Page 15 of A Very Happy Halloween

Three drinks turned into four, or five, or six. Daniel Menzies puked on the dance floor, and after that, people began to drift off home, or possibly to a nightclub in town. Eyes wanted to call me a cab, but I told him I’d be fine walking, that I’d done it a hundred times and knew the way. He’d insisted he was coming with me to make sure I stayed safe.

I wasn’t entirely certain how we’d ended up at the nature reserve. Maybe I’d wanted to show him the moonlight on the lake, or perhaps I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Kisses turned into more, and he’d taken my virginity on the dusty floor of the birdwatcher’s hide. Taken. That made it sound as if he stole it, but make no mistake, it was freely given. It was only what came afterwards that left me with regrets.

The metaphorical punch that hit me from left field.

Eyes had returned to London, a commitment he couldn’t miss, he said. He’d texted me a hundred times in the days that followed, called me on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday too. Then on Wednesday, he went quiet.

My “are you okay?” message stayed unread for hours before he delivered the death blow.

Eyes

This isn’t how I wanted to end things, Janie, but I don’t have a choice. It’s nothing you’ve done. This is all on me. Be happy, and I’ll never forget you.

That was it. Poof. Gone. Until Harry threw paint over the door at Twilight’s End, and the world’s biggest, most spectacular dick came back into my life.

He’d never forget me? What a crock of shit. He probably hadn’t given me another thought after he sent that text, not until Harry ruined his porch, anyway.

I sighed as I added water to the vase. This time, the decision on whether to talk was mine, and Eyes could go fuck himself.

Eight

More flowers arrived on Tuesday. And Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday. I was running out of places to put them all, and Alfie had started sniffling. There was a nasty cold going around at school, which was most likely the reason, but what if he was allergic to pollen? Was there a test for that?

At least I wouldn’t have to worry about it today. Steven picked the boys up every other weekend, usually on a Friday evening but sometimes on a Saturday morning if he had some vitally important social event he couldn’t miss, and they wouldn’t be back until Sunday.

“I thought you were getting this fixed,” he said, poking the rotten window frame beside the door with his house key while he waited for Harry to find his Nintendo charger.

“Oh, sure, money just grows on trees. If you paid your child support, I could fix things faster.”

“My solicitor needs to check something on the forms.”

Same old, same old. “If he’s taking that long, you should find a better solicitor.”

As always, Steven ignored that suggestion. “Harry, you ready?”

Finally, the three of them left, and I knew for a fact that Alfie had three slugs in his pocket, but those were Luisa’s problem now.

My problem? The dirt the boys had tracked through the house after a rain shower yesterday.

I thought the florist would be closed on Saturday, that I might get some respite, but the doorbell rang just after nine o’clock, and when I peered through the peephole with a mop in my hand, the biggest bunch of roses I’d ever seen filled the view.

For crying out loud.

I yanked the door open. “Look, my whole house is filled with flowers. Next time you get a delivery for this address, could you just take them to the hospital instead? Or the old folks’ home? Or the cemetery?”

The delivery guy lowered the flowers, and I realised that the sneaky sod had pulled a bait-and-switch.

“You’d rather have chocolates?” Eyes asked.

“Which part of ‘I don’t want to speak to you’ did you not understand?”

“I need to apologise.”

“You already did that in writing. Five times.” I folded my arms and fought back tears. “Just leave me alone.”

“I tried that. Why do you think I stayed in my house last weekend? But now you know I’m around, and I want to clear the air in case we bump into each other again.”

“Clear the air? Are you kidding me? I’m choking on lies and half-truths here. You’ve already screwed me in two different ways, and I don’t even know your freaking name. Chip? Seriously?”

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