Page 67 of Only Ever Yours
“Then we should celebrate. Let me go and grab a bottle of Prosecco.” Ella stood and made her way to the bar.
While she was gone, I pulled out my phone. Until I’d actually spoken to Gil, I hadn’t been able to read or answer Jase’s texts as I didn’t want to cloud the situation with false promises. Now I knew Jase was in the clear, I called him. The phone rang and rang until it finally went to voicemail. I hesitated for a moment, then said, “Jase, it’s me. We need to talk. Call me as soon as you can.”
“Turns out I can’t afford a bottle of fizz at these London prices, so we’ve got two glasses instead.” Ella put the two flutes on the table.
I laughed, the sound making me feel lighter again. “That’s fine. If we have a bottle, I’ll fall asleep on the train, and we’ll end up in God knows where.”
It had been a long day already. Once I’d made the decision to meet Gil, the train seemed like the best option, and we’d had an early start. The emotional tiredness of putting a stop to this whole situation had drained me, and I wasn’t really joking about falling asleep on the way home.
“Then let’s finish these and head home.” Ella lifted a glass, clinking it with mine.
We chatted about nothing for a little while until it was time to get to the station. There was a part of me that wanted to try Jase again while on the train, but trying to talk to him while we were travelling might be almost impossiblewith the dodgy signal on the line out of London.I’ll wait until I get home.My eyelids began to droop as soon we started to move, and I was little to no company for Ella on the journey back to Maplebrook.
“Do you want me to come home with you?” she asked once we had arrived back.
I shook my head. “No, it’s fine.” Impulsively, I hugged her. “Thanks for coming with me today. I know you had to take time off work, and I really do appreciate it.”
Ella tightened her grip on me. “I’m glad you got everything sorted. I bet you can’t wait to see Jase.”
A smile broke out on my face. Seeing Jase again had been about the only thing keeping me going over the past few hours. “You don’t know how much.”
We said our goodbyes, and I jumped into a taxi to get home as quickly as possible. As I paid the taxi driver, I noticed the living room lights were on.Jase was there.I honestly couldn’t wait to see him again, to apologise for what Gil had put him through.What I had put him through because of my ex’s crazy behaviour.
Opening the front door, I headed inside. Finn was in the living room, stretched out on the sofa in a pair of boxers and a T-shirt, watching a comedy show on television. An open pizza box rested on his chest, and there were several bottles of beer on the floor. At the sight of me, he bolted upright, causing the pizza box to upend over him.
“Shit! Hollis, you scared me.”
“Who did you think it was going to be?” My mind went back to the unwanted intruder who had arrived only a couple of nights ago.
“Glad it’s not Gil again.” Finn gave me a wry smile.
“Me, too. Where’s Jase? Is he upstairs?” Watching as Finn tried to clean the tomato sauce from his T-shirt, Ihovered in the doorway, ready to bolt up the stairs as soon as Finn confirmed Jase was there.
He stopped what he was doing and glanced over at me. “He’s not here.”
A cold hand grasped at my heart. Had Gil gone back on everything he’d said? He’d promised to drop the charges and have Jase released. That was the only reason I’d agreed to meet with him.
Finn must have sensed the change in me. “He’s actually gone to see his mum. Said he needed a bit of space away from everything.”
“Even me?” I whispered.
“I doubt that very much, Hollis.” He shook his head. “But he didn’t talk much before he went.”
Overcome with the enormity of everything that had happened in the past couple of days, I sank down into the armchair, all the fight draining out of me.
It can’t end like this.Wecan’t end like this.
I reached into my bag and grabbed my phone, which was dead. Grabbing the charger from beside the sofa, I plugged it in and turned it on. Once it sprang into life, I dialled Jase’s number straightaway, disappointed to hear his voicemail again. My shoulders sagged as I checked our message thread, only to see he hadn’t read the last one I’d sent, but there was a missed call from him.
“His mum still lives in Princelake, doesn’t she?” I asked Finn.
“Mmm-hmm,” Finn answered, seemingly without a second thought. Then his head snapped in my direction. “You’re not thinking of going there, are you?”
“It’s the only way I’ll know for sure what’s going on in his head.” Suddenly energised, I sprang to my feet and picked up my bag. “I’ll see you soon.”
I half walked, half jogged to the train station. There was a direct train to Princelake in about twenty minutes, and it would take me around an hour and a half to get there, meaning I’d be there shortly after eleven o’clock. Hopefully, there would be a taxi to take me to the caravan park Cherry lived in, and then I just had to hope I could remember exactly which one was hers. I bought myself a coffee and a pastry to stave off tiredness and hunger and sat on the platform to wait.
Ella
