Forever Yours

by Melissa Tereze

  “Fine.” Paisley sighed, making herself comfortable and sitting cross-legged. “The other night, she told me everything changed when I showed up at her place.”

  “Which time?” Will tapped his chin. “You’ve been there a lot lately.”

  “The first time,” Paisley said. “The night she dragged me inside like a lunatic.”

  “Okay, go back to that night.” Will relaxed his breathing. “Clear your mind and put yourself there.”

  Paisley stared at Will, holding back her amusement as he closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose.

  “Are you doing it?” One eye opened. “Why aren’t you doing it?”

  “Because you look like you’re about to summon the dead and I really can’t take you seriously.”

  “Fine.” He shrugged. “Why did you go there that night?”

  “To invite her here for Christmas.”

  “And you said she went crazy when you showed up?” Will relayed their previous conversation back to Paisley.

  “Absolutely. She was frantic. Terrified.”

  Will sighed. “And then what happened?”

  “She told me I shouldn’t be there. That I wasn’t safe. It was just after she’d been to the office with a knife.” Paisley shifted uncomfortably. “I asked her if she wanted to join me here. I thought she may have been safer, but she told me she couldn’t.” Paisley frowned. “This is a waste of time, Will.”

  “Just…keep going.”

  “Georgina told me to go home for Christmas. I was done caring at that point. I explained that it was just me and Mum this year, and I wasn’t sure of my plans.”

  “Then what?”

  “I left.” Paisley shrugged. “Made my way to my car.”

  “Then?” Will drawled out.

  “She rushed out behind me.” Paisley could still remember that moment vividly. Georgina’s lips on hers for the first time in too long. It felt good, but confusing. “She said she wanted me back in her life. It’s still a little confusing because I don’t know why she did that.”

  “Because she’d just told you no?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Something must have happened from when you got there to when you left. Did she receive a call or a text or anything?”

  “No.” Paisley shook her head, focusing on her hands in her lap. “I just told her I’d bought a tree, that Dad was dead, and then I left.”

  Will sighed, frustrated. “I’ve got nothing then.”

  Paisley’s forehead creased. “That was the only thing I told her. That he was dead.” Paisley’s eyes suddenly closed, her bottom lip trembling. “I told her…he was dead.”

  “Hey, come on. It’s okay.” Will reached out his hand, brushing Paisley’s tears away. “He’s proud of you.”

  “N-no,” Paisley whispered. “You don’t understand.”

  “Understand what?”

  “The fear in her eyes, Will. She looked so scared seeing me at her house. Georgina wanted to protect me…to do as she was told.” Paisley repeated Georgina’s words. “She’d been threatened and was being watched.”

  “I know. You’ve told me all of this.”

  “By him.” Paisley’s heart stopped, every hair on the back of her neck standing on end. “She’d been threatened by him.”

  Will threw up his hands. “By who?”

  “M-my dad.”

  “No. Surely not.”

  Paisley stood and paced the floor, her hands balling into fists. “That bastard. He did this.”

  “Pais,” Will said, standing and placing his hands on her shoulders. “Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound? I know you’re looking for someone to blame, but your dad? Your dead dad? Come on, let’s be realistic here.”

  “H-he knew.” Paisley’s knuckles turned white, her fists clenching tighter as she shook her head. She wouldn’t cry; he didn’t deserve her tears. “That bastard I called Dad drove Georgina away.”

  “All right, okay.” Will tried to calm Paisley. “Say he did threaten her—told her to leave you alone. That doesn’t warrant her fucking off and leaving you. If that is what happened, it’s one shitty excuse to use as a way of leaving somebody.”

  “You didn’t know my dad,” Paisley spat. “The fucking devil doesn’t compare to him.”

  “Why don’t you sit down, and I’ll get us a drink. You can tell me more.”

  “I need Georgina,” Paisley said, her voice small. “I need her here now.”

  “You don’t want her to see you in this state.”

  Paisley looked in the mirror above her fireplace, disgusted by the woman staring back at her. Will was right. “No, I don’t.”

  “Sit down, babe.” Will guided an unsteady Paisley across the room towards the couch. “I really need you to sit down before you fall down.”

  Paisley placed her head in her hands, refusing to cry. How could her dad do something like this? Not only had he hurt Georgina, he’d also hurt Paisley. His own daughter. None of this made sense, but strangely, Paisley wasn’t surprised. Her dad had always had a vicious streak in him, it’s what she hated most about him, but this?

  This should have felt like a huge blow. The fact that it didn’t spoke volumes.

  Paisley suddenly stood up, moving towards her bedroom door.

  “Um, where are you going?” Will followed her.

  “I have to pack,” Paisley said, tugging her wardrobe doors open. “I really have to pack.”

  Will took the suitcase now in Paisley’s grasp. “No, Wait! Don’t do anything stupid.”

  “I’m doing what I should have done a long time ago.”

  “And what’s that?” Will asked, his hand still firmly on the suitcase. “Make a huge mistake?”

  “Leave. I hate this apartment. It’s a shithole.”

  Will cocked his head, smiling. “That’s a lie. You love this place.”

  “But it never should have been my home, Will.” Paisley flopped onto the bed, tears now steadily falling. “I should have been with Georgina this entire time. I’ve spent three years despising her—trying to hate her—when this was never her fault. It was all his fault.”

  “And now you have to make things right.” Will sat beside Paisley, pulling her into his arms. “God, I’m going to have whiplash at this rate with the fucking back and forth of your relationship.”

  Paisley sobbed. “I don’t have a relationship. My bastard dad made sure of that.”

  “Call Georgina,” Will said softly. “Tell her to come over. We will make you look presentable.”

  Paisley pulled out of Will’s embrace, climbing from the bed. “No.”

  “What do you mean, no?”

  “How the hell am I supposed to love her, spend my life with her, when my father threatened to kill her, Will? This wasn’t just a meaningless threat…whatever he said to her, he meant it.”

  “Maybe not.”

  “She spent three years hiding in fucking Scotland, Will. Whatever the finer details, he really scared the life out of her.”

  “What do you think he said to her?”

  Paisley shook her head, bile rising in her throat. “I can’t bear the thought of it. I just… I can’t.”

  “Okay, why don’t you relax here and take some time to think about this?” Will suggested, backing up against the door. “I’ll just be out here waiting for you whenever you need to talk. I’m not leaving, okay?”

  “Sure, yeah.” Paisley turned her back, her eyes focusing on the bright white sky outside.

  She knew what she had to do; she had to leave. Nothing good could ever come from being with Georgina. Georgina would surely grow to hate Paisley and Patrick Healy had made sure of that before he took his last breath. At least, that’s how Paisley felt knowing that her father was responsible for all of this. I hope they shot him with his own fucking gun. Paisley clenched her jaw. Knowing her dad owned a gun had always made her feel uneasy. Oh, God. Paisley’s stomach lurched. What if he threatened her with it?

 
Paisley slowly made her way down Georgina’s road, the crisp bite in the air settling on her cheeks. The temperature had dropped significantly tonight. Though it had rained over the entire Christmas period, it hadn’t mattered. Paisley didn’t bother to even dress on Christmas day, explaining to her parents that she wasn’t feeling well. She spent her entire day confined to her bedroom, waiting for a call from Georgina. A call she knew wouldn’t come but what she prayed for nonetheless. Three weeks since Georgina had left, and Paisley didn’t have a single answer.

  As she approached the darkened home she once spent her nights in with her ex-girlfriend, Paisley pulled her key out of her pocket. She suspected that Georgina had probably changed the locks, but Paisley needed to try. She had belongings here. Nothing she necessarily needed, but she had really come over to see if Georgina was here. Hiding away from Paisley.

  Paisley opened the gate, rushing up the drive and towards the steps. The house was in complete darkness. Not an ounce of presence here from anyone at all. Not her. Not Georgina. Not a single soul.

  She opened the door, disappearing inside before she was noticed by anyone driving past. A chill immediately set in her bones, the smell of fresh paint reaching her nostrils as she made her way straight up the stairs. She just wanted her things and then she would be gone.

  Walking down the hallway, she flicked on the light in Georgina’s bedroom, her breath catching as the lingering scent of Georgina’s perfume reached her. It was in the air. On fabric. Right now, it was hitting every sense. Paisley bit back a sob. Georgina’s black silk robe was draped over the end of the bed. her own ivory one lying beside it. How could everything feel like nothing had happened? Georgina’s hairbrush even still sat in its place on the dresser. The only thing missing was her make-up bag.

  Paisley took Georgina’s robe from the bed, bringing the fabric to her nose and inhaling deeply. God, that perfume. Georgina’s scent. It calmed her but angered her all at once. How was it possible to feel two completely different emotions at once? How could she hate the woman she loved, whilst loving the woman she hated? None of this made any sense.

  Paisley removed her rucksack from her shoulder, opening the door that led to the walk-in wardrobe. She didn’t have time to hang around and mourn her relationship. Georgina clearly had no intention of caring, so why should Paisley? Shoving her hoodies and a few of her T-shirts into her bag, she picked up her favourite pair of Vans and left the wardrobe, closing the door behind her.

  About to leave Georgina’s bedroom, Paisley stopped when she caught sight of the bracelet Georgina had bought her during a trip they took to London. She wanted to take it—to hold onto it forever—but she couldn’t. It didn’t belong to her. Just like Georgina didn’t.

  Paisley shook her head, wiping away a stray tear from her cheek, and turned out the bedroom light. This place, the place she once felt a monumental amount of love in…it felt cold. Uninviting. No longer a place she could call theirs.

  Paisley couldn’t think about Georgina any longer. The sooner she packed, the sooner she could disappear forever. Georgina wouldn’t have to deal with Paisley’s shitty family or their shitty behaviour ever again. Paisley would be gone—it was what she deserved.

  Georgina hummed along to the Christmas radio station playing in the kitchen. Paisley would be here in the next hour and the excitement was building as each minute passed. To keep her from going stir crazy at home alone, Georgina had visited Brian. Now that family was out of the way, she could truly enjoy all of Christmas with Paisley.

  The ones they’d missed would be celebrated. The ones to come…those, too. Georgina wouldn’t miss another moment of life without Paisley, not in a million years.

  Whistling as Shakin’ Stevens played, Georgina increased the volume and rounded the counter. Here she was, baking cookies. Cookies that she knew Paisley would love. She felt it was only fair. Paisley was providing food, so Georgina could chip in a little, too.

  Her phone buzzed against the cool marble, a number she didn’t recognise displayed on the screen. She decided against answering it. The firm had closed for Christmas, she was busy making everything perfect for Paisley, and it was her personal cell. It couldn’t be that important, surely.

  Georgina removed a second batch from the oven, the sweet-smelling treats sending her senses wild. She may not look like the type of woman who sat binging on cookies, but she really was. Give her a cookie over a salad any day of the week and Georgina was more than happy. She transferred the hot cookies to a cooling rack, jumping a little when her phone started to ring once more.

  “For God sake.” Georgina threw down her oven mitt and answered the phone. “Who is this?”

  “H-hi, Georgina. It’s Will.”

  “Your number isn’t in my phone, and I don’t know anyone called Will.”

  “From the office…”

  “My office?” Georgina’s eyebrow rose. “Who gave you my personal number?”

  “Well, no one.” He cleared his throat. “Just…I’m Paisley’s friend.”

  “Oh.” This time, both of Georgina’s eyebrows rose. “The one I kicked out of my office last week?”

  “Yes.” He sighed. “That one.”

  Georgina remembered her previous conversation with Will. This call surely couldn’t be a friendly call. Right now, Georgina was waiting for a snide remark about the way in which she left. Perhaps it would be a protective best friend speech, with Will demanding Georgina’s intentions. “I appreciate that you’re her friend, but do not think about meddling in something that is no business of yours.”

  “No, I think you’re going to want me to meddle this time, Miss Weaver.”

  Georgina pinched the bridge of her nose, no longer willing to entertain her employee. “What do you want, Paul?”

  “It’s Will.”

  “Will, whatever.”

  “It’s Paisley,” he said. “She, uh…she’s packing up to leave.”

  “Leave where?” Georgina stumbled back against the sink.

  “Her apartment. I don’t know where she’s going, but I thought if I called you…you might be able to talk to her. S-stop her.”

  “I don’t understand.” Georgina’s voice broke. “We’re supposed to be spending Christmas together. My birthday…t-today.”

  “Paisley discovered something a little while ago.” Paisley’s friend appeared to be more relaxed than the first thirty seconds of their call. “I think you should come over.”

  “What did she discover? Is everything okay?”

  “I can’t begin to imagine what must be going through her mind,” Will whispered. “But I’m not sure she’s even right with her line of thinking. She can’t be. It doesn’t seem possible.”

  “What does that mean?” Georgina turned the oven off, grabbing her car keys from the counter.

  “We were talking,” Will explained, “and she’s under the impression that her father is the one who threatened you.”

  Georgina closed her eyes. “Fuck.”

  “Georgina?”

  “She…she’s right.” Georgina spoke barely above a whisper. “Do not confirm that with her, but she’s right.”

  “Oh, God.”

  “Look, I’m leaving now. I’ll be there in the next ten minutes. Don’t, under any circumstances, let her leave.”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  Georgina cut the call—rushing from her home as fast as her heels would allow—and climbed into her car. There was no way she was losing Paisley again. Not in this lifetime. As much as she could understand Paisley’s reasons for wanting to disappear, it wasn’t necessary. Georgina knew she was nothing like her father—she never would be. What he put them both through was on him, not Paisley. Georgina’s only hope right now was that Paisley would listen to her and understand that, because quite frankly, Georgina couldn’t see her future without Paisley in it.

  Breathless, Georgina rushed towards the entrance of Paisley’s apartment block. Pressing every number on the keypad, she waited�
�impatiently—hoping someone would grant her access to the building. When the door clicked, the lighting in the hallway brightening, she breathed a sigh of relief.

  Paisley couldn’t leave, it was as simple as that. Georgina also reminded herself on the way here that she had to thank Will. She hoped that was his name or she would make a fool of herself once again. She considered her options in the lobby: the lift or the stairs. Her footwear wasn’t made for running up flights of stairs, but if Georgina remembered correctly from this morning, Paisley only lived on the first floor. Stairs it would be.

  Disappearing into the freezing cold stairwell, Georgina reached the first floor quicker than she’d imagined. As she found herself in the corridor leading to Paisley’s apartment, she heard raised voices. This couldn’t be good. She stepped up to apartment 107, curling her hand into a fist.

  “Why the hell did you let her up!” Paisley yelled, presumably at Will. “I told you not to.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Uh, you did.” Paisley seethed. “And now she’s going to knock on that door, and I’ll have to break her heart…so fucking thanks for that.”

  “If you leave, you’ll break my heart.” Georgina spoke through the door. “Please, Paisley. Let me in.”

  Georgina felt Paisley’s presence nearing the door on the other side. It was all a part of the grand connection they shared. She braced herself, waiting for the door to open, but it didn’t happen.

  “Gee…” Paisley spoken gently through the door. “Go home.”

  “I can’t.” Georgina pressed her forehead against the blue painted wood. “Not unless you’re coming with me.”

  Georgina heard the chain being applied to the back of the door, preventing her from getting inside. When the door opened, Georgina’s heart tore. “I’m sorry, but I can’t come with you.”

  “Why?”

  “M-my dad,” Paisley cried. “It was him, wasn’t it?”

  “Maybe you could let me in, and we can discuss it all.” Georgina offered Paisley a forced smile. “I don’t want to do this out in the corridor.”

  “I don’t want to do this at all.”