Page 45 of Cuts Like An Angel: Part 3

“You don’t know me.”

“True enough, but let’s give this a go?”

There was a long pause before she moved, but William held in his relief when she took his hand and allowed him to pull her away from the edge. He settled next to her, not wanting to be too close, as they both slid down the wall and sat, not wanting to scare her with the strange man outside in the early hours of the morning.

“I may not know you, Dana, but I know what it’s like to stand on that bridge, hold that railing and feel like it’s the only answer you’ve got.”

“But you did jump.”

“And here I am.” He clasped his hands together in front of himself and rested his arms across his knees. A car drove past them, a faceless driver at this time of the morning, passing them both by. “I guess I needed to do it because I thought I had no other choice. I thought it was the only answer.”

“It’s not like that for me. I just feel …”

“Flat? Dead inside?”

She raised her gaze to meet his. Dark brown eyes, watery shades. “Numb,” she said. “Two months ago, I was looking forward to a new adventure, to new opportunities.”

“And now they’re gone?”

He watched the way her eyes moved as she weighed him up before speaking. “They’re with my stupid fucking shagging husband,” she said to William and he wasn’t sure if she laughed as she said it, or cried, or maybe a mixture of both. “Wanking bastard.” She put her head in her hands and William let her have the silence again. “We planned these days. This time of our lives together. Like I waited for it, and what was he doing?”

William arched on brow. “Shagging?”

“Exactly. Shagging.” She put her hands over her face and this time she did cry. Her shoulders heaved, her body shook, and William reached around her to place his arm on her shoulders. He let her cry, waiting for her. When she was done, she took another deep breath and put her head back. “It wasn’t meant to be like this. None of it was.”

William pulled out another tissue and handed it to her. She took it, blew her nose and screwed it into a ball. “It never is. You think you have it all together, and then something comes along and knocks you over.”

“Thirty-three years we’ve been married. Thirty-three. That’s most of my life. Can you believe that? Two children. I thought … I thought we wanted the same things. I thought when Justine went off to university, we’d get our lives back. Rekindle some things. Be like before the children came along. Now they’re grown up, moved out, it was our time to have some fun. We always said we’d book a cruise, celebrate our lives together and get ready for the next part.”

William stayed silent, feeling that she needed that as she rattled off people he didn’t know, names he didn’t recognise. It didn’t matter. It all meant the same thing in the end.

“Then he tells me this morning he doesn’t want that anymore. And no, Dana, we haven’t been happy for some time, have we? I mean, I thought we were. I was happy. I thought he was happy. But then he tells me he’s been shagging fucking Camila Thomas. Who calls their child Camilla? What kind of cruelty is that? And he’s an accountant. She works in a takeaway near his office. Fucking KFC. Camilla smells like fried chicken and can’t string two words together. Isn’t that the craziest thing ever? They’re moving in together. Well, no. She’s moving into my house and he wants me to move out at the earliest convenience. My fucking house.” She said the latter part with a bitter bite to her words and jabbed at her chest.

William could only nod as she spoke. He couldn’t imagine being like that with anyone. Kicking them out after a lifetime together? “And this is why you’re on this bridge?”

She snorted. “Yeah. Seemed like a good idea at the time. What do you do after thirty-three years of marriage, two children and a husband who’d rather play with someone’s McNuggets than … than …” She choked off her words at the end and leant forward.

“You know McNuggets is McDonald’s, right?”

“What?”

“You said he’s playing with McNuggets, but they don’t sell them at KFC. They’re sold at McDonald’s.”

She stared at him for a long uneasy second and then she broke into laughter, a pure, laugh, so deep he stared back at her bemused. The laughter shook her whole body and made her shake against him.

“I know I don’t know you, Dana, but I know some things. I know that everything always looks better tomorrow, even in our bleakest moments. I know that whatever it is you think you can’t face today, will be the foundation on which you stand in a year. I’m fairly sure I know your husband is an idiot and probably doesn’t deserve you if he’s off playing chicken hop with KFC girl. Mostly, though, I know you don’t want to end it all. Not really.”

He wasn’t sure when it happened, but Dana’s fingers laced in his and he was holding her hand in both of his and ignoring the way his skin felt like it was splitting open. She took in a deep inhalation and sniffed away her sorrow. “Why are you here? On the bridge. Did you …”

He shrugged. “It’s my thinking place.” He let go of her hand with one of his, and then ran his hand through his hair.

“You’re cut.” She caught the edge of his hand.

He’d forgotten about that injury, and the moment she mentioned it, every sting reignited in his body to let him know they were still there. “I slipped.”

Dana arched her brow.

“No. Seriously, I did. Right before you threw your ring over the side. I was going to sit and think. My mother has come to stay with us, and I just needed some air.”

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