Free Honest by Ava Bloomfield Page A

eyes. ‘Ellen,
we will have to talk about Dennis at some point today, because there’s news—’
    I clamped my
hands over my ears again. She sighed and stopped talking. When I took my hands
away, she continued. ‘But I want to know more about what you’ve been saying is
going on between you and David. How many times have you seen one another?’
    ‘A couple,’ I
said.
    ‘Ahuh. And
does dad know you’ve been seeing David?’
    ‘Dad said I
should go and say hi to him. He wanted me to.’
    She nodded
slowly. ‘Right. So what has made you think there might be something going on
between you two?’
    ‘He kissed me
in his car. He even touched me.’ I felt my breast with my hand to show her
exactly where, just to rub it in her face a little. If there was one thing I
hated about counsellors, it was their inability to let anyone else be happy,
especially their clients. You had to be firm with these people.
    She took my
hand and pulled it off my breast. ‘That’s enough, Ellen. I get the point.’ Her
eyes were wide, alarmed. ‘Look, Ellen, if what you’re saying is true—’
    ‘It is. I’m
seventeen, for Christ’s sake. It’s up to me if I want to let David touch me
up.’
    ‘I know that,’
said Melanie. ‘But in all seriousness Ellen, I’m finding this — no, no. All
right. If you say it happened, then fine, it happened. Would you like me to
take this up with David?’
    ‘No!’ I said.
‘Why? Why would you do that?’
    Melanie
crossed one leg over the other. ‘Ellen, this is your first time back since the
boat accident. This is a lot for you to take in. I’m concerned because you’ve
made no indication to Sharon that you’re ready for a relationship, not since
the abuse and the tragic accident with Peter. I mean your leg is barely healed
and Dennis’ sentence has just been—’
    ‘Shut the fuck
up about Dennis!’ I shouted, moving so abruptly I nearly fell from my
wheelchair. ‘And don’t you dare bring up Peter! If I want to talk about Peter,
I will.’ I fiercely wiped the tears from my eyes.
    Melanie
pressed her lips together. ‘David has been in contact with me, Ellen. If you
want to talk about David, then fine, but you won’t like it. He seems to think
someone has been calling his house at all hours and he thinks you might know
who it is. He’s also made no mention of you and him being an item.’
    I ground my
teeth together. How dare he! ‘What? So you already knew about all of this and
you didn’t say anything.’
    ‘No,’ said
Melanie. ‘David made a complaint because he knew there was a likelihood that I
would be visiting with you.’
    ‘He’s lying,’
I said. ‘I don’t have his number. He came on to me. ’
    ‘Calm down,’
said Melanie, holding her hands up and waving them up and down, as if I was a
puff of smoke that she wanted to waft away. ‘You might be getting confused. You
haven’t had much experience with men and that’s completely understandable, but
where David is concerned—’
    ‘Are you
saying I’m naive? Are you saying I don’t know how to handle men? Please!’
    ‘Don’t make
this harder than it is.’ Melanie pleaded, leaning over to touch me again. I
batted her hand away. The thought of her touching me made my skin crawl, the
old witch. ‘Since Dennis was put away you and Sharon have made some real
progress getting over the abuse. Coming back here was a bad idea on your
father’s part. It might be a good idea if the two of you went back home where
you weren’t surrounded by old faces.’
    ‘Dennis was a
dirty old bastard and he deserved to be put away,’ I insisted, gripping the
arms of my chair for strength. It was a painful, painful thing to say about
Peter’s father.
    ‘I know, I
know,’ said Melanie. ‘But do you think getting involved with David — in whatever way — is really going to help you come to terms with what happened?’
    ‘What do you
want me to do, run away? I’m not doing it! This is my cottage and this is