He put his head around the bathroom door, she was led in the bathtub her eyes closed, her ears just below the surface of the water so that she was lost in her own silent world. He moved to sit in the tub chair in the corner, she looked like a mermaid as her hair floated around her head the long curls twirling around in the water. She opened her eyes and sat up "bleeding hell Chas what are you doing sneaking around like that?" She padded each ear with the palm of her hand as it felt as though she had water in her ears and her speech was muffled. Charles could confirm that the volume had not been muted in any way as he laughed and threw her a hand towel from the rail.
"Get out of the bath Molls we are off on a road trip" he got up from the chair and headed for the door before she could ask any questions. It didn't stop her trying "but...I...I...need to go..." He cut her off "Double away Dawesey - no time to waste" she jumped out of the bath and ran after him into the bedroom leaving a trail of water, there on the end of the bed were clean clothes laid out with her rucksack packed beside it.
"What the hell?..." He swiftly put his finger over her lips "no questions get dressed it's a surprise" she padded around the room drying her hair with the towel "but I hate surprises" giving him a look of exasperation that he wasn't forthcoming with any explanations "trust me you will like this one!"
She wasn't convinced.
He hustled her out of the house and into the car, she alternated between glaring across at him and then out of the window until they got out of the city centre and she started to see signs for the motorway. "Charles...will you just tell me where we are going and why we both need overnight bags?" Just as she glanced up at the sign and saw London 115 miles. "No way not on your Nellie mate" ..."what ?" He looked at her all innocent.."waddaya mean what?" He smiled "I'm taking you back to London to see your family Molls for a few days" there was a pause to allow him to take a deep breath before..."and whilst you are there we can pack up the rest of your stuff to bring back to your new home" her cheeks had become very flushed it was hard for him to read what she was thinking, he started to feel a swirl of panic building in his stomach and fluttering in his chest, he looked straight ahead at the road waiting for what came next...sh*t had he f**ked up with her again by reading the situation wrong?
It only got worse when he spotted a tear rolling down her cheek and her quickly trying to brush it away before he saw.
After what seemed like an eternity of silence between them but in reality was only a few minutes he decided he should say something, he had to say something "Molly I have waited so long for us to be together properly, every moment I have with you is precious and now that you are back I do feel very selfish that I want you all to myself so that we can be together every possible moment, I know it's not rational but It's felt like forever for us to get to this point where nothing is standing in our way. Molly I adore everything about you, I adore how I feel when I am with you, nothing has ever felt like this before, nothing has ever felt this right before, you are my life Molly and I can't imagine my life without you in it, every day, every minute, every second" He couldn't breathe, he knew instinctively that he was pushing her too hard...pushing her away but he couldn't help it, he had never felt so totally overwhelmed by another human being, other than the day Sam was born and he held him in his arms for the first time.
She remained silent for a moment and then asked him to pull off at the next junction. He did as she asked, pulled into a parking space at the services and took the keys out of the ignition.
She turned to face him "Ok let's get one thing straight, I want to be with you too, more than anything, life is sh*t without you, that's not the problem" she looked away, he reached across and turned her face towards him. "So what is the problem Molls, what's bothering you?" Another tear escaped and rolled down her cheek " I am embarrassed you Cock Womble, I don't want you to see where I live, it's a sh*t hole" he looked at her aghast "is that it ? Jesus Christ Molly I thought you were having doubts about things moving too fast between us, I don't care what it's like, it's part of you and I love you, do you really think I am that shallow that I would judge you because of that ? Yes we are from different backgrounds but as I have said to you before, we are more similar than you think. So what if it is a sh*t hole which I don't imagine it's as bad as you are making out, but even if it is, it's where your family are, I am not going anywhere so I am going to have to see and meet them sometime, why not now ? " he paused again, in for a penny in for a pound " I have another confession" her face changed again "what are you trying to do to me?" "Well I spoke to your Mum last night to let her know we were coming, she seemed very excited" he bit his bottom lip waiting for the next blast she turned to him "get back on the road before I change my mind"