‘But if she stays out of the London game much longer, she won’t be able to get back into it. Everyone is so fast-paced there, Louise; you wouldn’t really know about that out here in the country, but Abbie needs to remind people she’s still here before they forget all about her.’
‘I don’t think my sister is easily forgotten,’ Louise told him loyally.
He grinned and squeezed Abbie’s knee. ‘Well, that’s true. I couldn’t stop thinking about her after she left.’
‘This is all very flattering,’ Abbie said with a laugh. ‘But Jack is right, I haven’t been able to stay in the game, no one has had any job prospects for me since I’ve been here, and my contacts will forget what I can do if I don’t show them again soon.’
‘I just don’t think you need to rush into anything. You’ve only been here for a month after all.’
Abbie sighed. She looked torn. ‘I do miss London a lot. And I have always wanted to set up my own business.’
‘I am going to make it impossible for you to say no to this.’ Jack beamed at her, then drained his coffee cup dry. ‘Right, I need to make a couple of phone calls. Dinner tonight, Abbie? My last night in Littlewood then I’ll be heading back to London tomorrow,’ he reminded her. ‘Hopefully not alone,’ he winked and stood up. ‘Great to meet you, Louise,’ he said with a charming smile before striding out of Brew again.
Louise felt a little stunned by him. He certainly was a smooth talker but was he sincere? She flopped back in her chair and looked at Abbie, who had watched him go thoughtfully. ‘He’s very confident that you’re going to go with him.’
Abbie sighed. ‘I have really enjoyed it here, but it was never meant to be a long-term thing. Just until I found a new job,’ Abbie said. ‘And it’s been really hard. I haven’t had a flicker of interest from anyone. Jack is offering me a great opportunity.’
‘Can you trust him, though?’ Louise asked. She still felt nervous about him.
‘I don’t know. He is sorry for what happened. At least he’s admitted he made a mistake. I want to trust him. And I think he’s right, we would be a great team. We could be really successful, Lou.’
‘I have complete faith in you, but I am worried,’ Louise said, deciding to be honest. ‘It’s such a turnaround from you guys breaking up, and you leaving London, to this. He not only seems to want you two to be business partners but to get back together too,’ she said, thinking about how affectionate he had been with Abbie.
‘He kissed me this morning,’ Abbie admitted. ‘And it was nice. It was unexpected, but I do still have feelings for him, Lou.’
‘Even though he hurt you?’ Louise bit her lip, thinking about Peter and how she didn’t want Abbie to become as scared as she was of having her heart broken again. Surely going back with Jack was just asking for trouble?
Abbie let out an exasperated exhale. ‘Life’s too short to keep dwelling on the past, you have to look forward, Lou. I know that you can’t get over Peter hurting you, but if Jack wants a second chance then maybe I should give it to him. He’s offering me everything that I wanted just a month ago, how can I walk away from that?’
‘I thought you wanted different things now,’ Louise said, feeling tears start to well up in her eyes. She didn’t want to lose her, but it felt like Abbie had already gone.
‘I just want to be happy. Don’t you?’
Chapter Fourteen
Louise’s gloomy mood lingered as she went into work after lunch and all through her shift until it was time to leave. Abbie texted to say she was staying with Jack again, and the prospect of going home to an empty cottage wasn’t as enjoyable as it had once been. She would miss Abbie more than she cared to admit. She had spent two years convincing herself she was happy being alone, but now Louise wasn’t so sure.
She went to grab her coat and bumped into Julie, her fellow nurse in the staffroom, also finishing her shift.
‘Are you okay?’ Julie asked her, looking concerned.
‘I’m fine. I think I just need a large glass of wine when I get home.’
‘I’m with you on that,’ Julie agreed. Then she stopped packing up her handbag and looked at Louise. ‘Why don’t we get a drink together? There’s quite a nice pub close by.’
Louise was surprised but she smiled, pleased she wouldn’t have to go home and dwell on what was going on with Abbie. ‘That’s a great idea.’
The pub was close enough for them to walk to so they left their cars at the hospital and headed straight there. It was a warm night still and the beer garden was full to bursting when they got there, so they went inside and straight to the bar.
‘I’ll get these. See if you can find anywhere to sit,’ Julie told her, walking up to the bar. Louise looked around. It was a pretty pub with beams on the ceiling and lots of polished wood. It was very popular too and she couldn’t see an empty table as she walked around.
‘Louise?’ called a voice from behind her. She turned around to see Alex at a table behind her with two other men. ‘Do you want to join us?’
She hesitated, but there wasn’t anywhere else for them to go. ‘Okay, sure, thank you.’ She squeezed in next to him, making room for Julie as she returned from the bar. Alex introduced his work colleagues Mike and David, and Louise introduced herself and Julie.
‘Oh, I recognise you from the hospital,’ Julie said to Alex. They had to talk loudly over the thrum of the pub and everyone was leaning in towards one another. Louise was very aware that Alex’s knee was just touching hers, and wondered if he realised it too. She couldn’t quite bring herself to move away though.
‘That’s right, I was visiting my niece Hazel,’ Alex said with a nod. ‘She’s home now, thankfully.’
‘That’s how you know each other, then?’ Julie said to Louise.
‘Yes, and we both live in Littlewood.’
‘Poor Louise had to suffer through an animal charity fete with me yesterday, hearing me lecture people about how to choose a pet responsibly; she deserves a medal really.’ They all laughed.
‘It was for a good cause at least,’ Louise replied, taking a gulp of her wine. Her cheeks were glowing and she wasn’t sure if it was from the warm pub, the wine or Alex. ‘Alex is a vet,’ she explained to Julie.
‘Oh, really? Wow. I have two cats; I hope you’d think I’m a good cat owner,’ she said to Alex with a smile.
‘I’m sure you are.’
‘Are you both vets too?’ Louise asked the other men. One was a veterinary nurse, the other a vet who mostly worked on farms and was training Alex to deal with some of the horses in the surrounding areas.
‘I think we need more drinks,’ David announced then, getting up.
The evening passed far more quickly than Louise could have imagined, with lots of laughter, and she began to forget that Alex was sitting so close to her and just enjoyed the company.
When she and Julie went to the loos together, her friend was just as flushed and beaming as she was.
‘Okay, tell me honestly,’ Julie said as soon as they were in the ladies. ‘You and Alex, you’re just friends, right?’
‘Why?’ Louise asked, glancing in the mirror and wishing her cheeks weren’t quite so red. She reapplied her lipstick as Julie fluffed her blonde curls beside her.
‘Why do you think?’ Julie laughed. ‘He’s gorgeous, don’t you agree?’
‘You like him?’ Louise wasn’t sure why her stomach had just dropped.
‘I think you’d have to be blind not to like him, but he seems really sweet too. Is he single? You’re not dating?’
Louise shook her head slowly. ‘We’re not dating, no,’ she replied. How could she say otherwise?
Julie disappeared into one of the stalls. Louise looked at her face in the mirror. Julie was very pretty and there was no reason for Alex not to like her.
‘Do you think he’s a nice guy?’ Julie called through the closed door.
Louise closed her eyes briefly. ‘I think so, yeah,’ she said, knowing that he
was. So, why was she so scared to let him in? She thought of her sister’s words back at Brew, about how she wasn’t able to trust or move on from Peter. It had hurt because it was true. She still thought that Abbie was making a mistake in going back to Jack; something wasn’t quite right about his offer, she was sure, and he was definitely full of himself. Wasn’t Abbie endangering herself by letting Jack back in? And wouldn’t the same be true for Louise if she did open up to Alex?
Julie came out then, happy that Louise appeared to be giving her blessing for her and Alex, and they went back to the table, where more wine awaited them. Louise found herself draining her glass dry quickly, wanting to block out how low she was feeling. It wasn’t something she usually did, but tonight she didn’t care; she wanted to get drunk, and forget about everything. It was hard to numb all her emotions, though, because since coming back from the loos, Julie had managed to take her seat next to Alex and the two of them were sitting very close together, laughing and talking quietly so she couldn’t hear what they were saying.
‘Another?’ David asked her when he saw her glass was empty. She nodded, wanting to drown out the loneliness that seemed to have overcome her now, and which was being made steadily worse every time she looked over at Alex and Julie.
The night began to pass in a blur and suddenly the bell was being rung for last orders, and the room appeared to be spinning around Louise. She got up, unsteadily, and Alex had to grab her arm to stop her from falling over.
‘There’s no way we can drive home,’ Julie said with a laugh.
‘Louise, you can share my taxi back to Littlewood and you can get your car in the morning,’ Alex said to Louise, who was finding it tricky to stay upright. It was decided that Julie would share with the other two and they could drop her off en route to their flats outside of town.
‘It was great meeting you,’ Julie said to Alex when they all stepped outside the pub. ‘Maybe we can all do this again sometime?’
‘I’d like that,’ Alex replied with a smile. He was still holding Louise’s arm. ‘Right, let’s get you home.’
‘I don’t need babysitting,’ Louise said crossly, shaking him off and stumbling to the taxi.
‘That’s going to hurt tomorrow,’ she heard Julie say behind her.
‘I’ll get her home safely, don’t worry,’ Alex said.
They all waved and called out goodbye as Louise half fell into the taxi and leaned back against the seat. She closed her eyes, and prayed she wasn’t going to be sick and completely embarrass herself in front of Alex.
The taxi started the short journey back to Littlewood. Louise couldn’t wait to climb into her own bed. She glanced at Alex. ‘I think I had too many,’ she said.
He chuckled. ‘I think maybe you did, but it doesn’t matter. You deserve to let your hair down. And it was a fun night. Julie is really nice, isn’t she?’
Louise nodded. ‘She is.’ She wondered if he was interested in Julie as well and the thought made her throat feel thick.
‘Is she . . . is she seeing anyone right now?’
Louise turned her head to look out of the window in case he saw anything on her face that she didn’t want him to see. ‘I have no idea,’ she found herself lying. She desperately wanted to change the subject. ‘Oh, look, here we are,’ she said, relieved to see Littlewood come into view.
Louise leaned forward to direct the driver to her cottage. Her heart had plummeted when Alex had asked about Julie. But what could she say to him?
Thankfully, the taxi soon pulled up outside Louise’s cottage. Alex got out and came round to her side to open her door. She was embarrassingly unsteady on her feet and Alex had to grip her arm to lead her to the door. Then she couldn’t seem to unlock it, so Alex did it for her, pushing it open and turning on the hall light. He told her to wait there and nipped back outside for a couple of minutes. She managed to stumble into the kitchen.
‘Right, I sent the taxi away. I can walk from here. I wanted to make sure you’re okay first.’
She found herself wobbling, so he told her firmly to sit down. She flopped on the sofa and kicked off her shoes and threw her bag onto the floor. She wished the room would stop spinning.
‘Drink this,’ Alex said, handing her a large glass of water. ‘All of it.’
She did as he said and the water did feel pretty good.
‘Right, come on, I’ll help you up to bed.’ He saw her shake her head. ‘No arguments.’ He helped her off the sofa and they went up to her room. She felt her face turn red at the sight of him in her bedroom.
He pulled back the covers on her bed and turned to her. The room was dark and it was just the two of them. Louise had followed him right to the bed, so now they were only inches apart.
For one crazy moment, she wanted to lean towards him and press her lips against his. She found herself darting forwards, but instead of meeting Alex, she tripped and stubbed her toe on the side of her bed. ‘Ouch!’
Alex chuckled and grabbed her arm to steady her again. ‘You need to lie down.’
Mortified, she half fell down onto the bed, still in her clothes. She certainly wasn’t going to take them off in front of him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.
‘We’ve all been there, don’t worry,’ he replied. He thought she had meant about being drunk. ‘Get some rest, okay? Goodnight, Louise.’
Louise watched him go, wishing she could call him back. She had to say something. ‘Stay,’ she said.
He stopped and turned. ‘Huh?’
‘Stay. Please,’ she found herself murmuring. ‘I don’t want to be on my own.’
Her eyes closed. She suddenly felt so sleepy. She wasn’t sure if he replied or not. Everything was hazy. She curled up into a ball and everything went dark.
Chapter Fifteen
Abbie was in Jack’s room again. They’d had a lovely meal together in a small Italian restaurant in the next town and then they had come back to the hotel and Jack had ordered them champagne and strawberries. Abbie had been firm that she had come back just to talk more about Jack’s offer, but sitting next to him on the luxurious four-poster bed, the room lit only by two candles, with a glass of champagne in her hand, the lines were starting to blur.
‘Abbie, darling, I wish you’d put me out of my misery,’ Jack said in a soft voice. They were facing each other on the bed and it felt like the past few weeks in Littlewood hadn’t happened. Abbie knew she could erase the humiliation of losing her job, the hurt of Jack turning his back on their relationship, the confusion she felt over her future, with one move. All the choices she needed to make seemed to be spread out in front of her, taunting her. She could just give in and kiss him. She wished she didn’t want to, but she had to admit it would make everything so much simpler. She wouldn’t be uncertain any more.
‘I think we have something really special together. Don’t you?’ He reached out and touched her cheek. ‘You look incredible tonight.’
‘Jack, do you really think working together and getting back together is a good idea?’ Abbie’s heart felt as if it was being torn in two. She had started to love Littlewood and the thought of leaving Huntley Manor, its future still up in the air, was making her want to pull away from Jack, but she felt safe in the familiarity of him and their life back in London. She could go back to it as if the past month had never happened. Wasn’t it what she had wanted? To go back to the city, back to her career, back to the man who could give her all of it? Why couldn’t she be sure, then?
Jack smiled. ‘Abbie, we belong together. You know it, and I know it. Why are you still pushing me away?’
‘I don’t want to get hurt again,’ she said, realising she sounded like her sister. She didn’t want to be like Louise. She wanted to trust people, to give second chances, to do what would make her happy. But would this make her happy? She just didn’t know, but if she didn’t try then wouldn’t she always wonder?
‘I don’t want to hurt you ever again. I want to make all your dreams come true.’ He leant in t
hen and kissed her.
Abbie was happy to lose herself in the moment, and forget about all the choices she had to make. She found herself hungrily kissing him back, her body responding to him as it always had. She only hoped that she wasn’t making a huge mistake.
***
Abbie walked into Brew as soon as it opened the following morning. She had left Jack sleeping and slipped out of the hotel, hurrying in case she bumped into anyone, but, if she was honest, she was mostly nervous about seeing Thomas. She knew that she needed to talk to him, but she wanted to put it off until she was one hundred per cent sure. She had walked outside into the fresh morning, dew dancing on top of the grass, birds singing in the trees around her. She had to admit that last night had been fun. Jack had a way of making everything seem special. And she could say that it had all been down to him, but she admitted that she’d wanted his attentions, and she’d enjoyed waking up with him.
Everything seemed back in order again. Littlewood was a blip in her big plans. She had to stick to what she had mapped out for herself ever since university: being a success in London. And Jack was the key to that. He was offering her the dream again. Only a fool would turn it down.
‘Good morning,’ Eszter said cheerfully as Abbie walked up to the counter in Brew. ‘You’re up early. And you’re smiling. Something happen last night?’
Abbie laughed. ‘You’re too intuitive for your own good. I stayed over at Huntley Manor, with Jack.’
‘Ah,’ Eszter said knowingly. She started making Abbie’s coffee. ‘Two coffees to go then?’ Abbie nodded and leaned against the counter to wait for them. ‘And so, you’ve made your decision?’
‘I think so. I need to go back to London. That was always my plan.’
‘Plans can change though, look at me.’
‘I know, but I love my job. I want to get back to it, and setting up my own business is something I’ve always wanted to do.’
Random Acts of Kindness--Part 2 Page 7
