Sleepwalk (5 page)

‘Hi …. Peter? Sorry I’m late I was held up in traffic.’

‘No worries. You’re not late anyway, it’s not eight yet. I was early. You must be Felicity.’

‘Yes that’s right. Call me Flick.’ She unlocked the front door and went through to her office t
o turn off the alarm. She made c
offee then they settled down at her desk
while she ran through her i
deas for the website. Peter had an argument for almost every one of them. Her photos were too big, not enough detail on the properties and she shouldn’t advertise the price with the picture. Eventually she stood her ground and took a folder from her desk drawer.

‘Now look Peter. It
was my i
dea to go global w
ith this website. Other estate a
gents have already had a lot of success on the
inter
net and with more and more people having PC’s in the home, pretty soon there aren’t going to be many peop
le who don’t surf the net. Now I
’ve put a lot
of work into this and I
’ve done my research, both in the
UK
and in the States. The biggest most successful agents do it this way. Their sites are easy to understand and the onus is on the photograph and the price. It’s what attracts the buyer in the first place
and keeps them interested. Our l
ogo is still there,
it’s just not quite as big and i
f we give them too much
info
and not enough photo then they won’t feel obliged to fill in their details to find out more and it’s their contact details we need to make this thing work.’

‘I totally agree with everything you say Flick, It’s just that Charles did mention a big bold header for our logo and you’ve put a little too much emphasis on the pictures in my opinion. Ok. We’ll make it a little smaller……………’

It was going to be a long day and Peter was slowly losing his Greek God persona……

‘And by the way Flick………’

‘Yes?’

‘You look well sexy when you’re angry.’
Or maybe not……….

By
9am
when Karen and Graham had turned up for work they had reached a compromise on the
home
page and already had three linked pages running. Felicity was at this point becoming qu
ite excited as she watched her i
deas unfold and was in awe of Peter and his IT skills. He certainly knew his stuff. She had an appointment with a vendor at
2pm
and had to take Graham along for a photo session. By
3.30pm
she had a deal for sole agent on a £2
00
k property with
an extra 0.5% for the internet a
dvertising and was feeling rather pleased with herself.
Felicity Breen, you’re going to put
Denton
Fairfax
on the map. Therefore a pay rise will be well overdue………

It had b
een six months since Ellie had s
leepwalked out of her bedroom window and although her broken limbs were vastly improved, her mind had never healed. He had initially taken a few weeks off work
to help her with Ollie and his m
other helped a lot. Every window in the house had locks now and he’d had special night alarms fitted so that should anything happen while he was asleep and she managed to open an external door or window, the alarm would sound and wake him, but this had never happened. She was given medication to help her sleep but refused to take it. She was given anti-depressants for her anxiety but refused those too; saying recent research revealed that sedati
ves and stimulants could cause sleepwalking
. She tried to stay up as late as she could every night in the hope that when she finally did go to bed her body would be too tired to physically wander. At first he had tried to stay up with her but found he couldn’t function at work
so he
tried talking her into having a routine
but she wouldn’t listen. Sleep e
xperts seemed to hav
e contradictory accounts about s
leepwalking. You should wake them; you shouldn’t wake them. Too much sl
eep makes them restless; s
leep deprivation causes it. Stress causes it. Whatever the causes were, Ellie was afraid to sleep and her lack of sleep was having a detrimental effect on their relationship.

It was Oliver’s first birthday. She had arranged a party for him on Saturday afternoon and invited
his
parents and her closest frie
nd, Abi. His mother had made a b
irthday cake. It wa
s a perfect copy of Thomas the tank e
ngine and Ollie loved Thomas.
But
on Saturday morning the cake had been taken out of its tin and was
in pieces scattered across the k
itchen table and all over the floor. He went immediately to their bedroom to find Ellie still sound asleep. He went to Oliver’s room and found he was also sound asleep. Had she woken in the night and done this? But when he questioned her later she looked as shocked as he had been.

‘You think I would do this to Ollie? You really don’t have a very high opinion of me do you?’

He called his m
other and told her there had been an accident with the cake. She was very understan
ding and told him not to worry; she would pick one up from the b
akery on her way over. The rest of the day seemed to go without a hitch but tempers were frayed between them and every day it seemed to get worse. Ellie was spending more and more time with Abi and less time with him. There were days when he came home from work
to find
she was still out in the car with Abi
having left
Oliver
with his mother
and other days when he came home
to find
Abi there playing with Ollie until the girl had practically become a fixture and seemed to be always in their lives.
N
ot yet
being able to
drive
safely
meant Ellie
depended on her friend a lot and he knew that she needed someone to help her with Ollie so at first he’d been glad of her having such a close friend. Then it seemed to get a little out of hand. The girl began to have an opinion. If they disagreed on something Abi always took her side. The two girls had become almost inseparable and so it came as no surprise when Ellie asked him if her friend could move into the spare bedroom. She was
apparently
having trouble finding work
,
couldn’t afford the rent in her flat and in any case Ellie needed her help and he wasn’t exactly there to help her was he?

‘Ellie I have to go to work. There’s the mortgage on this place and all the bills. I’ve already taken my quota of holiday this year when you had your accident so my hands are a little tied don’t you think? I would help you when I come home but you’ve always got that bloody little sponger here and…….’

‘Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare cal
l her that!
She’s been more help to me than you’ve ever been. She’s the only one who really cares.’

‘That’s not fair Ellie and you know it. I’ve tried my best to look after you and help you. I even offered to sell the bloody house and buy a bungalow. I haven’t slept properly myself in ages. I’m always worried you’ll wake up and do something stupid.
But I still have to get up in the morning and go to work so that we can eat and look after Ollie and sometimes
I find that really hard Ellie; r
eally hard. Ever since the accident you have become more and more distant. There are times I just want to come home and spend a little quality time with my wife, but when I get here; she’s here. She’s always here.’

‘It’s not my fault. I didn’t purposely jump out the bloody window did I? You think I don’t know what I’ve put you through? At least if Abi’s here, you don’t need to be. I’m giving you a break, that’
s all. She’s so good with Ollie;
with both of us. She really looks after me, and anyway, it’s only for a couple of weeks until she finds a job.
She’ll pay her keep .......
and we need the money.’

‘Well if she really intends to start working again then she
won’t be
here to look after you anyway
will she, s
o
what’s the point? You won’t benefit
from her being here if she’s working, apart from a few quid that she’ll help you spend and we’ll never have any privacy. Is that what you want Ellie?’ He stormed from the room slamming the door closed behind him. Perhaps that
was
what Ellie wanted. She certainly didn’t seem to want him anymore, and not just sexually. She didn’t even want to be in his company. He felt like his marriage was falling apart and he couldn’t fix it. To give in would be to give up. Was that truly what she wanted?

He drove around for a while, bought a paper at the newsagents and went home. He’d barely been gone an hour and when he walked in Abi was there. Ellie was sitting next to her on the sofa. She’d been crying. They both looked at him nonchalantly. He felt like a stranger in his own home and he knew
then that he would give in; t
hat Ellie would have
her way and, more to the point
that Abi would have hers.

After a successful couple of weeks creating and updating the new website which was already proving its worth with enquiries rolling in since they went live on Monday, Felicity invited her team for a celebratory drink after work. Peter had stayed until Wednesday the first week and then had to get the site approved and had agreed to meet them at the Farmers Arms at
5.30pm
on Friday after work. They sat at a table near the door and she bought drinks for all of them.

‘Here’s to you Peter….’ She raised her glass. ‘None of this would have been possible without your help. Cheers’

‘Of course it would Flick. You’re the real
‘
brains
’
here. You managed to make them listen to sense which is something I haven’t been able to do for the last two years.
To Flick!’ He raised his glass and the other two followed suit.
They talked shop for a while and then Graham made his excuses to leave. He lived with his parents and had to be home for tea by six. Karen stayed a while longer and then she too, said she should be going.

‘Another drink Flick?’

‘Thanks Peter, I’ll just have a coke. I have to drive.’

‘Yes me too. It’s a long drive back to
Cornwall
.’ He went to the bar and F
elicity looked around the room. The bar was quite full although
aside from one or two familiar faces
there was no one there she
really
knew. Peter returned with two cokes and sat opposite her.

‘So Flick. I’ve got you to myself at last.’

‘What?’

‘Oh come on. You must know I’m crazy about you. How about we move on
and get a bite to eat somewhere;
have a few drinks. What do you say?’ He took her hand and looked her straight in the face. ‘You know, since we met last week all I’ve thought about is the website and you. We’re both grown adults Flick and we’re both unattached.’

‘Yes except you live and work a hundred miles away from here and long distance relat
ionships don’t work Peter. A
side from that we barely know each other. As you say we only met last week.’

‘Strangers are merely friends who have not yet met.’

‘Maybe, but
some other time perhaps. I have to get back and you have a long drive.’

Peter got to his feet and side stepped around
the table
then
sat
down
very close to her. Felicity gently shuffled sideways until there was enough room to let the air actually circulate around them.

‘So, what has Charles said about the website? If we get the kind of response I think we will and we link up
to
all the other branches you could be full time running and updating the site. Had you thought of that?’

‘Felicity I didn’t come here to talk shop.’

‘B
ut… that’s why we’re all here; o
r were until the lightweights left.’

‘Look, Flick….. I’m hungry. I could do with a bite to eat, and like you say, I have a long drive ahead of me so what do you say we move on, get some food and take it from there?’

‘Well….. ok. Do you like Italian? There’s this new Italian on
Corporation Street
. We could try there. But I really can’t stay long Peter. I have someone at home waiting for their dinner too.’

‘What? Oh that stray feline creature of your
s. Bloody hate cats. Give me a r
ottweiler any day.’

They finished their dri
nks and set off to the Italian r
estaurant. Although they hadn’t booked a table they soon found themselves seated in a very cosy window seat in the corner of Antonio’s with its maroon velvet curtains and matching tablecloth, a candle burning on a silver centrepiece between them.
He ordered bolognese and a bottle of merlot and she ordered c
arbonara but this romantic environment with it
s m
editerranean medley playing in the background unsettled her. Peter was very intelligent, extremely good looking and he scared the hel
l out of her. She felt uneasy; o
ut of her depth. Not intellectually, but intimately.
Here was an alpha male; pushy;
dominant in his sexual prowess and she felt…….
yes she felt intimidated by him
. It was hard to say ‘No’ to someone like Peter. Or was it because she was out of touch
with the dating game?
How long had i
t been; two years; three? God, m
en were like buses. Wait for ever and then they all come along at once.
First blue e
yes and now Peter and before that she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been acquisitioned.
Apart from red haired overweight Kevin with the incredibly archaic dress sense at her cousins wedding last spring who didn’t have the sobriety or the common sense to realise his attentions were superfluous to her
.