ever, and she was sure Max couldn’t fail to make a comparison. Leo had always been tall and slender; even as a child she had been taller than her older sister. But with her long dark hair and her preference for wearing black - when she was dressed, that is - with her lips painted a bright crimson, she had a vamp like appearance that was at odds with her personality.
Max had been quiet to this point, but in an obvious attempt to lighten the atmosphere, he started to sing the well known opening notes of “The Stripper”, throwing the towel that he had been drying his hair with to one side in a flourish. To Ellie’s dismay he started to tease open the towel around his waist. She knew what he was going to do, and she had no way of stopping him. He had never had the slightest of inhibitions about his body - and why would he? But she wanted him all to herself. He wasn’t to be shared - she couldn’t bear it.
Before she could utter a word of protest, Max ripped the towel from round his waist, to reveal a pair of tight black shorts which in many ways were even more sexy than if he’d been naked.
Leo gave a slightly derisive snort at Max’s antics, pinched the straighteners from the dressing table, and made a swift exit.
* * *
Max watched Ellie carefully in the mirror for a few seconds. Her head had dropped back down and she was gazing at the floor as if transfixed by the pile of the pale cream carpet. He could see she wasn’t impressed by his little performance. Normally she would have shrugged off his silliness, or laughed with him. But not any more. A pang of guilt struck him hard in the chest. He knew what he’d been doing to her for the past couple of months, but he couldn’t help himself. Every morning he gave himself a good talking to, and every night he acknowledged that he had failed once again to stick to his resolutions.
Max walked over to the bed and sat down beside Ellie. Fully recovered from his earlier hangover he was now looking forward to tonight, and he could see that Ellie was tired and very down. This was so out of character for her, and he had to blame himself. He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze.
‘What’s up, Ellie? Why are you so down tonight? You were looking forward to showing off the new house to everybody. But it doesn’t seem to be giving you the pleasure that you expected. What is it, sweetheart?’
Ellie bit her bottom lip.
‘Work was pretty awful today. A young kid - it nearly broke my heart.’
‘Ellie, your patients nearly break your heart every day of the week. So it has to be more than that. Come on. Tell me.’
‘I’ve got nothing to wear, I haven’t got time to straighten my hair, and couldn’t now because Leo has pinched the straighteners, and that all sounds so pathetic and self-indulgent in relation to other people’s problems.’
Max rubbed her shoulder and gave her another squeeze.
‘Sometimes it’s the little things that get to you, because you don’t want to think about the big things, so let’s deal with those points in order, shall we?’ he said. ‘Why haven’t you got anything to wear, hmm? You’ve spent money on everything else, why not yourself?’
‘You know why not.’
‘No, I don’t know why not.’
Ellie’s head dropped even further onto her chest, and she mumbled her response under her breath.
‘Because I was waiting until I was thinner to buy new stuff. You know that. I’ve been waiting for three years and that’s why I never buy any clothes.’
Max did, of course, know this. They’d had this conversation so many times, and it never got any easier to convince her. But he would try again. Anything to get that lovely smile back.
‘Sweetheart, you know I think you’re beautiful just as you are, so why not go with the flow? You are what you are, and to me that’s voluptuous and sexy.’
He put his other arm round her and hugged her tight. She pushed his arm away.
‘Bollocks, Max. You don’t think that, or you wouldn’t always be trying to make me exercise. You want me to be thinner.’
He swallowed a sigh, knowing that it wouldn’t help.
‘No, I don’t want you to be thinner, I want you to be fitter, because then you would