Page 61 of The First Chord

Tiptoeing down the stairs, I held my breath. I didn’t want to stop Joey getting his full eight hours, otherwise he’d be a nightmare. Besides, I didn’t want any company, I had too much to think about.

When I reached the bottom step and turned into the kitchen, I almost shit myself as I spotted a dark figure sitting in the corner of the sofa.

“Fucking hell,” I hissed.

“God, I’m sorry. It’s me. It’s me.”

“Amber? Shit.”

One of the small overhead lights came on and I was given a clear view of the woman who was stopping me from sleeping. Wearing a pink, fluffy dressing gown, she had her feet up with a mug clutched to her chest.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she whispered. “Did I wake you?”

“No. I couldn’t sleep either.” I took a step closer. “What’s that you’re drinking?”

“Hot chocolate. I brought a jar with me.” Leaning forward she put her mug on the table. “Want me to make you one?”

“I can do it. No worries.” Spotting the jar of chocolate powder, I reached for a mug and spoon. “How many spoons do I put in?”

“It says two, but I always put three. Otherwise, it’s a bit watery.”

With the jar in my hand, I turned to Amber and frowned. “Water. Don’t you make it with milk.”

Amber shrugged. “I suppose you could. Do you want to make it with milk?”

Glancing at the clock on the microwave I saw that it was almost three. “I can’t be arsed.” I flicked on the kettle and spooned four spoons of powder into the mug, I couldn’t stand watery drinks.

“Okay,” I said once I finally had a drink and sat down. “What’s keeping you awake, or is that a stupid question?” I cleared my throat. “Is it what happened at the graveyard?”

“God no, honestly, it’s not. It’s a lot of things, but it’s not that. Jimmy is, though.” She lifted the blind at the window and peeked around it. “It’s surprising how much traffic is on the road.”

We’d crossed over to France on the ferry about an hour before by my reckoning, so were about another two hours or so from Paris. We’d no doubt hit a lot more traffic soon. And that was a clear change of subject, so no more chats about graveside kisses, if that was what she wanted.

“How long have you been down here?” I asked.

“About half an hour. I made Terry a cup of coffee as well.”

Terry our driver had a curtain across so we couldn’t see him, and I would hazard a guess it was because he was eating biscuits.

“Tell me all about it.” I took a sip of my hot chocolate. “Hmm, milk would have been better, but it’s okay.”

Amber grinned and pushed her mug away. “Why can’t you sleep?”

I shook my head. “Nuh uh. I asked you first.”

After a few seconds silence and us watching each other, she took a deep breath. “Life choices I suppose.”

“Oh, we all have second thoughts about those, love.”

“Mine seem particularly bad, though. Jimmy is one big wrong choice.”

“You didn’t always think so. It wasn’t always bad.” I frowned. “Was it?”

“Mostly.” Exhaling, she rubbed her eyes. “Me choosing him has messed up so much. My life. Yours to a point. I mean, if it wasn’t for me picking Jimmy to be my life partner you wouldn’t be mixed up in all of this. You wouldn’t have to have me on this bus, in your house.”

Fuck, she was so wrong. I was glad that she’d made that choice. Imagine if she’d met someone decent and lived a full and happy life in a semi-detached with a Cocker Spaniel and an artificial lawn. I wouldn’t have been sitting opposite her with watery hot chocolate and thinking about how hard I was falling for her. Friends wasn’t even on the horizon any longer.

“You are not a problem, believe me,” I replied, glancing down at the table. “Time on this bus will be much better with you on board. The thought of spending it with just the three wise men is hideous.”

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