Page 33 of Out of Control

The words of a male voice were lost to the traffic.

He needed to get away. Fiona mustn’t see his humiliation. Meeko’s brain failed to instruct his hands how to join the ends of the laces. With his back still towards the café and his left toes tightly curled in an effort to keep his trainer on, he hurried away. He turned automatically when she called his name but then thought better of it and continued walking.

He’d thought that he and Fiona trusted each other completely. Whenever they touched accidentally there were sparks and tingles. He’d assumed she’d felt those too and had hoped there was a chance their friendship could develop into something more. These hopes had been the main reason he’d ended the relationship with Lynn. He’d been fond of Lynn and they got on well together but his feelings for her would never beas deep as those he had for Fiona. It hadn’t been fair to keep Lynn hanging on.

He’d been waiting patiently for Fiona for two reasons. Firstly, if he made a move before she was ready, it would be a friendship ruined — and Meeko valued his friendship with Fiona more highly than any other relationship in his life.

Secondly, he was giving himself time to become someone that she would be proud to call her ‘life partner’. Fiona moved in middle-class circles with people who had proper careers and pension pots. Her friends didn’t live hand to mouth in rented flats. He would be an embarrassment at social events when people asked, “What do you do for a living?” Ad hoc yoga teacher with a temporary Father Christmas job wasn’t good enough. He needed a salary and a job title and a pension. To that end he had applied for and failed to get all the Fitness Manager jobs that had come up at hotels within a fifteen-mile radius. Apparently, teaching great classes with a loyal clientele was not a qualification that helped when managing staff, timetabling classes, dealing with budgets and organising stuff. Meeko didn’t want a Fitness Manager role, but he would have taken it to help his prospects with Fiona.

But now it seemed that Fiona didn’t see him as unique and special at all. She didn’t trust him. He wasn’t good enough. The more he thought about it, the more devastated he felt. The only way forward was to pack up his hopes and dreams. And he had to do it before he saw her again. That meant avoiding her until he’d got himself in check. He wouldn’t let the pregnant girl down by cancelling his appearance at her baby shower, but, until the party, ‘Fiona avoidance’ was his tactic of choice. He constantly varied his hotel breakfast times, and on the couple of occasions when she arrived slightly ahead of him, he persuaded the staff to do him a takeaway coffee plus a paper bag filled with pastries and a couple of boiled eggs.

Chapter 26

By the morning of the baby shower, Adele still hadn’t provided a proper list of confirmed guests.

“We’re not in the Dark Ages now,” she’d said when Fiona had pushed her on this point a few days before. “We’re more laid-back than when you were young.” Fiona had winced but Adele had been oblivious to her implied insult. “We go with the flow. Don’t worry — if we run out of something on the day, I’ve an app that will get it delivered within thirty minutes.” At an expensive premium, thought Fiona.

She had erred on the side of generosity with the food and drink. Only a couple of the bottles of prosecco actually fitted in the fridge, due to the amount of food ready for the buffet table. She’d managed to persuade Adele that takeaway pizzas weren’t the best way to go and they’d decided on an ‘adult’ buffet menu together. The rest of the drink was assembled like a row of miniature soldiers in the December chill of the garage. Mid-afternoon, Fiona went to collect Dorothea plus a mountain of loaded cake tins. The old lady was dressed in the aquamarine skirt and jacket that she reserved for high days and holidays, plus a cream blouse with a little bow at the neck. Her shoes were silver with a little heel and she’d taken care with her hair and make-up.

“You look lovely, Mum.”

“I should hope so. Meeting my granddaughter-by-proxy for the first time is an important occasion.”

Fiona hoped Adele felt the same way. She carried the cake tins into the house and asked Adele to assist her mother out of the car. Both women were smiling when they came into the kitchen and Adele sported a scarlet splodge on her right cheek that matched her grandmother-by-proxy’s lipstick. Fiona grinned.

Between the three of them, but with Fiona as chief labourer, given her mother’s age and Adele’s condition, food was laid out and furniture rearranged. With quarter of an hour to go before the guests were expected, there was still no sign of Meeko and his Father Christmas outfit. Fiona had assumed he’d arrive early, get changed upstairs and then make a grand ho-ho-ho entrance.

Adele was unconcerned. “Nobody else will be on time. There’s a calculation we apply — add thirty minutes and then further five-minute chunks depending on how close you are to the host and how many other people you will know, et cetera, et cetera.”

Fiona stared at the girl’s serious face. Why hadn’t she told her this earlier?

Adele’s expression broke into a grin and she gave Fiona a gentle prod. “Got you!”

Fiona felt ancient and gullible. But it didn’t matter because the teasing meant Adele was finally loosening up in her company.

“As long as he shows up before people start to leave, it will be fine,” Adele said.

Urgent banging on the front door made the three of them jump to attention.

Fiona’s heart lifted. “I knew he wouldn’t let us down.”

For a second, the three of them paused awkwardly in the hallway. Fiona was confused about who was the hostess, her or Adele.

“Don’t leave them out in the cold.” Dorothea opened the front door.

“Balloons!” Joe stepped inside, pulling his right hand downwards to navigate the doorframe. He held a ribbon attached to a white inflated stork carrying a pink bundle in its beak. In his other hand was a bulky, outsize, but obviouslylight, carrier bag. “You can’t have a party without balloons — especially when it’s a celebration for my very first grandchild.”

Fiona hardly had the time to introduce Joe and Dorothea to each other before Adele butted in.

“Dad! You promised you’d stay away.”

Joe turned back to the doorway. “And I will. I assume you want me to take these away as well?”

“No! Leave them.”

Fiona was touched by Joe’s thoughtfulness. Whatever his other faults, he definitely had his family’s best interests at heart. She raised her eyebrows at Adele to indicate that she should thank her dad for the kind gesture and, at least, give him a peck on the cheek. Adele’s eyes met hers for a split second.

“Thanks, Dad.” She took the bag from him and Joe handed the stork to Dorothea. “Now go!”

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