Page 60 of Calling Frank O'Hare

‘I can arrange lessons. I know of a very good instructor.’ Of course he did. Gavin had more connections than the London underground.

‘I can arrange them myself. But thank you, Gavin. Thank you for everything.’

‘My pleasure.’ Gavin’s mouth forced itself into a tiny little smile and Frank regretted saying it straight away.

Ellen was waiting for them in the clinic’s reception. She leapt on Frank and smothered him in kisses.

‘Don’t I get one?’ said Gavin.

‘No. I still hate you.’

Gavin arched his eyebrows. ‘No you don’t.’

‘I do. You put me in here.’

‘It was for your own good. Anyway, I believe it was your husband who signed the papers.’ He held out his hand and she took it, still scowling at him like a petulant child.

‘Don’t you dare try to spoil the only decent thing in my life. Frank can do no wrong and you know it.’

‘For now, at least.’ Gavin kissed the top of her head.

In return she planted an almost shy kiss on his cheek. They were a strange pair. In every other way but looks they were complete opposites. Ellen was a cocktail of emotions. You never knew what you were going to get with her. Every day was a new adventure. On the surface, Gavin was a cold fish. Calm, competent, emotions never on display. Yet there was a bond between them that Frank envied. He didn’t have that with his sister, and even though he spent more time with Martin than Siobhan, he didn’t have it with Martin either.

Gavin dropped them home but didn’t come in. As soon as they were in the flat Ellen was all over him. He wasn’t prepared for it, having already scheduled in a one-to-one talk about drugs and honesty. She must have sensed he was holding back and stopped abruptly. ‘You’re angry with me.’

‘No, I’m not angry. I just think we need to talk. Set some boundaries.’ It was bullshit corporate speak, something he’d heard at work and he wanted to cringe. She’d told him once how much she hated being shackled and here he was doing that very thing. Not that he saw it that way, but he knew she would.

‘What do you mean boundaries?’

‘No more drugs.’

She swiped her hand across the air. ‘Goes without saying, darling. That was very much a passing phase anyway. Call it a failed experiment.’

‘And you’ve got to be honest with me. No more hiding things.’ She was frowning at him, but Frank was like a freight train rolling down the tracks and he wasn’t going to stop. ‘If we’re to have any chance of a future together, there has to be complete honesty. If there’s ever a point when you feel tempted again, you must tell me. We’ll beat it together.’

There was a smile on her face very like the one Gavin had given him earlier. ‘Have you been reading those pamphlets they have at the Richmond.’

‘I’m serious, Ellen.’

‘I know you are, my sweet. Set your boundaries. I’ll do whatever you say. I never want to go in that place again. Let’s go out to celebrate tonight. A meal somewhere. Your choice. I’ll pay.’

He kissed her and breathed in her perfume. He’d missed her so much. ‘No, wife. I’ll pay.’

‘Mmm. Get you, all masterful. Okay, husband, whatever you say. But first…’ She unzipped his flies and put her hand down his pants. ‘Still works, I see.’

He took her to the Chinese restaurant in Dalston. It was slumming for her really, but Ellen didn’t mind slumming occasionally. As long as she didn’t have to make a habit of it.

‘I’m thinking of getting out of modelling,’ she said. ‘Too many temptations.’

‘Good idea. What will you do instead?’ Frank was never sure if it was the modelling that had got her into drugs, but he suspected it had just made it easier for her to get them.

‘Not sure. I’ll talk to Gavin. He’ll be able to fix something up for me.’

Of course he could. Gavin could fix anything up.

‘I’m thinking about a career change too. I might look at teaching. Proper teaching in a school, like Adrian. I thought I’d talk to him about it.’

‘Teaching? I’m going to be a teacher’s wife? How quaint.’ She laughed not realising that with one word, she’d belittled him.

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