Page 5 of Don't You Want Me, Baby?

Bill mockingly shook his fist in her direction.

‘But you’re together now, though, aren’t you?’ Amber tried to rescue the love story that popped like a balloon in her head, along with her hope. ‘That was worth all the heartache, surely?’

Bill’s smile returned. ‘Aye, it all came good in the end.’

He went back to chatting with his pals, and Amber stuck her chin out at Sharon. ‘Case closed.’

‘Case closed,’ she scoffed. ‘Hardly love at first sight, was it. People don’t always get that big, epic romance you know. Some people just pick someone and make the best of it.’

‘Wow.’ Amber sighed. ‘Don’t try writing for greeting cards any time soon, mate.’

Sharon threw the towel back. ‘Listen, life is short, my friend. You have to get on with what makes you happy and bugger the rest. That stuff’s for the Hallmark channel. You don’t have to give everything you have to a bloke. It never ends well. The best way to be is to sort yourself out, and then find someone who will let you do that and like you for it.’ The service bell rang, and Sharon gave her a pat on the shoulder as she passed. ‘But what do I know, eh? It’s not like I have this relationship thing sorted out. None of us do. We’re a public house full of lonely hearts.’

2

The conversation stayed with Amber long after the end of her shift.Full of lonely hearts.Her grandmother used to spout things along similar lines, especially after grandad had passed too soon. And it wasn’t like Amber’s own parents had anything to report in the true love stakes. Their story was more horror than romantic comedy. Was she really an idiot, believing that she could have a career and a love worth having? Would she have her own romantic story to relate to her own grandchildren, when she was battle scarred and grey haired? Right now, the only relationship she really had was with time, and wasting it. The night ahead was a prime example.

She’d had a few ideas of how to spend her evening in. She could watch that period drama box set everyone was talking about online, so she’d finally understand all the memes people were sharing. She could clean the flat, except that she’d not really been in the place so there wasn’t much to do. It took all of an hour until she was back twiddling her thumbs again. All she wore lately were sweatpants, PJs and her uniform, so her washing was done in two loads. Sharon had come up on her break to grab a coffee with her, but, other than that, the night dragged. At half nine, when Sharonhad gone back downstairs, Amber had taken one look at her laptop and decided that the TV would win for tonight. She wasn’t in the mood to focus on her business plan and, when she’d texted Bradley to see how his night was going, he’d left her on read.Nice.She flumped down on the couch, trying to get into the show playing on the screen. She’d woken up some time later, still wearing her work clothes and feeling groggy from the nap. She could hear people leaving downstairs, the usual comforting sounds of customers she’d known for years saying goodnight and heading home for the evening.

‘Well,’ she sighed to herself. ‘Great night off, Amber. You need to get a life, girl.’ It had started to feel off, hearing everyone leave at night. Living alone had never bothered her before. Sharon and Tyler lived close by, they both had their own places in Hebblestone, but she had gotten used to having Bradley here. He’d used to sleep over a lot, and now… now he didn’t. Brad had a flat of his own, the typical steel and glass bachelor pad, in a block of up-market apartments just outside Hebblestone and nearer the big city life in Leeds. She’d only slept over once, but it wasn’t a home like her place was. Brad called her place cluttered, which, after seeing his bare space, she took as a compliment. Seeing her things in place, the photos, the furniture her grandmother had left her, soothed Amber as she took in the silence around her. It was so quiet, the stillness of the night only punctuated by the odd car passing by.

Looking at her phone on the coffee table, she told herself she wouldn’t check her messages. But her phone sat there on the tabletop, begging her for attention. When it beeped, she pounced on it.Tyler.

All locked up, I left the key in the lock box. Sleep tight

Ty

She tapped out a reply of thanks before looking for notifications. Bradley hadn’t replied.Knew it.Huffing, she dropped her phone on the couch.Time to get ready for bed.She’d get showered and get some sleep. Deal with everything tomorrow. It had been a cool day for late July, but she still felt icky from the long day.

She lingered under the hot spray of the shower for far longer than necessary, conditioning her hair twice just for something to do with her hands other than beat at the wall. Why had Bradley not messaging her irked her so much? He was busy; he was working. He wouldn’t be sitting on his phone. He might even be home by now, asleep for all she knew. Still, Tyler always took the time to text her when he left. To tell her he’d locked up, even though she knew he would never forget. He did it to make her feel safe, to say goodnight. If her friends showed they cared, why the hell didn’t Bradley? Why was she even bothering if things were this hard twelve months in? She thought back to Tyler’s words earlier. He’d noticed the change. They both had. Sharon had definitely said her piece tonight too. Whether she’d wanted them to or not, they were both trying to help.

At the comedy night, she’d had fun, but it had stung to be stood up in front of them. Now it had happened yet again, and she felt… stupid. Rejected. She’d told her regulars she had the night off, that she was spending it with Bradley. Instead, she’d been upstairs all on her lonesome, drooling into the sofa cushions instead of enjoying the time off in a better way. Her friends were going to be full of it tomorrow when she told them she hadn’t heard from him. She wouldn’t lie to them, but justifying Bradley’s actions was starting to feel a little wearing. The three of them were the best of buds, but lately she’d felt a shift in the trio dynamic she loved. Like she was a wonky corner of the triangle somehow. Over the last few weeks, she’d caught the odd look pass between them when they thought she wasn’t looking. It made her feel… uneasy. Stupid, like they were talking about things without her. Possibly forming an I Hate Sloane fan club. A few things bothered her of late. With the silence, it was hard not to notice all of the loud doubts in her head. This wasn’t just a rough patch in their relationship. Thiswasthe relationship. She’d been playing dumb even to herself, but she couldn’t deny it any more. This wasn’t the life she wanted. She’d never have a family with Bradley. Not really, even if they did sort things out and took the next steps they’d planned together. She’d be a single parent, waiting for him to show them attention. The thought of that was the decider. She wanted The Bingley Arms back, she wanted to raise a family in that place, her family of regulars and friends around her. She wanted that for her. Not Bradley, not to reclaim the legacy her grandmother had left before she got sick and had to sell up. They were her dreams, her life. A life she had checked out of in recent months, waiting for a man who didn’t deserve her in the first place. She didn’t want to wake up in ten years’ time with regret and resentment. Her parents had never put her first. There was no way in hell she was going to have a child and watch the poor thing long for a parent who just wasn’t there.

She was going to have to lay it out for Bradley. He either shaped up or shipped out. She didn’t care if she sounded like some baby-crazy control freak. She knew what she wanted, and the woman she used to be would never have floundered like this, and there was nothing like another trip around the sun to wake a person up. Her impending birthday was going to be the marker for the next chapter in her life.Life begins at thirty, Amber. Time to get on with living it.

‘Oww!’ She winced as the blob of coconut-scented conditioner she’d managed to flick right into her eye blinded her. ‘Shit.’ Pulling back the shower curtain, she flapped her hands about until she made contact with the towel rail. Which was pretty easy, given that the bathroom in the flat above the Slug was small. Using theshower spray to douse the thick conditioner away from her face, she heard a noise.A door slamming?She stuck her head back out of the shower, gripping the curtain tight with one hand and reaching behind her with the other until she felt her fancy new loofah. The type that looked like a beige chunk of coral reef mounted on a wooden stick.

Bang!

There it was again!Someone was definitely downstairs.Heart thudding, she grabbed at the end of the wooden handle, gripping it tight. It was too light to do any real damage, but she felt better for having it in her hand. Tyler had no reason to come back, and Bradley was in Harrogate, right? He’d have called first, surely?

The water was still pummelling down on her back, dripping onto the bathmat as she slowly climbed out of the shower. Her toes had barely touched the floor before she heard footsteps up the stairs. Clunky, heavy ones.It didn’t sound like Bradley.Wrapping a towel around her one handed, she raised the loofah behind her head baseball-bat style. ‘This is not how I am going out,’ she muttered through gritted teeth. ‘Half naked with a loofah is not what I want written on my bloody obituary.’ She’d kept the water on, not wanting to alert her would-be murderer that she knew they were there. She thought of who would find her in the morning. The cleaner had a day off, which meant it would probably be Tyler.God no.She was not about to let her best friend find her in a pool of coconut-scented blood with her tatas flying free.At least I shaved my legs.She gripped the bamboo handle tighter, giving it a little practice swing as she heard the footsteps getting closer. She would give whoever came through that door everything she’d got, and then leg it down the stairs. If she could just get to the control panel on the bar alarm, she’d have people here to save her.

Trying not to hyperventilate, she tilted her ear towards the door and willed her body to be still. The towel around her chest wasjumping along with her racing heart as she waited for movement she hoped wouldn’t come. If it was someone she knew, they would have called her name, she told herself. A break-in? She had the takings in the safe; did they know when she went to the bank?God, I wish I hadn’t left my phone on the couch.

When she heard the unmistakable squeak of the floorboard outside the door, she held her breath. ‘Come on,’ she whispered between breathy pants. ‘Give it your best shot.’ How she kept the squeak from escaping when the handle turned, she couldn’t say. She was too busy readying herself for battle.

‘Die, wanker!’ she shouted, and the second she saw a flash of black clothing, she bellowed like an angry bear and brought the loofah down as hard as she could. The second it made contact, it snapped in half. The dark shadow screamed, falling back out of the door with a high pitched ‘Arrgghhh! Amber, what the?—!’

‘B-Bradley!?’ She took in his crumpled form on the floor, legs half in the room as the steam from the shower enveloped him.

‘Yeah! Of course it’s me! Who else would it be?’ He was looking at her like she’d grown an extra head. She saw his wide, blue eyes take in her weapon, his brows forming an incredulous frown. ‘Is that a nunchuk?’ The loofah head was totalled, leaving a rather smooth nub in her clenched hand, the pad dangling at its side by a single thread. ‘What is… er… bur…’ His words grew more garbled the lower his gaze got. It was right about then that Amber realised she’d dropped her towel during the fracas and it was now on the floor beside Bradley, who was open mouthed and bumbling nonsensical words.

‘For God’s sake,’ she seethed, grabbing for the towel and covering her modesty. ‘You’ve seen me naked before. You scared the shit out of me!’

‘I know,’ he leered back. ‘But not all angry and wet.’

She scowled his way. ‘You’re an idiot.’

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