by Jackson Lear
She smiled wearily and shook her head. “I’m trying to make things up with my husband.”
“Really? What did you tell him?”
“I told him I’ve slept with a couple of other people since we got married. We’re … working on it.”
Josh arched an eyebrow at that. “A couple of people?”
“Yeah. Every so often I find the second half of my soul in someone else, and then after a few months it turns out to be just my imagination.”
Josh looked around to make sure no one could overhear them. “You told him about us?”
“Yeah. I told him that one of my bosses invited me over when his girlfriend was away in London for the weekend. I didn’t tell him I was blindfolded, though.”
“Huh. How did he take it?”
“About as well as finding out that you’ve married a cheating whore. I told him that because I had slept with four other people while married, he could sleep with twelve.”
“You didn’t want to start over?”
“I hate starting over,” said Brooke. “And I begged, so I’m going to let him decide when we’re done.”
That doesn’t sound remotely fair on you, Josh thought, but there was no way he was going to say that now.
“So, alas, I will not be running away with you,” said Brooke.
Josh did his best to shrug but some part of him broke. Worse still, his respect for Brooke faltered.
“So where are you running away to?” asked Brooke.
“I hear Toronto’s nice.”
“Have you got work lined up yet?”
“No. It’s the kicker about having a European passport and speaking only English. I either go where I don’t speak the language and risk signing on the dotted line to something that I don’t understand, or I go where I do speak the language but have to renew my visa every year.”
Brooke smiled as though she would never see Josh again. “I’m going to miss you.”
“I don’t leave for another month,” said Josh.
“Still. I liked having you around, and there were times when I would have dropped everything to run off with you.”
“Really?”
“Really,” said Brooke. “Contrary to popular belief, I’m not much of a flirt, I just fall easily in love. I know how that sounds but trust me on that one.”
Josh nodded while absorbing the words. That was the closest he was ever going to hear Brooke say that she loved him. That was it, the moment, and just as quickly it faded away. “I was crazy about you. You meant something to me. You still do, but that’s not really going to help either of us.”
Brooke leaned back in her chair and smiled. “Thank you.”
“Any time. If, for whatever reason, you find yourself wanting to come out to Toronto and possibly stay there, look me up.”
Brooke rolled her eyes at that one. “Sure.”
“But if not, I really hope you and your husband work it out and spend the rest of your lives as happy as possible.”
“Thanks.”
“But I don’t see it happening in Luxford. You should leave. It’s way too fucking dangerous here.”
Josh never saw Brooke again, but she did wish him all the best in life with the hope of finding the future Mrs Josh Barton.
83
Josh
Anthony and Amanda came out to Heathrow to see Josh fly off.
“So. Scared?” Amanda asked, with a careful smile in the departures’ lounge.
“I’m kinda hoping you two will still come with me,” said Josh.
They both shook their heads.
“Although, I will have to go back to New York eventually and settle a few legal things, move my stuff out, say goodbye to friends.”
“Come say hello. Apparently we’re just across some river.”
“Will do.”
Josh turned to Anthony. “What about you? You going to come and visit?”
“Can’t afford it. Kids are expensive and I’m putting my house on the market when it’s in the middle of a horrific murder spree, so I’m going to lose money. If Gemma is able to convince her folks to move back to Newcastle then I guess I’m going to have to go as well. Wherever the kids go, I go.”
Amanda wrapped her hand around Anthony’s and squeezed tightly. “I now have a complicated boyfriend.”
“Congratulations,” said Josh.
Anthony leaned in and dropped to a whisper. “Just out of curiosity, what would it take for you to move back to England?”
“Probably the death of Toads.”
“Not even his arrest?” Anthony asked.
“I’d come back if he was dead. I’d visit if he was still alive. Knowing my luck I could move to Cardiff and he would still track me down to return an old skateboard or something that he’d been holding onto. Either way, I’m going to miss you two.”
“Easy on the outpouring of emotion,” said Anthony. “It’ll be like when we all left university. Only this time you’re single and I’m not.”
“Great,” murmured Josh. “I guess if anyone asks, feel free to tell them that I cried like a baby.”
“You’ll be fine. And you’ll find a Canuck before you know it.”
“Yeah, but everything’s hilare-this and hilare-that. Plus, they spell things wrong.”
Amanda glared back at Josh. “You dated one Canadian in your life. They’re not all the same.”
“No, I’m pretty sure they are,” said Josh.
Amanda did all she could to hold back on a groan. “With any luck you might actually fall in love.”
“Just make sure you don’t work with her and that she isn’t married,” said Anthony.
“I’ll try,” said Josh.
A quiet moment fell over the threesome as a hundred passengers and their loved ones shuffled around them, trying to get to their flight on time and holding out for one last hug goodbye.
“This might soon become the first year where I don’t see either of you two,” said Josh.
A watery shimmer started to build up in Amanda’s eyes.
“Careful,” said Anthony. “You’re starting to sound all sentimental. It’s not a good look.”
Josh blew out a quick breath of air. “You want sentimental? Do either you remember Zoe and Charlie? Or Patrick?”
“Of course,” said Anthony.
“Barely,” said Amanda.
“That’s because you weren’t around all that often,” said Anthony.
“I was in boarding school.”
“And whose fault was that?”
“Toads and Nicky Kalistar by the sound of things,” said Amanda.
“Fair enough.”
“Anyway,” said Josh, “I was thinking of sending an email to Zoe, Charlie, and Patrick and bring them up to speed on what they’ve missed out over the years. Should get a few good reactions.”
“You really think no one’s told them?” asked Amanda.
“No one’s told me that they’ve told them,” said Josh.
“The world doesn’t revolve around you.”
“Easy there. I’m moving to a new country, completely heart broken, and I’m having to sell my house to pay for a fake mid-life crisis. As far as what I expected would happen this year way back in January, this is all new territory. Throw in the fact that I might not see you two for years, I’d say it’s pretty impressive that I haven’t shed a single tear over this whole ordeal. God help the poor sap that’s sitting next to me on the plane for the next eight hours, especially when they start serving alcohol.”
Anthony threw his arms open and closed them around Josh.
Amanda did the same. “We’re going to miss you.”
“Good,” said Josh.
“And this is by no means ‘goodbye,’” said Anthony.
Amanda pulled back, ran the back of her finger across her eye, and used it as an excuse to look for a café. “I need a coffee.”
84
Thirty Nine
Five years after Josh boarded a plane to Toront
o, he, Anthony, and Amanda met in Gibraltar where the happy couple were married in a quiet civil ceremony. Josh, recently single, wore an Armani suit to the event to distract everyone from his receding hairline. Amanda had just lost the baby weight, and Anthony now needed glasses. After the ceremony, they spent two days catching up and promised to do it again without needing a five year hiatus. The one thing they all agreed on was how the last couple of years flew by in the blink of an eye.
James McIntyre’s murder was still open, even though Anthony insisted that the police were focussed on Toads being the killer. The case was so cold by now that no one even bothered with it. Josh reminded them that Catherine’s disappearance went quiet for twenty years before it was resolved, so there was still someone out there who could ruin his life. Until the case was closed and Toads was dead, Josh wasn’t going to return to England.
He did get to finally meet Billy, Anthony and Amanda’s one year old son. The introduction was marred when the little tyke managed to not only climb onto the hotel’s coffee table but also fall off it. In ten years he would probably use the excuse that he fell off the garage roof to hide what he had really been up to.
Tom was twelve and disappeared with his friends for hours on end. Once he came back with a sprained ankle and wasn’t as good a liar as he believed he was. Sarah was ten and was getting noticed by quite a few boys in her class. Anthony couldn’t help but be reminded that every kid now walked around with a camera in their pocket.
Claire flew in from Eastbourne, Ian from Brighton. Ian had been at university for a month already, leaving Claire to lament over how quiet it was with no one else around. No one had heard from Daniel in five years.
The Beast slipped into folklore as the demon who ate children’s hearts if they were outside after dark. For Halloween, several kids dressed completely in black and lurched around the neighbourhood, some carrying white shoeboxes with them, others walking around with jars of tomato sauce.
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Acknowledgments
A great big shout out goes to Karen for her meticulous notes, revisions, and patience through the many drafts that fell in front of her. She really is the best editor you could hope for.
Cover by Karen Rachel Wood.
Author photo by Nicola Bernardi.
Also by Jackson Lear
Kingston Raine and the Grim Reaper
The Grim Reaper finds himself confronted with his most challenging death ever: that of Kingston Raine, an industrial thief and all-round smartass. Before long, the Grim Reaper comes to realise that Kingston may be the only one capable of thwarting a coup that threatens the entire afterlife. Unfortunately, Kingston just did the impossible and found a way to escape back to his own universe.
Kingston Raine and the Bank of Limbo
Nothing throws the afterlife into chaos quite like an impossible murder, except for listening to Satan's recommendation to hire an outside investigator: Kingston Raine.
As soon as Kingston and his friends take the job they realise that they have attracted the attention of a secret organisation working within the Bank of Limbo, an organisation that routinely assists the rich and nefarious in Life.
What troubles Kingston is that these blackmailers and murderers are more interested in how Kingston and his friends can benefit them, and not at all concerned about having every last secret of theirs exposed.
If that wasn't bad enough, Kingston realises that he is now ridiculously famous, and the entire population of Limbo seems to know everything there is to know about him and his friends, which now puts them all in immortal peril.
Kingston Raine and the Arena of Chaos
Spending an eternity in the afterlife can be pretty dull, but Limbo has a solution: an inter-realm gladiatorial battle royale designed to reward ingenuity and integrity. But deep down it's about cheating as much as possible while winning is simply an after thought.
In walks Kingston Raine, ready to out-think, out-steal, and out-cheat everyone in the tournament.
Kingston Raine and the Starlight Muse
Kingston Raine is at his wits’ end as he tries to protect the most dangerous prisoner to have ever escaped from Hell: a Scottish muse driven mad by one of Satan’s devils. Chased across the realms by millions of bounty hunters, this muse's fate is left in the hands of Death and Satan amid an epic political tug of war. Kingston and his friends do their best to keep the muse from turning against them, and for the first time in their lives their charm and great ideas are outclassed on every occasion.
Last Words
Dear all paranoid Internet conspiracy websites: explain to me what the hell is going on in this world. Yesterday I went to bed and everything was fine.
Now there are zombies.
The US is bombing everything in sight, the dead are talking back to people, and every time I try to head home I seem to end up going farther away than when I started!
About the Author
Jackson Lear grew up around the world and has developed an accent that can sometimes be described as mostly Irish, a fair whack of English, and a hint of American. That's pretty handy for someone who lives in Australia. He considers 8am to be the middle of the night, has a habit of buying more books than he can ever read, and might have a go at being Batman if his writing career never really takes off.
@MrJacksonLear
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www.jacksonlear.com
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Copyright © 2016 by Jackson Lear
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN: 978-0-9945348-4-2
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