Three Days

by Ariadne Wayne

  I watched as she walked away. I was crazy about her, and it was so good to see her so happy again.

  Barbecue at Rowan’s at the weekend. My life could not get any more bizarre.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  It wasn’t enough.

  Despite her growing friendship with Rowan, Maddy still seemed so empty at times, and I knew she mourned the loss of our baby, just as I did.

  Rowan had lost a baby too, she’d told Maddy that the first day they’d met. It gave Maddy comfort to have a friend who had been through something similar.

  We were due at their place at the weekend, and I was nervous beyond belief.

  Mid-week, I was struck by inspiration, and came home from work early to complete the project I’d just created. Maddy stood by, cocking an eyebrow at me as I dismantled the bed in the spare room, moving it to the garage.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Something for you. Just wait.”

  Right down the back of the garage, there were unopened boxes from our move, and as soon as she saw them coming in the door, she smiled slightly.

  “What are they, Mummy?” Carly asked.

  She shook her head. “A thing of the past.”

  “A thing of the future,” I said, ripping open the first box.

  Her violin case came first, followed by a music stand. Then her guitar and accompanying stand, and I set them up in the room. Carly’s eyes were wide as dinner plates as she watched.

  “It’s a ‘tar,” she said.

  “Yes, sweetie. Ask Mummy to play you a song.” I smiled at her as she tugged at her mother’s skirt.

  “What is all this in aid of?” Maddy asked.

  I stood, pulling the boxes apart, destroying them so she couldn’t pack it all up again.

  “I checked online. Orchestra auditions are coming up.”

  She rolled her eyes. “And?”

  “And, Mrs Carmichael, it’s time you lived your dream. So, I set you up a practice room.”

  She crossed the room, pulling the cardboard from my hands, her lips pressing against mine.

  “I love you,” she whispered.

  “I love you too. I remember the look on your face when my mother said that Dad had given up music. I don’t want you to ever think you have to. It’s a part of you, Maddy. Just as much as Carly and I are.”

  Maddy flung her arms around my neck, holding on tight. I closed my eyes as she pressed her body against mine.

  “Mummy, Mummy, play me a song.”

  “Anything you want.” She smiled down at Carly, and let go of me, picking up her guitar and going out to the living room.

  Carly trailed behind, and I soon heard the melodic sounds of Maddy’s guitar as she played for our daughter.

  I stood at the door, watching them. Carly was entranced, clapping and dancing as Maddy played song after song.

  I didn’t have to ask Maddy if this was therapeutic. The answer was written all over her face at the joy of sharing her talent with her daughter.

  I also didn’t have to ask how happy it made her. After dinner, she tucked Carly into bed, and from the spare room the soulful sound of the violin could be heard. I had no idea what she was playing. It was vaguely familiar, from some long-forgotten school music lesson.

  Lying down on the couch, I rested my head on the arm, closing my eyes as the haunting music lulled me to sleep. It was beautiful, and so was she.

  I woke to her straddling my hips awkwardly, the couch not being wide enough to hold both of us in that position.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  She leaned over, kissing me long and lingering. “Thanking you for what you did. Maybe I tried to suppress how much I missed it, but knowing you support me makes me very happy.”

  I reached up, running my hands down her arms. “I want you to be happy, Maddy. And I know this is what does it. Besides, I thought it would be good for you after everything.”

  Maddy kissed me again, running her fingers through my hair.

  “You did good, Carmichael,” she whispered.

  “I’m glad. I loved hearing you play, and Carly’s a big fan.”

  She laughed, sitting back up. “She had so much fun. When she’s bigger, I’ll teach her to play.”

  “Play for me,” I whispered.

  Our eyes locked and she kissed me, lingering again but so tender.

  Climbing off my lap, she disappeared, and returned to stand in front of me with her violin. The music was so sweet and gentle, and I grinned as she closed her eyes, becoming lost in the sound.

  This was her dream, and I’d move heaven and earth to make it come true for her.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Coming back to Rowan’s house again was weird. Part of me wanted to turn the car around and go, terrified of the memories.

  But, she had taken such good care of my daughter and I would be eternally grateful.

  Rowan answered the door, waving us into the living room. Carly screeched as she laid eyes on Charlie and ran past me and out to the deck where Kyle stood over the barbecue.

  “Oh well, kids have found each other.” Maddy laughed, shaking her head.

  “Come out into the sunshine,” Rowan said. “It’s such a gorgeous day.”

  We followed her out, and I nodded at Kyle. He returned the gesture and went back to scrubbing the hot plate.

  “You know, it would have been much smarter of me to clean this the last time we used it,” he said, turning towards Rowan.

  “I hate to say I told you so.” Rowan sat back down, grinning.

  He rolled his eyes, and kept scrubbing.

  “Do you two want a drink? I just made coffee, or we have juice in the fridge.”

  “A juice would be great,” said Maddy.

  Rowan looked at me. “What about you?”

  Our eyes met, and my mouth went dry, forming words an issue all of a sudden. This was too much.

  Maddy leaned towards me. “Are you okay?”

  I licked my lips, looking for moisture. “Yeah, sure. Juice is fine, Rowan.”

  She smiled, standing and leaving us there with Kyle.

  Carly ran past. They were playing tag and Mia had the advantage, being bigger. She seemed to be letting the younger children win, surrendering to both of them. The cries of “tag, you’re it” echoed through the backyard.

  Maddy reached for my hand, squeezing it. “Are you really okay?”

  I shrugged. “It’s just all a bit weird. I’ll be fine.”

  “I guess it will be for a while. Relax, babe. We wouldn’t be here if they weren’t okay with it,” she whispered.

  Rowan returned, glasses in hand. She set them down on the table and smiled at us. “I hope this isn’t too weird,” she said. She was always good at reading my mind.

  Maddy shook her head. “We’re good. Look at those three; they’re best of buddies.” The kids all ran past us again, Carly in pursuit of the other two. Mia came to a stop, pretending to hurt her ankle so Carly could tag her. She was a good kid.

  “Mia’s so good with the younger ones,” Maddy said.

  “She’s very grown up for her age. Always has been.” Rowan raised her face to the approaching Kyle, who had finished his cleaning task. He leaned in for a kiss, and she waggled her eyebrows at him.

  “Ah, so what’s what got you cleaning.” The teasing words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

  All three of them burst out laughing, and I shrugged. “Works for me.” I gazed at Maddy.

  “Works for me too,” said Kyle. He cocked his head at Rowan. “Is the food ready? The barbecue is ready to go.”

  “It’s all in the fridge.” She moved to stand and he gently pushed her back down.

  “No, I’ll get it. You stay here and entertain the guests.”

  I watched him go inside. Part of me wanted to reach out and try to be friends for the sake of our wives, but another part was afraid it would all turn sour.

  Instead I stood, stepping off the deck
and onto the grass. It was lovely, play equipment for the children, a sandpit, and I shook my head at the tree by the swings.

  Venturing out, I leapt back as Mia nearly slammed into me. She looked up at me with those big blue eyes of her father’s. “Sorry,” she said.

  “No worries, sweetheart.”

  Stopping helped Carly catch up and she threw herself at Mia to tag her. The pair of them went down in a heap with a fit of laughter.

  “Carly, don’t play so rough,” I said, holding out my hand for her.

  She took it, pulling herself to her feet and brushing her hair out of her eyes. Mia sat on the ground and I offered her the other hand, helping her up.

  “Why don’t you go and find something a bit more peaceful to do? Maybe Mia and Charlie have some toys.”

  “We’ve got some trucks and cars to play with,” Mia said.

  “Well, there you go. I’m sure dinner won’t take long to cook and you guys can all be ready to eat. Are you hungry?”

  The two heads nodded in unison.

  “Charlie,” Mia called.

  Her brother appeared from his hiding place behind the garden shed.

  “We’re going to play with the cars,” Mia said matter-of-factly. So like her mother.

  He seemed to like the idea, sprinting past us and into the house. I shook my head as the other two ran after him. At least Carly would sleep well tonight.

  “Did you see my tree?” Rowan’s voice drifted toward me as she approached.

  I made my way to my target, circling the tree, and raising an eyebrow at Rowan.

  “How on earth did you find an apple tree in the middle of the city?” I laughed, pointing at the heart carved in the trunk with her and Kyle’s initials.

  She smiled. “I knew this was the right place when I found it.” Running her fingers over the heart, she pulled her fingers against her palm as if trapping the feeling.

  “You know there’s a tree on your father’s orchard with our initials carved into it,” I said.

  Raising her eyebrows, she looked straight into my eyes. “Really?”

  “Yep. And one with mine and Charlie’s initials, and probably one with your and Charlie’s initials.”

  She laughed, slapping me on the arm. “You’re probably right; we were all so close. I miss her so much, Andrew. That laugh of hers … I don’t think she ever thought a bad thing about anyone.”

  “There was never any bad in her, either. I miss her too. I let her down so badly. When she was alive, and in death. I’ll never be able to make up for any of it.”

  Rowan’s eyes misted up with tears, and she sucked in her lip. I knew that look.

  “What is it?”

  “You’re here. I think that says a lot about what you’ve done to make up for it. Charlie would have wanted you to work it all out, be happy. I would say you’ve achieved that. You have a beautiful, loving family. That says so much about you.”

  “Shit.” I looked at the ground, emotion welling up inside. I’d done it, shown them I wasn’t who I used to be.

  “What?” The concern in her voice was obvious.

  “Damn women, always making me want to cry.”

  Rowan laughed, and I grinned up at her. “You have an amazing family too. Aren’t we so grown up?” I said, locking eyes with her.

  Maybe neither of us would ever forget what had happened, but more than ever it seemed like we could move past it.

  Heavy footsteps came up behind me, and I turned to see Kyle, a beer in each hand.

  “Want a beer?”

  I nodded, smiling as I took it from his hand. “That sounds good to me.”

  “I did offer it to your wife first, but she tells me she’s driving tonight.”

  Looking across at Maddy, I grinned as she raised her glass of orange juice at me. “Apparently so.”

  Kyle held up his beer. “Cheers, Andrew. Here’s to our gorgeous families and whatever this is.”

  Rowan snuggled up to him as we clinked bottles together.

  “There’s something else we need to tell you,” she said. She looked up at Kyle adoringly.

  “Let me guess. You two are having another baby?”

  Rowan shook her head. “We had the protection order cancelled. I figured that if Maddy and I are going to be friends, it would be nice if her husband could spend time with us legally.”

  I’d pushed all of that to the back of my mind the night I’d turned up here with Carly and never given it any more consideration, given Rowan and Kyle’s hospitality after Kyle backed off.

  “Thank you.” I felt overwhelmed at the kindness of these two. “I don’t know what else to say.”

  Kyle’s hand landed on my shoulder. “It’s very clear to us just how much you’ve changed. We know what Charlie’s death did to you, Andrew. I have to be honest and tell you I didn’t care if I never saw you again after I got Rowan back. But it’s clear when you’re with Maddy and Carly that you’ve moved on. We both see that.”

  I nodded, looking over at Maddy. She looked back quizzically, as if unsure if she should come over and see what we were talking about. The kids had hauled a box of cars out to the deck and were playing with them almost under her feet.

  Our eyes locked, and I almost forgot the others were there. It was so easy to do that with Maddy. I worshipped the ground she walked on, and always would. She was my saviour as I was hers. We were just meant to be.

  At the sight of what was on the barbecue, I laughed so hard Maddy thought there was something wrong with me.

  “What on earth is so funny?” she asked as I doubled over.

  “The kids are having barbecued chicken nuggets,” I said. No one else would get our inside joke.

  Maddy laughed.

  “Rowan said Carly asked for them last time. She said they were her favourite food,” Kyle said, exchanging a confused glance with Rowan.

  “Carly will turn into a chicken nugget one day,” I said.

  “I not a chicken nugget, Daddy.” Carly squawked.

  “No, baby. You most certainly are not.” I bent to pick her up, swinging her on my hip as she giggled.

  “We can give them something else if you want,” Rowan said.

  I locked eyes with Maddy, the secret behind the smile safe.

  “Chicken nuggets will be fine,” I said.

  Better than fine, she mouthed.

  We were lost in each other for a moment, and I sat beside Maddy, pulling my chair closer to her.

  I surveyed the scene—Kyle cooking on the barbecue with Rowan beside him, our children playing together, my amazing wife beside me.

  All the pieces of my life coming together.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  She sighed as I lapped at her breasts, sucking gently on her nipples while my hand explored between her legs. “Andrew,” she cried as her body tensed, begging for the release on its way.

  I ignored her, my fingers playing her body like a musical instrument. I’m the virtuoso of her body. I know just how she’ll react to each stroke of my fingers, each flick of my tongue. I know her better than I’ve ever known anyone, and I’ll never stop trying to learn more.

  “Andrew,” she cried again, this time with more urgency, and again I ignored her, pushing my fingers into her where she needed it the most. She wanted more, but she’d have to wait just a little bit longer.

  Her back arched as she cried out for me one more time before she convulsed in fits of pleasure, giving me what I wanted. My heart and soul belonged to her. Right at that moment, her body belonged to me.

  “Maddy,” I whispered, looking up at her face which said everything she felt without words. I rolled onto my back, stroking her arm. She needed no further invitation, straddling my hips, lowering herself onto me as I filled her.

  “I love you,” she whispered, leaning over to kiss me. I stroked her thighs before laughing and flipping her onto her back, still inside her.

  “You’re mine.” I ran my hands up her body, pinning her arms to the bed as I bega
n traversing her with my lips, still thrusting into her as hard as I could.

  We collapsed in a sweaty mess, and I laughed as I lay beside her, pulling her into my embrace.

  “See? Letting Carly eat chicken nuggets for dinner? Best decision I ever made,” I said, with a grin.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’d better let her eat them every night if that’s what I get.”

  I laughed. “As long as I made you happy, Mrs Carmichael. That’s all that matters.”

  She rubbed my arm, opening her mouth as if she wanted to say something before closing it again.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Spending time with Rowan today. What was it like? Is it weird?”

  I squeezed her tight. “Not as weird as I thought it would be. It’s almost like we were before all this happened, back even before she found out about Charlie and I. Both Kyle and Rowan have shown a lot of faith in me, and I don’t plan on letting them down. After everything that happened, too.”

  “That must feel like an eternity ago,” Maddy whispered, snuggling in to me.

  “It does. I was in such a deep, dark place when it all happened, and I can’t pretend it didn’t bother me for a long time that I couldn’t reach out to my best friend anymore. But I found a new best friend, and I wouldn’t change her for anything now.”

  “Oh,” Maddy said, nodding.

  “What?”

  “Who is she?” She looked at me with that damn innocent look of hers, making me laugh out loud.

  “Some woman who was crazy enough to hook up with an ex-crim. I don’t know, maybe she needs her head read.”

  She nuzzled my chest. “I don’t know, I think I did okay.”

  “Love you, Maddy Carmichael,” I said.

  She looked up at me, her eyes shining with love. “I might be a bit screwed up at times, but I love you too. Enough to keep you around for a little while longer anyway.”

  “Glad I’m useful for something, then,” I said.

  “You’re useful for a lot of things. Speaking of which, I think it’s time to try one of those things again.”

  I gaped at her. “Are you suggesting more sex?”