by Wendy Smith
A crowd of our old school mates begin to gather around. Chloe will be the big curiosity here. Everyone else around us either left town and came back, or never left.
“I’m so good. My husband’s around here somewhere. Do you remember Darren Carmichael?”
“I do.”
“We got married a couple of years ago. We lived together forever before we got around to it. And we have three kids. Time’s just flown by.” She pauses. “What about you guys? Do you have kids?”
“Two boys,” Chloe says.
There’s tension in her face that wasn’t there before, and it’s got me curious. I’m not sure anyone else notices, but apart from Scott, I’m probably the person who knew Chloe best.
“And Scott. Where’s he? Is he around here?”
Chloe blinks rapidly, and opens her mouth only to close it again without a word. She pulls away from Meredith and seems to struggle with the answer. I glare at Meredith. She’s the one who alerted me to Chloe coming here alone. Why do I get the feeling what she’s asking is a loaded question?
“Chloe? Are you okay?” I ask.
Her brows knit, and she licks her lips, giving me a short nod.
Silence goes on for an eternity as she lets out a long breath and then chokes out the words. “Umm. I thought I’d handle this better. Scott died.”
Her words crash into my brain, and for a moment I’m left unable to speak. How is that possible? I loved that guy like a brother until we fell out. How could I not know this?
“Oh, Chloe.” Meredith touches her arm.
“I’m sorry. I need some fresh air.” Tears well in Chloe’s eyes, and she heads toward the nearest exit.
Meredith turns to me. “Did you know?”
“Of course I didn’t fucking know. Excuse me.”
I follow the path Chloe took until I reach the door and look around outside. The light is fading, but there’s still enough for me to see her with her back to me. She’s holding onto a fence, taking deep breaths.
“Chloe. Are you okay?”
She turns to look over her shoulder. “I’ll be fine. I just haven’t been asked that question for a long time.”
“How long?” I draw up next to her. “How long has it been?”
“Four years.” She shoots a glance at me. “I should handle it better by now, I guess.”
I shake my head. “You loved him. I’m not sure these things are ever easy.”
She looks at me longer this time. “Time helps, but it’s still very hard.”
“I bet.” I reach over and rub her shoulder. “What brings you back to town? The reunion? Or is it something more permanent?”
“I’m back home for good.” She sighs. “For a combination of reasons, but I want my boys to get to know this town and their grandparents. It was a tough decision, leaving everything they ever knew behind, but I think it’ll be the right one.”
I smile. “Well, I’m glad you’re back in town anyway. I missed you.”
“I missed you too. I’m glad you’re here tonight. I don’t know what possessed me to come here otherwise.” She gives me a gentle laugh, and nudges my side. “What’s your story?”
“Me?” I take a deep breath. “I’d kill for a drink right now, and I bet you would too.”
Chloe nods. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
“Do you want to go back inside, or do you want to get out of here?”
Her lips curl into a smile. “I should probably socialise. There are a lot of people I haven’t seen in years.”
I nudge her back with my elbow. “Yeah, but I’m more important than them.”
Her smile widens. Seventeen years ago that would have made my heart sing, and I have to admit that, right now, my reaction isn’t that different.
Chloe nods. “That’s true. You are. Where are we going?”
“There’s a quiet little pub on Hastings Street I go to from time to time. Do you need a ride?”
“I’ve got my car.”
“No babysitters to rush home to?”
Chloe grins. “My babies are sixteen. They can look after themselves for one evening.”
My mouth falls open. “No way. How is that even possible?”
“It’s been a long time, Hunter. You lead and I’ll follow in my car. One drink and something to eat because I’m starving.”
“They do the best pub food.”
“Sounds great.”
“I’ll grab my car and meet you at the car park entrance?”
She nods. “I’m the one driving the red Honda sedan. Not that you can probably see what colour it is in this light.”
“I have a dark blue Ford Mustang.”
Chloe wrinkles her nose. “Nice. You must be doing okay for yourself, then.”
“Not too bad. See you in a minute?”
“Sure thing.”
I head off to my car, smiling to myself.
Not in a million years did I imagine this scenario. But my mood darkens when I think of what she’s just told me. Scott’s dead. He was sometimes moody with a dark sense of humour, and Chloe was the light in his life. But we shared so much laughter, and until he realised how I felt about his girlfriend, we were close.
I need to know more.
The sound she makes as she takes a big bite of a French fry makes my toes curl.
Everything’s changed in both our lives, but this takes me back to when we used to hang out together, before Scott cut me out.
“These are so good. I’m glad we came here.”
I smile. “Me too. The food’s a lot better than the reunion would have been.”
Chloe licks the salt from her fingers and takes a long sip of her beer. “I feel so bad for leaving, but I like this place better. And I get to catch up with the one person I actually wanted to see.”
I chuckle. “Really?”
She puts her glass down. “When Scott died, we had the funeral in Auckland because all our friends were there. A part of me regrets not bringing him home. But that’s what I’m doing now.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“He was cremated, and he wanted me to make the decision about where to inter him. So, now I’m back, I need to work out when I’m ready to do that.”
“Is there any hurry?”
She shakes her head. “For now I’m happy for him to be with me. I know that must sound weird.”
I reach across the table and take her hand. “It sounds like you, and him, the two of you, had something really special.”
She nods. “Right up until the end. But now I’m here, and it’s taken a while, but I reached the point where I had to start thinking about myself and the boys rather than dwelling in the past.” Chloe looks down at the table. “I still feel like, sometimes, I’m being selfish thinking that way, but how long do you put your life on hold when you’re the one who has to make the change?”
I give her hand a squeeze before letting it go. “I’m so sorry, Chloe.”
She shrugs. “It’s not like I can do anything about it, so I needed to make a decision for me and my boys.” She takes a deep breath, smiles, and swipes another French fry off my plate.
I just laugh and shake my head. Some things never change.
“So, what about you? Are you married? Kids?” she asks between bites.
I blow out a breath. “I was married. No kids. I wanted them, but it turned out she didn’t.”
Chloe’s expression falls. “I’m sorry. My boys drive me crazy, but I wouldn’t be without them.” She studies me for a moment. “I should have been better at keeping in touch. We were only gone a few months when I fell pregnant, and then we had twins, and our whole focus was on battling through that.”
I swallow hard. “I had no idea.”
“Scott wouldn’t talk about whatever it was you two fell out over, and then my life was taken over by sleepless nights and nappies and the disappointment of having to pull out of university. We put everything into Scott’s education, so he could qualify and star
t making decent money. It wasn’t easy, but we got there, and he made sure we were well taken care of if … when something happened to him.” She sucks on her bottom lip. “But I did always wonder what happened to you.”
Chloe picks up her drink and takes a sip.
“I married Piper Edwards.”
She waves her hand in the air and coughs, her other hand covering her mouth as she tries so hard not to laugh. I reach over to pat her between the shoulder blades, but she shakes her head, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted that way.” She sniffs, wiping the tears away. “That was not a name I expected to hear.”
I clamp my lips together in bemusement. She’s right, but at the time I thought Piper was the right choice. She loved me, and I fell for her. And I wanted it to work right up until I caught Piper in bed with our neighbour.
“Why didn’t you expect to hear her name?”
Chloe smiles. “You two weren’t exactly friendly in school. Although I did always wonder if she had a crush on you.”
“We had a bit of a love hate relationship for a while, but she was there for me when you two left, and I was crazy about her. For a while, anyway. We had mostly good times, some not so good times, and then she had an affair.” I look down at my beer. “It broke me.”
Her brows knit. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I didn’t think things were quite that bad, you know?” I take a long sip of beer. “What happened? To Scott, I mean.”
Chloe bites her top lip. “It was a car accident. The other driver crossed the centre line and hit him head on.”
“I wish I’d had a chance to say goodbye.”
“So do I.” Her composure disappears again for a moment. “I still miss him every day. But now I need to work out how to live for me. I’m still not quite sure how, but it’s not healthy to live any other way.”
Nodding, I study her closely. The pain of losing him is etched in her expression. I’m not sure how I would cope in her position.
“I’m here. Whatever you need from me, I’m here.”
Chloe’s smile is warm and makes my heart leap despite the topic. “I appreciate that so much. It’ll be weird for a while being in a new house, but I think this is a good move. Good for the boys to have family around, and good for me to hang out with old friends.”
I grin. “I like the idea of hanging out.”
“Me too. I can’t tell you how happy I was to see you tonight. I’ve spent the past week tossing up whether to even go to the reunion. But I’m glad I decided to, even if I didn’t stay.”
“I’m glad you did too.”
I close my eyes in frustration as the text tone comes from my phone. The last thing I need is an interruption from this.
“That’s work. I don’t get after hours calls very often, but this is something I have to sort out.”
“What do you do?” she asks.
“I work in security. I’ve got my own company that does monitoring and employs guards for various companies. And I’ve got a bit of a problem right now with one of my employees.”
“Anything I can do?”
She’s always been so giving.
“Give me your number.”
“Only if you give me yours too.”
I smile. “That can be arranged.”
After we swap numbers, I walk her out to her car.
“I’d really like to do this again,” I say.
Chloe nods. “Me too. Maybe next time, with some warning, I can leave the car behind and we can have a real night out.”
I can’t stop myself from grinning. “Let’s plan for that.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been out even for one meal and a low alcohol beer.” She laughs. “I really enjoyed myself.”
“I’m glad you’re back, Chloe.”
She gets up on her tiptoes and kisses me on the cheek. “Me too. Make sure you call me.”
I smile. “You bet I will.”
Six
Hunter
I’m not impressed about being interrupted. And even less impressed about why.
I pull up to the building Gary’s supposed to be patrolling outside tonight. The owner’s had a series of break-ins with valuable gear stolen, so for now we’ve set up night-time patrols to keep the place safe.
Thankfully, there are two guards on this job because that’s what the customer paid for. I’m also glad it was the other guard who called me and not the client because I could have dealt with a no-show better than I’m about to deal with this.
Gary’s slumped against the wall, and the alcohol stench wafts up from him, causing me to grimace.
“Gary. I’m calling you a taxi and sending you home.”
“But you said if I missed a shift I’d be fired.” The words are slurred. I can’t deal with this right now.
“We’ll talk about it later. Right now, you need to go home and sleep this off.”
I dial the local taxi company, and sigh. Tonight was amazing, and now I’m going to have to pick up a shift to cover Gary at short notice. I don’t mind the work at all, I’m not impressed at having my evening with Chloe cut short.
After pouring him into the taxi, I start the patrol.
It’s going to be a long night.
With about three hours sleep, I could do without the rock concert coming from next door. My new neighbours have been quiet so far, and to be fair they’re not really that noisy. But I’m tired, and that bass line is doing nothing to make me feel better.
I tug on the spare pillow and pull it over my other ear.
It doesn’t really help.
Now I’m awake, there’s no point in trying to get back to sleep. I’d never be any good as a regular shift worker.
Dragging myself out of bed, I throw on a pair of shorts and a singlet. While we’re drawing closer to autumn, the weather’s still ridiculously hot, and while their music bugs me, I envy the swimming pool next door.
I trudge down to the kitchen to make a coffee. It’s better that I don’t go into the office today. I’d only be angry and do something I’ll regret later.
Flicking the kettle on, I grab my phone from the kitchen bench where I dropped it earlier this morning to text Liz.
Me: I’m not in the office today. Gary turned up drunk for his shift last night. Will deal with it tomorrow.
Dropping my phone back down, I spoon two teaspoons of instant coffee in my cup. I’ll need an extra caffeine boost to get through today. Later on, I’ll head to the gym and work it out, although that’ll probably be followed by a burger.
After I’ve added the hot water, I take my coffee into the living room and place it on the table while I sit on the couch and rub my temples.
Working an unexpected eight-hour shift last night isn’t helping my mood whatsoever, and I need to sort out Gary and work on finding someone to replace him.
I should be on cloud nine after seeing Chloe last night.
The memory of her warm smile makes my heart thud. She’s every bit as beautiful as I remember, and sweet. There’s some deep grief there that I understand. I can’t really believe Scott’s dead, but her eyes tell a story of the pain she’s been through.
Seeing that pain makes me want to be there for her.
And even though we hadn’t seen each other for years, there’s a hole in my heart where Scott used to be. It’s a bitter pill to swallow that he’s gone. We were kids when our friendship died, and there was always a part of me that thought maybe one day I’d get my friend back in some capacity.
Now the chance of that happening is gone forever.
The music next door switches up, and I grip my hair. I know they’re moving in, and I should be more patient, but I’ve got used to the peace and quiet around here. Hopefully, this isn’t the new normal.
Though, I do need to go and talk to them at some point. There’s a gap in the back fence that needs to be repaired. It’s been there for a long time, but back when I was married, we left
it because we were such good friends with the neighbours and it made it easy for us to go back and forward.
Except maybe it was a little too easy.
But that’s a bridge I’ll cross at some point. For now, I’m going to drink my coffee, and the paperwork I had planned can also wait for another day.
I pick up my cup, lean back and take a long sip. Maybe I’ll go back to bed for a while, and then call Chloe a little later. It’s been a long time since I was out anywhere, and last night was good for me, and I think it was good for her.
I jump in my seat and spill coffee all over my chest and lap when glass shatters in my kitchen.
“What the hell?” Shooting to my feet, I peel my wet shirt from my body and slam my now half-empty mug on the table.
I head toward the kitchen, grabbing a fresh shirt from a pile of clean washing as I go. Tugging it on as I survey the damage, I’m just thankful I wasn’t standing in there when it happened.
I pick up a large chunk of glass on the bench and shake my head before dropping it back down and stomping out the door.
It takes me no time at all to find the source of my problem.
Two teenage boys stand in the back yard, one holding a cricket bat. I didn’t see the ball in the kitchen, but no doubt it’s in there.
“What the hell?” I yell.
“Sorry. Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”
I can’t see them clearly, but I hear the remorse in his voice. It makes no difference right now.
Turning, I walk down the side of the house and out the front. It seems a little presumptuous to walk straight into their back yard, no matter how pissed I am.
Through the gate, I walk up the path to the front door and hammer on it.
“Just a minute.” A woman’s voice comes from inside the house. She flings open the door. “What’s the emergency?”
My mouth falls open.
She’s wearing denim cut-offs and a grey shirt that’s tight across her breasts. I already think Chloe’s beautiful, but she’s mouth-watering right now. Her hair’s pinned up into a ridiculous small ponytail, and I’ve never seen her wear glasses before.
She is hot with a capital H and I’m dumbstruck.
