Sunshine on a Rainy Day: A funny, feel-good romantic comedy. Bryony Fraser
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so sorry – please can I skip this one? It’s been such late nights all this week.’
Jack looked disappointed. ‘Are you sure you can’t come? Even for a little while?’
‘What about if I say I’ll try?’
‘That’s a no then.’
I stepped into him and tried to wrap his arms around me. ‘I said I’ll try.’
He stepped away. ‘And I know that that means you won’t be there.’
‘I don’t know what else you want me to do!’
‘You could try actually turning up?’
‘Jack!’ I stepped back too, acres of dangerous space opening between us. ‘I’ve had the week from hell. I’m cross-eyed with tiredness. I just want to hang out with you, not your staff with their names and their agendas and their conversation.’
‘I’m sorry I’m asking you to hang out with people who have names, Zoe. I’ll be careful to only introduce you to abstract concepts from now on.’ He turned away, heading out of the kitchen.
‘I’ll see you later?’ I called after him.
He opened the front door. ‘I won’t hold my breath.’
I’d fallen asleep by the time Jack got back that night. After a tense weekend with him, both of us stepping around each other to nip any potential argument in the bud, Benni’s cheerful smile was a welcome sight on Monday morning. Miks, however, gave her a suspicious look. ‘That never bodes well, does it?’ he muttered.
Benni arrived at my desk. ‘Ah, Zoe, that lab order form you were waiting for has come in. If you’d just like to follow me to my office.’
Miks lowered his head onto his arms, and in muffled tones, said, ‘You’re so unconvincing. It’s actually depressing.’
Once I’d closed Benni’s door, I said, ‘Is Miks alright?’
‘He’s fine, darling, but I think he and his girlfriend are splitting up. It’s fine, though, he’ll be fine.’
‘Mmm. If you say so. What’s this order form I’m meant to ask for?’
‘Darling.’ She frowned at me. ‘Now, how much did you mean it when you said marriage wouldn’t change you?’
‘This is a really worrying conversation, Benni. A hundred per cent?’
‘I’m glad you said that.’ She smiled at me and pushed her computer around so I could see the screen. ‘Check out the Physics teacher who’ll be visiting us from our sister school in Manchester. Part time, but still …’
On the ‘Our Staff’ page of our Manchester school’s website was the most handsome Physics teacher I had ever laid eyes on. I loved Jack completely, from his wonky toenails to the tip of his sandy beard, but my god: this guy looked like he’d been created in a lab. A lab I would definitely like to experiment in, if things were different. If I was single. He was a young Idris Elba genetically spliced with a sexy librarian.
‘I know, right?’ Benni smiled at me.
I realised I was fanning myself. ‘He is … very refreshing,’ I said, nodding at the screen, my eyes drawn back to him. ‘Not your usual type, though. And I’m a married woman, might I add.’
‘He might not be my preferred gender, but I’m not blind. It’s always nice to browse the gallery, even if you aren’t in the market for a painting.’
‘You perv.’ I looked at him again. ‘How did you discover him?’
‘I didn’t – the Head told me about him. He’s on some kind of fast-track course, to extend his teaching skills. Part of some new initiative. They want to reshuffle all the core subjects and staff around a bit, have some of the Maths, English and Science teachers swap schools.’ She waved her hand, unconcerned about the details. ‘And …’ Benni was almost singing now. ‘Guess who’ll be sitting in on some of your lessons?’
I coughed a little. ‘I am a …’ I swallowed and looked at the screen again. ‘A happily … married woman?’
‘In which case none of us have anything to worry about, do we?’ Her smile had turned slightly wicked, but it melted away. ‘Oh, Zo, darling, I’m only joking. I know you’d never look at another man while you’re with Jack.’
‘Which, lest we forget those vows, is for the rest of our lives.’
‘Yes, yes, but it doesn’t hurt to look, does it?’
I looked at the screen one more time before I left the office, and thought, Just looking. Just looking.
Coming through the door from the supermarket early evening on Saturday, I saw Jack lying on the sofa, pizza box on his stomach.
‘Hey! What’s this?’
‘Don’t worry – there’s another one in the kitchen for you.’
‘No, Jack, we’re going out with Liz tonight.’
‘Oh god, really? Please can you invent an illness for me, I really don’t fancy it.’
‘Just one of the many blessings marriage conveys. We’re stuck with each other’s friends, I’m afraid. Just jump in the shower and you’ll be fine, come on.’
‘No, I’m serious, Zo. Please can you just tell her I couldn’t make it tonight? I’ve already eaten, anyway.’ He gestured at the half-empty pizza box.
I gaped at him. ‘Jack, we haven’t all been out together since the wedding. Can’t we please just try and look semi-convincing that we can bear to still be in each other’s company?’
‘I know we’re married, but we don’t have to live in each other’s pockets. You don’t want to be one of those couples, do you?’
‘Which I’m sure you’d be saying if the boot was on the other foot. We just had lunch with Iffy, didn’t we? If we were meeting one of your friends, I’d never flake out on a plan.’
‘Like the Henderson’s party?’ Jack sighed. ‘We saw her at the wedding; that was only a few weeks ago. I’m sure she can’t miss me that much. You go and have a nice time without me.’
‘It’s not about whether Liz misses you, it’s about whether I do.’
‘Zoe, this is one evening!’
‘Maybe it’s not,’ I shouted, then took a deep breath. I dropped my bag on the table, put my keys in the bowl, and held my head in my hands. ‘I don’t understand what you want, Jack.’
‘I don’t understand either,’ he said, looking baffled. ‘I thought I was just asking for an evening to myself.’
We both waited, feeling winded. I thought of all our recent arguments, the tension. I thought of our wedding day.
‘I think … I think this was a mistake,’ I said.
‘You think … what was a mistake? This fight?’
‘Jack,’ I said. ‘All of this.’ He looked at me, his mouth dropping a little.
‘Are you kidding me?’
‘No. Is it really that much of a surprise? Have you never thought that?’
‘What, in the month since we’ve been married?’
‘Yes!’
‘For fuck’s sake, Zo, everyone feels like that.’ He lifted his hands, then dropped them in exasperation. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘No, everyone feels like that at some point in their married life, but not in the first four weeks,’ I said. ‘Not on their