by Beth Abbott
Yeah, he was pretty tall, but he’d been slim and athletic in build. More like a sprinter, not a wrestler.
“Poppy Wilson?” The pharmacist stood at the counter, holding Poppy’s medicine.
“Here.” Megan stood up. “Thanks.”
Dammit! Why was it that the one time she wanted them to take ages, the pharmacy decided to be prompt in their service?
Megan walked slowly towards the stairs. She’d have to walk particularly slowly down each one if she was going to avoid getting back before they’d gone.
She tapped her pocket to make sure she had her purse on her.
Maybe she’d take a slow detour to the vending machines on the ground floor and get herself a bar of chocolate?
Fifteen minutes later, when she really couldn’t find any more excuses to stay away from the ward, she slipped back through the door and ducked into a side ward.
“Have they gone?” She asked one of the parents.
“Only just.” The woman smiled at her. “They just moved across the hall to the other ward about five minutes ago.”
Megan breathed a sigh of relief.
She still wasn’t quite convinced that her eyes hadn’t been deceiving her, but if there was just a one percent chance it could be him, she was glad she’d given him the slip.
There were simply some trips down memory lane that weren’t worth the bus fare.
Chapter 10 – Evan
Evan followed Logan into the house, kicking the door shut behind him.
“Beer?” Logan called as he headed towards the kitchen.
“Yeah, but just the one.” Evan shrugged out of his jacket and dropped it over the back of one of the kitchen chairs. “I can’t remember when I was this tired.”
Logan popped the caps off two bottles and handed one to Evan.
“What time did you finally get to bed this morning?” He pulled out a chair and flopped down on it. “You were gone for hours.”
“Matt called at about ten o’clock last night, and I got to Robbie’s at around eleven.” Evan rubbed his eyes. “By the time the police had finished searching the house and the dogs had been through the grounds it was about four o’clock. I got to bed about five-thirty and was back up at six-thirty to get back over to the house.”
“And all that for a hoax bomb-scare?” Logan scowled. “Haven’t people got anything better to do than waste police time and dick everyone about?”
“Obviously not.” Evan took a swig from the bottle, taking the chair across from Logan. “They had to take it seriously though, because some of the wording matched what’s been said in some of the hate-mail that’s been coming through. There was a concern that the person sending it might be escalating things.”
“Where did the message come in? To the club, or to Robbie directly?” Logan frowned.
“Some of the groundsmen were working late and ordered a couple of pizzas.” Evan explained. “It was only when they were clearing away the boxes before they went home that they found the letter. The police interviewed the delivery guy, and he said he was handed the envelope at the gate and told to pass it on with the pizzas. He assumed it was a flyer and just handed it over.”
“Do we have a description of the person who gave it to him?” Logan wondered.
“Yeah. White, aged between twenty and forty, average height, medium brown hair, wearing a hoody and jeans. No distinguishing features and he spoke with a Brummie accent.” Evan grinned. “Shouldn’t be too hard to track down.”
“Did Matt go to Robbie’s house?” Logan asked. “Did he say anything about beefing up security?”
“Apparently, Matt’s phone was on silent, so the call was diverted to his PA.” Evan explained. “Judging by the foul mood he was in when he got to Robbie’s place, I don’t think Lacey turning up at his house unannounced went over too well with Suzy.”
“What the hell else was she supposed to do?” Logan shrugged. “It’s Matt’s job to deal with this sort of thing. If people can’t get hold of him on the phone, someone’s got to go to the house.”
“It sounded reasonable to me, too, but then, I’m not his wife.” Evan rolled his shoulders. “Reading between the lines, I think Lacey may have interrupted a bit more than the ten o’clock news, if you get my meaning?”
“Shit!” Logan chuckled. “Then I can totally see why Matt might have been pissed. Suzy too, for that matter.”
“Yeah, I guess someone interrupting your ‘private’ time with your wife would piss you off.” Evan smiled tiredly. “I don’t imagine they get too much time to themselves, between Matt’s working hours, and having three kids at home, including a one-year-old.”
“Which is a real shame when you have a wife as fine as Suzy.” Logan commented. “Now there’s a woman who would tick every box on my wish-list.”
“She’s one seriously hot mama, that’s for certain.” Evan smiled. “And funny as hell. You can see why their marriage has been so successful. You never know what’s gonna come out of her mouth.”
Evan swigged his beer, his mind going back to the hospital, to another woman he’d known with a wicked sense of humour.
“Penny for them?” Logan’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“What?” He frowned.
“I offered you a penny for them.” Logan explained. “You were busy scowling at your shoes.”
Evan glanced down at his shoes again and then back at Logan, who was now grinning at him.
“I don’t think I even realised I was looking at my shoes.” He shrugged. “I was just thinking about the hospital visit this afternoon.”
Logan waited patiently for him to continue, but Evan was back inside his head.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Logan flicked the bottle cap at him. “What were you thinking about the hospital visit? That it went well? That it was horseshit? Come on Ev, you know you need to use your words. My psychic powers cut off after six o’clock.”
Evan grinned at the Scottish charmer.
“Have you ever looked around and when your eyes focused you’ve felt like you were seeing a ghost?” He asked.
“A ghost?” Logan whistled. “I imagine there are a lot of those in a hospital.”
Evan rolled his eyes.
“I don’t mean an actual ghost, dipshit!” He snorted. “I mean, like the ghost of someone you once knew?”
“Is the person actually dead?” Logan wondered. “Like a grandparent or something.”
“No, they’re very much alive.” He shook his head. “At least, I think they are. There’s no reason for them not to be.”
Logan stared at him for a moment before leaning back and reaching into the refrigerator for a couple more beers.
“If I’m going to have to drag this out of you, I think it’s gonna take more alcohol.” He handed one to Evan. “Now, start at the beginning. Where did you see the ghost?”
Evan sighed. This wasn’t gonna be easy.
“At the hospital this afternoon, one of the nurses slipped me a piece of paper with her number on it and asked me to pass it to Robbie.” He explained. “When I took it from her, a little group of nurses cheered, like they were happy I’d agreed to do it.”
“Ok, and did you?” Logan asked. “Pass the number on, I mean.”
“I did, and Robbie promptly scrunched it up and threw it in the trash as soon as he got home.” Evan shrugged. “He’s too focused on his football to bother with women at the moment.”
“Sensible kid.” Logan nodded. “And…?”
“And when I turned around to smile at them, my gaze landed on one of the nurses, and I could have sworn she was someone from my past.” Evan frowned. “Someone I never thought I’d see again.”
“How sure are you that it was her?” Logan frowned. “Lots of people have a doppelgänger.”
“Let me put it this way, when I caught sight of her, she was staring at me, as white as a sheet.” Evan explained. “Then she leaned back behind a pillar out of sight. When I took a step to the side to check
her out again, she’d disappeared.”
“Perhaps she was never there?” Logan suggested.
“No, she was definitely there. I asked the Sister where the dark-haired nurse had gone, and she said she’d had to pop up to the pharmacy.” Evan frowned. “Of course, I was stuck on the ward looking out for Robbie, so I couldn’t go chasing after her, and she hadn’t come back by the time we moved over to the other side.”
“Did you ask what her name was?” Logan asked.
Evan shook his head.
“I was so shocked to see her that my brain cells fused, and I forgot what the hell I was supposed to be doing.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t until we were out of there that I thought of all the things I could’ve done to find out who she was.”
“What I don’t get is why this chick is so important anyway.” Logan shook his head. “Who is she to you exactly? Someone off your long list of ex-girlfriends?”
“I don’t have a list of ex-girlfriends.” Evan reminded him. “I’ve never gone for the whole ‘girlfriend’ scene.”
“Sorry, I forgot… one-night stands are more your style.” Logan grinned. “So, who is she? The one that got away?”
Evan bit his lip, knowing his answer would shock his friend.
“She’s my ex-wife.” He said quietly.
Logan’s hand stilled with his beer bottle halfway to his mouth.
“Sorry, I think I must have mis-heard you.” He lowered the bottle and placed it on the table. “I thought you just said you had an ex-wife.”
“You heard correctly.” Evan nodded.
Logan stared at him with his jaw on his chest.
“And how, after being your friend for more than a decade, did I not know that you’d been married before?” He finally gasped. “Did it just slip your memory?”
“My memory isn’t as bad as yours.” Evan smiled. “It was over and done with before I met you. I guess I just wanted to put it behind me.”
“Ev, you were no more than twenty-two when I met you.” Logan pointed out. “How the hell did you managed to be married and divorced by the age of twenty-two, for fuck’s sake?”
Evan sighed, realising that he owed Logan the whole story.
“We met in school and dated for about six years.” He explained. “She always knew I wanted to join the army, and always supported me. My whole first year I saved every penny of my wages and treated her to a week in Las Vegas for Christmas. We got married while we were there in a little chapel in the hotel. I would have done the whole Elvis chapel thing, but I wanted to convince her it wasn’t a joke.”
“How old were you?” Logan asked.
“I’d just turned twenty, and she was nineteen.” Evan shrugged. “We thought we were so grown up. We came home and rented a terraced house around the corner from my nan. I went back to base and left her to set up a home for us.”
“What happened for it to turn to shit so quickly?” Logan still hadn’t picked up his beer again.
“It didn’t actually turn to shit. Not in the way you mean.” Evan admitted. “But if you’re asking what caused the split, the simple and complicated answer is Afghanistan. My first proper overseas posting.”
“She couldn’t cope with the stress of you being overseas?” Logan asked.
“No, she coped just fine. Better than I did.” Evan scratched at a corner of the label on his beer bottle and started to peel it back. “My first tour we lost two team-mates. They were killed outright when the truck they were in hit an IED. Another guy lost both legs and an arm and was shipped back home to go through multiple life-saving surgeries, and to then try and rebuild his life.”
“Did you tell her about it? Did she freak out?” Logan sympathised. “Most women would have found it hard to cope with.”
“I didn’t tell her anything. They were my demons, not something I’d have wished on her.” Evan admitted. “But I wasn’t going to let her be one of those wives whose husbands come home in a box, or worse, a living corpse. The first day back home, I went straight to the house and told her I’d met someone else. I said I was having an affair and wanted a divorce.”
“Shit! What a dick move!” Logan scowled at him. “And what was her response?”
Evan shook his head.
“I didn’t give her a chance to say anything.” He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his aching temples with his fingertips. “I walked away and never looked back. I saw a solicitor the next day, arranged the divorce and headed back to base.”
“And you’ve never spoken to her since?” Logan asked.
Evan shook his head.
“Not once.” He admitted. “I hadn’t even seen her since, not until today.”
Logan stared at him long and hard, leaving Evan feeling lower than dogshit.
“Didn’t you ever think about her?” He finally asked. “Wonder about how she might be doing? Did you even care?”
Evan scowled at Logan’s assumption that his actions had been self-serving.
“I’ve thought about her every day for the last ten years.” He admitted. “I’ve never stopped loving her. But I never wanted her to live that life if I came back half a man.”
“So, instead, you weren’t a man at all. You were a fucking coward!” Logan growled. “You never gave her a choice.”
Evan opened his mouth to protest, but no words came out.
Logan was right.
“It’s probably a good thing I didn’t know about this before I got to know you, because at least you’ve had ten years to prove to me that you’re a good man, and the best team-mate a guy could ask for.” Logan stood up and pushed his chair back. “Because if I’d known ten years ago what you’ve just told me today, I doubt if we’d be sitting here now.”
Evan watched his friend walk out of the kitchen and down the hallway, knowing it was pointless calling him back.
What could he say to make things better? Nothing.
He had been a coward. A callous cruel coward, who’d hurt the one woman he’d ever loved so that he’d never have to face his demons.
He was a fucking asshole. No doubt about it.
Either way, it wasn’t Logan he owed the explanation to. It wasn’t Logan who deserved an apology for his outrageous and hurtful behaviour.
There was only one person he needed to ask for forgiveness.
Megan.
Chapter 11 – Suzy
Suzy sat in the middle of Alice’s big family room, helping Rory and Cody, Sam and Aisha’s little boy, stack little building blocks and knock them down.
The two little boys were only separated by four days, and they were almost as fascinated by each other as they were by the blocks.
Jackson, the other birthday boy, had already wiped out having had way too much fun at the birthday party, and was fast asleep in Abbey’s arms. Jordan was in the next room with Sam, keeping Baxter and a few of the older kids occupied.
It was gone seven o’clock on Saturday night, and Matt had promised her he would get down from Birmingham as soon as he could, so he didn’t miss the kids’ party.
Seeing as they’d been back from the activity centre for half an hour, obviously that hadn’t gone to plan.
But then again, why should it? Nothing else he’d promised her this week had come to fruition.
Even the night of passion that had been promised had turned into twenty minutes of foreplay, followed by a crashing return to reality and a night of frustration and misery, when he’d been called out urgently by Lacey, the bitch.
Suzy half-smiled to herself. ‘Lacey the Bitch’ was probably the best name for her. Not that she dared utter the words in front of Matt, heaven forbid!
“Mum?” Charlie crouched down next to her. “Claire asked if you’d give her a hand in the kitchen, if you can spare her a few minutes. I can take over here with the little monsters, if you like.”
“They’re not monsters, are you my little cherubs?” Rory gave her a beaming smile, and Cody blew her a raspberry, neither of them having the tiniest in
kling of what she’d just said.
Suzy set Rory on the floor and allowed Charlie to pull her up.
“Don’t let them get too wild knocking the blocks down, or Alice will find one embedded in her flat-screen TV.” She grinned.
She wandered through the dining-room and into the kitchen, where Claire was busy cutting up some sandwiches.
“Hey there, sweet-cheeks.” Suzy grinned at her. “Are you looking for someone with my awesome bread-buttering skills?”
“Not exactly.” Claire smiled. “I’m just going to pop these into the den. Could you take those two wine-glasses into the conservatory for me?”
Suzy looked at the older woman strangely, but as Claire swept out of the room, Suzy shrugged and picked up the full glasses, carrying them out to the empty conservatory.
She had no idea why Claire wanted the two glasses delivered to an empty room, but like everyone else in Alpha Company, Suzy looked on JT’s PA like a second mother, and would do anything for her, no questions asked.
“Right then…” Claire stepped into the beautiful conservatory behind her and closed the doors. “Sit your ass down, honey. We need to talk.”
Suzy looked at Claire strangely, wondering what they might need to talk about.
Claire steered her over to the corner furthest away from the doors, taking one of the wine glasses before settling on a comfy sofa, patting the seat for Suzy to sit next to her.
“So, what’s that boy done now?” Claire took a sip of her drink before settling back waiting for a reply.
“Who’s done what?” Suzy looked confused. Charlie and Rory had been on their best behaviour today, and both had been a credit to her. “Did Charlie…”
Claire snorted a laugh.
“Not that boy, Suzy.” Claire rolled her eyes. “Charlie’s a great kid, always as good as gold. No, it was the other boy I was talking about. The numpty you married.”
Suzy couldn’t help but smile. Only Claire would think of calling her husband a numpty.
“What makes you think he’s done something?” She sipped her drink to hide her blush.
Claire leaned over and took Suzy’s hand.