Page 26 of After the Rain
“Ugh, not a thing.” Poppy takes Wren’s hand and squeezes it, and I add my own hand to the mix. “Babe, I don’t know what is going on with him, but Chris and I have definitely talked more than once about how he looks at you when he thinks nobody is watching. The man is besotted with you. That doesn’t explain or negate this behaviour, but I think the only way to know what the fuck is going on is to try and talk to him. In person, where he can’t leave you on read.” Wren leans forward, resting her forehead on the tablewith a groan.
“I know. I know I need to,” she says, her words muffled by the table. Abruptly, she lifts her head up. “Fuck it. I’m going to speak to him at the quiz on Tuesday. You better distract my brothers, though, as if they catch wind of him ghosting me, they’ll kick his arse. Not literally, but there will probably be a stern word or two from Nash, at least.”
“Your brothers will all square up to him if they think he’s been messing about with their baby sister,” Poppy says around a laugh.
“I obviously haven’t known you all that long, but I do know that Aidan thinks the absolute world of you, babe, so if he thinks that anyone has not been treating you well, he’ll come down on them like a tonne of bricks.” Wren smiles wanly at me.
“Aidan is too sweet for this world,” Wren muses. I choke a little on the last of my coffee and feel my face blush again.
“Oooh shit, Rain. Are you blushing? Whatever could that mean?” Poppy has a shit-eating grin on her face. Why did I ever think this woman was sweet and kind? Well, OK, if she wants to go there about her old friend and Wren’s brother, then who am I to stop her?
“He is sweet. For sure. But he’s also growlyand possessive and fucks like—” I don’t finish my sentence as Wren and Poppy both smother my mouth and – yep, my whole head – with their hands, clearly desperate to avoid any details. “Don’t test me, bitches. I will spill the tea all over this joint.” I can barely get my words out; I’m laughing so hard as I try to extricate myself from their clutches.
My sides are actually hurting from how much I’ve laughed with these amazing women today. I’ve had the best time getting to know them better, and even sharing a bit of my sad tale felt like a weight off. Wren pulls her phone out, her disappointed expression at having no messages quickly morphing into a smile.
“We need a photo for the ’gram,” she announces, positioning herself to take a selfie of the three of us. We all grin widely with our arms around each other. “Annnd posted. More coffee?” We look at each other sideways before Poppy reaches under the table and pulls out two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon.
“I thought we might need to level up after a while?” We all cheer at her brilliance, and I send Aidan a quick text as Wren and Poppy get glasses and a corkscrew.
ME: Hey babe. Hope you’re having fun. Did you catch anything yet? We’ve migrated onto wine. So, I may need picking up later. Is that OK?We’re doing life stories and I don’t want to miss any chapters. Love you <3
SEXY LUMBERJACK: No problem, baby. Just let me know when you’re ready. Have fun, and I love you too <3 P.S. I caught a perch, which was about as tiny as you are so…
Twenty
Aidan
As I tuck my phone back in my pocket, I become aware of five sets of eyes on me. All smirking. I roll my eyes in response and check my line.
We took one of the boats from the yard out today as it’s big enough to fit us all on the bow. We motored out to Fenside Broad and then sailed for an hour or so, enjoying the freezing wind as it tipped the boat from side to side as we travelled from one end of the expanse of water to the other. The feeling of being under sail, especially at this time of year when the Broads are quiet, is quite simply indescribable to me. No engine sounds, no traffic noise, just the cutting sound of the boat’s hull through the water, the wind in the sails when they fill after eachjibeortackturn into or away from the wind. The ducks, geese, coots, and moorhens offer the only soundtrack as the five of us all appreciate this beautiful peace that we arefortunate enough to live and work alongside.
Of course, once we moored up and threw the mud weight into the water to secure the front end of the boat from too much motion, the chatter increased. Not least the digging questions from my brothers, Sam, and Chris, wanting the gossip about me and Rain. I’ve kept things close to my chest, not wanting to spill too much of Rain’s history. It seems he’s sharing a bit with Poppy and Wren, though, which makes me happy. He needs friends of his own to, no doubt, complain about me to when I get too clingy or needy or anxious. Not that I think Rain will bitch about me unnecessarily, but it’s important that he has people he can go to. Every relationship has its issues, and we have basically been living together since the day we met, so there will no doubt be things that come up the more we get to know each other. Having that safe space to share and get support is so important.
It’s that thought that prompts me to reassess my approach and speak to my brothers and friends about something that has been on my mind the last few days. I take a breath and let it out before I speak, calming the slowly rising anxiety that rears its ugly head every time I think about this.
“So, lads. I, uhm, I could use some advice about something.” Instantly, those five pairs ofeyes come back to me, this time with concern in them, not knowing sarcasm.
“Anything, mate. You know that.” Chris has always been such a supportive friend. In a world of toxic masculinity, he never shied away from offering emotional support to anyone, even at school, where teenage views of masculinity could be even more toxic than usual.
“It’s about Rain.”
“Is everything going OK?” Nash asks. “IsheOK?” Nash is the only one who really knew how badly hurt Rain had been when he had arrived here. He’s also the only one who has any inkling as towhyhe had been in that state.
“It’s all good,” I reassure him. “We’re fine and more importantly, he’s fine. He’s back to dancing and…”
“I still can’t believe you built that studio for him!” Archer says around his beer. “It looks fucking sweet, man! I didn’t know you were such a romantic sausage.”
“Only because he never brought anyone home or had a relationship long enough to see his squishy side,” Cole adds.
“Yeah, yeah.” My voice holds all the long-suffering humour as expected when dealing with the twins. “It’s just, so, basically, when he turned up here, he had clearly been beaten half to deathby someone. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that it was his cunt of an ex-boyfriend.”
Collective murmurs of “oh shit” and “fuck” punctuate my sentence.
“Yeah. It wasn’t good. He’d also been…” I look at Nash questioningly. Is it OK to disclose his sexual assault? My gut says no, but I needed to get the seriousness of this situation across. Nash gives me a very subtle shake of his head. “Let’s just say that it was fucking bad in all the ways it could be bad.”
I know, in this moment, that without saying it explicitly, I have pretty much said everything that would make it clear what had happened. Panic fills me at the thought that Rain would realise I had been talking about him, get angry, and leave. Chris obviously recognises my panic and places his hand on my arm.
“Aid. Mate. Don’t worry. Anything you say here is between us, and only us. Nobody here has any interest in gossip. We just want to support you. Go on.” I smile at him gratefully, making eye contact with all the guys and getting a firm nod from each of them in agreement before continuing.
