Page 70 of Twin Flames
She caught sight of her puffed, tear-stained eyes in the car mirror as she drove in the direction of George’s townhouse. Even though she knew the truth in her bones, she was compelled to go there and see for herself. There was still a tiny flicker of hope that she’d made it all up and she was wrong.
She found a parking space a couple of houses over from George’s front door, blew her nose and settled down to wait. It had only been about ten minutes when the door opened, and a man appeared. He was roughly the same height and build as George, with similar hair colour. Her spirits rose. But then she caught sight of his profile; it wasn’t him. She would know George anywhere. A woman stood in the doorway, to see him off, but Cara couldn’t make out her appearance. The man kissed her before he turned to leave the house. Cara and the woman watched him walk along the path and turn towards town.
What had she done? Where was George? When was George?
CHAPTER 21
York, present day
Cara sat in her car outside George’s house. Late morning turned to early afternoon. She was frozen to the spot. She couldn’t get her head around what had happened—how could he just disappear?
Irrationally she considered whether he might have done it to spite her. When she was upset, he liked to remind her that nothing he did was to hurt her. And she believed him; most of the time. She knew he didn’t consciously mean to hurt her, but sometimes when she pushed him too far, his anger was steel-edged and he pushed back; hard. He was only human, no matter how much she idolised him.
Cara’s anger evaporated when he allowed her a glimpse of the vulnerability beneath his confident veneer. If anything, it made her feel more loved. It was one method by which she gauged the depth of his feelings. If he wasn’t madly in love with her, he wouldn’t be so affected.
But she’d run from him. Now, perhaps he was running from her. Could it be so? She’d read about the cycles of TwinFlames on a popular blog, following one of her visits to Sylvia. Thousands of distraught couples were caught in love limbo, in search of the other half of their soul. Many of them didn’t understand what it was they were searching for. They just intuitively knew something was missing from their life. The classic Twin Flame dance moved to a seductive rhythm and Cara was disorientated from spinning. Lately, their relationship was more of a tragic tango than a love affair. It would require both of them to be courageous to make the changes to be together, with minimum collateral damage. She didn’t know exactly how, but she sensed a resolution was possible with some willingness to be uncomfortable for a while. But he wasn’t willing.
Cara would do anything to turn back time and bring George back. Such was her despair; at that moment, she would be relieved even if he stayed with Joanna.
Please God let everything reset to how it was, and I will tinker no more. Just let him be alive.
As she sat in the car, praying for a miracle, it occurred to her that this must be true unconditional love. It certainly felt better than being the jealous bitch from hell. She laughed aloud at her craziness. At least something positive was emerging from this nightmare.
Cara raised her head as she heard a sudden noise and saw the front door open. George’s wife exited the house. So, it had been Joanna standing in the doorway kissing the George lookalike. Cara watched as she flung her handbag over her shoulder and bounced down the path, laughing with a teenage girl who resembled George’s daughter. They jumped into a white Range Rover, and Cara watched them pull away. Her head ached.
Had she just witnessed her first alternative reality?
Joanna must have married the man she was destined to be with if George wasn’t in the picture. If only Joanna had been married to this other guy all along, none of this mess would havehappened. George would have been free when she met him, and they would have avoided this disaster. Or would they? She had no way of knowing. She wondered whether there was some way to change their circumstances while keeping George alive. That would be the perfect solution to all of their problems.
Cara turned the key in the ignition and steered the car down the bumpy road in the direction of her office.
She hated to admit it, but without George, everything was meaningless. Her spark had vanished and now he was gone forever. She blamed herself.
Cara closed her office door behind her, heart racing as she stabbed at Eddie’s number on her phone. He answered after a couple of rings.
‘Eddie, you won’t believe it!’
‘Hi. Are you okay?’
‘Seriously, you won’t believe it. I have to talk to you or I won’t believe it either.’
‘What the devil’s going on?’
‘I’ve just seen a man who looks like George leave his house.’
‘Right, okay. . .and?’
‘He’s not George, but he kissed Joanna; George’s wife. And then a girl came out who looked like his daughter but I’m certain wasn’t. It was so bizarre. George isn’t alive, Eddie. It’s as I feared. He’s been deleted from this timeline.’
Her voice shook, and her hysteria echoed back at her through the phone. ‘His phone is dead too. It’s like he never existed.’
‘Take a deep breath, my dear. Try and calm down. It’s tricky for me to understand what you’re saying. What else has happened? Is that it? Couldn’t the lookalike be a relative?’
‘No. I went to George’s workshop first. It’s a private residence belonging to a family who has lived there for forty years. No wonder it looked different. Remember you said something was off when you delivered the letter?’
‘Ah yes, the building did seem different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. My mother used to say that I walk around with my eyes closed, so for me to notice something odd, it must have been striking.’
‘Could George be a time traveller too, do you think?’ Cara interrupted his musings.
