Honest Read Online Free Page B

I’d been
deprived of male company, apart from dad, for years. Deprived of a woman’s
prerogative to show herself off to the opposite sex.
    67% of
women think they should always dress to impress no matter who they’re seeing.
You either play the part, or you’re out of the game!
    I decided on
the stick.
    Leaving the
house was eerier than I’d prepared myself for; I wasn’t used to going out alone
anymore at all. I tugged the front door shut and bowed my head against the
spittle from the sheet of grey cloud hovering above the harbour. Keeping my
eyes on the boats below, I searched for David while I staggered, step by step,
until I spied something coming into the quay. A great fishing boat, piled high
with their catch, was getting dive–bombed by a flock of seagulls.
    He had to be
on there; there weren’t many working fishing boats left in Mevagissey. I
hurried, my knee throbbing, past all the little shop windows and round the wide
bend to the other side of the harbour where I would wait for him. The boat
seemed to take forever to come in, and the wind whipped my hair to rat’s tails,
but I leaned against my stick and watched until I spotted his familiar figure
emerging from the boat. I gritted my teeth and screamed inwardly as my knee
cramped up from my too–brisk walk, but I didn’t care.
    I needed him
to know that I was back, and I’d survived. Really survived.
    It was
reported that 34% of women admitted to being in an abusive relationship. Do YOU
need to breakaway?
    When he got
closer I waved my arm frantically, and after a moment’s pause, to my relief, he
waved back. I was taken aback by his appearance; the boy David had changed. The
pimpled, skinny–limbed fifteen year old I remembered had shot up to around
5”11, which compared to my 5”4 seemed a big difference. His skin was clear and
his hair, a rich chestnut brown, was released from underneath the beanie hat in
one snatch of his large hand.
    I was still
waving when he came just a few feet in front of me. I was just so...captivated
by the change in him. Somehow I’d almost believed I would see the boy I used to
know coming towards me. I dropped my arm immediately and smiled back at David
the man, who smiled with a row of straight off–white teeth. His eyes, green as
seaweed, looked drowsy under his heavy brow.
    He looked
tired, his healthy teenage glow almost evaporated.
    ‘David!’ I
said, because I didn’t know what else to say.
    ‘Ellen,’ he
said back, shrugging his shoulders in his big plaid coat. ‘How have you been?’
    I blinked.
What could I say to that? I decided to be honest. ‘I’ve been...Pretty normal.
Usual stuff. How about you?’
    ‘Pretty much
the same,’ he said. He looked at his feet, then back to me. ‘I saw your dad
this morning. I didn’t think you were ever coming back to town.’
    A lump rose in
my throat. He remembered everything; of course he did. ‘Yeah well, we weren’t,
but dad needs the work again. We weren’t ever coming back again.’
    David’s smile
faded and the tired look seemed to take over all of his face. I knew what he
was thinking. You have no business being here.
    ‘Look, a lot
of time’s passed. There’s no need for us to be weird with each other, is
there?’ I decided to plunge right in with the obvious. A strong, independent
woman .
    He frowned and
kicked a piece of crab shell into the choppy waters off the edge of the
harbour. ‘Do you ever think about him?’
    ‘All the
time,’ I confessed. ‘All the time. I never stop thinking about Peter.’
    ‘I meant his
dad,’ said David, squinting against the wind. Up ahead, a man was smacking a
fish against the concrete by its tail, snuffing out its life. I felt the impact
in my gut.
    ‘His dad?’
    David nodded.
‘He’s still in prison.’
    What could I
say? I searched his eyes, immediately suspicious. Perhaps the old David I’d
known hadn’t changed at all. ‘What are you trying to say, that I have something
to be ashamed