The Empty Room

by H P Steven

  “Yeah well if I had known sooner I could have done something earlier,” I remarked.

  “Yeah you and me both,” Natalie added.

  As Hannah sat their quietly it wasn’t lost on the both of us, while we wanted to change the subject both of us were more annoyed with her than we should have been.

  “Anyway, this wine has been great,” Hannah said.

  “Yeah, we can do this more often when you come over to work on the dark side,” Natalie joked.

  As Hannah and I both started laughing.

  “Wow, I needed this,” I said.

  “Yeah so did I,” Hannah added.

  “Well, as did I,” Natalie commented not wanting to be left out, while we all started laughing.

  I wanted to have a beer, it had been a while since I was last here and the Temple Brau was pretty-good the last time.

  “I’m gonna have one more glass of wine then a lemonade, then enjoy a couple of beers I think,”

  “What your gonna leave these two bottle to us,” Hannah said, with a smile on her face.

  “Yeah is that a wise decision,” Natalie asked.

  “Well we’ll see in a few hours won’t we,” I remarked.

  Later on, finally enjoying a nice refreshing beer, walking back from the bar I could see the two of them looking at me, Hannah smiling away and Natalie just following me with her eyes,

  “Hey Hannah told me what you did, I’m pretty sure it was self-defence and a good lawyer like myself could help you if this dude starts being a dick, just don’t hit him again and you should be fine,” Natalie remarked.

  “Yeah wasn’t planning on it,” I said.

  “Good,” Hannah commented, as they had only a few glasses of wine left in the bottles and I was enjoying the beer here at the porterhouse again.

  Leaning back remembering the last time I was here was with, Devin and Cam, as a smile broke out across my face, Hannah must have known why as Natalie had just gone off to the Women’s room.

  “So thinking about Devin and Cam?” Hannah asked.

  “Yeah the last time I was here was with them,” I replied.

  “Ha, nice. Hey do you think Mikes working tonight?” Hannah asked.

  “Yeah probably I’m not sure,” I said.

  “Natalie was thinking about burgers but I could go some Chinese,” Hannah said.

  “Well, I’ll eat anything,” I said, before adding.

  “Well not a fan of curry, but anything else.”

  As we laughed and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, by the time we left we were all having a great time, we ended up at Wagamama for dinner and having a few more drinks at the Porterhouse making our way home, the girls started talking shop for a while, but luckily Audrey had let me know the Novels publishing date, should have been sooner but the book jacket decision had taken so long that they bought it back a bit. I had told Audrey how many novel’s, I’d need and she understood who was going to get a copy and for now the latest bit of work was nearing completion. Just as she called me.

  “Hi Phil, got those novels all sorted for you,” Audrey answered.

  “Oh thanks Audrey,” I said.

  “You know your second novel might have beaten your first novel to get published,” Audrey remarked laughing.

  “Yeah I know, thanks Audrey, I’ll let Hannah know,” I commented.

  Hannah hearing this turned and looked at me shrugging.

  “Yeah, okay I’ll talk to you again soon Phil, enjoy your evening,” Audrey remarked, before we both laughed and she hung up.

  “Book should be out soon, just letting Audrey know you might want a couple, she has the list either way,” I said.

  “Oh cool can’t wait to read it,” Hannah replied.

  As Natalie again made her way back from the Woman’s room.

  “We should head off soon, but this has been great, thanks Natalie,” Hannah commented.

  “Yeah thanks Natalie,” I added, as Natalie just smiled at us both.

  “Hey head up Phil, same to you Hannah, I’ll talk to you both again soon,” Natalie declared, as she had snuck up to the front desk and paid for dinner without us knowing.

  “Okay then let’s sort out the bill,” Hannah remarked.

  “No, I’ve already taken care of it,” Natalie said.

  “What, you didn’t have to do that,” I insisted.

  “Oh well too bad its done,” Natalie replied.

  “Fine but next time we head out, we’ll take care of the bill,” Hannah declared.

  “Yeah, deal, I’ll see you in a few weeks Hannah and I’ll try and forward some contracts over for you to look at later in the week, have a safe trip home and thanks for today you two,” Natalie declared.

  We both agreed and told Natalie not to forget about next time, as we went to walk out, I high fived her as Hannah went up and kissed her on the cheek and thanked her again for everything.

  It took us ages to get back to the tube station and by the time I noticed the toilets at Earls court were out of order again, I remembered the KFC across the road and quickly darted off. Getting back, seeing Hannah laughing at me on the platform as our train pulled out of the station.

  “Ha you’re useless,” Hannah insisted.

  “Well, nature called,” I replied shrugging.

  “Yeah well the next train isn’t for another ten minutes,” Hannah laughed.

  “Oh okay,”

  Smiling as I looked around.

  “What are you smiling at?” Hannah asked.

  “All of this, I needed a day like today,” I replied.

  “Yeah I bet you did, what’s happening with Karen?” Hannah asked.

  “I’m not too sure, Audrey’s gonna let me know, but I think they’ll probably take her back to Sydney to be laid to rest near her dad,” I replied.

  “Will you go back?” Hannah asked, waiting for my answer.

  “Not sure I can, according to Audrey, heaps of novel stuff to sort out, I think she might be annoyed I went on that trip,”

  “Ha, you might be right,” Hannah said.

  Just as our train arrived and we walked on and found a couple of seats.

  22

  The Flaw in the Plan

  “Hey Audrey’s here,” Hannah said, waking me up.

  “Argh, what time is it?” I asked

  “It’s seven,” Hannah replied, watching me struggle to get out of bed.

  “Okay,” I yawned, crawling out of bed and getting dressed.

  Walking past Hannah on the way out,

  “I’ve got to go to work, but I’ll be okay,” Hannah said.

  “Okay, I’ll meet up with afterwards,” I suggested.

  “There’s a coffee for you in the kitchen,” Hannah replied.

  “Thanks,” I yawned, walking straight into the kitchen and grabbing the coffee.

  Only then spinning around and seeing Audrey smiling at me from the couch in the lounge with the same looking briefcase.

  “Hey Hannah before you leave for work you might want to see this,” Audrey mentioned.

  “Um, okay what’s up?” Hannah asked.

  “Grab a pen Phil,” Audrey insisted, as Hannah started smiling.

  “Is that a copy of the novel Audrey?” Hannah asked.

  “It sure is Hannah, now what do you want Phil to write under the front cover?” Audrey asked.

  “Oh where to start,” Hannah replied,

  “This might take a while,” Hannah added.

  “That’s okay I could give you a ride to work, so take your time,” Audrey laughed.

  “Yeah thanks Audrey,” Hannah replied.

  As I finished the coffee and wandered into the lounge where Hannah was surveying the look of the novel and glancing through the first two or three pages.

  “Oh wow, you dedicated it to Cam and Susan, that’s really cool,” Hannah declared.

  “Yeah it was an easy fix,” Audrey insisted.

  “Yeah I had originally dedicated it to someone else,” I added.

 
“Oh wow, who?” Hannah asked.

  “Anna.”

  “Oh, did she know?” Hannah asked.

  “I don’t think she did.”

  “Well you’ll have to talk to her at some point,” Hannah remarked.

  “What, you still haven’t spoken to her?” Audrey asked.

  “Yeah I haven’t even seen her,” I replied.

  “Well, I think you should,” Audrey insisted,

  making both Hannah and I wonder why.

  “Okay I’ll do that this week at some point,” I remarked.

  “Well, make sure you do,” Audrey replied.

  Getting up and placing three copies on the coffee table.

  “I’ve already sent Margaret a copy.”

  “Oh I should have signed it for her,” I said.

  “She was telling me it would be a good excuse to catch up with you both again,” Audrey commented.

  “Yeah I guess it would be,” I said.

  Hannah looking on and agreeing till Audrey finally offered to take her to work.

  “Hey Phil, I’ll speak to you later,” Hannah declared.

  “Don’t write anything in my novel till I’ve figured out what it should be,” Hannah added.

  Both Audrey and I started laughing.

  “Thanks Audrey I’ll talk to you later, Hannah see you at all-bar-one after work.”

  Agreeing they both left and I went back to bed for a few hours. Getting up and sending Anna a quick text to see if she wanted to pop in for a drink at all bar one with Hannah and I.

  I was surprised when she thought that would be a great idea and she thought she had seen my book in her favourite book store, either way she had bought it and wanted to see if I would sign it for her.

  Grabbing my phone as I went into my room with a couple of copies. Then sending out a quick text.

  Hi Anna

  Yeah that sounds great, think up something you’d like me to write and I’ll be more than happy to sign it for you.

  Thanks

  Phil

  It was a pretty strange day. I’d already done heaps of cleaning, been for a walk down to the coffee shop and been for a five kilometre walk around the park, my day was going really-great, till Audrey rang me and let me know about what the Arkos family had organised in two night’s time. I was happy to know they had planned something and not at all scared to see them again. My time with Karen had been great, yet. I always had a sneaking suspicion that I had stolen time from them, I’m pretty-sure Tara felt like she had missed out when the sisters rang her, when we were in Rome.

  Either way I wanted to pay my respects, Audrey had already told Christine I couldn’t make it back to Sydney and luckily she understood.

  As the day went on I gave Hannah a call, she hadn’t seen much of Ralph around the office but a few people had asked her if I had done something to him. I just laughed when she said that.

  “Well just tell them to ask me in a few hours,” I insisted.

  As Hannah laughed.

  “Yeah I’ll make sure to let them know we’re catching up at All-bar-one later today,” Hannah joked.

  “I should possibly bring Audrey along for protection,” I remarked.

  As Hannah laughed again.

  “Well I should probably tell you I invited her anyway, she didn’t tell me anything about Anna though,” Hannah said.

  “Well she’s bringing a pen later-on. I’ve spoken to her and she bought a copy of my book,” I said.

  “Well that’s one, congratulations, you’re an author,” Hannah laughed.

  “Thanks Hannah, I’ll see you later-on, I might head in soon anyway, beat the hordes and hordes of people.

  “Yeah, what’s Mike up too?” Hannah asked.

  “Um, not sure, I’ll text him soon,”

  “Cool, I’ll see you later-on,” Hannah remarked, before hanging up.

  The rest of my next novel was coming along, I still needed to give it a bit of an edit but felt like I’d be able to send it off by the end of the week. Audrey’s editors had been awesome, but I still felt like I needed to make their work easier. The place was pretty-quiet so I was about to leave and quickly gave Mike a text.

  Hey bro heading out to All bar one, near Holborn Tube station, Catching-up with Hannah and Anna, Audrey should be there if your free for a few drinks.

  Walking down to the tube station, Mike text me back.

  Yeah bro sounds good it’s just around the corner from the office, see you guys there, after five later on.

  It was roughly about three in the afternoon, when I walked in and saw Audrey talking to Anna.

  It happened to me again, I’m not sure why she hadn’t been a part of my life for ages, yet I still thought about her and what could have happened.

  As Audrey walked away and I saw Anna.

  My heart shrank, I stopped just inside the doorway as Audrey had seen me as well on her way to the, ladies room.

  Luckily Meredith walked in behind me and broke the ice.

  “I hope that yours or tonight’s gonna suck,” Meredith joked.

  “It’s pretty far along, by the looks of it, could be Cam’s?” I said, half joking and half still in shock.

  As Meredith pushed me along, to where Anna was standing.

  “Hi there,” I mentioned.

  “What’s going on here then?” I added.

  “Let’s grab a seat and have a quick talk,” Anna insisted.

  “Firstly, it’s not yours”, Anna declared, as we both took a seat.

  “Oh wow, who’s is it?” I asked.

  “Its possibly Cam’s,” Anna said, watching me closely as I just sat there and could hear Meredith giggling.

  How this was funny to her I’ll never know, probably why I never asked. It was a confusing talk, we talked about what she was going through, what I meant to her. Then out of nowhere she handed me my novel to sign.

  Anna,

  with luck and love we touched the sky then we were no more,

  Phil

  Anna thanked me when she read it, and as she got up she kissed me on the cheek. I was at a loss. we both lingered there for longer than we probably should have, Anna choose not to ask me about the trip, or how Hannah was doing. Then out of nowhere Anna told me she had to go. I walked her out to the taxi rank, helping her into a cab, as Hannah turned the corner and got a good glimpse of Anna. Gasping and putting her hand to her mouth pointing at Anna and mouthing the word ‘yours’, as I nodded ‘no’ then shrugged. Hannah shrugged back and walked along the footpath as the cab drove away, I stood there and watched it drive out of my life and waited for Hannah to punch me in the arm, only for her to wrap an arm around my shoulder.

  “Wow, how’d Audrey know?” Hannah asked.

  “Actually, that’s a really good question,” I replied, as we both turned around and headed back to the bar.

  Walking in and seeing Mike having a beer with Meredith and Audrey enjoying themselves.

  “Hey Audrey, how you doing?” I asked.

  “I’m just gonna cut to the chase, did you know Audrey?” Hannah asked.

  As we both stood there and didn’t have to wait too long, Mike just looked on, looking confused.

  “Yeah, we saw her a few weeks ago at a supermarket,” Meredith remarked.

  “Oh okay, where was I, why didn’t someone let me know?” I asked.

  “You might have been in Russia or Amsterdam and we had a novel to get sorted,” Audrey insisted.

  “Fair enough then,”

  “Okay then, I’ll get another round,” Hannah said.

  As I went to take a seat.

  “So I’ll see you in a couple of nights again Audrey?”

  “Yeah, Christine’s sorted out a little memorial,” Audrey replied.

  “It’ll be good to be a part of anything,” I declared, as the others sat around agreeing.

  As Hannah came back with a couple of jugs and we settled in for a while.

  It wasn’t long till Audrey and Meredith had to go, but in he
lping us drink our way through a few too many jugs. We all slowly made our way to Holborn station and back to Putney.

  “Hey Mike do you want to grab something to eat in Putney?” I asked.

  “Yeah that sounds good, the steak at the boat house was pretty-good the last time we were there Phil,” Hannah suggested.

  “You had me at steak,” Mike joked, as we made our way on to the train and off back to the Putney.

  We were off and luckily got the connection straight away at Earls Court and in under an hour we were sitting at the boathouse reading through the menu and Hannah had ordered a couple of beers for us all.

  Having been asked what we wanted we were eating in no time, we had a great night. We didn’t bring up Ralph though I could see Mike wanted too, though. I’m pretty-sure he knew Hannah just wanted the whole thing to be over and she wanted to leave the law firm.

  We only talked about it between ourselves, once we were finished our meals, we hung around and then drank a few more beers.

  “So what’s been happening Mike?” I asked

  How’s Trudie? I added.

  “Mate, she’s all good aye, just back home at the moment as her Grandmother past away,” Mike replied.

  “Oh wow, please pass on our sympathies,” Hannah said.

  As I totally agreed.

  “What about you man, how’s everything going with Karen’s funeral details?” Mike asked.

  “Oh man, it’s all a little hard aye bro, just thinking about what I should say, I still feel like I stole time from them, even if they understood, it’s still really their time,” I said.

  “Yeah I could see that,” Hannah said.

  “Oh thanks Hannah,” I joked, as they both just sat their laughing.

  “Well, I’m sure you’ll think up something good to say, or you could just bust out another song,” Mike suggested, Hannah just started laughing and didn’t stop for ages.

  “Okay I’ll sing a wee tune, when I’m asked to speak,” I said.

  To boos from the table.

  Luckily it was getting late and we all decide to go home, as we made it to the corner and Mike was about to head off down Lower Richmond Road, Hannah gave him a quick hug and thanked him, I shook his hand and told him to catch up more.

  “Yeah bro, I’ll see you guys later,” Mike said, heading off home,