Page 6 of Christmas off Script
Everyone in Foxbrooke knew who Ella was. She was the teen pregnancy accident of chavvy Nadine Butcher and drug dealer Ronnie Chamberlain. Damned before she was even born, and bearing the brunt of every bad decision made by her family, it would only be a matter of minutes before everyone knew she’d been publicly dumped by the upper-middle-class Oliver Fitzcannon. Ella Chamberlain and her family didn’t deserve nice things, and she’d got what was coming to her for thinking she could aspire to more.
‘Hey,’ Oliver sighed down the line. ‘Look, I’m sorry. I—’
‘We can fix this,’ she interrupted breathlessly. ‘We can’t just throw away six years without a fight.’
Silence.
‘I know it’s been tough spending so much time apart,’ she continued. ‘But I won’t have to look after my stepmother forever, and then I can move to wherever you are.’
‘Ella, Michelle’s forty. She’s only eleven years older than I am.’
‘But…’ When her dad came out of prison, would the burden of looking after Michelle pass to him? Or would he simply expect Ella to carry on being a skivvy like she’d been before he was sent down?
What do you think’s going to happen? It’s not like he’s turned over a new leaf when he’s been inside.
‘We barely see each other and I’m building a life up here now,’ Oliver continued.
‘What do you mean? You said this was a career step. That you’d move back in a year.’
Ella reached the front door of the modern house Oliver’s parents had bought for him in an attempt to keep their son closer to them, and fumbled to insert the key.
‘They’ve offered me the Head of Department position.’
‘W-what? When?’ Pushing the door shut behind her, she leaned against the hall radiator.
Oliver didn’t reply.
Ella shrugged off her coat and frantically tugged at the laces of her Converse. ‘What about your parents?’
‘They’re happy for me,’ was Oliver’s eventual reply.
‘What? They already know? When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me?’
First the news about her dad, and now this? Why was she the last to know about the most important things in her life?
Oliver cleared his throat. ‘It was offered to me after the ski trip.’
Weeks ago. ‘And you didn’t think to discuss it with me before making a decision?’
More silence.
Padding in her wet socks through into the living room, Ella turned in a circle. On every wall she’d hung canvases printed with photos of her and Oliver. ‘Look at us!’ they proclaimed. ‘Look how happy we are together!’
She’d spent so long creating her happy-ever-after, and now Oliver was ripping the fairytale apart and changing the ending.
This was it. The chance to do what she should have done years ago. She wasn’t even Michelle’s kid. Kyla-Marie and Billie-Mai would finally have to step up. Oliver had to come first.
‘I’ll hand in my notice on Monday. You get three and a half weeks off for Christmas. We can spend it together, then I’ll come back with you up north and look for work nearby.’
The line remained silent. Had they been cut off?
‘Oliver?’
She heard him sigh.
‘I’m making it happen, Oli. Did you hear what I just said? I’m putting us first.’
‘Ella, it’s not going to work. You’re too tied to Michelle. You—’
