed in and I could fit
my writing around work. I’d be saving over an hour and a half a day just on
travel alone. I needed something strong to drink and I virtually skipped around
to the stairs, then bit my lip and ran to the pole and jumped on it and
screamed with joy as I slid down and this time made a perfect stop on the soles
of my feet. I swung myself around it laughing, like a scene from singing in the
rain and popped open a bottle of champagne and headed back up with it and a
glass and jumped to hear my facetime ring on my iPad. It was Brooke. I sat down
and propped it up on the desk and answered.

‘I thought you were at work?’

‘I am, keep your voice down since I’m in the
supplies closet.’

‘You’re not facetiming me while Molly’s doing stuff
to you?’

‘No, but I can ask her to come in if you want to
watch?’ she winked.

‘No thanks, but as she’s your boss and you’re
screwing, are you really going to get in trouble for hiding in there and making
a personal call?’

‘Good point. Jesus, what’s going on with you up
there? Sex gods in underwear, unBELIEVEable houses being thrown at you? I’m
wishing I’d had a month’s break up there instead of you.’

‘I know, sex god last, at present he’s the god of
ice. The house though, seriously, what do you think?’

‘I’m thinking why the hell haven’t you signed the
contract already?’ she uttered looking at me as if I were stupid.

‘Brooke, it’s too good to be true. Who lets
someone have a house like that at this price?’

‘Who bloody cares? The offers on the table, take
it. I’ll fly up there, ski to the shore, ice skate across the lake and smack
you over the head with a frozen fish I caught on the way if you don’t go for
it.’

‘It’s a loch, not a lake.’

‘It could be a bloody gigantic puddle for all I
care, Ellie. Ring the agent now and say yes and explain you can’t get a signed
copy back to them until you get out of your frozen prison.’

‘It means I’d have to accept the job offer.’

‘
And?
’ she gave me another look with a
raised brow.

‘Well, it’s all going so fast. Less than two weeks
ago my life was mapped out, I don’t do change, you know I don’t. Now suddenly
I’m stranded at the top of Scotland with a man I can’t stop thinking about, who
blows hot and cold with every breath, I’m accepting new jobs and moving house
and leaving Zac behind.’

‘You’d left Zac behind ages ago, you just hadn’t
admitted it to yourself and change can be good, Ellie. You’ve not had it easy
with your upbringing and your parents, you deserve this. Why shouldn’t a bit of
good luck fall in your lap?’

‘I guess,’ I nodded and filled up the glass of
champagne and took a sip.

‘You guess? You’ve already decided, you’re
celebrating,’ she squealed and I laughed.

‘I have pretty much decided,’ I laughed with a
nod. ‘I just needed my best friend to kick me up the arse and reassure me. What
the hell was “WMKWC” supposed to mean about Dan’s picture?’ I asked and she
shook her head and rolled her eyes.

‘Wet my knickers with come,’ she giggled.

‘Brooke!’ I laughed.

‘Well I did! I think I had a mini orgasm on the
spot just looking at him. Sorry babe, but I’m all horny now, can you send me an
email about your fabulous Sunday or save it for when we next facetime? I’ve got
to ring Molly and tell her we have a supplies emergency so I can have a
fabulous Tuesday,’ she winked.

‘Bye, Brooke,’ I smiled with a shake of my head.
‘Thank you. Love you.’

‘You too, babe,’ she grinned and planted a kiss on
the screen before switching off.  I chuckled to myself and sent an email to the
Captain.

Hi John, hope you’re keeping well and keeping
the Crank out of the office? I’ve had a serious think about your offer and I’d
like to verbally accept, I’m happy to still come and see you if you want to
discuss in more detail when I get home. I’m snowed in and can’t post a signed
copy for now, but I would like a small alteration. I don’t need a company car.
I’ve left Zac and I’m about to sign the lease on a property near to the office,
so while I’d rather work from home as agreed, I’ll be able to call in for
meetings at short notice if required. I could start again from Tuesday 7
^th
January. If you can let me know if this is acceptable to you? Many thanks,
Ellie.

I went to pick up the phone to ring Dan, but
decided a polite email in the vein of his was probably the best way to go.

Dan. I would like to thank you for your email
and all the effort you have gone to on my behalf. The property is exquisite and
as you rightly say, well out of my price range. I have scoured the tenancy
agreement trying to find some loophole as the offer seems too good to be true,
however I can find nothing. I wish I was in a position where I could decline your
friends generosity, as I feel that I am taking advantage, again, but I need
somewhere to live and it couldn’t be more perfect in terms of style and
location for me, so I am going to accept. I’ve also accepted the job offer from
my firm, so there will be no issues with my being able to afford the rent, in
case you’re worried that your faith in me may have been misplaced and may
backfire on you. Once again, I thank you for your assistance. Miss Baxter

I rang the agents and confirmed that I wished to
take the lease and was advised that there was no rush with returning the
paperwork. They provided me with the bank details for an Oliver Davenport and I
did an interbank transfer immediately. His name was bugging me, I was sure I
knew it from somewhere. I set up another spreadsheet with my savings balance at
the top and then started listing everything that I’d need to start my new life
over, so it would deduct from the balance and give me an idea of where I stood.
Pretty much all of the major appliances and furniture came with the house, so I
listed bed linen and towels, preferring to have my own new ones, then all my
Dualit kitchen worktop appliances that I’d need for my cooking. I could see if
Brooke would mind me ordering online to be delivered to hers and I could move
into the mews on my return and see what other soft furnishings and bits I’d
need then. I heard my email ping and looked to see it was Dan on the boathouse
email again.

I’m glad you’ve agreed, it is a good deal, both
are. Are you ok?

Fine thank you,
I replied.