A Night to Remember

by Jennifer Taylor

  ‘Look, Seb, I can’t see any point in dragging this out. You know why I’m here so let’s sort things out and then I can leave you in peace.’ She shrugged, wishing she felt anywhere near as calm as she was pretending to be. ‘We’re both adults and we both know the score. I can’t see that we need to fight about this, do you?’

  ‘I have no intention of fighting with you, Libby.’ He put his sandwich back on the plate and looked at her. ‘I don’t want to make this any more difficult for you than it already is.’

  ‘Thank you. I…I appreciate that.’ She forced down the lump that had risen to her throat because she couldn’t afford to let her emotions get the better of her. ‘I suppose the main thing we need to decide is what we should do with the house in Sussex and all our belongings. I’m willing to buy you out, if you’ll let me, but there’s all the other things like furniture, for instance. Half of it is yours so we need to decide who keeps what.’

  ‘You can have it all.’

  Seb picked up his sandwich but the bread tasted like sawdust once it was in his mouth. Maybe he did want Libby to be happy but he wasn’t sure if he could behave in a civilised fashion while they dotted all the Is and crossed the Ts. He didn’t give a damn what happened to the bloody furniture or the house! It was Libby he cared about, Libby and the fact that she might be leaving him for someone else.

  Pain sliced through him once more. The thought of her sharing her life with anyone except him was more than he could bear. It wouldn’t be his arms she fell asleep in each night, and it wouldn’t be him she woke up next to each morning. Some other guy would lie beside her and make plans for their future together.

  They were bound to have a family, of course. Libby had always wanted children and she wouldn’t want to waste too much time making her dream come true. The thought of her being pregnant with another man’s child made him want to throw up, even though he had no right to feel that way.

  He’d had his chance and wasted it. He’d wanted his dream job as well as her, but he’d been too greedy, hadn’t he? He should have realised that he could have one or the other, not both. If he could turn back the clock, he would have refused the job and concentrated on his marriage, but it wasn’t going to happen. All those wasted hours had melted away and he wouldn’t get them back again. He was going to lose her and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do to stop it happening!

  ‘Oh, no. That wouldn’t be right. It’s only fair that you should have half of everything. I mean, some of the things must have sentimental value…’

  ‘I’ve already told you that I don’t want anything. You can keep the lot. It’s up to you what you do with it.’

  He picked up his plate and went over to the waste bin. Libby frowned as she watched him toss the sandwich into the bin. It just didn’t seem fair that he should hand over everything to her…

  Unless he didn’t want any mementoes of their life together?

  Pain rushed through her and she stood up abruptly, devastated by how that thought made her feel. That Seb should want to erase her from his life hurt unbearably yet what had she expected him to do? He had made a new life for himself here so why would he want anything that reminded him of their time together?

  ‘If that’s what you want, it’s fine by me. If you change your mind, just tell me.’

  ‘I won’t.’ He put the plate on the counter and turned to face her. ‘So is that it, then? There’s nothing else that needs sorting out?’

  ‘Not that I can think of. I imagine the next step is to find ourselves a solicitor.’

  ‘I’ll use the firm that handled the conveyancing when I bought this house. I have their address somewhere about so I’ll text you with the details.’

  ‘Thanks. I’ll pass them on to my solicitor.’ She picked up her bag and shrugged. ‘That seems to be it. There isn’t much more we can do until the divorce papers are prepared.’

  ‘It shouldn’t take long to finalise things,’ he assured her emotionlessly. ‘Marilyn’s divorce came through earlier on in the year and she told me that it had taken just a few months. Apparently, it’s quite a simple process if neither party contests it.’

  ‘Good. The sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned.’

  She turned away before he could see how wounded she felt. It was obvious that he couldn’t wait to be rid of her.

  ‘That sounds as though you’ve been making plans for the future,’ he observed, following her into the hall.

  ‘Do you blame me?’ she countered, doing her best to disguise her devastation. She wasn’t naïve enough to imagine that Seb would be on his own for very long after they split up.

  ‘No, I don’t blame you at all. You deserve to be happy, Libby.’

  His voice grated and she paused when she heard the strain it held. ‘So do you, Seb. Just because we’re getting divorced, it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you. I…I hope that you will be happy, too.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  He walked past her and opened the front door, making it clear that he didn’t want to linger over their goodbyes. Libby quickly followed him because she didn’t want to linger either, yet as she reached the step she could feel tears welling to her eyes. This would be the last time she saw him. She certainly wouldn’t make the journey up here again, and Seb most definitely wouldn’t drive all the way to Sussex when there was no reason to do so. This was, in effect, the end of their marriage.

  ‘Please, don’t cry, Libby. It’s what you wanted, isn’t it? So there’s no reason to upset yourself.’

  ‘It’s just so sad,’ she whispered, choking back a sob.

  ‘It is.’ He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly against him, his lips brushing her hair so that if she hadn’t known better she might have believed that everything was going to be fine. But it wouldn’t be fine because they were breaking up. Quite frankly, she didn’t know how she was going to live without him!

  ‘Seb…’ she began desperately, as panic gripped her, but he shook his head.

  ‘No. There’s no point saying anything else. We just have to accept what’s happened and think about the future now.’

  He kissed her lightly on her forehead then stepped back, and there was something so final about the gesture that she knew it would be pointless to argue. ‘Goodbye, Libby. Take care of yourself.’

  ‘You, too,’ she whispered.

  She turned and ran to her car, not looking back as she started the engine. There was nothing to look back for because this was the end: the end of her marriage, the end of Seb loving her.

  Tears streamed down her face and she had to stop when she reached the road because she couldn’t see where she was going. The pearly morning light had faded to a bleak greyness now which mirrored her mood. Her whole future felt grey and bleak now that Seb wouldn’t play any part in it.

  Fear gripped her again and just for a moment she wondered if she should go back and tell him that she’d changed her mind. Then sanity returned. Why would he want her to go back when he’d just let her go?

  She dried her eyes then set off, following the route they’d taken on their way to the house. And each mile she drove was one mile further away from Seb and one mile closer to that lonely future she couldn’t bear to imagine.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Saturday: 10 a.m.

  SEB sat at the kitchen table, uncaring that the cup of coffee he had poured for himself was growing cold. Libby had left him and their marriage was over.

  The words hammered inside his skull, over and over again, but he still couldn’t believe it had actually happened. Closing his eyes, he tried to make sense of what had gone on, but that only made matters worse. All he could picture was the expression on her face as she’d walked out of the door…

  Pain ripped through him and he opened his eyes and stared around the empty room. It summed up what his life was going to be like in the future: empty, cold, bleak. Without Libby, he’d lost his centre, his reason for being. Oh, he would go through the motions,
of course, but nothing he achieved from this point on would afford him any real pleasure.

  Pushing back his chair, he stood up, feeling weariness dragging at him. He desperately needed to sleep but he was far too keyed up to go to bed. He went into the sitting room instead and sat down on the sofa, trying not to think about the plans he’d made when he had bought the house. There was no point imagining how cosy this room would have looked once Libby had worked her magic on it because it wasn’t going to happen. She would be too busy creating a new home for herself and his successor!

  Seb swore colourfully, pain and anger finding an outlet in the ugly words. He didn’t feel any better after the outburst was over but he didn’t feel any worse either. Resting his head against the cushions, he tried to doze but his mind wouldn’t allow him to rest. If it wouldn’t have elicited a lot of curious comments, he would have gone back to work, but the last thing he needed was people asking him what was wrong. He had to stay here and pray that he would find a way to cope.

  Eventually.

  Libby spotted a sign for the motorway as soon as she reached the town centre. She followed the directions and eventually arrived at the junction.

  She headed south, trying not to think about what had happened between her and Seb. She’d achieved what she had set out to do yesterday and now she must concentrate on the future. Although she enjoyed general practice work, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to remain in her present post. Maybe it was time to move on and opt for a partnership this time? She’d always liked the idea of working in a small rural practice so that’s what she would aim for. Her parents had retired to Portugal a few years ago so it wasn’t as though she had ties to any particular part of the country. She could remain down south or move further north—where Seb lived was a beautiful area and she could imagine herself living by the coast…

  She caught herself up short when she realised how improbable that scenario was and concentrated on her driving. The traffic was quite heavy now and there were a lot of lorries in the inside lane, which were slowing things down. She was just about to pull out and overtake the car in front of her when it suddenly shot into the middle lane at the same moment as a car in the outside lane pulled in.

  Libby gasped in horror as the two vehicles collided. She stamped on her brakes and just managed to avoid a collision when one of the vehicles shot across in front of her and careered up the banking at the side of the carriageway. She had no idea what had happened to the other car, she was too busy trying to get out of the way. But as soon as she judged it safe to do so, she pulled up on the hard shoulder and got out of her car.

  The traffic had come to a standstill and she could see a number of vehicles strewn across the carriageway. Snatching her bag out of the boot, she ran back along the hard shoulder and scrambled up the banking to where the first car was precariously balanced on its roof. The driver—a young woman—was hanging upside down from her seat belt and Libby realised that she would need help to get her out. Fortunately there were a couple of men already there so once she’d explained that she was a doctor, she enlisted their help.

  The door was jammed shut but one of the men had a crowbar and managed to force it open. Libby knelt down beside the car and spoke to the girl. ‘Can you tell me where it hurts?’

  ‘My neck…and my legs…’ The girl tried to wriggle free of the harness but Libby stopped her.

  ‘I want you to keep very still. We’re going to get you out of there but we need to make sure that your neck is supported first so I’m going to put a collar on you.’

  The girl began to cry. ‘My dad’s going to kill me when he sees what I’ve done to his car. I only passed my test last week and he made me promise that I wouldn’t go on the motorway until I’d had a bit more practice.’

  Libby sighed softly. ‘I’m sure he’ll be more relieved that you’re all right than angry. My name’s Libby, by the way, and I’m a doctor. What’s your name?’

  ‘Amy.’

  ‘Right, then, Amy, let’s get that collar on you then we can see if we can get you out of there.’

  It was a bit of struggle to fix the collar from that position, but she managed it in the end. Releasing the harness proved to be even more difficult because the buckle had jammed. Fortunately, the police arrived very quickly and they had a special device to cut through the webbing strap.

  ‘Be very careful with her,’ she instructed as the men lifted the girl out of the car. ‘Try not to jolt her spine.’

  They laid her on the grass so that Libby could examine her. Both femurs were broken and the bone was protruding through the flesh of the left leg. She covered the open wound with a sterile dressing to protect it then examined the girl’s spine—sliding her hand beneath Amy’s back to check the alignment of the vertebrae. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t detect any obvious abnormalities, although it didn’t prove conclusively that there was no damage. Amy would need to be X-rayed before they could be certain about that.

  The ambulances had started to arrive so she relayed her findings to the paramedics and handed the girl over to them. A lot of people had been injured, although there were no fatalities, thankfully enough. Even the driver of the second car involved in the collision had received only minor injuries.

  It could have been a lot worse, she thought as she watched the paramedics load Amy on board the ambulance. Nobody knew what was going to happen to them in the future, which made it all the more important to live life to the full while you had the chance. She should have done that this past year. She should have gone with Seb and made sure they lived every second as though it were their last. Now it was too late for them and the thought was just too much to bear.

  Sitting down on the banking, she cried as all the pain and heartache caught up with her. Her marriage was over and she had lost Seb for good.

  It was no good. He couldn’t sit here and try to sleep when his life was in tatters. He had to do something to sort it out!

  Seb leapt to his feet, desperately wishing that he hadn’t let Libby leave like that. He should have kept her here and done everything he could to make her understand how much he loved her. He refused to accept that she didn’t feel anything for him any more. If only he’d explained that he couldn’t face the thought of living without her then she might have reconsidered and given him another chance. But instead of doing that, he’d led her to believe that he no longer cared. Hell and damnation. What had he done?

  He strode out of the room, pausing only long enough to snatch up his car keys. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to persuade her to come back to him but he had to try. He couldn’t bear to be left wondering if there’d been something more he could have done to save their marriage so he would go after her and beg her to listen to him. There had to be a way to convince her that this divorce shouldn’t go ahead!

  He ran out to his car and started the engine. He knew that she would head for the motorway and with a bit of luck he might be able to catch up with her before she reached it. However, he was quite prepared to drive all the way to Sussex if need be, and the thought made him groan out loud in despair.

  If only he’d realised sooner how important it was to keep their marriage alive, he would have driven down to see her every single weekend. And when he’d got there, he wouldn’t have left her in any doubt about his feelings either. He loved her, he wanted her and he should have told her that instead of letting his stupid pride get in the way.

  Seb’s mouth thinned. No matter what else transpired that day, he intended to tell Libby that he loved her. It was the least he could do after all the heartache he’d caused her this past year.

  Seb could feel his anxiety mounting as he joined the motorway. Although he’d made excellent time, there’d been no sign of Libby and he couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t worried about her. She’d always been a careful driver but he knew how upset she’d been when she’d left the house. The thought of her having an accident was more than he could bear. If any harm came to her because of him, he wo
uldn’t be able to live with himself!

  The thought had barely crossed his mind when he heard sirens. Glancing in his rear-view mirror, he saw a convoy of ambulances speeding down the outside lane. The traffic hurriedly moved out of the way to let them pass, and Seb didn’t hesitate. He slipped into the gap behind them, feeling his heart thundering as he followed them down the motorway. There’d obviously been an accident and all he could do now was pray that Libby hadn’t been involved in it.

  The traffic had come to a standstill now but he had no difficulty getting through as part of the convoy. They reached the site where the accident had happened and his heart turned over when he saw all the vehicles scattered across the carriageway. There seemed to be dozens of cars with dents in them, although he couldn’t see Libby’s car anywhere about, thankfully. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled up on the hard shoulder. At least she was safe so now he would see if there was anything he could to help the other people.

  He took his case out of the boot and ran towards the nearest vehicle, a van. There were two men in it and they both looked dazed. One of them had a cut over his right eye, which was pouring with blood, so Seb gave him a wad of lint and told him to apply pressure to it. The other man shook his head when Seb asked him if he was hurt so he moved on to the next vehicle. The driver, a woman in her twenties, was moaning softly and his heart sank when he realised that she was pregnant.

  ‘How many weeks are you?’ he asked, crouching down beside the car.

  ‘Thirty-eight,’ she whispered. She clutched her stomach and groaned. ‘I’ve got these awful pains…’

  She broke off, sweat beading on her upper lip as the pain intensified. Seb guessed that she had gone into labour and if that was the case then he needed to get her out of the car. Reaching over, he unfastened her seat belt.

  ‘We need to get you out of there. Do you think you can walk if I help you?’

  ‘I think so…’ She swung her feet out of the footwell then had to stop as another contraction began. As soon as it had passed, he helped her to the hard shoulder. The paramedics were busy tending the rest of the injured so he spread his jumper on the ground and sat her down.