Page 51 of Happily Never After
‘We’ve had a call from uniform. There’s a crime scene they’d like us to go and look at.’
So much for her plan to slip away early and spend the rest of the day in the cool darkness of her bedroom, with a box of paracetamol and a jug of iced water. She rummaged in her desk drawer for the box that she kept in there, only to find an empty blister pack inside. Great.
‘Fine,’ she sighed as she got to her feet. ‘Let’s go. You’re driving though, OK?’
Although I’m trying hard to concentrate and the words are coming, after a fashion, my mind is firmly on the situation with Finn. We walked into Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val as usual this morning and, on the face of things at least, everything seemed normal. We chatted about both his show and the next part of my story. But something was off. An elephant has crept into the room and it seems neither of us quite know what to do with it. The moments of exuberance yesterday have passed and, although I certainly want to talk about what happened, I’m still processing how I feel about him and my conversation with Liv. He also doesn’t seem in any rush to talk about anything other than our usual subjects, so I don’t have a clue what’s going on in his head either.
I try to immerse myself back into the story, but I’m disturbed by the ringing of my phone. I’m surprised to see it’s Liv, and my heart misses a beat. Something must be wrong for her to be calling during the day when she’d normally be at work, and my instant thought is that it’s to do with Meg.
‘Hi, Liv, what’s up?’ I ask, trying to keep my voice light.
‘Sorry to call you, but I’ve got a bit of a situation here,’ she says, her voice tense.
‘Is Meg all right?’
‘She’s fine. It’s, umm, Angus.’
‘Angus?’
‘He’s here.’
‘What’s he doing there?’
‘I’m looking for you, what do you think?’ The voice and accent are familiar, but I’m surprised by the anger that surges through me on hearing him and his critical tone.
‘Why?’ I ask.
‘Because I came back to find someone else in our flat, my dog missing, you nowhere to be found and I couldn’t help wondering what the hell was going on. I tried to call you but it kept saying number unobtainable.’
‘I’ve moved out of the flat, Angus.’
‘Where’s all my stuff?’
‘Storage. Pay me the back rent on the unit and I’ll happily give you the key so you can go and get it.’
‘And Meg?’
‘Doggy daycare.’
‘So you just dumped her on some stranger?’ He sounds outraged. ‘Tell me where she is and I’ll go and get her.’
‘No, Angus, you won’t,’ I tell him firmly. ‘What are you doing? Why aren’t you on the cruise ship?’
‘It’s a break between voyages. I thought I’d come home, but it seems you’ve decided to cut me completely out of your life. Where the hell are you, anyway?’
‘France. On a writing retreat.’
‘What? But you always said you’d rather drill holes in your head than go on one of those.’
‘Yes, well, I changed my mind.’
‘It seems like you’ve changed your mind on a lot of things since I’ve been gone.’
‘Don’t try to play the wounded innocent here, Angus. You were the one that walked out. I’m just trying to make the best of my life, OK?’
‘But Meg?—’
‘Meg is absolutely fine. Liv’s taking good care of her and she’s enjoying the daycare. I’m not having you pitching up out of the blue and unsettling her, do you understand? Liv, are you still there?’
