Chapter 12
They found a public house with tables outside the front and Emma sat with the dog while Rohan went inside and ordered food and drinks. “So is it always this exciting in the Andreyev household, Faz?” Emma asked the black dog as he laid his chin on her knee. She fondled his ears and he closed his eyes, only raising his head again when Rohan appeared.
“Where’s the toilet?” Emma asked, peering at her palms and pulling a face. Rohan pointed back into the bar and laughed, shaking his head.
“What you did to that guy was so left field it was totally out of the ball park,” he snorted. “It reminded me of that fight you got into at school once. I remember now why I never wanted to upset you!”
“Yeah well I had to learn to take care of myself,” Emma said wistfully. “I’ll be back in a second.”
Farrell stood up and wagged his tail as Emma returned and she stroked his ears with gentle fingers and sat down. Her coffee appeared not long afterwards. Rohan smiled appraisingly at her and laid his mobile phone on the table after disconnecting the call. A waitress appeared with a bowl of fries and laid them down, snatching up the table marker and offering a flirtatious smile at Rohan. Emma glared at her with a flash of jealousy and then stopped herself. When she looked up, Rohan’s eyes danced with humour.
Emma fought to contain the flush that lit up her cheeks. She grimaced, taking a chip and dabbing it in the runny red sauce. “Why would someone be following you, Ro?”
“No idea.” He sat back in his seat and looked at her.
“Whatever!” Emma scoffed. She watched him from narrowed eyes hooded by long black lashes and saw Rohan’s lips twitch, knowing instinctively he wanted to kiss her. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and crossed his legs, disturbing the dog next to him. Farrell sighed in disgust and Emma threw him a chip which he snapped up. “Just pretend it’s a crappy PI’s finger,” she told the dog and he yawned and whined at the same time.
“So come on! Who would be following you and why the hell do you carry a knife?” Emma kicked Rohan under the table and he almost spilled coffee down himself.
“Well, I’ve never seen the testicle twist in action but next time, I’ll bear it in mind instead of the knife.”
“Whatever! Keep your secrets,” Emma smirked.
Rohan’s face softened. “You worried about me, devotchka?”
“Not really,” she grinned. “But I have a child to take care of and if you’re attracting criminals, I need to think about moving on.”
Rohan shrugged. “Attracting criminals? Do me a favour! I saw where you lived, remember.”
“I still live there,” Emma said, tight lipped with warning in her tone.
Rohan looked uneasy and shifted in his seat. “Look, I’m sorry.” He bit his lip as though fear of her leaving was more prevalent than the weird little man following him. “I saw the guy you...disposed of... a while ago but I needed him to play his hand a bit more openly. He did that today. I don’t get the feeling it’s about work. His client’s a woman.” Rohan shrugged. “I don’t know any women who would go to the expense of setting an investigator on me. He was crap. Whoever she is, she found him in the Yellow Pages.”
The colour drained suddenly from Emma’s face and she looked around her in terror. “Oh no!” In her panic, Emma stood up, the adoring dog rising too and watching her with his fluffy ears pricked, ready to go wherever she led. Her coffee spewed onto the table and she cast around aimlessly, dread burgeoning in her heart. “It’s her. It’s your mother.”
“Where?” Rohan re-examined the quiet street, looking up and down the pedestrianised area in confusion, his blue eyes searching over and over. He snatched at Emma’s coat sleeve as she got ready to bolt and it swung her around towards him. Emma listed heavily into the side of Rohan’s chair and the sound of her buttons popping seemed to deafen them both. “Hey, hey!” Rohan seized her by the shoulders at the same time as standing and he shook her gently. The dog growled and Rohan looked down at him with betrayal in his face. “Shut it!” he told the dog with indignation in his voice. The dog continued to glare at him. “Em, you can’t just run blindly. Where is she? Show me?”
Emma screwed her face up in irritation and grabbed the front of Rohan’s warm jacket. “Not here! She put the investigator on you! She must know Anton told you to find me and she didn’t want you to. Now that man will quit and she’ll know I’m here and that I hurt him! She’ll come after me.” Emma’s words came in furious bursts and people passing by stopped to watch with interest.
“Em!” Rohan pulled her into his chest and buried her head in his coat. He spoke to her in a calm, level tone full of healing and safety. “Em, people are staring, devotchka. The last thing you need is to draw attention to yourself here. It’s a small town. Mama doesn’t know you’re here but if you carry this on, someone will tell her they saw me with a distraught female and she’ll rush straight round. She’s desperate for me to marry and give her vnuchata.”
“No, no, no,” Emma moaned. “Not that.” She kept her head against Rohan’s chest, letting her heart beat slow to a more stable pace. Her head pounded as though oxygen deprived and she took big breaths filled with Rohan’s gorgeous smell. Giving in for a moment of pure madness, she put her arms around his waist and held on, splatting herself against his chest wall like a mascot. It was ungainly and undignified but at least people stopped staring and the tension in the street dissipated.
“You feel ok now, dorogaya?” Rohan whispered and Emma nodded, her dark curls bouncing along her shoulders and down her back. He kissed her on the forehead and let her go.
Emma couldn’t sit down again, rattled by the thought that Rohan’s mother knew where she was. She stood in front of him, head bowed and body rigid, while the concerned spaniel sat on her feet and pushed so hard on her shins he almost overbalanced her. “Can we go? Please?” Emma’s speech was stilted, her confidence robbed in an instant of overreaction.
“Ok. Let me just pay the bill.” Rohan left the dog leash in Emma’s stiff fingers and disappeared inside to settle up, emerging to find her stroking Farrell’s long sleek body and sniffing. Her nose was red with cold and unhappiness leaked from every pore of her body.
Outside, Rohan pulled Emma under his arm, securing her against his body as he took the leash from her. “It’s all gonna be ok,” he promised and Emma kept her face buried into him, aware he told her the same thing once before as they lay tangled together in bed, hours before he left for Afghanistan. Nothing had been ok since.
Rohan walked Emma around town, insisting she buy new clothes. She refused to visit the shops on the High Street selling new fashions, reluctant at first to do anything other than run straight back to the house. Eventually he persuaded her and subsequently spent an hour standing in the corner of the second hand stores. Emma bought things from Age Concern and the Salvation Army Store, mainly for Nicky and by the time it was school pick up, Rohan was left scratching his head. “Well, that’s the most interesting shop I’ve ever seen a woman do. I think you spent less than twenty quid all up!”
Emma looked up at him as they walked, her voice toneless and flat. “It’ll be easier to pay you back then.”
Rohan’s face registered hurt and an unhealthy mixture of fear. He carried the bags and Emma held the dog leash. Farrell slipped along next to her easily, sticking to her left leg as though glued on. “Why does he walk on the left of me?” she asked, trying to persuade him to move to the right.
“No, don’t do that.” Rohan grabbed her fingers and pushed the leash so the bewildered dog returned to her left. “Stick with what he’s been trained to do or you’ll confuse him. I need to show you all the commands so you can take care of him while I’m gone.”
“Ok.” Emma reached down and stroked the glossy black body and hid her sadness at the thought of Rohan’s absence.
“Hey, you’ll be fine.” He smiled, picking up her mood with scary precision.
“I always am,” Emma said, not looking at
him. Rohan tutted and slipped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him and kissing her temple. It felt so right and Emma pulled away with great reluctance as they climbed the step into the school playground, aware of other parents watching the couple with interest. When Rohan reached for her, Emma pushed his hand away. “You’ve got a girlfriend!” she reprimanded him, the pique escaping from her voice. Rohan shoved his hand into his pocket and frowned, saying nothing more.