Abbi... Read online

  “Yes,” she said nervously. “Who are you?”

  “I’m George Hammond. Mark‘s father,” he added in response to the blank look Eleanor gave him.

  “What do you want?” she asked him.

  “Can I come in?” he said. “I want to discuss something with you?” Eleanor hesitated but then decided to let him in. She opened the door and showed him to the living room.

  “Do you want anything to drink?” Eleanor asked. “Tea, coffee?”

  “Black coffee, no sugar please,” George said. Within five minutes they were both sitting down staring at each other.

  “What do you want?” Eleanor repeated. George smiled at her.

  “I’m sure you know that your daughter is dating my son. I want it to stop,” he said bluntly.

  “They have been seeing each other for a week,” Eleanor said slowly. “You don’t know my daughter, you don’t know me. What is the problem?”

  “Look, I am sure that your daughter is a lovely person,” he said in a tone, which showed he doubted it. “But I know my son. He has gone out with girls before. It’s never been serious. I can tell with Abbi that it’s different. It’s more serious than the others. He‘s behaving differently than normal.”

  “It is none of our business,” Eleanor said taking a sip of her tea.

  “I want it stopped,” George said clearly.

  “Supposing, for arguments sake, I agreed with you,” she said carefully. “What do you want me to do?”

  George looked mightily relieved that he seemed to be making progress quickly . “If you used your influence on Abbi to stop her seeing Mark I would be prepared to sign this check for fifty thousand pounds.” George got out of his suit pocket a check.

  “You want to buy me and my daughter off,” Eleanor said plainly. She wasn’t asking him. She was merely stating a fact.

  “Oh come on,” George said. “I know what fifty thousand pounds could do for you. All you have to do is influence her to end the relationship.”

  “What if I tell her that Mark is awful? I tell her that he is Satan on earth. What if she doesn’t listen? And she might not listen to me. I’m not sure how much she cares about what I think. What happens then in your grand master plan?” Eleanor watched as George took a deep breath.

  “I will appreciate the attempt and I will give you ten thousand for trying.”

  “I need to think about this,” she said quietly.

  “Fine,” George said instantly, sure that in the cold light of day the money would sway her. “Call me on this number when you have made a decision.” He gave her a card and left the room. Eleanor noticed that he hadn’t drunk any of his coffee.

  She was thinking hard. She could tell that Abbi really liked Mark. What right did she have to tell her daughter to stop seeing Mark, simply based on the money? On the other hand the money would come in useful. Things were getting really tight at the moment. What should she do? She knew that she should ignore him but the money was very tempting. What was she going to do? She had no idea. Well, at least she had time to think it through.

  They had arranged to meet at seven so that they could get to the cinema when doors open at half past. Abbi was by the Sunset Hotel waiting for Mark. She had gotten dressed up in a purple sundress with a black shrug, flat shoes and her long hair down. Mark very quickly materialised by her side. He was wearing a dark shirt and jeans. He looked very good. He gave her a kiss on the cheek in greeting.

  “Right,” she said. “How are we getting there?”

  “I’ve got a car around the corner,” he said. Abbi thought that she should have expected nothing less.

  “I must admit that I didn’t realise quite how rich your family were,” Abbi said. “Property development must definitely be the business to be in.”

  “Yes well my father made enough money to make some investments”, he said. “They paid off and he seems to have the ability to just make more money off existing money. He just has the talent for it. This is mine.”

  They had stopped by a dark blue small car and got in. The cinema wasn’t too far away so it was quite a short journey.

  “What does your mum do?” he asked her.

  “She runs an ironing company from home”, she said. “She doesn’t make a lot of money but it’s enough to live on.” Before to long they were at the cinema and parked.

  Abbi took a deep breath. “Before we go in I’ve got an idea. Follow me.” She dashed off to the local shop just a few doors down.

  “I thought you weren’t allowed to take stuff like food into the cinema”, he said.

  “You can’t. They inflate the prices like mad though. It‘s ten times cheaper to pay for it here so I take it in myself,” she said. “What’s your point?” Abbi had a huge grin on her face. “Why do you think I have this huge bag?” She grabbed a packet of sweets.

  “Oh I thought you had that huge bag because you got some more keys,” he teased her.

  “Pick a bottle of wine,” she told him choosing to ignore his last comment.

  “We can’t do that,” he said.

  “Oh of course we can,” she assured him. “I’ve got two plastic glasses in my bag. So pick one. A screw top one though, I didn’t bring a corkscrew.”

  Mark stared at her. “You are amazing.”

  “Thanks.” She let her eyes linger on him for a moment longer than necessary. “So wine?”

  Ten minutes later they were both sitting in the cinema. They were going to watch some romance film, which Mark had picked for her, Abbi suspected. “Shall we open the wine then?” he whispered as people were starting to come nearer them.

  “No,” she said immediately. “We’ll wait for the lights to go down and open it during the titles.”

  “You’ve done this before.” It wasn’t a question because he instantly knew that she was right. Had they opened it now they would most probably have been caught and thrown out.

  “I can’t have too much you know,” he told her. “I am driving.”

  “Well it’s a good thing we aren’t opening it until the movie starts isn’t it?” Abbi said and gave him a dazzling smile.

  Two hours later the curtain closed and the movie had finished. Half a bottle of wine was sitting on the floor forgotten by both of them. Mark had his arm around Abbi’s neck and she was resting her head on his shoulder. They were both quite sorry to see the film end. Not that it had been good but they had both got very comfortable with each other.

  They left and got back to the car. “That was an awful movie,” Abbi said

  “God yeah it was terrible,” he agreed. They drove back and talked about mundane things like how the lead actor was the worst thing as no one could possibly believe his performance.

  They were just getting back when Abbi said quickly, “turn left.”

  He obliged and when down a lane. “Why this way?” he asked. “I don’t know where we are going.”

  “I do,” she replied. “We’re almost there. I live down here.” Mark raised his eyebrows in silent question. “I realised you didn’t know where I live so I thought you could drop me off. Stop the car.” There was only one building in sight. It must be where she lived he realised. It was quite a small bungalow.

  “Your mum won’t be mad your getting home late?”

  “No. I was back at midnight the other night.”, she said. “It’s barely ten now.

  Mark leaned across to kiss her cheek. “You look beautiful,” he said. He then kissed her lips softly until he felt her respond. He stopped and looked her in the eyes. They really were beautiful. A gorgeous hazel colour.

  “Do you want me to come in and meet your mum?” he said quietly. She didn’t say anything for a moment.

  “Only if you want to,” she whispered.

  “Yeah I’ll come in.” He gave her another kiss. “Come on.” They both left the car and went up to the bungalow.

  “I’ll just go in first and tell her that you’re going to come in okay?” Mark smiled at her. She left him on the doo
rstep. Abbi found her mother curled up on the sofa reading a book.

  “Hi sweetie,” she said without looking up.

  “Mum, Mark’s waiting outside.” Her mother looked up sharply. “Is it okay if he comes in?”

  “Yeah sure.” Abbi walked away to let him in. Eleanor was shocked to say the least. She had no idea what to expect of this guy with whom her daughter couldn‘t seem to manage without seeing at least every other day. It had been less than a week and already he was brave enough to meet the girlfriend’s mother.

  Before she knew it he had entered the living room. Eleanor stood up to meet him

  “Mark, this is Eleanor Wilkins my mother. Mum this is Mark Hammond,” Abbi said by way of an introduction.

  Mark shook hands with Eleanor and said, “nice to meet you Mrs Wilkins”

  “Call me Eleanor,” she said smiling. “Would you like anything to drink?” Eleanor offered.

  “No thank you.” Mark was being very polite and charming. “No I was just dropping Abbi off and I thought it was a nice idea if I met you before I left. Good evening.” Mark gave Abbi a last kiss on the cheek. “I’ll call you. Bye.”

  Mark left and a few moments later they heard his car rumbling away. “Well?” Abbi asked. When her mother said nothing she added, “what did you think?”

  “He is very nice isn’t he?”

  “That’s all you’ve got to say?” Abbi seemed slightly disappointed.

  “Fine okay then,” her mother said. “I think it’s been under a week and he is willing to meet your mother. He must be crazy about you. He’s polite, rich and drop dead gorgeous.”

  “So you approve?” Abbi seemed to feel that she needed her mother’s approval.

  “From what I’ve seen so far yes.” Abbi beamed from ear to ear.

  “Good. Right I’m going to bed,” and Abbi left the living room. She got to her room and couldn’t remember being just as happy as she was at this present moment. Her phone beeped and she had a message.

  “How did I do? J xxx M”

  The next morning Mark thought he would surprise Abbi by taking her out to breakfast. He drove around to her house and parked outside. It was early on Friday morning. Mark wasn’t convinced she would be up yet and he didn’t want to disturb her. He spent about twenty minutes watching when he got the shock of his life.

  Eleanor was right outside his car watching him through the car window. Mark immediately wound down the window while his heart rate slowed down.

  “What are you doing?” Eleanor looked suspicious.

  “I wanted to take Abbi out to breakfast,” Mark said.

  “Okay,” Eleanor said. “In that case why are you sitting in your car staring at the house? You could come in you know?”

  “I wasn’t sure anyone would be up yet,” he said honestly. “That thought only occurred to me when I had already driven here. I didn’t want to disturb anyone.”

  Eleanor smiled. “I don’t bite, you know. Come in.” She opened the car door and Mark got out. “You were right by the way,” Eleanor continued. “It’s only half past eight. Abbi is still asleep. She usually has a lie in if she isn’t working. It’s a reaction from years of getting up early for school.”

  Eleanor opened the door and led Mark inside. They were in the hall. On the left there was the living room, which he had been in last night. That had an open space, which led through to the kitchen so you could be in the kitchen and still know what was going on in the living room. Eleanor walked into the kitchen and Mark followed.

  “Do you want a cup of tea?” she asked, filling up the kettle.

  “Yes that would be lovely,” he said. Mark was trying to think of anything to say to her and was coming up with absolutely nothing. Silence surrounded them as the kettle started to boil.

  “Sugar?”

  “One please.” Eleanor then sat down opposite him.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m not going to interrogate you about your intentions or other nonsense like that.”

  Mark laughed. “Okay then.” She stared at him for a moment.

  “How old are you?”

  “Why?”, he asked.

  “Oh, I just wondered,” Eleanor shrugged her shoulders. Mark took a sip of his tea and looked around the room before answering. It was a small homey kitchen. It was basically a square with the table in the middle and all the appliances around the room- like the fridge, cooker, microwave and things like that. He saw that Eleanor was watching him taking in the surroundings.

  “I’m twenty. Twenty one in September,” he said to cut the silence.

  “I’m sure our surroundings aren’t what you are used to,” she said scathingly.

  Mark looked her straight in the eye and replied, “I was not thinking anything like that. I was actually thinking how nice everything looked.”

  Eleanor smiled begrudgingly. “Even if you are just saying that- it was very convincing.” After a while she added, “Why are you really here?”

  “I told you”, Mark said. “I wanted to take Abbi out for breakfast.”

  “And?” Mark shrugged. “Look, I believe that as far as it goes”, Eleanor said. “But I think there is more to it than that. You could have phoned her last night and arranged that. Even if you want it to be a surprise you still seem like you are hiding something.”

  “You are remarkably astute,” he said and she laughed.

  “What is it?” she asked him.

  “There is something I want to ask her,” Mark said slowly. “There is a ball in two weeks that I would like to take her to. My father and his circle book out a hotel a little outside London for the weekend and we go to a ballroom down the road. I would really love to take her with me,” Mark finished and looked at Eleanor. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

  “She would stay overnight?” Eleanor asked.

  Mark could tell that might become an issue. She was a mother after all. “Yes. We would go down early on Saturday morning and come back on Sunday afternoon.”

  “I quite like you and I’m going to tell you something that I might regret,” Eleanor said. “I got a visit from someone I wasn’t expecting yesterday.” Mark looked blank as she had expected. Of course his father wouldn’t have told him. “It was from your father.”

  Mark’s mouth fell open. “How did he know where to find you?”

  “I imagine money talks”, she said dryly. “Anyway. He came over and offered me a proposition. He said that if I told my daughter to stay away from you I would be given ten grand.” Mark looked incredibly shocked and hurt. “If it actually worked and you two broke up because of it he said I would get fifty grand.”

  Mark was opening and closing his mouth like a fish. “But… How…” Mark tailed off into silence while he tried to comprehend this. When he found his voice he asked, “why are you telling me this?”

  “Because I hadn’t decided what to do yet”, she said calmly. “But you come over here and spend your time talking to Abbi’s mother and being polite. What I am trying to say is that you seem quite nice. You are telling me about the ball that you are planning to take her to so I thought I would tell you about your father and the ways he spends his money.”

  “All in all I don’t like being bribed no matter how much is offered or the reason,” she finished.

  “Thank you,” Mark said quietly. “Is it alright if I ask Abbi to come with me to the ball?”

  Eleanor was thinking. “You can ask her. She’s nineteen, I can’t stop her going.”

  “But you won’t do what my father asked you to,” Mark said.

  “No,” Eleanor replied smiling. “I’m not available to be bought.”

  At that moment Abbi came walking into the kitchen. She was wearing a dressing gown and her hair in a mess. Clearly she had just got out of bed.

  “Morning,” Mark said cheerfully. She froze. Abbi was clearly surprised to see him there.

  “What are you doing here?” she said at the same time as running her hands through her hair tryi
ng to straighten it out.

  “I’m going to take you out to breakfast,” Mark said. “Get changed and I’ll be here.” Abbi rushed out of the kitchen and went back into her room to get dressed quickly.

  “Are you going to tell Abbi what your father offered me,” Eleanor asked.

  “Probably,” Mark said. “Thank you for the tea.” They both smiled at each other until Abbi came back dressed and ready to go.

  “Bye mum,” she yelled as she went out the door. Eleanor was left wondering if she had done the right thing by telling Mark. She went to the fridge and dialled George Hammond’s number.

  When she got through to him she said, “This is Eleanor Wilkins. You can stuff your fifty grand. I am not going to be bribed,” and she slammed down the phone. She felt much better after that. She felt relief.

  Chapter 6

  Shopping

  Mark had taken Abbi to a little café, which did early morning breakfasts (despite the fact that it wasn’t early morning any more). The café did all breakfast foods you could imagine. There were full English breakfasts, croissants, toast, cereals, eggs, kippers, pancakes and omelettes. Mark had ordered a bit of everything so that neither of them had to choose.

  “We will never eat all of this,” Abbi said. Mark shrugged.

  “I thought that we could try all of it so we don’t miss anything,” he said. “To make up for the dinner that I missed.” She smiled at him. “I want to ask you something.”

  “I’m listening,” she said while buttering a piece of toast.

  “My father is hosting a ball coming up in a couple of weeks. A society ball”, he said. He got out a small envelope with an invitation inside and handed it to her. “I would like you to come with me.” Abbi dropped her toast and looked down at her plate.

  “I can’t,” she said. When Mark didn’t say anything Abbi looked at him. He looked very disappointed.

  “Why not?” he said.

  “Because I don’t want to go,” she lied. She still had the envelope in her hand and was trying hard not to look at it.