Twelve Days - The Beginning

by Reyner, Jade

  “Say something, Elise...,please. You’re the only person that I can trust with this. I have no idea what it means for me now, let alone tomorrow, but I need to know that you are still here for me and that our relationship won’t change. I love you with all my heart, Elise and if there was ever anyone I was going to be faithful for – it would be you.”

  Elise watched as a single tear rolled down his cheek and she reached out to brush it away before kissing her hand and placing it on the side of his face.

  “I could never shut you out, Cole - never. You will always be a part of my life, my very best friend and much more. Nothing will ever make me think less of you; in fact what you have discovered today just makes me think that you are one of the bravest people I know.” she swallowed.

  “I don’t know what this means either but if you want me to help you figure it out, then you know that I am here for you. I love you too, Cole and you know that that will never change.”

  The moment was quickly becoming intense and with the quantity of alcohol they had consumed, neither of them was in a fit state to talk about it any more. Elise reached for Cole and they hugged tightly, silently pouring out their emotions and giving and receiving comfort.

  The clock in the hall abruptly chimed and Elise realised that it was gone midnight - getting a taxi back now would be virtually impossible, not to mention expensive.

  “Hey baby. You want to stay over tonight?” she asked and gently pulled away from Cole so that she could look at him. “You can take the sofa and I’ve got some spare bedding somewhere.”

  Cole nodded, his expression still troubled but more relaxed.

  “Thanks. That would be great. I’m just not strong enough to face the inevitable questions right now and I need to get my head straight for a while longer. I need to work everything out and with you is the only place that I can do that. Thank you Elise, I love you.”

  “I love you too, Cole Andrews. And thank you for what you did for me today – as for everything else, we’ll work through it together, I promise you.”

  Elise rose to go and find the spare bedding, however as she reached the doorway, another thought struck her and she turned back to Cole.

  “Cole?” she asked. He looked up from where he had been removing his shoes.

  “Yes babe, what is it?”

  “I was just wondering – whatever happened to Bobby last night?”

  Cole started laughing then; a genuine proper belly-laugh which sounded really good to her ears.

  “Oh, Elise,” he said, his eyes watering “only you could ask the most inappropriate question at the most inappropriate time.” She glared at him in mock anger, and grabbed a cushion off one of the dining chairs, aiming it squarely at Cole as he continued to laugh. Finally he composed himself enough to answer and in some ways, Elise was sorry – it had been good to hear him laugh.

  “Bobby went home after he went to call Helen, when he left the table. She went into labour a couple of days early but everything was fine. They had a baby girl; Rose, they’re going to call her. Last I heard mother and baby were doing good.” He grinned and then started laughing again. “Thank god for Bobby and his extremely normal life!”

  Elise chuckled. Amen to that! “I’ll just go and get you that bedding. Night, Cole. Sleep well.”

  “Night, babe. Love you.”

  Chapter Nine

  Elise woke to her alarm clock after a fitful night. She kept dreaming about Dale and Vaughn. In one dream, she was with Dale and in the other she was with Vaughn. Eventually, both dreams merged into one and both men realised that she was cheating on each of them and all hell had broken loose. The end result hadn’t been pretty and Elise was infinitely grateful when she woke up to normal life.

  Well, as normal as her life got these days.

  Trudging downstairs, she checked in on Cole who was still asleep. She needed to wake him up and get him home before she went to meet Celeste at the precinct. Not that she had a problem with him being here but it wouldn’t be long before one of her neighbours noticed his car and although she wasn’t especially friendly with any of them, she wouldn’t put it past one particular neighbour to mention the strange car to Dale ‘in passing’.

  Making two cups of strong coffee, she headed into the lounge and gently began to shake Cole. She couldn’t believe how beautiful this man was even with all the cuts and bruises which looked even angrier now in the light of day. He was totally relaxed in sleep and she revelled in being able to watch him in these moments when his guard was down.

  Mentally, she began comparing him to Vaughn; both men were beautiful but in a different way. Vaughn was more striking; darker and definitely more dangerous. Wait, she was sitting here comparing Cole and Vaughn when her husband was recovering in the hospital, for Christ’s sake! Her priorities were seriously screwed.

  Shaking herself, she pushed against Cole a bit harder and finally managed to rouse him. She watched as he opened his eyes and took a moment to work out where he was. She saw the instant that clarity hit and he turned to face her, gorgeous chocolate eyes meeting her baby blues.

  “Hey, beautiful.” he said, yawning and stretching a little. “Now this is the way to wake up. My seriously hot best friend and a cup of strong coffee. I must have died and gone to heaven.”

  Chuckling, she shoved him good-naturedly. “You need to get your lazy ass out of bed, Cole Andrews. Whilst I love having you stay the night, I really don’t want to provide any more gossip fodder for the neighbours. Besides, I have a hot date!”

  Cole choked on his mouthful of coffee. “A hot date! What the ........?”

  “Ha! Got you there!” she said, “Although if I did have a hot date it would be absolutely none of your business.”

  “If you had a hot date my sweet-cheeked best friend, I can assure you that it would be my business and I would find myself siding with your toe-rag of a husband which is something that I didn’t think would happen until hell froze over!”

  She laughed at the seriousness of his expression. “Alright, keep your hair on! I was only joking! I’m going to meet Celeste at the precinct to go shopping. She wants to get a killer dress for clubbing tonight and she seems to think that I’m the perfect person to help her.”

  “Are you going?” Cole asked.

  “Going where? To the precinct? I just said I was.”

  “No. Are you going clubbing?”

  “No, not that I know of. Hadn’t thought about it to be honest. Dale would never let me go so it’s not really worth thinking about.”

  “I thought Dale was in the hospital ‘til tomorrow,” Cole said, “If you didn’t tell him, how would he know that you’d been out? You should go, you deserve a bit of a break and a chance to let your hair down. I would offer to come with you but, what with the state of my face and my recent personal revelation, I’m feeling just a tiny bit fragile.” He looked saddened for a moment and Elise reached over to brush her hand against his cheek.

  “That’s OK, baby. I appreciate the thought but I won’t be going anyway. I’m thirty-one now Cole. A bit too old for nightclubs!”

  “Hardly.” he said but he dropped the subject anyway and finished his coffee.

  Ten minutes later she had managed to shoo him out of the house, promising to call him when she got back. She needed to have a shower but first she needed to phone the hospital to check on Dale.

  The nurse that answered the call assured Elise that he’d had a good night and that they were hoping to complete all their tests today so that he could come home in the morning. She said that they had been concerned about the level of alcohol in his bloodstream but that he didn’t seem to be fighting too many withdrawal symptoms today so they were hopeful that he would have a calm and quiet day. Couldn’t be any worse than yesterday, Elise reflected as she thanked the nurse and hung up. She had promised to go and see him later as soon as visitors were permitted and so she found herself in the strange position of having a day completely to herself. No Dale to worry about, moa
ning and groaning and telling her what she could and couldn’t do. She felt her heart lift and almost skipped around, as she got ready to go and meet Celeste.

  Celeste was waiting at the monument at 9.30am as promised and they fell into an easy banter as they ambled around the precinct. Accustomed to spending as little time as possible shopping so as to keep Dale happy, Elise found the whole experience odd but really rather enjoyable and it wasn’t long before she was getting into the spirit of the day.

  After leaving yet another dress shop, still without a killer dress, they decided to stop for a coffee and take a well earned break. As they sat watching other customers bustling about, Elise’s eyes fell on a mother and young baby, which reminded her about Bobby and Helen’s news.

  “Hey ‘Leste” she said “We should see if we can find something for Bobby and Helen. Cole said they had a girl, isn’t that great?”

  “Yeah, I know.” said Celeste “It was buzzing round the office yesterday but I think that with all your dramas, you kind of missed it.”

  Elise rolled her eyes, “Don’t remind me!”

  Celeste laughed and they continued with their drinks and muffins in silent contemplation.

  After a while, Elise spoke again. “So, you definitely going clubbing tonight then, ‘Leste?”

  “Abso – freaking – lutely” she said. “Now that I know that none of the hotties in the office are interested in me then I need to tout my wares elsewhere.”

  “Ha ha, very funny. You know that you only have to say the word and Stephen will come running!”

  “Hotties, Elise – I said HOTTIES!” Celeste snorted indignantly, causing Elise to burst into fits of laughter and almost choke on the rest of her coffee.

  “Which club are you going to anyway?” she asked when she could finally breathe again. “Cole reckoned that I should go with you but I told him that I am waaaaaay too old for that! Honestly, I wonder about that boy sometimes.”

  “Maybe he’s got a point.” Celeste said and Elise found herself rolling her eyes again. This was getting to be a seriously bad habit. She needed to have words with the eye-rolling part of her brain.

  “We’re going to Indigo,” Celeste continued, “just outside Eastwood on the coast road. It’s new; not long opened and they are doing free entry for ladies tonight. You should come, it’ll be a laugh! And don’t worry about the age thing; it’s an over-25’s night.”

  “I don’t know, ‘Leste,” Elise said hesitantly, “it’s not really my thing. I don’t tend to go out other than to work functions. I would feel totally out of place.”

  “How can you possibly know you’ll feel out of place when you’ve never been before? Look, I’ve asked Annabel and Amelia and I think Olivia said she would come too so that’s already four people that you know...”

  Elise refrained from pointing out that she didn’t consider any of those girls to be her friend. Instead, she asked something else as another thought struck her.

  “Hang on....Aren’t they too young if it’s an over-25’s night?”

  Celeste shrugged “Amelia is 25, I think, and Annabel and Olivia reckon they’ll have no trouble. I think they are planning on finding themselves some older men. So, are you coming or not?”

  That sounded about right. Amelia was still trying to make Cole jealous despite her performance with Stephen the other night and, from what Elise knew of Annabel and Olivia, getting their claws into an older man would fit right into their style. Did she really want to go and witness that?

  Elise thought for a moment and suddenly realised that she hadn’t done anything even remotely reckless for a very long time. As annoying as the others could be, it would be entertaining watching them and the thought of losing herself completely in the music was really starting to appeal. She was a free agent tonight so she supposed that she could go. Dale would still be in the hospital and need never know. Perhaps a girlie night out would be just what was needed. She could have some fun, have a few drinks and forget all about the men in her life for one whole evening. Particularly one man with a killer body and the darkest eyes she had ever seen. She had a feeling though that forgetting about him, would take a hell of a lot more than a nightclub and a few drinks. Suddenly though, going out tonight seemed like the perfect plan and smiling her acceptance, she turned to Celeste.

  “’Leste, we are now looking for two killer dresses. Count me in!”

  Chapter Ten

  It had taken them another two hours to find the dresses, so consequently Elise found herself running late for visiting hours at the hospital. Throwing her car into the first available space, she ran into the building and took the stairs two at a time, arriving only a very commendable ten minutes late.

  She checked in with the nurse at the ward station and was surprised when she was informed that Dale already had a visitor. Wondering who on earth that could be as Dale had no family locally, she rounded the corner and headed to his bed only to stop short in her tracks, disbelief pouring from every fibre as she took in the appearance of Dale’s other visitor.

  It was Vaughn. Of course it was.

  Vaughn had come to visit Dale in the hospital. What the hell was he playing at? For a brief second, panic flooded her as she thought about Vaughn telling Dale about all of the events of yesterday. Everything - every minute detail. How would she ever convince Dale that it was untrue and harmless? She knew that he would see right through her and there’d be hell to pay if he realised that she had actually been kissing someone else. And not just kissing either. Although they had been interrupted, Elise knew that she would have struggled to stop.

  This was bad. Really bad.

  Nervously, she approached the bed as quietly as she could, hoping to catch some of the conversation before they became aware of her presence. Unaccustomed to seeing Dale look so helpless, she took a moment to consider his appearance in the traditional hospital gown and bed, surrounded by monitors and other typical paraphernalia.

  The alcohol had by now well and truly worn off and she could begin to see glimmers of the old Dale again. His dark blond hair was in desperate need of a wash but it was falling in its usual wavy and slightly-unkempt manner and his face appeared more rested and less lined. There were obvious signs from his fight; bruises and cuts marring his face and one particularly ugly cut just under his jaw which was where she presumed Vaughn had landed the final blow. Seeing her husband vulnerable like this tugged at her heartstrings and, not for the first time, she felt saddened at what he had let himself become.

  His unusual sandy coloured eyes - almost tiger like - had been what had first attracted Elise to him but over recent months and years, they had lost some of their humour and sparkle. At times when she looked at him, it was like no one was there at all.

  But with the alcohol gone, there was life back in his eyes and as she watched him conversing with Vaughn, she saw glimpses of the lost little boy that he had once been. Dale’s childhood had been difficult and was not something that he really talked about although Elise knew the story and had seen photographs of him at an early age. His expression then was one of vulnerability and the parallel between the child of years gone by and the man today scared her. She was sure that his behaviour was linked to more than just their personal issues, but

  Dale refused to open up to her and so she was left to draw her own conclusions, however inaccurate they might be.

  Finally sensing her presence, Dale looked up and his eyes connected with hers.

  “Elise! We were wondering what kept you. Vaughn has just been telling me all about his new role in your company. Sounds very exciting!”

  Elise moved forward, every nerve ending humming in fear at what else he may have said but also feeling aching awareness of being in such close proximity to Vaughn again. He was wearing casual clothes today, jeans and a relatively tight fitting dark t-shirt which did nothing to hide the body that she knew was under there. He was devastating and she began to feel the effect of just looking at this man bubbling away at her core. She
swallowed over a suddenly dry throat and almost stopped breathing when he turned to face her and the full force of those eyes fixed onto her face - his now trademark half smile gracing his lips. Her fingers itched to touch that mouth and smooth out that smile and her heart rate picked up as she imagined how he would react if she did just that. Bloody hell – she was in big trouble. And all of this was playing out right in front of her husband.

  The world shifted and she began to feel as if she in an alternate universe as she finally registered that Dale was not yelling at her and was continuing to converse easily with Vaughn, who had turned back to the man in the bed - seemingly unaffected by her presence. Dale and Vaughn had apparently gone straight from one knockout punch to new best friends and Elise wondered how the hell that had happened. Was there nothing or no-one that this man couldn’t influence?

  “Hey. You look much better! How are you feeling today?” She decided to go with addressing Dale in the bed and ignore the imposing presence to her right.

  “Yes, much better. I can’t wait to get home although they said I have to stay in ‘til tomorrow. Something about extra tests. You would have thought I’d got enough pin holes in me already.” He grumbled and then extended his arm to indicate the man to his left. “So, how come you’ve never mentioned Vaughn to me before? I’m sure I would have remembered if you had?”

  Elise searched for an underlying tone or a threat in his words but did not find any and took comfort in whatever calming influence Vaughn appeared to have on her husband.

  “Vaughn is new to the company.” she said, “I only met him myself yesterday so I didn’t really have time to tell you about him. He’s my new boss.” she added, to clarify their working relationship.

  “I know,” Dale said, “he was just telling me. Rather him than that pretty-boy you insist on calling your friend. Why the hell you have anything to do with that guy, I don’t know. He’s completely insane.”