‘He also implied you and I were having some sort of date.’
‘Oh.’ He went still for a couple of seconds.
‘Don’t worry. I reminded him that it was out of order. Especially given I’m with Seb.’
‘Seb?’
‘My boyfriend.’
‘Right!’ He shook his head, vigorously, picking up his tea. ‘Yeah. Anyway. I’ve got some stuff to do, so… thanks for the cookery lesson. And for clearing up.’
‘Thanks for helping me, and preventing me from fluffing this project manager role before I’ve even started.’
‘Any time.’ He offered a tight smile and left the room.
I took my drink upstairs and called Seb.
17
On Friday, I had the luxury of a day off. I would have slept until late, but my eyes snapped open at eight with the realisation that I’d promised Elliot I’d have eggs a la jam sandwich with him. I threw on my joggers and a top and found him seconds away from dishing up.
‘Morning.’ He smiled, offering me a steaming mug of coffee.
‘You have far more faith in my ability to be on time than I do.’
‘You seem to have conquered your punctuality demons at some point in the past decade.’
I took an invigorating sip of my drink. ‘Honestly, it’s only started since I came back here. I think it might be because for the first time I really want to get where I’m supposed to be.’
‘You’re enjoying the job, then?’
I accepted a plate of eggs and sat down, taking a naan bread from the pile already waiting on the table. ‘So much. It feels like my years of pick and mix experience are finally slotting together. A job has generally been a means to survive, but I honestly can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be most days than with those Outlaws.’
We chatted a bit more, and I finally got around to asking Elliot about his job. He worked from home, a couple of hours a day, as a marketing and admin assistant for a charity that trained up assistance dogs.
‘I’m slow and steady, but I’m also free, so they let me get on with it.’
‘You work for free?’
He nodded. ‘I got enough compensation from the accident to buy this house, and my parents made some good investments with the rest. I’m pretty set.’
‘You don’t need to work?’
‘I don’t need to earn any money, but I need to work.’
‘Why this charity?’
He bent down and gave Penny a pat. ‘They found Penny for me.’
‘She’s an assistance dog? I hadn’t even noticed.’
He shrugged. ‘She’s more emotional support than practical help these days.’
I tried to keep my voice from cracking alongside my heart. ‘I’m so sorry you need emotional support. It’s rubbish.’
Elliot looked up in surprise. ‘We all need emotional support, Jessie. What’s rubbish is having to manage without a dog like Penny. It’s everyone else I feel sorry for.’
We spent another half-hour talking about his new role at the football club. Elliot was far better than me at organising things into lists and timetables, writing every stray thought down so that he wouldn’t forget it, but I could see that having someone to help him figure out how and when it would all piece together kept him from feeling overwhelmed. He set up various alerts and reminders on his phone – how he’d have managed before smart phones was anyone’s guess – and made a checklist for different days of the week.
