“I know that, but it would be nice to have you working with me again. The offer is still there.” Lydia smiles affectionately. “Plus, you shouldn’t let that low-life bastard Donnie stop you from going somewhere that you love to go. The security team know never to let him in again too, so he would have to be a miracle worker to get in.”
At least Lydia understands why I am reluctant to return there. I know that she is trying to help, but I need to be confident enough to return to The Den, and right now, I don’t feel confident at all. I need to shut down Lydia’s attempts at trying to get me to go there, without dismissing the idea completely.
“I will seriously think about it… I just need a bit more time. Thanks though, Lyd, I do appreciate the offer.” It’s all I can say to keep her suggestions to a minimum. Once Lydia forms an idea in her head, there is no stopping her until she has achieved the result that she wants.
“It’s the least I can do,” she says before she starts to help me unpack the boxes and sort each item into their relevant pile. There is no more talk of The Den, which I am relieved about, and it takes us a couple of hours to clear all of the boxes. We have even managed to sort the ones in Lydia’s room too.
During the unpacking process we have managed to polish off the remainder of the bottle of wine, and we are just starting on the second bottle. I stand in the bedroom doorway and look at all of our hard work. My bedroom may look a little cluttered, but at least I have all of my stuff here. I’m feeling brave enough to consider it my bedroom again now. I don’t think Lydia will be kicking me out. I was stupid to think that she would do that in the first place. Shock can do crazy things to your mind.
I decide that I will get rid of all the rubbish tomorrow and then I will take the other stuff to the charity shop. All the unwanted items are currently lining the hall way, so I need to get rid of it all as soon as possible. At least that will give me something to do tomorrow.
I decide to have an early night as I am physically and mentally exhausted, and I’m sure that the wine has helped me to feel even more tired. I say goodnight to Lydia and drag my weary body to my bedroom.
As I get into bed, I realise that I still haven’t switched my phone on, so I get back out of bed with a groan to locate my phone charger. After a few minutes, I find the charger underneath my bed; it must have got shoved there during the sorting out process. I plug the charger into the plug socket by the bedside table and then attach my phone.
After a few minutes there is enough charge in the phone for me to be able to turn it on, and I settle back into bed and wait to see what messages are going to come through. I have a few missed calls from Lydia, which I can see are the ones I missed whilst I was staying at Jake’s. I also have a text from Susie, a text from Martin, ten missed calls from Charles, and a couple of messages from him too.
I open Susie’s message first. She is just texting to see how I am. I tap out a quick reply to her and then proceed to open Martin’s message. He wants to catch up over coffee, which I am more than happy to do. I have missed his infectious personality.
I then open the first of Charles’ messages. The first one, and the following three, all consist of him grovelling to save himself from embarrassment. I roll my eyes at each one.
However, the final message from him really makes me take notice and pisses me off immensely.
Stacey. I now understand that you probably
don’t want to speak to me. I have taken the
liberty of having your car impounded as it was
a nuisance. I apologise, but I needed the space.
Regards, Charles.
Oh great. That’s just what I needed. An impounded car. Fucking fantastic!
The message was sent two days ago, so there will already be costs racking up from the impound lot. He really is such a selfish asshole. He has done this out of spite because I won’t go back to him. How I ever stayed with him for so long, I really don’t know. Although, if I had just have stayed with Charles, then none of the events of the last few days would have occurred.
Maybe this is all karma for me cheating on Charles all those months ago?
I resist the urge to text back a shitty reply. I don’t need to stoop to his level, and I definitely don’t need to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he has pissed me off. I need to be the bigger person here.
I put my phone on the bedside table and lie down.
I just stare at the ceiling and try to keep calm, and I decide that, as of tomorrow, I need to take charge of my life and sort myself out once and for all.
Chapter Twenty
I am up and dressed before Lydia even emerges from her bedroom. I have had enough of being made to feel like shit. Today is a new day, and I am going to take charge. Luckily, I have no hangover, which is surprising with the amount of wine I drank last night.
I make myself a cup of coffee and take it through to the lounge. I sit on the sofa and put the morning news on, although it is more for background noise than for me to watch. In my mind I have my whole day planned out. Firstly, I will go and get my car from the impound lot. Secondly, I will use my car to take all of the rubbish to the tip. And thirdly, I will take the rest to the charity shop.
The fourth and final thing on my list to do is the most nerve wracking as it involves going to The Den. Lydia is right, I shouldn’t let what happened with Donnie stop me from going there. So, on that basis, I will meet Lydia back here to go with her when I have finished everything else on my to-do list.
I need to get back to being strong and independent, and I can’t do that if I am living in fear.
Lydia walks into the lounge as I am finishing my coffee and flops down next to me on the sofa.
“What are you doing up so early?” she asks me whilst still yawning. “Are you feeling okay after yesterday?” She looks a little concerned at my complete turnaround.
“I’m fine, Lyd. I need to stop wallowing and make stuff happen.” I stand up and take my cup into the kitchen, then go to my bedroom to grab my handbag before returning to the lounge.
“What time are you going to The Den?” I ask Lydia.
“About eleven-ish. Why?”
“I will be back before you leave. Bye, Lyd.” I don’t give her chance to ask any more questions as I turn and head for the front door, so that I can start walking to the impound lot. It takes me a while to get there, but I enjoy the peace. It’s a relief not to have to discuss Jake with Lydia.
When I arrive at the impound lot, I go to a little port-a-cabin that is situated in front of two big steel gates. An old man is sat in there, and he looks bored shitless. He sees me approaching and makes himself look busy.
“Hi,” I say. “My car was brought here the other day and I would like to pick it up please.”
The old man asks me some details about which car, and I tell him all of the necessary information. He taps the information into a computer and then goes to a cupboard on the back wall, selecting the relevant keys for my car.
“That will be four hundred and fifty pounds to pay.” The old guy doesn’t bat an eyelid at the amount of money that he has asked me for.
“What?” I bellow at him.
“Four hundred and fifty pounds. That’s the price to get your car back.”
“But, how is it so much money?” I am astounded that it could cost this much.
“Two hundred and fifty pounds’ collection fee and then one hundred pounds per day for keeping it here.” He remains unfazed. He must have to deal with people asking him this question all of the time.
“That’s outrageous.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Charles is such a prick. If he thinks that making me pay hundreds of pounds to get my car back is going to make me go back to him, then he is sadly mistaken. I bet in his small mind he thinks that I am going to ask him to bail me out. No fucking chance.
With determination to outwit Charles, I hand over my card and begrudgingly make the payment. The old guy then takes me through a small ga
te, to the side of the big metal ones, to where my car is. I sarcastically thank him, and he heads back to his little cabin to open the gates, so that I can drive out.
I drive my car back to Lydia’s, still seething about how much it cost. I arrive back at the flat, park the car, and literally stomp all the way up to the front door. I then have to wait for Lydia to let me in.
“Jeez, you don’t look quite as happy as you did when you left,” Lydia comments as she opens the door.
“I have just had to pay four hundred and fifty quid to get my car back,” I tell her as I march into the flat. She stares at me with a blank expression on her face, probably wondering why the hell I have had to pay money for my car. I quickly fill her in. “Fucking Charles had it impounded at the lot. He is such a selfish prick.” I am surprised that there isn’t steam coming out of my ears, that’s how ticked off I am.
“Oh my God. What a dick.” Lydia shuts the door and I am pleased to hear that she agrees with me. Although, I don’t think she would ever agree with Charles, but that’s beside the point.
“Yeah, well, it’s done now. I can’t change it.”
Charles has occupied more than enough of my thoughts in the last half an hour. To keep myself busy and on schedule, I start to pick up some of the stuff that is sitting in the hallway. Time to go and do the tip run.
“Where are you going now?” Lydia asks.
“Tip run, and then I’m taking the rest to the charity shop.”
“You’re on a mission this morning, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. Best to keep busy,” I say as I exit the flat with the bags that I have picked up.
It only takes a couple more trips and all of the rubbish is in my car. There is still plenty of room left, so I load up the charity stuff as well. At least I can do it all in one trip now rather than coming back here for the charity stuff.
I shout to Lydia that I am leaving, and she comes running from her bedroom.
“Here you go,” she says as she hands me a key. “Keep this. It’s your home too now, and you’ll want to be able to get in if I’m not here.” Lydia smiles and I take the key from her and I feel my mood lighten significantly.
“Thanks, Lyd.” My eyes start to fill at the realisation that I have somewhere that I feel I can call my ‘home.’ I hastily blink back tears and give Lydia a quick hug. “I know I said I would be back before you left for The Den, but I will meet you there, if that’s okay?”
“Sure thing, babes. Have fun.”
Have fun? She must be taking the piss. There is nothing fun about a tip run.
I return to the car and drive to the tip, humming along to the radio as I go. After emptying the car of the rubbish, I take the rest of the stuff to the charity shop.
By the time I am done it is only half past ten. Lydia won’t be at work yet, so I decide to take a quick trip to Danish to appease my caffeine needs. I park the car just outside the coffee shop, and when I walk in, I see that Bonnie is working. I take my usual seat and she brings over some coffee.
“Hey, girl, where have you been hiding? Haven’t seen you for a few days,” Bonnie says.
“Well, to cut a long story short, Charles and I broke up, so I’ve just been busy sorting some stuff out.” I don’t want her to know just how eventful my life has been in the past week, so I keep it simple.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. This coffee is on the house.” She smiles and goes to serve another customer.
I sit quietly, drinking my coffee. It’s nice to be out and about and doing something normal.
I look out of the window and watch all the workers and shoppers rushing around. I like people watching from time to time.
I notice an elderly couple sat on one of the benches across the road from the coffee shop. They look so cute together. They are holding hands and they seem to be sat in comfortable silence. The man gives the woman a kiss on her cheek, and she smiles at him. I can see how much they love each other. It radiates from every fibre of their being. I want to have that with someone one day. Grow old and grey with them, and still be completely in love with them. Being content, happy and secure is something I yearn for.
I finish my coffee and am about to stand up when I notice Jake coming out of the estate agents, just behind the elderly couple. He’s with a woman. I sit back in my seat and take in every detail that I can.
The woman has jet-black hair that is short and spiky, her lips are full and accentuated by her deep-red lipstick, and her eyes sparkle as she seems to hang on Jake’s every word. He is laughing at something she is saying. My heart feels like it’s being stabbed, repeatedly.
I should look away, but I can’t.
I savour every bit of him. His silky hair, his athletic build, how good he looks in his suit, his tanned skin and his gorgeous caramel eyes. I miss those eyes. They brought me so much warmth when I was scared.
I watch them both until Jake’s limo pulls up and Eric gets out of the driver’s seat to open the door for them. The woman slides in first and then Jake follows.
I wait until they have driven off before I emerge from the coffee shop. I feel like running back to Lydia’s and spending the rest of the day curled up under my duvet, but I won’t do that. I need to stick to my plan and go to The Den.
To hell with Jake bloody Waters. If he can be happy and forget, then so can I.
Chapter Twenty-One
I park my car at the back of The Den, in the private parking space. As I am walking around to the front of the building, I see Lydia talking to some guy by the front doors. When I get closer, I see that the guy in question is Paul, Jake’s friend.
Oh God, really? It could have been any other guy in the world, but no, it has to be someone who is connected to Jake.
I can see that Lydia is flirting as she is playing with her hair and looking generally dopey-eyed.
“Hey, Lyd,” I say as I walk up behind Paul. Paul turns around and grins at me. “Nice to see you again, Paul,” I say as I shake his outstretched hand. There is no point in being rude to him, he has done nothing wrong.
“Hey,” he says casually.
“Hey, babes. Paul has just come to see if I want to go out with him tonight.” Lydia is beaming. “He’s taking me to the big fancy restaurant on the other side of town.” She can hardly contain her excitement and I don’t want to appear grouchy, so I join in with her enthusiasm.
“You mean Claringtons?” I ask her.
“Yeah.” Lydia seems so excited, and I can’t say that I blame her. Claringtons is one of the most upscale restaurants in the area.
“That’s great. I hear the food is amazing.” I plaster a big grin on my face. I want my friend to see that I am pleased for her.
I excuse myself whilst they finish their ‘moment’ and I wait inside the front doors of The Den. I don’t want to venture any further without Lydia by me. The memories will be too much. She comes through the door seconds later, with the dopey look still on her face.
Lydia lets me know that John, one of the security guys, is in the main room. She locks the front door behind her and motions for me to go on in. I greet John as we enter the main room. He gives us a nod and carries on with some paperwork he has set up at the bar. John is big and burly and does not look like someone that I would want to piss off.
Lydia goes ahead of me and I follow her into her office. Her office is like a hive of bright colours. There is no coordination, it’s just bright. The yellow walls make me want to put sunglasses on as they are verging on a neon shade. Lydia sits at her desk and I take the seat opposite her on the other side.
“Oh my God, Stace, Paul is so hot. I can’t believe that he just showed up like that to ask me out.”
“I’m pleased for you, Lyd. You deserve to be spoilt.” I mean it, I really do, but I can’t help feeling a little disappointed that my love life has spiralled out of control.
Her smile disappears as she asks me her next question. “Oh, Stace, are you okay with all of this?”
“All of wh
at?” I try to appear like I don’t know what she is talking about.
“About Paul taking me out.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I ask innocently, although I know what she is getting at. I am going to have to pull out some amazing acting skills to convince her that I am okay with the thought of possibly seeing Jake if things work out between her and Paul.
“Come on, Stace. Paul is Jake’s friend and I don’t want to go out with him if it makes you feel awkward.”
“Don’t be silly,” I reply. I am not letting my feelings for Jake stop Lydia from meeting someone who could be perfect for her. “You go and enjoy yourself. I’m looking forward to hearing all of the details when you get back.” I am astounded that I can make myself sound so happy. Inside I am breaking, but I will not spoil my friend’s chance of happiness. If things work out for them, I will just have to overcome my feelings for Jake. I force myself not to roll my eyes at my ridiculous thought. Put my feelings to one side? How the bloody hell am I meant to do that? I only have to look at the guy and my knees go weak.
“Great. Now that we have got that out of the way, when are you coming back to work?” I’m glad that my acting skills over the Paul issue have paid off, but my eyes widen at her suggestion of work. I thought that she was going to let me think about it. “Don’t look at me like that. I will make sure that you are safe working here, Stace. You were brilliant when you worked here before, and you can be again. What do you say?”
I am not overly keen on the idea and Lydia seems to pick up on this from my silence. “What if I make sure that we have the same shifts together for the next few weeks, to ease you back in? And, if you start to feel unsafe or threatened, then you can leave at any time.”
“I don’t know, Lyd. I told you that I need time to think about it.”
“Oh come on, babes, you said that last night.” She pouts at me to try and soften me up. “I also need someone to work with me on Saturday night, and I’m really hoping that it will be you. You are much more fun than the bloody agency staff I have to use.”
The Complete Perfect Series Page 12
