Chapter Twenty-Five
“So what’s going on with you two then?” Sophie set the timer for the cakes she’d just put in the oven and started to gather the ingredients for her next recipe.
Faith sighed. “The short answer is: I don’t know. After the camping trip everything was wonderful. He dropped me off here and was heading up to Carrdale to check on a few things and we had plans to meet up for the evening. Then he phoned and said something had happened at the Centre and he wouldn’t be coming round after all. He just said he’d be in touch.”
Sophie tutted. “And twenty-four hours later you still haven’t heard from him?”
“Nope. I’ve left a message asking if everything is OK at Carrdale but he hasn’t got back to me. Has Dave said anything about a problem at the activity centre?”
“No. But apparently there’s a terrible atmosphere up there. Dave says Zane and Matt have obviously had a huge row about something, because they’re only talking to each other in front of the customers, and then only when they absolutely can’t avoid it.” Sophie paused, holding floury hands above a bowl in which she was making crumble topping. “Any idea what the row was about?”
Faith nodded.
“Come on then, spill. Is it about you and Zane?”
“Sort of.” Faith grimaced. “I think it’s probably more about Matt and me, and how Zane feels about that.”
Sophie dipped her hands back into the bowl of crumble topping. “I thought you guys had sorted all that out.”
“So did I. But there’s clearly something Zane’s still not happy about. And you know how Matt can be.”
“Yeah, provocative. A troublemaker.”
“Exactly.”
“Dave reckons there’s something going on with Matt anyway,” Sophie said, trying to push hair out of her eyes with her elbow rather than her flour-covered hands.
“How do you mean?”
“He’s not sure.” She shrugged. “Just a feeling he has. Matt’s great one minute and then pretty low the next, he says. Dave thinks it’s something personal, nothing to do with the Centre or you and Zane. But if you ask me, I’m convinced Matt’s not happy about you guys dating, no matter what he says to the contrary.”
Faith glanced through to the front of the café to check for new customers.
“I also heard that Zane turned up for work rather the worse for wear today, and actually cancelled a booking for an advanced climbing lesson he was supposed to take in the morning.”
“Zane cancelled a booking?” Faith raised her eyebrows in astonishment. Zane never cancelled bookings. He thought it was highly unprofessional.
“Yep. And he had one hell of a hangover too. Strange, right?”
“All this doesn’t sound like Zane at all.”
“So what are you going to do?” Sophie asked. “Are you going to go and see Zane and try to find out what is going on?”
“I suppose so. I have to take the lunch delivery up to the Centre today anyway. They have a group booked in this morning for tubing, and ordered a buffet lunch for them at the Centre at about one o’clock.”
“Good luck with that! Going up to the Centre with both Zane and Matt there, the way they are at the moment, will be like walking straight into the lions’ den.”
Faith parked close to the offices and took a deep breath. A day ago she and Zane had been crazy about each other and all had been perfect in their world. And now here she was actually dreading bumping into him at the Centre. It was ridiculous. What was even more ridiculous was that she still had no idea what could have happened to change them from wrapped-up-in-each-other to two people who weren’t even communicating. Other than the certainty that Matt would somehow be involved.
Ah well. May as well get this over with. Faith opened the boot of her car and pulled out the trays of food.
“Hey, Faith!”
Faith turned to see Dave walking up the steps towards the Centre. The steps which, she knew, led down to the river where the white-water tubing party were probably, at this very moment, starting to pack up in readiness for their lunch.
“Hi, Dave. How are things?”
Dave rolled his eyes skywards and then walked over to take a couple of the trays out of Faith’s arms. “Awful. You could cut the atmosphere around here with the proverbial knife.”
“No better then?”
Faith followed Dave into the Centre and up to the rec room where the food was to be set out for the guests.
“Nope. It’s a pretty large group in this morning. One of these company team-building bookings, so we’ve all been working down there. Total nightmare with Matt and Zane behaving the way they are towards each other.”
“But this is their business. Surely they’re not going to let whatever they’re arguing about get in the way of running the Centre?”
“Difficult not to, when they can hardly say two civil words to each other at the moment. Any idea what’s behind all this?”
Faith shook her head. “Sorry, no, not really,” she lied.
“Sophie tells me you and Zane are hardly speaking as well.”
“Something like that.” Faith turned her back on Dave to get on with sorting the food out. “Will the group be long, do you think?”
“Nah. Shouldn’t be more than ten minutes.”
Ten minutes later the doors to the rec room clattered open and a group of loud twenty-somethings poured into the room, clearly still high on their morning’s activities.
Faith braced herself as Matt strolled towards her.
“Thanks for doing this, Faith. The food looks great.”
“Thanks. Glad you’re happy with it all.”
Faith paused, looking around her. Zane was nowhere to be seen. So he must be avoiding her. “How are things going?” she ventured.
“Crazy but great.”
Faith cleared her throat. Should she say anything about the row or not? “I heard you and Zane aren’t the best of friends at the moment. Have you been in a fight?”
Matt stopped eating an egg roll and looked at Faith. “Ah.”
“What’s going on with you two?”
“I think you’d better ask Zane that question, not me.”
“OK. I will. Where is he?”
Matt finished off the egg roll and reached for another. “Office, I think.”
Five minutes later Faith found herself knocking on the office door.
“Yes! Come in!”
Faith pushed the door open just as Zane looked up from the paperwork he was holding. At least, she thought, he had the grace to look guilty. Not getting in touch. Avoiding her. He ought to feel guilty.
Faith shut the door behind her.
“Faith. Of course. You must have just delivered the food order. Thanks for that. You could have just sent Sophie up with it.”
So he’d rather she stayed away, would he?
“No problem. It’s my job. I like to keep the café’s clients happy.”
“Right. Thanks.” He returned to the paperwork.
“How are things? You said there was a problem at the Centre when you rang me. I was worried, I hadn’t heard anything from you since, and you didn’t reply to my message or text.”
Zane briefly glanced up at her and she knew from his expression that her words – and the meaning behind them – had hit home. “Oh, yes, sorry about that. It’s all sorted. Everything is fine, thanks.”
Faith stood before him, her hands on the edge of the desk, unsure what to do or say.
There used to be a sparkle in his eyes but that had gone now, along with the flirtatious smile. Was it just pressure of work that had brought about the sudden change in Zane’s attitude these past few days? Or was it something else? What had happened to make him decide to take a step back from what she’d thought had been an amazing relationship?
Had he gone off her? That didn’t make any sense. Things had been perfect the last time they’d been together. So had Matt said something to put him off her? That was the most likely answer. But what had he said? And why didn’t Zane just talk to her about it?
“There’s another Tourism Association meeting on Friday,” she ventured. “It’s at the café. Seven o’clock. I thought you might want to be there as usual. There’s a lot going on at the moment. Plans for the Christmas festival, the big light switch-on and all that.”
“OK.” He shuffled papers on the desk. “I’m not sure I can make it. Maybe one of the other guys will come along, just so Carrdale is represented.”
Faith sighed. She’d had enough of skirting around the issue. “What’s going on, Zane?”
“Nothing. Look I’m sorry but things are crazy around here today and I really need to return some calls before grabbing some lunch and heading back out this afternoon with this group for the abseiling session.”
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say?”
He glanced up from the papers again and, though he tried to hide it, she saw the flicker of hurt and confusion in his eyes.
“Did I do something to upset you?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“Then why the cold shoulder, Zane? What’s going on?”
He sighed and threw the papers on the desk, turning away to look out of the window.
“I’m sorry. I just think things aren’t working out between us. I’m so busy with the Centre that I hardly have time to breathe, let alone be in a relationship. I think it’s best we cool things for a while. Give each other a bit of space.”
“But you found time for us before. So what’s changed?”
He continued to stare out of the window, tapping a pen against the arm of the chair. “When I got back to the Centre after the camping trip, I realised I can’t leave Matt alone for a minute. OK, he cares about this place, but it’s not all his money that’d tied up in the Centre. It’s his parents’ money. If everything goes wrong for Carrdale, he won’t end up without a penny to his name. But I will. And I can’t risk it. I have to be here, all the time.” He paused then added, in a voice she thought was tinged with hurt and disappointment, “I can’t trust anyone.”
Faith walked to the chair and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t shut me out, Zane. I can help. I know how it feels, ploughing everything into a business, scared it’s all going to implode if you don’t give it everything all the time. I’ve been there. You’re not superhuman, Zane. You need to ease up, at least occasionally; otherwise you’ll end up a stressed-out wreck. I wouldn’t pressurise you about us. I appreciate you have to give Carrdale your full attention, but we can still be together. We can work around things.”
“I’m sorry, but no.”
“You’re saying we’re over?”
Faith moved her hand away. She couldn’t believe it. Just over a day to change from the attentive boyfriend who romanced her, spoilt her, said he couldn’t get enough of her, to a man who wouldn’t even look her in the eye and was hiding behind his business as a reason to abruptly end things between them.
“Yes. It’s over.”
Still he wouldn’t look at her. She walked in front him, blocking his view out of the window, and perched on the edge of the windowsill.
“Why? Why the sudden change of heart? What on earth did Matt do whilst we were away?”
“This has nothing to do with Matt. It’s to do with the fact I shouldn’t be distracted right now. I have to focus on Carrdale.”
Faith shook her head. “I don’t believe you. What did you two row about? Did you have a fight?”
“Just leave it, please.”
Zane turned the chair away from her and made to get to his feet, but she caught his hand, pulling him back.
For the first time he looked at her properly. And she saw it in his eyes: panic.
The Centre had nothing to do with him ending their relationship. He was using it as an excuse. He just wanted out. Things had got too heavy and he had panicked.
“Fine. If that’s what you want.”
As she brushed away the first of the tears, she thought, at least he hadn’t seen her cry.
She was halfway across the car park when she heard Matt calling her. She quickened her pace, wanting to reach her car and get out of there without having to talk to him. At the same time she didn’t want to break into a run, racing across the muddy ground, hair flying behind her, tears on her cheeks like some distraught heroine in a Jane Austen novel.
“Faith.”
Matt, it seemed, wasn’t bothered about breaking into a run. He put his hand on hers as she reached for the door of her car.
“Are you OK?”
Faith nodded, trying to keep her back to him so he wouldn’t see how upset she was.
Matt slowly coaxed her to turn around. “Hey,” he said, his voice soft. “You’re not OK. Come on, come and sit down for a minute.”
“I’m fine, really,” she protested. “I need to get back to the café.”
“No. You need to chill out for a minute. Come on.”
He took her hand and led her across the car park towards a couple of wooden picnic benches, screened from the Centre by a row of trees.
“I’m fine, honestly,” Faith insisted. Sitting on the edge of one of the benches she wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.
Matt knelt down in front of her. “You never were any good at lying.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Do you want me to nip back to the rec room and get you something to drink? Tea? Coffee? Double brandy?”
“You don’t have an alcohol licence,” she said, appreciating his attempt at humour.
“So, what’s he done now?”
She looked at Matt, still kneeling on the ground in front of her, getting his ultra-expensive outdoor gear trousers all muddy.
“He hasn’t told you?”
Matt laughed. “You’re kidding aren’t you? Once again he’s annoyed with me. Zane and I are passing messages to each other via Dave at the moment. Poor lad’s wondering what’s going on. Everything is very much on a work-only need-to-know basis. So, have you two had a row?”
“We’ve spilt up. Or rather, he’s split up with me.”
“Oh.”
Faith stared across the field towards the hills. For a few moments neither of them spoke.
“Why?”
Faith shrugged. “He’s not telling me. Not the real reason anyway. Says he’s too busy with work and it isn’t fair on me, blah, blah, blah. But I know he’s lying. He found time to be in a relationship with me before. Now he suddenly decides it’s over.”
The thumb of Matt’s right hand gently stroked her thigh. “I did try to warn you.”
“You said to be careful, but then you wouldn’t say why I should be careful. Did you know he was going to do this? One minute it’s amazing and the next he’s making excuses and avoiding me.”
“I thought he might. I didn’t want you to get hurt, but by the time I got here from Austria it was already too late. You guys were so full-on, so quickly. Let’s be honest, neither of you would have listened to me anyway, would you?”
“What do you mean, neither of us?” Faith asked warily. “Did you try to warn Zane not to get involved with me?”
Matt shook his head. “Of course not. It’s just, well, Zane isn’t very good at relationships, and I could see he was already crazy about you. I just felt like the whole thing with you was hurtling headlong for disaster and there was nothing I could do about it. I care about both of you. Didn’t want to see either of you get hurt. But, really, it was inevitable.”
“If you know so much about him, then tell me why he’s finished with me. The real reason.”
Matt shrugged. “But he’s an idiot for letting you go, that much I do know. All I can say is, sometimes Zane has a tendency to get freaked out when things get heavy in relationships. I’m guessing that’s probably got something to do with it.”
Faith frowned. “So he’s done this before?”
“Look, it’s not you, it’s him, OK? You didn’t do anything wrong. As for Zane and relationships, well, he can be stubborn when he wants to be.”
“Why am I even talking to you about all of this?” Faith asked, suddenly coming to her senses. “I should get back to the café.”
Matt pushed himself to his feet and offered a hand to help her up. “Are you doing anything tonight?”
“Why?” Faith asked, instantly on alert.
“Why don’t I take you out for a drink? Get your mind off Zane and his crazy moods.”
Faith shook her head in disbelief. He was trying it on with her? Now? Seriously? Some things never changed. “You’re dating Emily. I don’t think she’d be too happy.”
Walking towards her car she felt Matt’s hand softly pressed against the small of her back.
“I’m not dating Emily. Yeah, we go out, but it’s not anything serious. She knows it and so do I. It’s just a bit of fun. Anyway, you don’t think I’m hitting on you, do you? That would be insensitive, even for me. No, I meant go for a drink as friends. Nothing more.”
They reached her car and Faith opened the door. “Thanks, but I don’t think so, Matt. Besides, you know what the gossips are like round here. What would they make of seeing you and me sitting in the pub together? And—”
“And word would soon get back to Zane.” Matt finished the sentence for her. “Only by the time the gossip-mongers had finished, we wouldn’t have been out for a quiet drink, we’d probably have been all over each other, practically having sex on the corner seat in the Green Arms.”
Faith smiled. Matt had always known how to make her laugh. Ten years ago he’d also been good at making her cry as well.
“OK. No to the pub then. How about instead I buy a bottle of Rioja? That’s your favourite red wine, right? Or at least, it used to be. And I’ll come round to your place, we could watch a DVD. Flirty romcom or slasher thriller, your choice.”
“Matt, I don’t know. I appreciate the idea, you being a friend, trying to cheer me up, but—”
“Cinema then? We could head for the bright lights of Darlstone and the Cineplex. Unlikely we’d see anyone we know over there. You choose the film.”
“Matt…”
He put a hand on her arm. “Faith, I just want to cheer you up a bit. I’m not trying to hit on you or take Zane’s place. I promise. Now, make your mind up time: cinema, or wine and DVD at your place? Those are your only options. I won’t accept no for an answer.”
Faith got into her car, put the key in the ignition and buzzed the window down. Matt leaned in the open window.
“Well?”
“OK.” She nodded. “Decision made. Cinema.”
“Fantastic. Cinema it is.” Matt reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Faith noticed it was the latest high-tech model, all-singing, all-dancing, all the bells and whistles. Of course, Matt would have nothing less. She watched as he pushed some buttons.
“Stupid thing’s playing up. I can’t get the Internet on it. I was going to check the Cineplex website, see what’s on at what time.”
“I’ll have a look when I get chance back at the café, and let you know.”
“Great. You choose the film and just text me with what time I need to pick you up.”