Eleanor woke up to find herself in the woods, surrounded by soft cushions and birdsong but no Tom. She sighed to herself in the soft morning light. Was that true what she had felt last night? Did she love him? But as she stared up at the sky high above the trees, she realised she did.
She was totally and utterly in love with Tom. She had never felt like this before about anyone. Any past loves had been fleeting and slight. This was all-encompassing.
She found she couldn’t stop smiling as she realised that Tom was now standing next to the blanket, facing the river.
‘Good morning,’ she said, her voice husky.
But when he spun round, he was holding his phone and staring at her with hard eyes, his face white with shock.
‘What’s the matter?’ she gasped. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Is this you?’ he said. ‘Is this really you?’
She finally registered that he was holding up the screen to that she could see it.
‘I’m plastered all over the front page of Hot Gossip! Magazine,’ he told her. ‘That is the one you work for, isn’t it? At least, that’s what the story says.’
‘No, I…’ she began.
But he was too cross to listen. ‘You lied to me. It says here that you’re a journalist. And not for some money magazine.’
She groaned, shaking her head. ‘No. I’m not,’ she told him with a sigh. ‘Well, yes, I was but I left a long time ago.’
But he wasn’t listening. ‘Is this what all this was about? Did you sleep with me just for the story?’
‘No! Of course not!’ she told him, desperate for him to believe her. ‘I don’t know anything about a story. I haven’t written anything about you.’
‘Is your real name Eleanor?’ he asked.
He looked so furious, with eyes so full of hatred that she was shocked.
‘Yes, of course it is,’ she replied.
‘And you never gave them a story about me?’ He was looking at her as if she was the lowest possible lifeform.
She sat up, knowing that she had to tell him the truth. ‘That was the idea at first,’ she told him. ‘But then you weren’t what I expected at all. None of this was. And I stopped it, a long time ago because I fell in love with you.…’ She gulped. ‘I love you.’
Finally, for the first time since her father had walked out, she was able to say it. She thought the words would be hard to say. But the fact that it felt so right meant that she believed every word. She truly loved Tom.
She wanted so much to hear him say that he loved her too. But instead, he snatched the phone from her.
‘You’re lying. It’s all lies.’
‘No! It’s not,’ she said, quickly getting up to grab hold of his arms. ‘I really do. I love you, Tom. You have to believe me.’
‘Of course I don’t believe you!’ he shouted at her. ‘I should never have trusted you. Just go. Leave. Go on, get out of here.’
But she stood still. She couldn’t leave him. Not like this. Not when she loved him so much. ‘No, Tom, I…’
‘Fine,’ he finally snapped. ‘If you won’t leave then I will.’
He stormed off through the woods, marching away from her and taking her heart with him.
For a second, she just stood there, reeling from all that had happened.
And then she sank onto the ground, crying for the love that she had briefly shared and just lost.
*
Eleanor had only managed to get as far as her workshop by mid-morning. Weak from crying, she couldn’t have moved much further anyway. She stayed huddled in a corner, trying to call Tom over and over on his mobile. But he had turned his phone off.
Sometime later, Annie and Megan appeared at the door.
‘Thank god you’re here,’ said Megan, sighing with relief. ‘We’ve been looking for you everywhere.’
‘Is he still in the house?’ said Eleanor, looking up at Annie with pleading eyes.
Annie shook her head. ‘He left about an hour ago. He’s catching a last-minute flight to New York. Says he needs a change of scenery.’
Eleanor bit her lip as more tears spilled down her cheeks. ‘It’s all my fault.’
‘You didn’t really write that article, did you?’ asked Annie, the tears glistening in her eyes.
‘No, of course not,’ said Eleanor, her voice breaking. ‘It’s that bitch editor of mine. She made the whole thing up. With Lucas’ help, of course,’ she added bitterly.
She had read the whole wretched story in horror and disbelief. Various quotes from ‘a close friend’ only confirmed what she had guessed. That her ex-boyfriend had spoken to Theresa. She hoped the VIP tickets he no doubt received in exchange would choke him.
Her friends were still looking at her with worried faces.
‘Anyway, I wouldn’t do that to you. To either of you. I promised,’ Eleanor told them. ‘Besides, I love you, you know that.’
Annie and Megan looked at each other in shock.
‘You never say that,’ said Annie, her eyes wide.
‘Not after your dad left,’ added Megan, equally astonished.
‘Well, I do. I really love you guys.’ Eleanor began to sob again. ‘And… and I love Tom. He’s the love of my life and he hates me. I’m never going to love anyone ever again.’
‘You love him?’ asked Annie gently.
‘I do! I really love Tom!’ wailed Eleanor.
‘We know,’ said Megan, stepping forward to give her a hug. ‘We just wanted to hear you say it out loud at last.’
‘What do I do now?’ asked Eleanor, frantic. ‘He won’t answer his phone to me.’
Her friends sat down on the floor next to her.
‘I don’t know,’ said Megan, with a shrug of her shoulders. ‘We’ll just take it one day at a time, okay?’ She paused for a second. ‘You might not want to hear this right now, but there is some actually quite amazing news this morning.’
‘What’s that?’ sniffed Eleanor, hardly caring.
‘You won’t believe it,’ said Annie. ‘Rackelle has gone into Celebrity Big Brother. Apparently she’s been raving about your products and now Megan says the brand new internet site she’s built for you has crashed!’
Eleanor was stunned. ‘You’re kidding,’ she gasped.
‘Nope,’ said Megan. ‘Isn’t it great? Well, you know. Apart from losing the love of your life and all that, obviously.’
Eleanor began to cry again.
‘I don’t know what we can do about all this,’ said Annie, drawing her into a hug.
‘Nothing,’ said Megan. ‘Except be here for you.’
They all leaned forward into a group hug.
‘You jump, we jump, okay?’ said Annie.
And Eleanor nodded through her tears, pleased that their friendship was whole again despite her broken heart.
*
The fete was hailed as a huge success in the local newspaper later that week.
Annie took full credit as the future countess, which helped her self-esteem rocket. ‘If I can do this, I can do anything,’ she said, beaming. ‘What about holding a Christmas fete?’
‘Er, what about your wedding?’ said Megan.
Annie shrugged her shoulders. ‘I can do both!’
‘Remember that I’ll be busy with Eleanor’s website,’ said Megan, in a warning tone.
Ironically, although her personal life was in free fall, Eleanor’s new career was on the rise. Thanks to Rackelle’s television recommendation, she was inundated with orders for her products.
And she wasn’t the only one who was doing well.
‘Have you seen this?’ said Sam, his eyes wide, as he crossed the main hall one day.
‘What is it?’ asked Eleanor, bracing herself for a photo of Tom.
‘Somebody’s put a clip on YouTube from the fete. You know, of the lads singing with Tom.’
Eleanor stared down at the screen, the pain hitting her hard as she stared down at Tom’s face as he sang. She willed her eyes to tear themselves away from him, trying to focus on the numbers. ‘How many hits does that say?’
‘Twenty million and rising,’ Sam told her, breaking into a grin. ‘My phone’s gone mental. The whole thing’s gone viral. The buzz on Hazy Memory’s new Rat Pack album is huge.’
‘Wow,’ said Eleanor, smiling for the first time in days as she looked down at the screen once more. ‘Well, good for them.’
Another unexpected outcome of the fete was a phone call from scary Theresa, her ex-editor. ‘If you want your job back, we could always offer you a column. You know, life of a pop star’s girlfriend type of thing.’
It was the lifeline that Eleanor had dreamt about all those months ago. But now she wanted nothing to do with it.
‘No, thank you,’ she told Theresa and hung up.
Another unwelcome phone call had been from her dad. She knew he had only got in touch because she and Tom were splashed all over the gossip magazines again. But she let the call go to voicemail and then deleted the message. Once the media moved onto the next story then her dad would forget all about her once more.
In contrast, the text messages from her mum had brought her much joy. Various photos taken of her mum and Ben looking suntanned and happy on their holiday were the only good points in the worst week of her life.
Eleanor wandered along to her workshop, thinking how pleased she was that her mum had found happiness. But also how cruel love could be when it was taken away from you.
Outside, the long grass had fallen over under its own weight and was beginning to yellow and die. The air felt cooler. The horse chestnut tree leaves were turning yellow. The other trees would soon follow. Autumn was just around the corner.
Her friends were busy. The wedding for Annie and Sam would come round quickly. And Megan was cheerful, helping with the business as well as trying to keep up with her young family. They were trying to buoy Eleanor up each day and they needed her help too. Annie with becoming a countess. Megan trying to juggle having both a family and a life for herself as well. And Eleanor was determined to be there for both of them from now onwards. After all, what else were best friends for?
It was ironic, really, she thought. She finally had a job she loved and was proud of. Her skin was smooth and free of any flaky patches. She was full of ideas for the business. Someone had requested nail and cuticle oils and creams. She was also considering sourcing some goats’ milk from a local farm. Then there was the possibility of using local beeswax. She also wanted to try out coloured soap. Her mind was racing with possibilities. It was a job she could shout to the rooftops about. But her heart was completely broken.
She hid away in her workshop, working day and night to fill the endless hours without Tom. It was so different, knowing he wasn’t about to walk into small room. She felt empty all the time, especially in the evenings now that he wasn’t around to share those precious moments at dusk with him.
Arthur popped in one day as passed by on his afternoon walk with Dylan. ‘We should get you a wood-burning stove in here for when winter comes,’ he told her. ‘It’ll be liable to get a bit chilly otherwise.’
‘That might be an idea,’ she told him, reaching down to stroke the dog’s head. Dylan looked almost as miserable as she felt, both of them sensing that Tom had left forever. Once more, the guilt overcame her. Not only had she broken her own heart, she’d broken Dylan’s too.
‘You know, I think this could be the start of something new,’ said Arthur, looking around at the other stables. ‘A small business start-up place. Like a group of workshops. I shall put the word out and see if we get any other interest from my tenants. There must be some other creative people like yourself out there.’ He ran his hand along the shutter. ‘I must say, he was an awfully good carpenter.’
Eleanor just about managed to hold it together until Arthur left. And then she cried at the thought of winter without Tom. It would be a bleak one without him. Her heart didn’t hammer from stress any more. It just hurt so much from being broken in two.