In the End (Lifetime #3)

by Ariadne Wayne

  He might have been hot, but I had no idea who he was. “I …”

  Smiling a smile that in a previous incarnation would have melted my panties, he kept looking at me. “Paige is in the same year I teach, but not in my class. I’m Sam Mason.”

  “Mr Mason is in the class next to mine, Mummy.” Now Paige spoke up.

  I nodded. “Natasha Rankin. Thanks for the offer, but I just need to sort this out. We’ve got a bus to catch.”

  “Let me give you a lift. I’ll be finished here in fifteen.”

  I shook my head. He might be nice-looking and apparently very sweet, but I’d had enough of owing men anything.

  “At least let me drop your groceries at home.”

  Ugh. How could he be so nice? At least Paige knew him. And really, taking the groceries on the bus was hard work. “Okay.”

  He smiled. “Let’s finish getting these ones into Paige’s bag and you give me your address, and I’ll drop it all off before I go home.”

  “I’m sorry. I just have a policy of not getting in cars with people I don’t know.”

  Sam nodded. “I understand. Promise I won’t steal your groceries.” He had the most gorgeous smile. Was he married? Why was I even thinking that way? Our life was way too complicated to even go there. But he seemed the most interested in me any man had been in a long time. And hot.

  I hesitated. “Maybe I can …”

  He took hold of one of the bags, his hand brushing against mine. “It’s okay. I’ll take care of it.”

  I didn’t know why, but I trusted him. Not that I had ever been a good judge of character. Paige’s father proved that. But I knew where Sam worked, and Paige knew who he was.

  “I’ll just find a piece of paper in my bag …” I started digging, but of course I had no paper, nor did I have a pen.

  “How about I give you my mobile number and you text it to me? Then I won’t lose it.”

  I pulled out my mobile. As I typed the text, I realised he’d not only asked for my address, but he was about to get my number. Did he do this to the other mothers?

  Paige tugged on my hand. “Mum, come on.”

  “Hang on a minute, baby.”

  Sam’s phone buzzed and he plucked it out of his pocket and smiled. “One grocery delivery, coming up.”

  Despite the lump in the pit of my stomach, I nodded. “Thank you. I really do appreciate it. I think I underestimated how much I was buying. If you could leave it on the back doorstep so no one can see it from the street, that’d be amazing.”

  “No problem.” My stomach changed its mind and started doing flips. Was I that hard-up for people being nice to me, or did I just like this one?

  Paige was seven, and I’d been with her dad for more than two years when I’d found out I was pregnant. That made ten years of not being involved with anyone but him. We might have been separated for two years, but after the hell Dean had put me through, I was in no hurry to start anything new. Or was I?

  “Thanks, Mr Mason,” Paige said. I grinned. My little girl, all grown up, though I did wonder if that was something that had happened with everything she’d had to deal with. Her childhood had been fraught with drama. At least now things were calm.

  “Let’s get the bus. Thanks again.”

  Paige held my hand as we walked down the road, and I sighed as we climbed on the bus and she snuggled in against me.

  “We should have gone in Mr Mason’s car with the groceries,” she said.

  I laughed. “The bus’ll do fine. Though, I bet he’s got air-conditioning.”

  “When can we get a car?”

  “When I’ve saved up enough money for one, sweetheart.”

  She pouted, and I rubbed her back.

  “How about I make a pizza for dinner tonight? You choose what goes on it.”

  Paige looked up at me, her eyes wide. “Can I?”

  “Of course you can.” I squeezed her shoulder and looked up at the ceiling of the bus. God knew what I’d just condemned myself to eating, but she was happy.

  When it came down to it, that was all that mattered to me.

  MY FEET ACHED as we made our way down the driveway. Paige had just started school when I’d left Dean, and it had made no sense to uproot her from her friends and the stability she had despite our new postcode. It meant we had further to travel home, but her happiness was the important thing. She’d had enough disruption in her life.

  My shoulders ached from the bags I’d carried earlier, and I rolled them back. At least when Paige was in bed I’d be able to soak in the bathtub. It was easy to forget the strain of everyday life in there, to pretend that I was holding things together.

  I turned the corner of the house and my heart sank. Where the hell were my groceries? Even though it made zero sense that Sam wouldn’t have done as he promised, my stomach churned. It wasn’t like he would have stolen them.

  “There’s my bag.” Paige shrieked, pulling away and running like a bat out of hell as she leapt over the steps that led into the back door. Following her, I had to crack a smile at how well he’d hidden them, tucking them right up against the stairs. I guessed so no one would find them.

  My phone vibrated in my bag, and I plucked it out.

  Hope you found your groceries. I didn’t want to risk anyone seeing them.

  I caught my breath and smiled. It had been a while since anyone had done anything that nice for me. Except for my mother. And even then, our relationship had been strained over the years.

  “Mum. Can you open the door?”

  Looking up in a daze, I smiled at Paige. “Of course, sweetie.”

  As I slid the key into the lock, I couldn’t help but look at my phone again before sliding it into my pocket. Sam’s kindness had touched my heart.

  Since things had gone so horribly wrong with my marriage, I hadn’t let anyone too close. I had friends at work, but didn’t socialise with them much. Paige was the centre of my world. I’d sacrifice myself to save her.

  I bent to pick up the first of the bags, and almost as a reminder, I got a twinge of pain in my wrist. The doctors had said that shouldn’t happen, that the fracture I suffered had healed beautifully. I didn’t know if it was physical or psychological, but my wrist would often twinge in pain at certain times or when I did certain activities. I could tell what the weather would be by my wrist. I was sure of it.

  Sighing, I picked up the other bags, dropping them on the kitchen floor as I got in the door. I plucked my phone back out from my pocket and hovered my hand over the on-screen keypad.

  I found them. Thank you so much.

  Placing the phone on the bench, I began to unpack. We didn’t have a lot of money, and I’d bought far too many tins of baked beans and spaghetti than I might have liked, but it was food.

  A buzz told me there was another text and I grabbed my phone. What the hell was I doing?

  You’re welcome. If you always do your grocery shopping on a Wednesday, I’m on road patrol on Wednesdays from this week. Let me know if you need a hand.

  Be still my beating heart. I smiled, clutching my phone to my chest.

  “Mum, I’m hungry.”

  “Hi, Hungry, I’m Mum.” Paige stood in the doorway and rolled her eyes as I pulled that age-old joke. “I’ll make something to eat now. How was school?”

  “Good.”

  “How about you get changed out of your uniform and I’ll get all the things out that we need to make pizza?”

  “Yay.” She grinned, and turned, disappearing up the hallway. So much of our life was disorganised, but Paige had a better sense of routine than I did.

  With the cans in the cupboard, I pulled a pizza base out of the freezer and some tomato paste from the cupboard. She’d put cheese and bacon on the top, and I might be allowed to have some onion on mine. It was basic, but it would feed us.

  Paige appeared and sat at the kitchen table with her reading book. She didn’t get a lot of homework other than her book to read, but it was nice to spend the ti
me with her. She’d rocketed ahead with her reading this year, and I tried to feed her learning by buying her books when I could. For a kid who had been through so much in her short life, she’d done well to move on from it.

  My clever little girl.

  WITH DINNER DONE, after some TV-watching, Paige fell asleep on the couch. There was a time when I could pick her up and carry her to bed, but these days I had to gently wake her and walk her to her room. She mumbled as she lay down, falling into a deep sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  For a moment, I watched her. My whole life was in this room—my only reason for living. I had hit lows when I’d wondered if it was worth carrying on with life, but Paige was who I lived for. I was all she had.

  I walked back to the living room, and sat down on the couch. We were survivors, Paige and I. We’d started happy. I’d had my loving husband and my beautiful baby girl. But Dean’s descent into drink and drugs was rapid and vicious. My happy life turned into a living nightmare, with my child in the middle.

  My employers were wonderful when I broke up with Dean. I worked in administration for a clothing company. It wasn’t the most exciting work, but I enjoyed it and the people that I worked with were amazing. They’d let me drop my hours back to part-time so I could take Paige to school and pick her up. Between that and the welfare payment I got, we didn’t have much to spare, but we had a roof over our heads.

  I sat staring at the television. The nights were quiet now, which was a blessed relief in so many ways. I’d worried at first how I’d cope being a single mother, but quickly realised that even though I’d had a partner, I’d been doing everything myself anyway. Two years down the track and we were doing okay. Most of the time.

  As I looked around the empty room, I sighed. These were the moments I was lonely. I’d gone from being at home with my parents to living with Dean without any time for myself. Despite the hideous mess he’d made of things, I found being alone strange. I’d had to work out who I was, and being alone had helped. Now I was a world away from the quiet woman who’d let him get away with so much before leaving. And I was still on my own.

  I got up, walking into the kitchen to make a coffee. On the end of the bench was a folder, and as I flicked on the kettle, I picked it up. Inside were my divorce papers, all signed by me. The only thing missing was Dean’s signature.

  How long it would take to get the courage to give them to him was beyond me.

  Putting the folder down, I spooned the coffee and sugar into the cup, my mind wandering back to that teacher. Our interaction had been completely innocent, but the smile in his eyes, his kindness—that was what I’d always wanted. Why weren’t there more men in the world like that?

  The coffee was comforting, and I drank it quickly before heading to bed.

  There was a lump on the side I didn’t sleep, and I changed quickly before slipping in beside Paige. Sometimes she found comfort just by climbing into my bed. She didn’t remember a lot of what happened back then, but she remembered enough that she had nightmares about her father hurting me.

  It wasn’t only Paige who had nightmares.

  But I had to be strong for her and keep it together.

  No matter how many cute men I met.

  Chapter 4

  SAM

  With my bag full of papers, I headed down the road to the local pub. I’d started going occasionally, just for a quick beer while marking for something different to do. The background noise was comforting.

  These were the times I missed Matt the most. So often we’d sat at the bar, drinking beer and talking shit and, back when we were both single, watching girls. He’d been the flirty one out of the pair of us, often the one who had picked up girls without even trying. Half the time he was just being polite.

  Not that I was looking for a hook-up. Yes, life was a little lonely, but after everything, my focus was on Finn and getting things back on track. It was partly why I’d decided to retrain to teach children. It made me feel closer to my son while I got to know him.

  “Heineken please.” I took the beer and made my way to a booth. In the background, rock music played, background noise which I sometimes desperately needed. It wasn’t being by myself that made me feel alone; it was the lack of sound.

  And then I saw her. She might have been surrounded by her friends, but I’d pick Natasha Rankin out of any crowd. Instead of the messy bun, her hair was down and around her shoulders, her eyes sparkling with excitement, her body language telling me she was relaxed.

  She shone.

  I didn’t realise I was staring until one of her friends nudged her arm and she looked straight at me. Recognition crossed her face, and her cheeks pinked as she shot me a small wave. Grinning, I waved back, but the way she looked at me from under those eyelashes left my heart racing.

  I’d helped her because I’d seen a woman who needed help. Now I saw another side of her, and the desire in me rose. She was stunning.

  Over the years I’d met a lot of women, even been hit on during parent–teacher conferences, but she was the one who’d caught my eye. I thought I’d made an impression on her too from the way she curled her long, dark hair around her fingers.

  It was difficult to concentrate as I tried to focus on the pages. Knowing she was right over there, I couldn’t help but steal glimpses of her. Her face was flushed as she downed a couple of drinks, her shoulders even more relaxed as the evening went on. She ran her hand over her scalp every time I caught her eyes, becoming emboldened in the way she looked at me. Whatever this was, it went both ways.

  I took another sip of my beer, pulling out another paper. Every time I marked papers, it left me thinking about Finn. I’d kept out of his education—Matt and Ella had that sorted out up north—but it left me wondering what his schoolwork was like. From what I’d seen, he was a good little reader, and given how well-read his mother and step-father were, it wasn’t hard to see their influence.

  Lost in thought, I didn’t see Natasha until she sat down opposite me.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hi, yourself. I didn’t know if I should come over and say hello.”

  She smiled. “You should have. They might be a bit loud, but they don’t bite.”

  “Maybe it’s not them I’m worried about.” I winked, and her expression dropped.

  “I should leave you to it. I’m interrupting your night.” She stood, and I reached out to grab her hand.

  “Don’t. I was just teasing. I’m not exactly surrounded by company.”

  Giving me a small smile, she sat again. “So, what are you doing here?”

  “I came down to mark some papers and have a quiet drink. You?”

  She smiled. “Mum’s got Paige for the night, and the girls at work have been nagging me to come out for ages.” Her right index finger drew circles around the rim of her glass. “I wanted to thank you for the whole grocery thing the other day.”

  I ran my eyes over her face. It was easy to see how nervous she was, the way she held her drink, her rapid breathing. It had been so long since I’d tried to read a woman, but Natasha was an open book.

  “You’re welcome. I meant it when I said I’m happy to help out every Wednesday. Although, if you do your shopping another day, I’ll help then too.”

  Her eyelashes flickered as she met my gaze. “It’s very kind of you.”

  Big curls hung over her shoulders, and part of me wanted to reach out and run them through my fingers. The thought of getting closer to her left every nerve in my body alive.

  “I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be available any time you need help. With anything.”

  In my past life, I’d been pretty straight spoken. Now I tripped over my tongue, giving innuendo even to things I never meant to. It took everything in me not to literally face-palm.

  She got the deeper meaning, and leaned over a little more as she took another sip of her drink. “I might just take you up on that.”

  “I hope you do.”

  She gig
gled, leaning back in her chair and flicking a hand through her hair. I knew that move. Once upon a time I would have jumped on that faster than you could say the word jump. But this was the new me, the one who didn’t want to rush anything. “You should go back to your friends. I’m sure they’re missing you.”

  Shrugging, she smiled. “They seemed to think it was a good idea for me to come and say hi.”

  “And is it?”

  “I’m not sure.” She tilted her head, and did that look through her lashes thing again. That was so hot. “Am I interrupting you?”

  “It’s nothing that can’t wait a while.” Shuffling the papers together, I put them back in my bag and turned my full attention to her.

  “Are you working?” she asked.

  “Just doing a little marking. I’ve got the weekend to do it. I’d much rather talk to you.”

  Her lips twitched. “Is it weird talking to me like this outside school?”

  “No more weird than running your groceries home the other day. That was a first for me.”

  “So you don’t do favours for the other mothers, then?”

  I grinned. “No. Just you.”

  “I’m not usually this forward.” Her cheeks were flushed. “I’m pretty sure it’s the alcohol talking. I don’t drink a lot and …” She sighed. “I’m blabbering, aren’t I?”

  “I don’t mind.” I took a sip of beer. “I think it’s cute.”

  If she was pink-cheeked before, the heat blazed from her face now. “Maybe I should go.” She looked back over her shoulder. Her friends at the bar couldn’t be more obvious, shaking their heads and pointing toward me.

  “Your mates are really subtle.”

  “They just want me to have fun.”

  I nodded. “Ahh, the old Let’s Take Natasha Out To Get Laid evening.”

  Her head swivelled back to me like something out of The Exorcist, her mouth hanging open. She sucked in her bottom lip. “Uhh I think they have that idea. Me, I’m just enjoying a night out.”

  I was a goner when she looked down at her drink and then back up at me under those lashes again.