A Rival to Steal Her Heart

by Annie Claydon

  That was the first thing settled, and the overwhelming dread that Jamie had felt when he’d woken was beginning to subside. Anna seemed less awkward and embarrassed too, but in order to get to the court, they had to get up. And under the covers that Anna was holding so firmly around her, they were still both naked.

  He reached forward, touching her hand. After last night his reticence seemed laughable, but he thought he saw a flare of panic in Anna’s eyes, too.

  ‘Last night. I won’t ever regret it, Anna.’

  Her cheeks flushed a little. ‘Neither will I. It was nice, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Nice doesn’t really do it for me. Try amazing. I’m not forgetting what we said, and I don’t presume to lay claim to you, or any of your time. But if you wanted to spend some more of it with me, I’d honoured.’

  She leaned towards him, kissing his cheek. The duvet had slipped a little, and some of the madness of last night reasserted itself. Only it wasn’t madness. In the cold light of day Anna was just as beautiful, and just as desirable.

  ‘Thank you. I was a little worried and... Sorry...’

  He laid his finger across her lips. ‘Don’t be. I don’t want you to be sorry for anything, because I’m not.’

  The duvet slipped a little more as she gave him a hug. Jamie could feel the softness of her skin against his, and he regretted having missed the feeling of waking up next to her in an embrace.

  ‘I’m sorry for one thing. That we don’t have time now...’ She nodded towards the clock, ticking relentlessly on the table beside the bed.

  Maybe he shouldn’t. It was better to leave while they both still wanted more than to overstay his welcome. But that was ridiculous, wanting more couldn’t be changed by whatever happened next.

  ‘My alarm’s set to go off twice. If I get up on the first ring, then I get breakfast. The second ring means I get coffee in the car...’

  ‘The car’s really the only place for coffee.’

  He kissed her, pulling the duvet out from between their bodies. ‘Yeah. My thoughts exactly.’

  * * *

  Sex was a great way to begin the day. Sex with Jamie...? What could go wrong on a day that had started in his embrace?

  She’d feared that it would be so different. When she’d woken from a deep sleep, just ten minutes before the alarm started to sound, it had felt as if she’d messed everything up. Allowed her feelings for Jamie to get the better of her, and lost everything.

  But he’d meant what he’d said last night. That they could be loving friends, and that he wouldn’t ask her for anything more than that. It seemed too good to be true, but maybe she should just take her good fortune and make the most of it. If making the most of it meant another night in his arms, then the risk seemed paltry in the face of the rewards.

  Their long, playful lovemaking last night, had taught him how to take her from nought to a hundred in sixty seconds flat. And Jamie clearly loved the challenge. He fed off her arousal, the way she fed off his, and it all just worked between them. Effortless beauty.

  There was even time to snuggle against him afterwards. Quiet moments, when the world began to expand from the complete and blissful circle of his embrace.

  ‘I like your room.’ His bedroom was in the same style as the rest of the house. Bare walls that contrasted with the high polish on the wooden bedframe. A large, brick-built fireplace that had provided them with warmth and light in the darkness.

  He grinned. ‘Only just noticed?’

  ‘I’ve had other things on my mind.’

  ‘Yeah, me too. You’re welcome back anytime to get a better look.’ He followed her gaze to the metal post that ran from floor to ceiling in the middle of the deep bay window. ‘That’s not part of the overall plan. It’s just temporary.’

  ‘I was wondering. It doesn’t seem either old enough or new enough to be here.’

  Jamie chuckled. ‘It’s a jack post. There was originally a window seat in that bay, with a wooden beam that supported the ceiling in the centre. It was rotten and I had to take it out. I was planning on getting a carpenter in to redo the whole thing properly, but that’s going to have to wait.’

  ‘No time?’

  ‘No money. Or, to be more accurate, it was a choice between doing that and laying a floor in the community room at the youth centre. I think the floor’s been a little more useful, and in the meantime the post is stopping the ceiling from falling in.’

  ‘Sounds like a good decision.’ There was a lot to respect about a man who could put his charity first when he needed to.

  ‘I thought so.’ He turned the corners of his mouth down.

  ‘Someone else disagreed?’

  The alarm went off suddenly, and they both jumped. Jamie reached across, banging his hand rather harder than he needed to on the button at the top.

  ‘Yeah, Gill did. But there’s no need to talk about the past. Unless, of course, you want to talk about yours?’

  ‘Mine’s simple.’ Anna climbed over him, getting out of the bed. ‘I was married and it didn’t work out. I don’t want to repeat past mistakes.’

  That was all she wanted to say. If she told Jamie the truth, maybe he’d swear it didn’t matter to him that she couldn’t have children. Maybe she’d believe him. And it would all too painful when he realised that he really did want to be a father, the way Daniel had.

  Jamie flung himself back on the pillows in an expression of frustration. ‘Nothing’s that simple,’ he called out after her as she made for the shower room and turned on the water.

  ‘Can’t hear you. And anyway we have to get going, or we’ll be late.’

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  FOR ONCE, TIME was on Jamie’s side, pushing him towards the weekend, when he’d see Anna again. Three incredibly busy days working in A and E had flown by. Thursday and Friday were spent at the clinic, and in between seeing Jon and sorting out various issues to do with the charity, Jamie was fully occupied. Anna was working on Saturday morning, then they drove down to Hastings together.

  The call came just as they’d arrived in the car park of the local pub for a late lunch. Jamie looked at the caller display and frowned, then accepted the call.

  ‘Hi, Philip. What’s up?’

  He listened carefully to whoever was at the other end of the line. Clearly something was up because his brow darkened.

  ‘Okay, let me make a couple of calls. I’ll let you know.’ He ended the call, puffing out a breath as he turned to Anna.

  ‘I’m sorry. I have to go.’

  ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘It’s Spark. She’s gone missing. Her parents called Jen, apparently, and she says she doesn’t know where she is.’

  ‘You think she does?’

  He quirked his lips down. ‘Maybe. Let me try her.’

  He flipped through the contacts list on his phone, leaning back against the car and putting the phone to his ear. He shook his head, ending the call and redialling.

  ‘You can’t get hold of her?’

  ‘She’s not answering.’ Jamie frowned. ‘Now I know something’s up. Her best friend’s missing and she’s not answering her phone?’

  He had a point. Jamie waited, ended the call and dialled a third time, staring up at the sky in a silent signal that he could do this for as long as it took until Jen answered her phone. Then he gave a brisk nod...

  ‘Hey, Jen. It’s Jamie. Where are you? Yeah, I can hear you’re on the bus. Where’s the bus?’

  He listened to Jen’s reply, rolling his eyes. ‘Pull the other one, Jen. Spark’s missing, today of all days, and you’re going to the cinema?’

  It was an approach. Maybe not the most tactful one, but Anna imagined that tact had already been tried. And Jamie’s relationship with all the kids was honest. He told them what he thought, and they repaid the compliment.

  ‘
No, Jen. I’ll take you wherever you want to go in the car, no questions asked. If Spark’s not where you think she is, then we’ll keep looking. Please don’t do this on your own.’

  He listened again, his face grave.

  ‘No, it’s not because I don’t trust you. It’s because this is too much responsibility for one person. In your place, I’d need someone with me...’ Jen seemed to have capitulated because Jamie nodded. ‘Okay. I’ll meet you at the bus stop in Hedge Lane. Wait for me there, I’ll be fifteen minutes.’

  He ended the call and turned to Anna, a look of apology on his face. ‘Um... I’ll drop you off at my place. It’s on the way...’

  ‘You will not. I can help, can’t I?’

  Jamie smiled suddenly. ‘Yeah. Thanks, you can help.’

  ‘So what’s going on?’ She waited until he’d manoeuvred the car back out of the car park and was on the road.

  ‘Spark’s younger brother died of leukaemia four years ago. She started coming to the club when he was really ill, and she met Jen there and they became friends. Spark used to talk a lot about how her brother felt, and how her parents felt, but nothing about herself. She was all about looking after everyone else.’

  ‘Oh, poor Spark. You got her to talk?’

  ‘Eventually. It was a while before she’d even admit to feeling anything when her brother died. Jen really supported her, though she’s got problems of her own, and she understood what Spark was going through. Even if Spark didn’t tell Jen where she was going, I guessed she might have a good idea.’

  ‘Why now?’ Jamie had said today of all days.

  ‘It’s the fourth anniversary of her brother’s death today. Maybe Spark’s finally found some space in her head for her own grief.’

  ‘Her parents must be beside themselves.’

  ‘Yeah, they are. They called our weekend helpline, and Phil told them that we’d do all we could. I’d better get back to him...’

  ‘Let me do that. You keep driving.’ Anna picked up his phone from the dashboard. ‘What do you want me to say?’

  ‘Tell him that we’re on our way to meet Jen to see if she knows anything. He’s calling round to see if anyone else has seen her, and he’ll liaise with the police and her parents.’

  The car slowed suddenly as the lights up ahead of them turned red. Jamie cursed under his breath, tapping his finger impatiently on the steering wheel. More than anything, his reaction made her fear the worst.

  * * *

  It took them thirteen minutes. A bus that was travelling ahead of them stopped, and Anna saw Jen get off and slump down on a seat in the bus shelter. She was taking her phone out of her pocket as Jamie drew up alongside her. Anna opened the car door, getting out of the front seat and beckoning to Jen to take her place.

  ‘Where to, Jen?’ Jamie’s voice was suddenly calm.

  ‘The railway lines, up by the station.’

  Railway lines? Anna climbed into the back seat of the car, trying not to betray her concern.

  ‘Seat belt.’ Jamie waited while Jen fumbled with the seat belt, then started to drive. ‘Why there?’

  ‘Spark’s brother was in hospital in London at the end. Her parents used to go down there to be with him and Spark stayed with her aunt.’

  Jamie nodded. ‘Yes, I remember. I went round there to see her a few times.’

  ‘She used to go and watch the trains. I went there a couple of times with her. We never told anyone, she was just watching.’

  ‘For her parents to come back?’

  Jen shrugged. ‘No, not really. We wouldn’t have seen them even if they had been on the train. She said that she was at one end of the line and they were at the other, I guess it made her feel more connected to them. We just used to sit on the embankment for an hour and then go home.’

  It was an intensely private and personal admission for Jen to make, and it showed the depth of trust that Jamie had built up with the kids that he tried to help. Two young girls, doing something that made no sense but somehow made them feel better. If only that something was in a slightly less isolated and safer place.

  ‘Okay. So we’ll start at the road bridge closest to Jen’s aunt’s house?’

  ‘Yeah. I reckon so.’

  Jamie drew up in the centre of a wide bridge, and before either of them could stop her Jen tumbled out of the car, running across the pavement to the high railings. Jamie turned in his seat.

  ‘You’ll keep an eye on her?’

  His gaze met hers and Anna nodded. One second of contact, but she knew that he trusted her to look after Jen while he searched for Spark. Warmth flooded through her, and she got out of the car, hurrying over to Jen.

  The three of them scanned the embankment on either side of the lines. Jen was crying now, and Jamie’s face was impassive as he concentrated on looking for some trace of Spark.

  ‘There!’ Jen screamed, pointing to spot on the embankment to one side of the bridge. The small, black-clad figure was sitting almost under the bridge, with her legs drawn up to her chest, as if she was trying to make herself as small as possible. And she was heart-stoppingly close to the tracks.

  Jamie didn’t even look back. He started to run and Jen went to follow him, but Anna grabbed her, pulling her back.

  ‘Let me go...’ Jen swore at her.

  ‘Wait. Wait!’ Anna held her tight, waiting for her to stop struggling. ‘Listen to me, Jen. You need to calm down if you’re going to help Spark.’

  Jen gulped down her tears. She saw the sense in it, and the only thing she wanted now was to help her friend. Anna just had to convince her that maybe she wasn’t the best person to do that, and that she should leave it to Jamie.

  ‘Do you know how she got down there?’ A high fence bordered the embankment, and Anna knew that Jamie was relying on her to try and find a way through for him.

  ‘There’s a hole. Just there, by those trees.’ Jen indicated a spot close to the end of the bridge.

  ‘Okay. He’s nearly there...’ Anna waited for Jamie to turn and look back at her, and he did so right on cue. She pointed towards the spot that Jen had indicated, and he vaulted across the low railings that separated the pavement from the rough ground beyond, sliding down the steep incline towards the fence.

  ‘No...’ Jen was gesturing furiously. ‘Further along...’

  Jamie saw her, and turned. Then he gave a thumbs-up signal and disappeared behind the clump of trees and bushes that Jen had pointed out.

  ‘I’ve got to go... Let me go!’ Jen started to pull away from her again.

  ‘Jamie’s nearly there now. He’ll bring her back.’

  ‘But you don’t understand. She’s not trying to kill herself.’ Tears were streaming down Jen’s face again.

  ‘He knows. She’s feeling so much pain right now, and she’s just trying to find a way of expressing it. Jamie understands that.’

  Jen wiped her face, calming suddenly. ‘She cuts herself, too.’

  Anna wondered if Jamie knew that. He must realise it was a possibility, and he’d be taking everything into consideration right now. She put her arm around Jen’s shoulders and they watched as Jamie appeared, slithering down the steep slope of the embankment and then starting to walk towards Spark.

  He stopped thirty feet away from her, and must have called to her because Spark turned. His movements were slow and controlled, all his body language reassuring. He took a couple more steps then sat down on the grass.

  He edged closer, stopping when Spark flailed one arm in his direction in a gesture that told him to back off. They seemed to be talking, though, and slowly Jamie started to move closer again. He leaned forward, wrapping his fingers around her arm, and Anna heard Jen exhale sharply. They’d both been holding their breath.

  Then Spark turned, almost flinging herself into Jamie’s arms. He hugged her tight for a moment then go
t her to her feet, moving her away from the tracks. Carefully he helped her back up the embankment, the two figures disappearing behind the trees as they made for the fence.

  ‘Oh! He did it...’ Jen shook off Anna’s arm and started to jog towards the end of the bridge. Anna let her go. Spark was out of danger now, and the two girls needed each other.

  Jamie had wrapped his jacket around Spark’s shoulders and was helping her over the low fence, his arm around her as they walked to the pavement. Jen caught up with them, throwing her arms around Spark, and the two girls hugged each other. Anna felt a tear form at the corner of her eye and wiped it away. He was so gentle with the two girls, protecting them both but giving them a little space as well to walk together towards the car.

  ‘Why don’t you go and sit in the back of the car for a moment? Then we’ll take you back.’ Jamie opened the car door and the girls climbed in. Then he turned to Anna.

  ‘She’s okay.’ He answered the question before she’d had a chance to ask. ‘She’s cut her arm, but it’s not too deep. Maybe you could take a look at it when we get back to the youth centre?’

  ‘Of course. You’re not taking her home?’

  ‘She says she doesn’t want to go home and I didn’t push it with her. I’ll give Phil a call now and get him to ring her parents and tell them we’ve found her. They don’t live far from the youth centre and they know us so it might be better if they came there to collect her.’

  He took his phone from his pocket and made the call. Then he looked up at Anna, his eyes shining.

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘It was a privilege to be here. Thanks for trusting me.’

  Jamie smiled, a trace of fatigue showing suddenly in his face. ‘I honestly never even thought about it. I knew I could rely on you.’

  ‘I’ll show you how much I like that you said that.’ Anna leaned towards him. ‘Later...’

  * * *

  Phil’s car drew up outside Jamie’s house. Jamie shook his hand, thanking him for all he’d done today, and got out of the car, stretching his legs. As he walked down the drive, he could see that the lights were on in the kitchen. That one, simple thing filled him with warmth. He felt as if he was coming home.