Pop Goes the Weasel

83

She was on to him in a flash. As she put her key in the lock, she felt him coming up fast behind her. Spinning, she grabbed the outstretched arm, swinging her attacker hard into the wall, whilst raising the key in her hand to eye level. She could blind her assailant in a second if she had to.

It was Jake. Breathless, panting, Helen dropped her arm to her side.

‘What the fuck are you doing?’

Jake could hardly speak, winded by his collision with the hard brick wall, but eventually he said:

‘Waiting for you.’

‘Why couldn’t you ring like any normal person? Or wait downstairs?’

‘I’ve tried ringing you, Helen. You know I have – I’ve left… what… five, six messages? You’ve not responded to any of them.’

His raised voice echoed round the stairwell of the building. Downstairs, Jason had just crashed through the front door, with another young nurse in tow, so Helen quickly slipped the key in the lock and pushed Jake inside her flat.

‘I was worried. I thought something might have happened to you. Then I thought I must have done something wrong. What’s going on?’

Jake was now in her front room, surrounded by her books and journals. It felt profoundly odd to have him in her space, the context somehow all wrong.

‘Emilia Garanita knows about us. She knows what I come to you for and she is threatening to expose me in the press.’

Jake looked stunned, but Helen had to ask the question anyway.

‘Did you tell her?’

‘No, of course not. A hundred times, no.’

‘Have you told anyone else? Anyone who might know her, who might have a big mouth?’

‘No, why on earth would I do that? What happens is between us and no one else, you know that.’

Helen stared at the floor. Suddenly the weight of the day’s events caught up with her and she started to cry. Furious with herself, she kept her head bowed, refusing to show her weakness, but her shoulders started to shake. Things had gone so horribly, horribly wrong and most of it was down to her own weakness and stupidity. Was she always destined to be on the losing side?

Jake crossed the room and enveloped her in a warm hug. It felt good. Some people despised her, others questioned her, still others thought she was odd. But Jake had never judged her, had always cared for her, despite the unusual nature of their relationship. Helen had been starved of unconditional love all her life, but she realized in that moment that this was what Jake wanted to give her.

She had always kept him at a distance, even when he’d signalled his desire to get closer to her. Which is why it surprised him as much as Helen when she finally looked up and said:

‘Stay.’