Page 26 of Dance With Me
When Joe woke Saturday morning, he thought he’d died in his sleep. His head hurt, and his stomach churned, nausea threatening to bring up all the alcohol he’d consumed the night before.
He was alone in bed; Clare was nowhere in sight, and her side of the bed was cold. He checked the clock on his bedside table and noted it was after eleven. Jesus, he never slept this late. He must have really been out of it last night.
He lay on his back and stared at the ceiling as thoughts of the previous evening came back to him. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he groaned as he remembered what had happened with Seb. What a fucking idiot he’d been. What was he going to do now?
Well, he knew what he had to do first and foremost, and that was to talk to Clare, but before he did that, he needed coffee and lots of it. He went to the bathroom, relieved himself and looked into the mirror; his bloodshot eyes reminded him of the night he’d had.
There was no sign of Clare in the kitchen, and as he looked out to the driveway, her car was gone. He looked for his phone, not remembering where he’d put it last night when he came in and eventually found it in the downstairs bathroom, along with his clothes from last night. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.
He pressed the button to bring it to life, but it was dead. Typical. He found his charger and plugged it in, waiting for his phone to restart. He moved to the kitchen to start the coffee when his phone pinged with a couple of notifications. He was almost afraid to look.
The first message was a missed call from Clare, and the second was a notification that he had an answerphone message.
Hi babe, last-minute plans. I’m going away with the girls for a spa weekend. Didn’t want to wake you, but I’ll be back sometime on Monday. Have a late shift, though, so I probably won’t see you until Tuesday at Seb’s class. Love you.
Well, fuck. Now, what was he going to do?
Joe sat and drank his coffee. Well, he was a free man this weekend, until Tuesday, really, and he had no idea what to do with the time.
He was tempted to call Seb, but after last night, he wasn’t sure where things stood between them. He’d acted like a complete arse but hoped that Seb would forgive him. Joe didn’t want to do anything wedding-related either, and Clare had pretty much taken care of everything anyway. He also wasn’t in the mood to sit around doing nothing. He could do one of three things, visit his parents, Hazel or Jayne. Considering he’d be going to lunch at his parents tomorrow and he’d be seeing Jayne there, he decided to see if Hazel was home.
“To what do we owe this pleasure?” Hazel asked when she answered her phone.
“I was wondering if you were home. I’m at a loose end today and thought you might enjoy some company.”
“As if I don’t see enough of you in the week. What makes you think I’d want to see you on a weekend?”
“You know you love me; you’d divorce Dave and marry me if you could,” Joe joked.
“Ah, you know me so well. You’d best get your arse round here then. The boys want to go to the cinema later, and I’m pretty sure their favourite Uncle Joe has just offered to take them. I’ll see you in half an hour; the main event starts in an hour.”
Joe rolled his eyes. Just what had he let himself in for?
He pulled up at Hazel’s house a little later and knocked on the door.
“Come in, it’s open,” he heard someone shout from inside.
He opened the door and went in. The house smelt amazing. “What you cooking, H?” he called out as he stepped into the kitchen.
“Actually, it’s me doing the cooking,” Dave said. “Authentic Indian cuisine for when you come back. Lots of beer too to wash it down with.”
“Sounds perfect. What am I taking them to see? Hope it’s not an animated one; I hate those.”
“No, I think it’s a superhero movie. Iron Man, maybe?”
Mm, Joe wouldn’t mind that too much. He was a sucker for Robert Downey, Jr.
“Uncle Joe, are you ready to go? We don’t want to be late; it starts soon and we need to get popcorn, drinksandpick ‘n’ mix.”
“Do you think I’m made of money? That sh… stuff’s expensive.” Joe laughed, ruffling Adam’s hair.
“Nice save, Joe,” said Hazel, walking into the room. “Behave for Uncle Joe, boys, anddon’tfill up on snacks.” She looked pointedly at Joe. “I will kill you,” she mouthed to him.
“Come on, guys, let’s get out of Mum and Dad’s hair.” As Adam and Callum walked out of the kitchen, he turned back to face Hazel and Dave. “You only want me to take them out so you can have some alone time.”
“Moi? How could you say such things?” Hazel winked, and he laughed as he walked out to the car.
Joe did exactly what he said he wasn’t going to do and bought popcorn, drinks and pick ‘n’ mix, and it did cost him a fortune.
