Crazy Over You: Love Can Drive You Crazy... In More Ways Than One!

by Carol Thomas

  Abby hadn’t become a great fan of exercise but she liked the way it kept the pounds at bay and helped keep her head clear. The gym remained part of her weekly routine and she’d discovered some long-forgotten stomach muscles as a result; muscles she hoped might help her out in the class she was about to attend. At least it’s not pole fit!

  Melissa waved and tapped her watch in mock scorn as Abby pulled up outside her house. Her high ponytail bobbed as she sprung down the driveway, still looking thoroughly bronzed from the tan she’d been secretly topping up with lotion since her month-long honeymoon in the Cook Islands. Her Lycra exercise tights, Bébé et Moi fitted t-shirt and pink tasselled hip scarf accentuated her slight bump perfectly.

  “You did get permission from the midwife to do this didn’t you?”

  “Yes Mum!” Melissa laughed as she got into Abby’s car.

  “You’re not funny! I promised Adam I’d keep an eye on you.”

  “What’s he like? I promise to be good and take it easy, OK?” Melissa tugged at her seatbelt. “Besides, Adam won’t mind; the midwife said it’s actually good for keeping your back supple and your pelvic floor muscles—”

  “La, la, la – too much information!” Abby laughed.

  “Anyway, I could hardly miss Kennedy’s debut could I? We promised her a full class and a full class she shall have. How’s she doing? Did you speak to her today?”

  “Of course. She’s nervous, but she’s been training hard and actually sounded really excited.”

  “She’ll be great! I can’t wait. Lucy’s coming and bringing Mindy too… there won’t be a lot of jumping will there?” She shook her head and whistled. “Imagine the black eyes!”

  Abby giggled. “Melissa, that’s so bad! Honestly, it’s the kind of thing I’d say.”

  “I know… you’re such a bad influence on me.”

  They both laughed, until Abby remembered she had to be on her best behaviour where Lucy and Mindy were concerned.

  “No, stop – we have to be nice. I think they’ve only just forgiven me for being so blunt with them at your wedding. I swear Mindy’s been pulling the bloody wax strips from my eyebrows much slower than necessary.”

  “Ouch!” Melissa chuckled.

  “It’s not funny, if you’d told me they were a couple before I would’ve behaved less like a nutter when she rested her boobs on Brad… not that I was jealous or anything.”

  “Of course not.” Melissa over-emphasised the words and shook her head slowly.

  Abby glanced at Melissa, and as they caught each other’s eyes they burst into laughter.

  Abby’s thing with Brad seemed strange to her now. She was pleased they had managed to stay on good terms and would always remain grateful to him for being there when she needed someone. Under the circumstances Simon had been fairly understanding about the whole thing too, much more so than Abby had expected. She told him she and Brad had ‘shared a moment’ and that she’d been tempted to go further but didn’t. She’d started with a basic outline and decided to elaborate when he asked; she wasn’t going to lie but she wasn’t going to embellish unnecessarily. It turned out Simon didn’t want details. Men – such different creatures to women! He was happy she hadn’t slept with him and in the scheme of things having her and the girls back with him eclipsed everything else. It was a very lovely thing to say, though Abby was pretty sure the situation was also eased by the fact Autumn had returned from her travels and was very much on a mission to sort things out with her man. Who knew life with the lovely Bradley Hunter would turn out to be more appealing than trekking around India with a backpacker from Manchester? Derrrr!

  Eleanor was waiting on her front porch. Her exceptionally white trainers and Angela Lansbury inspired salmon tracksuit came into view before she did. Abby smiled. Melissa jumped out of the car and stood holding the door in the style of a chauffeur.

  “Hello Mrs S, all set for a bit of a jiggle then?”

  “I am indeed, Mary’s meeting us there and I told her to bring along anyone else she could muster.”

  “It’s great you girls are getting in shape.” Melissa shifted Jessica’s car seat and sat in the back of the car.

  “It’ll be worth it you know, when we jet off on our travels! Did Abby tell you we’re off to Jersey?”

  “Of course I did!” Abby laughed.

  Eleanor was enjoying telling everyone that she and Mary were soon to be ‘jetting off’ on their travels. She was so excited about her trip. Abby and Kennedy were both surprised and hugely proud of her for booking it. Eleanor and Mary had gone and done it on a whim after a win at bingo – just like that! For as long as she could remember Abby had watched her mum visiting the places her dad had wanted to visit and doing the things he had wanted to do. This was something purely for her, a holiday of indulgence. It was what she deserved. Just thinking about it made Abby beam, especially when she imagined the look on her mum’s face when she saw the red Triumph Roadster 2000, aka ‘Bergerac’s car’, which Simon had secretly arranged to take her out for a spin during her stay.

  Practically running along the corridor of the leisure centre and bursting in just after the initial introductions Abby blushed, Melissa grimaced and Eleanor apologised to the group before proudly introducing herself as Kennedy’s mum. Kennedy’s cheeks reddened and she gestured for them all to take their places.

  “You’re just in time, we were about to warm up.”

  Abby glanced round. It was quite an eclectic group of people. There were a few she didn’t recognise and while their barefoot-and-all-the-gear appearance made them a little intimidating Abby was pleased to see Kennedy’s belly dancing class had attracted more than just friends and family. Eleanor joined the bingo crowd at the back who looked a little surprised at what they’d let themselves in for, while Melissa and Abby stood in a line that contained Lucy and Mindy in pink leggings and Prrrrimp Your Hide vest tops. Patty waved from the front and Abby wondered how she had missed her in her leopard print catsuit. Abby waved back and her heart swelled a little; bless her for coming; bless them all for coming! She knew Rachel would have been there too if she hadn’t been called away to work as preparations for the next leg of Rebecca’s tour got underway.

  While she was hurt by Rachel not telling her about Simon, she realised she couldn’t stay angry with her for long, it was tiring and undermined her mission to move on. Besides, she had seen Helen Herne; getting her drunk meant she could fill in all the missing details Abby wanted to know. She could even identify her on Facebook, as Simon could have if Abby had been brave enough to ask him. It had been a bizarre and intriguing night. All those things that had eaten away at Abby and seemed so important culminated in one night of discovery. And the most important thing she discovered was that it didn’t particularly matter who Helen was or what she looked like; she’d sat there and looked at her face, even had it within her grasp to contact her and for what? There was nothing to gain from doing it and seeing her didn’t change what had happened. Nothing could change it. Though accepting that knowledge was – don’t tell Kennedy – empowering.

  Kennedy of course looked lovely, just as Abby remembered her from her earning-cash-to-get-through-college bellygram days; like a blonde Princess Jasmine in her crop top and chiffon harem pants. Abby stared a little enviously at her fabulously lean stomach; after three babies as well, grrrr! Kennedy handed out scarves for those who didn’t have them to wrap around their hips or wrists. It gave everybody something to focus on and relieved the tension. Abby wasn’t sure she needed anything to accentuate her hips but chose a sparkly purple one, popped it on and wiggled to test out the jangling noise of the shiny penny tassels. She was never going to be a great dancer but she was learning that not caring what others think and throwing yourself into it could get you quite far. The hypnotic rhythm and beat of the Middle Eastern music started and the slow, sultry warm-up began.

  It wasn’t long before they realised Patty was quite the star of the class: her hip circles were smooth, her
arm movements fluid. In contrast Abby felt that her hand movements looked as out-of-control as her Incy Wincy Spider hands that had always got a laugh at Grace’s baby boogie class. In fact Patty’s hip thrusts, clearly punctuated at the four points on her imaginary hula hoop, were carried out with a conviction the rest of the class couldn’t help but admire. When it came to hip shimmies, a little fun towards the end of the class, everybody threw themselves into it with gusto, though Abby had to admit hers were more what you might call all-over-body shimmies. She knew she was supposed to keep her upper body still; her mind was saying it but the thought got lost somewhere in translation to her chest. She made a mental note to sneak a bit of extra tuition with Kennedy before the next lesson.

  41

  Feeling refreshed from her shower, positively invigorated and more than a little sexy from the exercise (it’s all in the hip rolls you know), Abby sat outside the house and smiled at the thought of Simon waiting inside for her. Things were going well between them. They were having fun again – adjusting their work-life balance together to suit their needs. And it seemed their need for each other had grown in all kinds of exciting ways since being apart!

  Of course it wasn’t all easy. In fact she still had the occasional dark day – moments that overwhelmed her triggered by memories, films, somebody saying the wrong thing. But they were becoming fewer and no longer haunted her. She found it strange that the whole experience had affected her like that; it was as if it had opened something inside her, a darkness she never knew was there before. She didn’t know if it would ever go completely but she did know it no longer scared her in the same way. She didn’t let it define her. She was learning to control it – her relationship with Simon was more than that moment in time and ultimately she knew that.

  In fact she knew it in more ways than one – his week, which technically thanks to Rachel’s intervention was less than a week, was one out of the at least seven hundred and eighty we’d spent together, less than seven days out of the over five thousand four hundred and sixty we’d shared. As much as Abby wasn’t about to admit it these facts, provided by Kennedy, were reassuring!

  Bramble greeted her warmly as she walked into the house. The smell of her Simon-safe M&S dinner cooking tantalised her taste buds and caused her mouth to water. She heard music coming from the lounge, it was familiar; it was their song. Abby grinned, slipped her shoes off and went to find Simon. As she entered the room he smiled and stood up. Abby swallowed. He looked lovely, all fresh from the shower and dressed to impress. Oh!

  “Should I change?”

  “No need, you look beautiful.”

  Abby looked down at her jeans and t-shirt, momentarily questioning his judgement before he moved towards her and all thoughts of going to change were forgotten. Unable to hide her smile she took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled into a hug. They fitted perfectly in each other’s arms.

  As their bodies met and the music continued to play they began to dance in their own familiar rhythm. Abby welcomed his fresh, clean smell and rubbed herself into his neck. The dance was slow, sensuous and perfect. Abby was pleased she could listen to their song again. It had taken a while but gradually she was accepting the fact that what Simon had done didn’t make everything that had come before meaningless. Their song would always be their song and nobody could undo the things they’d shared; the moments and things that were theirs would always be theirs.

  As the song ended another of Abby’s favourites began. She looked at the stereo. “Did you make me a mix-CD?”

  “Maybe,” he teased. It had been years since they’d made each other mix-tapes; it was a very sweet gesture.

  “Thank you.”

  Simon kissed Abby’s nose and took her hand as he led her into the kitchen. He’d laid the table complete with candles and fresh white freesias. Her pulse raced a little and she wondered, as she watched him pour two large glasses of wine, if she’d forgotten something. She knew it wasn’t their anniversary.

  “Simon it’s lovely, but… why?”

  He motioned for her to sit down. It was only then that she noticed the origami lion on her plate, sitting on a ring box. It was her lion, to go with her elephant and giraffe, the complete set, together again only this time made better by years of practice! Tears welled in her eyes.

  “You know how you said you wouldn’t marry me again…?”

  Abby sniffed back her tears and laughed. “That’s not what I said; I said I didn’t want to renew our vows. We don’t need to start again, we have a whole life together – our life. What’s been is a part of us now.”

  Simon looked at her, knowing how hard that actually was for her to accept, and smiled. “I didn’t think it was possible but I just might love you even more for that, you know.” Kneeling before her he took the ring box from her plate. “OK, so you don’t want to renew our vows, but Abby… will you accept this?”

  As he opened the box she saw the most beautiful gold, diamond-studded, understated and thoroughly gorgeous eternity ring glistening in the candlelight.

  “I used to say to achieve and truly appreciate what you want you should deserve what you get. I don’t deserve this chance you’ve given me, I know how much I stuffed up, Abby. But I want you to know I do really appreciate you, I appreciate us, our beautiful family and how lucky I am.” He slipped the ring on her finger. “The thing is, Mrs Turner, I love you and I know it may take forever to prove it to you but I am never going to risk losing you again.”

  Abby fought back her tears and looked at the ring sitting on top of her engagement and wedding rings, each with their own little bit of history. “The thing is, Simon Turner, you’d better bloody mean that because I love you and I don’t ever want a reason to let you go.”

  Abby’s Notebook:

  I once told Mallory I was scared something might come along to put Simon’s affair into perspective. It turned out life put it into perspective!

  It wasn’t the worst thing in the world to happen, I always knew that, but at the time it felt like more than I could cope with. When I think about the dark depths I plummeted to I am grateful to my beautiful children who gave me a reason to keep going, and my friends and family who helped me through.

  In the darkness that still sometimes touches me I have found new weaknesses I never knew I had, but through my journey I’ve also found new strengths.

  I’ve found me again and I am happy.

  The End

  Thank you

  Dear Reader

  Thank you so much for reading my book; your support is very much appreciated. If you enjoyed Crazy Over You, please tell your friends, and take a moment to leave a review. No matter what their length, reviews help authors and their work get noticed. They really do mean an awful lot.

  And if you would like to discover more about my writing you can find my details after the about the author section. I enjoy getting my followers involved, occasionally asking for research help, so why not stop by, say hello, and join in? I’d love to hear from you.

  Carol x

  About the Author

  In the summer of 2017, Carol Thomas was delighted to gain a publishing contract with Ruby Fiction, an imprint of the award-winning romance publishers Choc Lit, for her novel The Purrfect Pet Sitter.

  A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Authors, Carol writes for both adults and children: Her contemporary romance novels, have relatable heroines whose stories are layered with emotion, sprinkled with laughter and topped with irresistible male leads; while her children's books have irresistibly cute, generally furry characters young children can relate to.

  Carol lives on the south coast of England with her husband, four children and lively Labrador. She has been a playgroup supervisor and taught in primary schools for over fifteen years, before dedicating more of her time to writing. Carol is a regular volunteer at her local Cancer Research UK shop and has a passion for reading, writing and people watching. She can often be found loitering in loca
l cafes working on her next book.

  Acknowledgments

  I am fortunate to have lots of lovely people in my life who have helped me along the way, but special thanks must go to my wonderfully supportive husband Mason, whose encouragement in helping me see this whole project through has been amazing. It wouldn’t have been possible without you. I really appreciate all you have done. Thank you so much!

  Kirsti, despite being one of the busiest people I know, you always make time to listen to my ideas and to read first drafts and rewrites for me. I really appreciate your honest opinion, and continued support. Thank you! Amelia, Madison and Edward, thank you for your love, hugs and encouragement. I am very lucky to have four such wonderful and supportive children.

  Angela, thank you for reading drafts and for letting me text and call you at all hours to discuss various aspects of my book. Big sisters really are invaluable!

  Mum, I had never seen you read a novel until you picked up my manuscript, thank you. That meant a lot. Also I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you and Dad for all the love and support you have given me through all the twists and turns of life. I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you both.

  Thank you also to Rebecca, Max and Julie, for reading Crazy Over You at various stages of development and for helping me to make tweaks along the way.

  On the technical front, I must thank my very talented nephew Drew Bristow (www.twitter.com/Drewvis_UK), who had more emails from me about book covers than I am sure he imagined possible when he agreed to help me. I love the cover image you created for me, thank you so much!