Page 15 of Grin and Bear It

“Right, well, Nash Walker, I’m really sorry—”

“Don’t.” A small injection of emotion there, a hint of desperation, of need. “Don’t go, not unless you want to, of course, but…” I heard his sigh and found my lungs echoing that action. “It’s nice to hear someone’s voice, Ellie Jennings. So, you’re having a tough day by the sound of it. Did you turn the water off at the mains?”

“Ah, yes, but—”

“Don’t go walking into the laundry then,” he told me, his voice full of a kind of knowledgeable certainty that was catnip for me. “Not unless you turn the power off. You’re not likely to have anything live hitting the puddles of water, but if the house is a mess…”

“Fuck yes it is,” I said, then winced.

“Right.” He let out a throaty chuckle and damn me if I didn’t want to crawl down the phone line and into the silky depths of his voice. “So you can turn the mains off and then mop up the water, but that’s not gonna solve the problem with the taps. Did they rattle a lot before the leak appeared?”

“Yes, but—”

“So water hammer isn’t always a problem, but if you’re getting leaks, then the pipes are probably full of shit and need a good clean out. How old’s the house?”

“It was built in the 1970s and not much has been done with it since,” I said.

“Right. You renting or you own?”

“I own it.” I let out a hopeless little laugh. “I mean… I wish I didn’t, but…” I took another deep breath, feeling it centre me slightly, even if it did make the effect of the gin on my spinning head more obvious. “Look, you obviously know what you’re talking about and I would happily listen to you all night.”

“Yeah?” There was a specific kind of male pleasure that was always easy to detect in a man’s voice. A kind of almost boyish ‘shit, she noticed me’, coupled with a cocky ‘of course, she did. I’m awesome’. “Not many people say that. Not anymore.”

There it was, that pain again and I closed my eyes then, screwing them tight in preparation for what I was about to say.

“You must be wondering how I got your number.”

“It wasn’t off the website?” He shifted then. “I knew that bloody thing was useless.”

“No, it’s because…”Just say it, I told myself.Just fucking say it. “I’m your nephews’ teacher.”

“Shit.”

His short bark of a curse encapsulated exactly how I was feeling.

“I know, and I am so, so sorry for interrupting your night like this. It’s unforgivable—”

“Don’t.” Nash rallied quickly, all that confident command back. I went silent without any conscious thought. “Don’t apologise for ringing, seriously. I… I think I needed someone to talk to as well, and I didn’t know it until you called.” I heard a shuffle and then the crack of a can in the background. “So, I’m sitting down, now. Tell me what’s going on.”

“With the boys?” I asked hopefully, grasping at every possible straw that somehow I could get this conversation back on a professional track.

“With everything, Ellie.” There was a slight note of hesitation in his voice as if he was worried about taking liberties but, after my word vomit, I was pretty sure we were past the point of using formal names. “Tell me everything.”

As I spoke with him,I wondered why the twins were struggling so much. Their uncle, Nash, was that rare and beautiful thing: a man with the ability to be an active listener. He teased out the details of my story slowly, asking pertinent questions and probing gently for more as I went. I should’ve hung up, kept the conversation to just the issue of the boys’ behaviour but, blame it on the alcohol, my house or my very bad day, but it all came out. More than just the horrors of the day. Fuck, I was being so damn unprofessional. The history of my ‘relationship’ with Derek, the state of my damn house. But when I got to what had happened in class, I heard him hiss.

“The boys did that to you?” he asked, his voice suddenly sharp. “In front of the whole damn class?”

“Ah, yeah…” I said.

“Right, well, don’t worry, I’ll talk to them about that and make clear what a mistake that was.”

“Just…” I paused, aware I was about to break one of the cardinal rules of talking to parents: thou shalt not tell a parent how to raise their child. “Don’t go too hard on them. I just needed to let you and their other uncles know what happened.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure everyone is aware of what went on today,” he promised. “I won’t wake the little pricks up now, but a conversation will be had over breakfast.”

“Right, right…” I breathed out. “So I should—”

“Give me your address.”

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