Ellie's Return Read Free Page B

always energetic and ready to go,
but she sensed already that he did not like her to have any control over their
relationship, and that he had felt emasculated about the way she had carried on
without him that time. She had enabled him to get himself back on the podium
the following week and she had to admit that he had excelled himself to satisfy
her, but as far back as these early days he seemed determined to prove to her,
or maybe to himself, that if she did not need him then he did not need her
either. Part of her wondered whether his long absences were spent pursuing
other women or were just spent with friends ad-libbing episodes of bravado, but
mostly she realised, she didn’t really care that much either way.

 
 
 
 
    Four

 
    What she really wanted to tell Alfonse
when they did finally split up was that he had only ever been a distraction for
her, and that in the year that they had been together off and on, she had
realised that more and more. She knew she could have left that alone, but she
didn’t want to think anymore about him, and she would rather not leave anything
unsaid. For all that, she also did not want to say anything in anger, because
things said in anger, however bad they are, have that mitigating quality about
them, that sense that perhaps the speaker may not have meant what they said,
and that reduces the impact of it.
    When they saw each other for the last time
their relationship had been over for three weeks and for Ellie this was a
parting shot, though for Alfonse that was maybe less so. He often stormed off
and then came back after three weeks, so to him this was just another date. She
had said that she was upset about their last meeting and she was unhappy with
him but she would see him, as long as they could go somewhere expensive and if
she were impressed she would show him later how impressed she was. She wanted somewhere
very expensive, very classy with carpets and chandeliers and tablecloths; it
had to have tablecloths. Alfonse took the hint, and booked a restaurant that he
had been saving for a special occasion. Sometimes he would know a chef or a
waiter and they would do him a favour and he was able to impress woman by
taking them to places that even with his good income he would struggle to
afford. Tonight there were no favours to call in, the restaurant was going to
be expensive but Ellie had been tantalising him with texts all day, taking
shots of lingerie that she saw in shops and sending him the pictures, making
suggestive remarks about what kind of a night they were going to have, and
generally warming him up from the night before they were due to meet.
    Ellie had got home early and spent longer
than usual preparing herself, and since the overall effect was of titillation
she had gone as far as she dared in provoking a sexual reaction in him without
turning up ‘looking like an out and out slag’ as she later fondly recalled. By
the time she was ready to leave the apartment she looked so good she even
turned herself on a little bit, and had taken good care when having a shower to
alleviate some of the sexual pressure so that she wouldn’t get too turned on by
Alfonse wanting her as much as she knew he would. They arranged to meet at the
restaurant, and she did not leave the apartment until he had texted to say he
was waiting in the restaurant bar. When she arrived all heads were turned to
see her as she walked through the bar, which she thought she had carried off
quite nicely. There was a time when Ellie had been shy of attention, and when
she was with Tom she had dressed as she always had, in jeans and jumpers and
never using her figure to full effect, but since that time she had realised
little by little that she could use her sexuality to her advantage, and it felt
empowering to know that she could have an effect on a whole room like this with
very little effort. At first she had struggled to stay confident with it,
knowing that if she lost her nerve and tried too