The Best Day of my Life
Copyright© Lynda Throsby 2019 All Rights Reserved
Editing by Claire Allmendinger of BNWEditing
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I only distribute my work through Amazon and Ingram Sparks. If you have received this book from anywhere else, it is a pirate copy, it is illegal, and you’ve really spoiled my day.
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Lynda Throsby has asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the authors’ imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The characters and names are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and author except for the instance of quotes for reviews. No part of this book may be uploaded without permission of the publisher and author nor be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is originally published. All rights reserved.
Cover photograph by Stuart Reardon, Emma Hayes & Catherine Reardon
Cover Featuring – Stuart Reardon, Marlie Brown & Sienna Brown
Cover design by Sybil @ PopKitty
Formatted by Cassy Roop @ PinkInk Designs
ISBN 978-1-9993150-2-3
Lynda Throsby Publishing
To all my family and friends,
thank you for the support and encouragement
you have given me.
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Epilogue 1
Epilogue 2
Reviews
Also by Lynda Throsby
Catfish
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
More about Lynda
Acknowledgements
Nobody is perfect
Everyone is cracked
It’s the cracks that let our light shine through
10 Years Earlier
SHE’S GONE.
My life is gone with her.
This was supposed to be the best fucking day of my life.
It’s turned into the worst nightmare of my life.
This can’t be real.
I have to wake up.
I’ll find her sprawled out beside me like she is every morning. Me cursing as I’m hanging off the bed because she’s taking up all the room. She says it’s because of the size she is now, that she needs to spread out but it’s not, she’s always done it.
I love her.
Time to wake up.
Except I can’t.
I’m standing here in the emergency room. I can hear babies crying, but she’s just lying there. They haven’t covered her up — I wouldn’t let them.
I remember screaming at them when they called time on her.
I scream when they try to cover her.
“What the fuck are you doing? Why are you covering her?”
The doctor tries to put a hand on my arm, but I shrug him off.
“Fix her!” I cry
“Just fix her…” I fall to my knees on the floor, my head in my hands. Trying to wake up from this nightmare.
My wife is gone.
I can’t fathom what happened. It was a birth. They do this day in and day out, multiple times a day, so why did my wife die?
“What happened? Why is she gone? She was giving birth. You do this all the time. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?” I scream at them.
The doctor crouches down to be eye level with me.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Tourney. Your wife had eclampsia and went into cardiac arrest. We did all we could for her, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t save her. It’s not common to have deaths in childbirth these days, but especially with twins, eclampsia can be a complication.” I stare at him, not quite understanding
“She had a heart attack? She’s only 27. How the fuck could she have a heart attack?”
He winces slightly at my outburst. “Mr. Tourney. I’m so sorry. I know this is hard for you, but you have two healthy babies over there.” He nods his head in the direction of the crying babies
“They could probably do with meeting their daddy. Being born is stressful enough, but they’ve lost their mother. I believe they’ll know that they’ve lost a connection. Would you like to meet your son and daughter?”
Would I?
Do I want to?
Did they kill her?
What the fuck do I do now?
I can’t look after two babies on my own. They need their mother.
“Bring her back, doctor. Just bring her the fuck back. They need their Mommy. I need her. She’s my life.”
I break, collapsing backward on the floor. I’m curled up tight, tucking my legs into my chest as tight as I can get them. I start rocking and wailing. How pathetic must I look? A grown man curled up on a delivery room floor …
Not something they see every day.
10 years later
Present
“EVELINA, EVANDER, COME to daddy, please. No more hiding. It’s school, and we need to finish getting ready,” I shout to the terrible twosome.
They do this most mornings. Have breakfast then disappear to play instead of getting ready for school.
My mother in law, Sonia has made the lunches for them. She comes over every day and waits for them to get back from school and looks after them for me. She makes dinner just in time for me getting home from work. I insist on having dinner with them every night. They have baths and are ready for bed, and Sonia does their lunches for the following day. It’s quite a well-oiled machine now. To be honest, I couldn’t have done any of the last ten years without the help of Sonia and Arnold, Evelyn’s parents.
The school bus will be here for them in thirty minutes. If they don’t get ready now and get to the end of the driveway, they will miss the bus, which means I will end up taking them to school yet again, which in turn will make me late for work.
“Evelina, Evander! I won’t tell you two again. I’m getting really annoyed now. Get your little butts down here now for school.” I can hear the murmurs from them upstairs somewhere, Evelina muttering, “It’s dad, not daddy. We’re ten, not two.” Cheeky madam. She calls me Daddy when she’s creeping for something like dolls or ice cream.
<
br /> Why do I have such an enormous house? It’s easy to lose them in this place. Maybe I need a smaller one. I just want them to have a good life and everything I can give them without spoiling them. Raising twins on your own is hard work. Evelyn had a good upbringing with everything she needed, and she turned out to be amazing. I’m just hoping the Evs — as I call them — turn out as good as she did.
Evelina is sassy already. God love her, she drives me crazy with her smart mouth. She is the spitting image of Evelyn in looks, but I’m not sure where her little spitfire personality comes from. I sometimes put it down to not having a Mom. Evander is like me both in looks and personality. He will be and, in fact, is a nerd. Takes after his dad — 100%.
I haven’t dated since the twins were born. I couldn’t. I love Evelyn and always will. She was my college sweetheart. I’ve had sex since I lost her, but that’s all it ever was. I never had feelings for anyone. Even having sex with other women felt like I was cheating. Plus, I don’t have the time for a relationship. I have work and the kids. That’s my life, and it’s all I have time for.
“Ok, you two. Down the stairs, now. It’s a good job I don’t have a boss to moan at me when I’m late for work.”
“That’s because you are the boss, Dad,” Evelina shouts at me from over the galley at the top of the stairs.
She’s right. I am the boss, but it doesn’t mean I like being late. We started the company together, Evelyn and I, back in college. I fell for the hot nerd, and she said she fell for the hottest guy in the school.
18 years earlier
WE STARTED DATING in college — both of us majors in computing.
Evelyn was gorgeous. She was my crush.
I wasn’t a jock. I was a typical nerd, so she wouldn’t be interested in me.
I admired her from afar because she was way out of my league. I’ll never forget the day she walked into the lecture hall. I felt sure she was in the wrong room. This class was full geeks and nerds; she didn’t belong here, but wow, was I wrong …
There are lots of empty seats, but she chooses a place just one away from me on my row. I start to sweat and try not to look at her. It’s hard concentrating, that’s for sure. I’m lucky I excel in computer programming and gaming. Let’s face it, what else does a nerd have to do every night? It’s not like we’re out partying with the popular kids.
About two months into the semester, our tutor pairs us up for a gaming project. I’m stunned and start to panic. I can’t believe my luck, but when I look over to Evelyn to acknowledge her, she looks as shocked as me. Just trying to speak to her has my heart racing and sweat beading my brow. I do it somehow but make a fool of myself stuttering out the words. We arrange to meet in the library at lunch to discuss how to go about this and see what ideas we have.
I’M NERVOUS, TO say the least. I get to the Library early so that when she walks in, I can watch her, only I don’t get the chance. It’s like she had a radar or something because as soon as she comes into sight, she looks straight at me.
I nod my head up in a kind of hello gesture and watch her walk towards my table and put her laptop and bag down. She mesmerizes me.
“Hi, Theon.” She looks as embarrassed as I feel, and I wonder if she doesn’t want her friends seeing us together, looking around I don’t see any of her friends so we should be good for now.
She’s a popular girl, and I’ve seen all the jocks hanging around her. I did notice however she didn’t like all the attention that much.
“Hi, Evelyn.” I’m a little uncomfortable. I blush. I can feel my cheeks burning. I grab my bottle of water from my bag and quickly gulp some down, trying to hide my awkwardness. The problem is, I gulp too fast and start choking, drawing attention to myself. Oh god, kill me now. I’m going to die of embarrassment. Evelyn rushes behind me and starts patting and rubbing my back. I stop choking, I think from the shock of her touching me
“Thanks, Evelyn,” I manage to choke out. My throat is burning.
“Call me Eve if you want, Theon. Everyone else does.”
“I like Evelyn.” I shrug, and she smiles at me.
We start to discuss the project, and how we are going to work on it. Evelyn says we can work at her house — only if I wanted to. She explains her parents are hardly home, mainly just the housekeeper, and she has her own office set up in her bedroom. She seems a little shy when she suggests it.
I’m seriously out of my league here. Housekeeper and her own office! Her parents must be mega rich.
I’m glad she offers her house though. I would be too ashamed to take her to my place. I live in a trailer. It’s just my grandma and me. She brought me up. My mom got pregnant at sixteen, and my dad didn’t want to know her or the baby. She didn’t want me either. She was seventeen and wanted to party. I never knew her — she died when I was two from a drug overdose. My grandma is my hero. I love her to bits. She works hard to keep me.
I got a scholarship to college. Otherwise, I would have been working somewhere to help her out. I feel bad as it is, so I make some extra money by tutoring in the evenings and weekends. I make good money this way.
We plan to go to Evelyn’s after college to brainstorm and put our ideas down. I already know what I want to do. I’ve been working on creating games for a while now.
I wait for Evelyn on the steps as soon as college finishes. She arrives just seconds after me.
“Hi, Theon. We can walk to mine from here, it’s not that far, if that’s okay with you, unless you drive?”
“Hi, Evelyn, no, I don’t drive, so walking is good with me.” We start walking, and I’m surprised at how easily the conversation flows. I can’t believe I’m actually here with her, talking about games and nerdy stuff. She is unexpectedly easy to talk to, and my embarrassment seems to be subsiding. It turns out Evelyn has been creating her own games as well. I tell her what I’m currently working on, and she seems impressed. We have so much in common. I’m in awe of her — beautiful and a nerd.
We reach her house, and I have to pick my jaw up off the floor.
“You live here?” I ask, just gawking at this huge house in front of me. It’s set back from the road with a sweeping semi-circle drive up to it and lots of garden to the front.
“Fucking hell,” I whisper to myself but judging by the look on Evelyn’s face she hears, and she looks down in embarrassment.
“Oh god, sorry, Evelyn. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. It’s just ... well … I’ve never been to a house like this. It looks like a mansion.”
“I’ve never brought anyone here before, Theon. I never wanted people to judge me based on my parents’ wealth.”
I feel terrible and look away wondering if I should leave. We could have done this in the library at school.
“Maybe I should just ... erm … go, Evelyn. I’m really sorry if I offended you.” I look everywhere but at her. I feel like a real ass now,
“No, I don’t want you to leave. I know you didn’t mean anything by it. Come on.” She links my arm like we are best friends, and we head up the drive. I try to keep my mouth shut because the closer we get, the bigger it gets — it’s huge. I feel her glance at me a couple of times, but now, it isn’t the mansion in front of me making me gawk, but rather the girl at my side who thought nothing of linking me as though it’s something we do all the time, even though this is the first time we’ve spent any time together. She’s touching me, and that alone is doing things to me. Things I like but don’t have much control over. I’m going to embarrass myself. I just know it.
I look in awe at our linked arms and smile. She suddenly drops her arm from mine.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so forward. I just automatically did it. It’s what I do with my friends.”
“No, please don’t be embarrassed. I, erm, I like it,” I said shyly not looking at her. I hadn’t realized we’d stopped walking.
“Come on, let’s go round the back and through the kitchen. I don’t think my parents will be home yet. Not that i
t’s a problem if they are. On the rare occasion they are home at this time they like us to have dinner together, but it’s not often they get home early.”
“Can I ask what your parents do?”
“They are both plastic surgeons. They have their own practice in the city and well, this being L.A., you can imagine how busy they are.”
“Oh,” is all I manage as she links my arm again and we head around the massive house. We pass another building to the right. I glance over at it, and Evelyn must notice.
“That’s the garage.” She shrugs.
“Wow, that’s bigger than most houses.”
“They have a lot of cars. Daddy is a bit of a petrol head.”
We carry on walking, and out the back is the biggest swimming pool I’ve ever seen, complete with built-in cave and slide. I gasp and quickly try to cover it with a little cough, but I’m not sure I pull it off. Over behind the pool is another building.
“That’s the pool house.” Again she shrugs but looks a little embarrassed. We walk past the pool, and there’s a lanai at the back of the house with an outdoor kitchen and stunning outdoor furniture. This is a completely new world to me. I feel out of place. I feel uncomfortable. I want to leave, but then that’s me judging her. She doesn’t act like she’s spoilt, and I would never have thought it if I hadn’t come here. She doesn’t drive a flashy car that I’ve seen. In, fact, I’ve never seen her drive.
“Do you have a car, Evelyn?”
She looks at me trying to gauge where this is going.
“No. Well, yes. I can drive, and my parents bought me a car, but it just sits in the garage. I didn’t want it, and they didn’t ask me first. I like walking places,” she says on another shrug. She’s not stuck up or spoilt, which makes me fall for even more.
We enter the kitchen where there is a lady pottering about and cooking.
“Hey, Maggie, this is my friend, Theon. We have a computer project to do together, which counts towards our final marks. I’ll just grab some drinks and cookies.”
“Hello, Eve. Hello, Theon. Nice to meet you. Don’t have too many cookies, Eve, your parents just phoned. They are on their way home, so you’re having dinner with them tonight.”
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