Page 2 of Just Between Us

I wrestled Annie out of her clothes and into bed. She hugged me and told me I was ‘the bestest friend in the world’ before passing out against her pillow and snoring softly.

I wasn’t convinced she should be saying that as I thought about my reaction to Rich out in the front garden. Feeling a pang of guilt about it, I shook my head as if to erase the thought and headed down to the kitchen.

CHAPTER TWO

RICH

I’d been awake anyway,but hearing the taxi pull up and the drunken giggles, followed by not-really whispers in front of the house, I figured it was probably better to go out and help them get inside. I didn’t want the neighbours complaining about the racket they were making.

Seeing Annie in the flower bed giggling like a schoolgirl was not what I’d expected when I opened the door. Unheard, I approached the hapless pair and announced my presence. Annie’s face was a picture, and I was reminded of a time when, as a child, she’d been busted for doing something silly. That same look of impish ‘oopsie’ was on her face now.

The look on Lucy’s face, though, was something else altogether. Her eyes widened a little when she saw me, but I wasn’t entirely sure it was surprise. In fact, I would have said there was a look of lust behind those glassy, doe eyes. But that would have been ridiculous, so I didn’t allow myself a hint of that ridiculous notion.

Instead, I helped them inside and upstairs, told Lucy she was welcome to stay, and left them to it.

I stoodin my kitchen thinking about what I wanted to do next. Coffee seemed stupid at this time of the morning, even if it was likely I wasn’t going to sleep for a while.

Hearing Lucy’s footsteps on the stairs snapped me out of my indecision, making me aware I’d been standing there thinking about things for longer than I realised. I did the only thing I could think of in the situation. I went straight for the cupboard of glasses and grabbed one. Selecting my bottle of special occasion scotch, I poured, pretending to be oblivious to Lucy’s approach.

“Sorry about the flowers,” she said, sounding sheepish.

I took a mouthful of the amber liquid and let the heat in my throat distract me from everything else as I turned to face her.

“Ah, don’t worry about. They’ll bounce back.”

I took in every inch of her face in a way I never had before. I didn’t know how to explain it, or what had caused it, but there had been a definite glow-up in Lucy over the last six months. Something had changed for her and in her, and whatever it was, it suited her.

Realising how much I’d been staring at her, and how much she had been returning my look, snapped me back to the reality that I was standing in my kitchen with my child’s best friend. Instinctively, I lifted the glass to my mouth again and took another swig.

“Can I have a glass?” Lucy asked, not taking his eyes off me as I downed a third mouthful.

Turning away from her, I said, “Sure.” It was a welcome interruption to whatever the hell was going on. I grabbed a second glass from the cupboard, poured two fingers worth for Lucy, and topped up my own.

“Good night?” I asked as I held my arm out to hand her the glass of scotch.

“Not too bad.” She shrugged as she reached for the glass, her fingers grazing over mine. A spark shot up my arm where her skin made contact with my flesh, and her eyes darted to my face.

It took everything in me to ignore it. Smiling, I pulled my hand away in a controlled manner. “Annie texted that you’d met some friends on the way home,” I said, trying to keep things light.

Lucy drank half her scotch and with a wince, nodded. “Yeah, we did. Do you remember that kid in our class who spent the last year of primary school pulling Annie’s hair? It was him and a few of his mates from the local technical college.”

“Declan O’Neill, wasn’t it?” I asked, remembering how much stress that little shit had caused Annie when they were ten and eleven, only to have him become one of their friends by the time they were leaving for university.

Lucy smirked. “Yeah, that’s the one. I always thought it was weird how he went from being her torturer to a friend by the time we were in our late teens.”

“People do funny things when we like someone like that.” I grinned, swallowing the last of my scotch. When I glanced at Lucy’s face, I realised my mistake and how loaded the statement was.

I cleared my throat and looked away from her. She finished the last of her scotch and approached me. I was frozen to the spot. Her hand reached out and passed me as she set her glass on the counter behind me. It was a move that put her close to me, and part of me wondered if she had orchestrated it that way.

My heart started to thump harder in my chest. I held my breath and waited.

“Thanks for the drink. I should head to bed now,” Lucy said softly as she paused right in front of me.

I swallowed hard and nodded. “Goodnight.”

She turned without another word and started to walk back to the bottom of the stairs.

“Sweet dreams, Lucy,” I said softly as she started up the stairs.

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