Getting him Back (9 page)

***

I went round to
Claire’s that evening. I’d promised to tell her all about my date
with Mark. She was shocked when I told her about him and Mia. She
was also upset that she hadn’t managed to get the gory details from
her work colleague first, to spare me the embarrassment of finding
out the way I did. I told her it didn’t matter as going to see Mark
had given me the closure I needed so that I could move on.

‘So that’s
definitely it then. You’re totally over Mark?’ she said before
shoving a prawn cocktail crisp into her mouth.

‘Well, not
exactly,’ I said.

She rolled her
eyes. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, I’m over
my ex but I don’t think I’m over freckly Mark?’

‘Ok, first
things first. Now that you’re over your ex Mark let’s just call
freckly Mark, Mark from now on, is that ok? All this freckly Mark
this, Freckly Mark that is getting really annoying.’

‘
I know,
I only said it so you didn’t get mixed up between him and the other
one.’

‘I know, so
like I said, let’s just call him Mark and you can call the other
one ex if you like.’

‘Ok. Well,
anyway, I think I might be falling for Mark. I can’t stop thinking
about him. I really miss him.’

‘Look, I was
right about your ex, wasn’t I? He didn’t want you back? Well, I
don’t think Mark wants you back, babes, otherwise he would have
called you.’

I bit into a
crisp. ‘I know. I thought he would call. I really thought he liked
me.’

‘I know. I
think you need to forget about men for a while and come hit the
town with me!’

‘I don’t
know…’

‘Come on. It’ll
be a laugh.’

I knew then
that I’d fallen for Mark. I never usually turned down a night out
with Claire. I just wanted to be by myself for a while, to think
things over; work out what I was going to do to get back with
Mark.

It was
the first day in my new role. Mia had gone. She’d gone quietly too
– no big send off. I was glad about that as I wouldn’t have gone
and half the office wouldn’t have either – probably why she didn’t
have one. Lots of people have come up to me
recently and congratulated me on my new
job. I think they’re glad that the office will be a bitch-free zone
from now on. I was happy to find out that Danielle was going to be
my new PA. We’d gotten on so well when she came as a temp; Steve
liked her too and so now she was here permanently. I’d asked her to
hold all my calls while I attempted to get to grips with a poster
using the publishing package I’d struggled with. Despite this the
phone started to ring.

‘Danielle, I
thought I asked you to hold my calls,’ I said, hoping I didn’t
sound too bitchy.

‘
I know
that, Miss Gordon, it’s just there’s someone here asking to see
you.’

‘What, here in
the office?’

‘
Yeah,
it’s a girl; she said you know her, Monica Wyatt.’

What could she
want? ‘Ok, send her in, thanks Danielle.’

The door to my
office opened slowly and Monica entered. ‘Wow, what a great
workspace!’ she said before sitting down opposite my desk.

‘Hi, so what
can I do for you?’

She
grinned and spun around on her chair. ‘I think that should be what
I can do for you!’

I was pleased
to see she’d dressed appropriately for once. She looked nice in her
jeans, t-shirt and trainers. ‘Ok. What can you do for me?’

‘Our mutual
friend called me the other night. He told me that you are missing
my brother. Is that right or not?’

She was making
me feel really uncomfortable. ‘Of course I miss him. We had a laugh
together.’

‘So that’s all
it was then, a laugh?’

I knew
she was pushing for more information. If Mark didn’t make it as a
journalist she certainly would. ‘Well, it was a bit more than that.
I like your brother a lot.’

She twirled
around in her chair again and then leant forward on my desk, her
dark eyes boring into mine. I felt like I was a defendant on trial.
‘So you would go as far as to say you love him then?’

My butterflies
started dive-bombing again. ‘Well…’

‘It seems our
mutual friend thinks you do.’ She picked up my stress ball and
started to pummel it. ‘So, is it true?’

‘Maybe.’ I
stood up and walked towards the window. I never got tired of the
view. It relaxed me.

‘Mark misses
you too, you know. He hasn’t said anything but he’s been so moody
lately.’

I didn’t look
at her. It was too painful – she reminded me of Mark. ‘Is that
right?’

‘Yeah. Anyway,
I’m fed up of him being so miz all the time. I think you two should
get back together and I’m here to help.’

I turned to
face her. She looked so young sitting there; she could have been a
school girl. ‘And how are you going to do that?’

She grinned and
put her finger to her lip. ‘It’s a secret. Let’s just say that if
you two aren’t back together by the end of this week I’m losing my
touch!’ She walked towards the door and then turned back to face
me. ‘You do want to get back with my brother, don’t you?’

I nodded. ‘I
really do, yeah.’

‘Great. Leave
it with me, then.’ And with that she was gone. I felt a little
unsure, though. My first impressions of her hadn’t been good and I
hadn’t been impressed that evening at her parents’ house either.
Had I made the right decision, trusting her to sort out my
love-life? I decided to leave it in her hands; there was nothing
else I could do anyway, was there. I got back behind my desk and
resumed my poster designing, trying to take my mind off love. It
was more trouble than it was worth sometimes.

It’s so
funny how things turn out sometimes. The Universe works in
mysterious ways, so they say. Monica did try to sort my love- life
out. She came to see me at the end of the week and told me she had
officially lost her touch and she was probably going to fail her
psychology exam now that she’d lost the power to interrogate people
and persuade them to do her bidding. I told her she’d be fine and
that if Mark didn’t want to get back with me then there was nothing
she or anyone could do. I’d thanked her for trying. I didn’t ask
her what she’d done to try and reunite us because she’d already
made it clear that it was top secret. Although I’d had my doubts
about trusting her, initially, I knew by the disappointed look on
her face that she had done something to try and sort things out.
The sweetest thing was what she’d said as she left my office. She
told me she was upset that I wasn’t seeing Mark anymore as it would
have been nice to have got to know me as a friend.
I wished Mark felt the same
way. I was surprised that he hadn’t wanted to get back with me; I
was so sure he was starting to feel the same way I did. Maybe he
was and that was why he didn’t want to get involved again – in case
I cheated on him and hurt him.

Anyway,
I’m digressing, it turns out that there was an interesting chance
meeting that helped pave the way for our reunion. Doreen, bless
her, helps out at church on a Sunday morning, baking cakes and
serving tea and coffee after the service. Anyway, as luck would
have it, Mark’s mum joined in last Sunday
, as now that she was a confident cake maker, she
wanted everyone to sample her delights and felt she should give
something back to the community. You can see what’s coming can’t
you? Yes, well Doreen, being the gossip she is, started telling her
about me. She can’t remember how she got onto the subject (blaming
her phantom dementia, as usual) but Mark’s mum put two and two
together and realized it was me Doreen was talking about. It turned
out that Doreen had told Mark’s mum how much I was missing my new
man without knowing it was his mum she was talking to. When Mark’s
mum twigged it was me she knew I really was in love with him and
she went back home and told Mark. Needless to say he wasn’t
impressed at first, he’d already told Monica he wasn’t interested,
but what happened next was just so coincidental it made him
consider meeting me again, to talk.

You are
dying to know what happened next, right? Well, I’m getting to it
now. Mark had gone into work and that Les person was off sick again
and
so they sent Mark to
the Women’s Institute to interview some of the women about all
sorts of things, from hobbies to relationships and as unbelievable
as it sounds, Doreen was there. I know; she gets around does our
Doreen. Again, she didn’t realize at first that Mark was the one
I’d been pining for; she just grabbed him (not literally) and
started bending his ear about all sorts, including me. Why she
feels the need to tell everyone about me I don’t know, but as with
all weird coincidences, Mark felt like it was a sign. When He and
Doreen worked out they were both talking about me they knew
something special had happened; Well, Doreen made Mark see
something special had happened. Anyway she talked him into meeting
up with me tomorrow. I am so nervous now though. Keep your fingers
crossed.

Chapter
Sixteen

I heard his car
screech to a halt outside my door and my heart skipped a beat (I
know it’s a cliché but it did, really.) I opened my door, checking
my reflection first in the hall mirror. Catherine had taught me how
to straighten my own hair and do my eye make-up and I thought I’d
done a good job. I was wearing the black jumpsuit that gave me a
confidence boost. He got out of the car and held the passenger door
open for me.

‘You look
nice,’ he said.

‘You do too,’ I
said noticing he’d made a real effort. He wore a striped shirt and
black jeans and he’d gelled his hair again. I could smell a strong
smell of aftershave too.

‘This feels
weird, you sitting there,’ he said.

‘Yeah. I’ve
really missed you, you know.’

‘Me too.’ He
continued to stare at the road ahead and I wanted him to stop the
car so I could kiss him and tell him how I really felt but I
managed to hold in my excitement a while longer. We pulled up
outside the Chinese restaurant and he held my hand as we were led
to the same table we ate at the last time.

Mark poured us
both some wine and smiled. ‘I want us to be totally honest with
each other tonight,’ he said, taking a sip.

‘Me too.
Listen, I just wanted to say I’m sorry about not being entirely
honest with you.’

He shrugged his
shoulders. ‘I understand why you did it, but that doesn’t excuse
it.’

I felt a little
uncomfortable. ‘I know. I promise I won’t keep any secrets from you
again.’

‘Let’s just see
what happens tonight,’ he said, ‘I’m still not convinced we should
start seeing each other again.’

I felt sick.
‘Why not?’

‘I don’t know.
There’s a little voice inside my head telling me I can’t trust you.
I’ve been cheated on so many times and I don’t think I can handle
it again.’

‘You can’t go
through life avoiding relationships, though.’

‘I know that,
it’s just…’

‘Just
what?’

He stared
at me with those chocolate eyes and I literally swooned (I know –
it’s too corny, right?) ‘I was just starting to get really close to
you and I thought we could get serious, you know?’

‘
Yeah. I
was scared of that at first, that’s why I kept pushing you away,
but I’m not scared any more. I know that Monica and Doreen have
already told you this, but I’m just going to come out and say it…I
think I love you.’

The waiter
picked this moment to bring over our appetizers and so there was a
long silence while he did this. Mark’s face was expressionless,
which made me nervous. When the waiter had gone he put his arm on
the table and reached for my hand. ‘I was starting to feel the same
about you, but there’s something stopping me.’

‘Stopping you
from what?’

‘
Stopping
me from giving in to how I feel. I’m just scared it’s all going to
go wrong. M life is running quite smoothly for once and I don’t
want things to get spoiled.’ He started to eat some of his prawn
crackers while I stirred my soup around, without putting any of it
into my mouth. Here we go again, another ending.

Maybe I
should avoid anyone with the name Mark in future. They were
obviously no good for me.
‘Well if that’s the way you feel then why did you agree to
see me again?’ I said.

‘
I missed
you. And it was weird how people were trying to get us back
together. I just thought maybe we didn’t talk properly before. I
don’t really like leaving things up in the air.’

‘I know. I
think we should be together. I think someone has been trying to put
us together for ages,’ I said, pointing to the ceiling.

‘
I still
don’t know, though. Terri.’ He scooped some noodles onto his
chopsticks and twisted them around and around. ‘I like you a lot. I
just don’t think I can trust you.’

I decided
to try and eat my soup as it smelt absolutely delicious and
mega-spicy. I wasn’t disappointed when I’d swallowed it. My mouth
was starting to burn, though so I took a gulp of my drink. My face
was probably flushed from the heat as Mark
grinned
. ‘How’s your
soup?’ he asked.

‘Hot!’ I
said.

‘I seem to
remember that you like it hot, right?’ His eyes glinted.

I went along
with his flirting. ‘You remember right.’

He picked
up his wine and took a couple of sips. ‘What are we going to do,
then?’