Page 23 of It's Only Love

Chapter 9

Christy woke the next morning feeling extremely fragile. She lay in bed, with her eyes still closed trying to remember what happened. It had been the funeral, and as she said goodbye to her father, she felt like she released some of the pain she had been holding inside all these years.

Afterwards, she went to the bar with Justine and Taylor to sort out the food and then everyone arrived. She remembered hearing more and more stories about how wonderful her father had been which was…confusing. Her memory of him was tainted obviously, but what had he been like with other people? Had he been the man she vaguely remembered from before her mother died? A memory came to mind, one of the last times the three of them had been together.

Christy had walked into the kitchen one evening to get a drink and she found her mom and dad in there slow-dancing to a song playing on the radio. She watched as they stared into each other’s eyes, their love filling up the room. As she stood in the doorway watching them, the song came to an end, changing to an upbeat number. Her mom had spotted her then and grabbed Christy’s arm, pulling her between them, insisting they all dance together. Christy and her dad went nuts, pulling crazy moves, each one more ridiculous than the last, both trying to make her mom laugh the loudest. Christy took a shuddering breath as the memory faded. That was the last time she remembered her dad as he was, a couple of weeks later, her mom died.

She pushed the remaining thoughts away, not wanting to dwell on them. She made her peace with her father yesterday and wanted to keep it that way. But the more she tried to focus on remembering last night, the hazier her memory became and the harder her temples throbbed. She forced herself to keep going, she had been talking to various people about her father, then Dean appeared and...

“Oh, shit!” she shouted, bolting upright in bed, immediately groaning as her temples throbbed angrily and her stomach roiled at the sudden movement. Her mind replayed the night, he brought her home, she tried to kiss him, tried to sleep with him, and he rejected her. She couldn’t believe she had done that, what had she been thinking? And he rejected her! She tried to brush off the feelings of hurt that came over her, why had she done that when she knew what he thought of her?

She. Was. Mortified. Especially now he would think she wanted him, and wouldn’t that just inflate his ego even more? She was drunk and grieving, it would have been a massive mistake and she would have thrown herself at anybody. Right?

“Oh God, what is wrong with me?” she groaned. Her mouth was drier than the Sahara. She needed a drink and something to stop her head from pounding. She pulled back the duvet and sat up, moving her legs over the side of the bed, gently. She was still fully clothed, her shoes neatly placed on the floor.

On the nightstand was a glass of water and some painkillers, drunk me is the best! Snatching them up she swallowed the pills with a mouthful of water. She glanced at the clock and realized it was still early. After the events of yesterday she just wanted to stay in bed, so that’s exactly what she did. She snuggled back under the duvet, convinced that when she woke up later, she would feel better and would have forgotten all about yesterday.

But she hadn’t. She slept like the dead and when she finally woke up again, she felt better but still remembered everything. She sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She remembered tilting her face up to Dean, trying to pull him down to kiss her, closing her eyes, and then nothing. She felt him pull away and when she opened her eyes, she saw his expression. Uncomfortable. The image flashed behind her eyes every time she blinked, torturing her.

Had she sexually assaulted him? Her horror increased at the thought, could it be classed as that? She tried to kiss him, rubbed her body against him without permission, it could be? An image of him trying to defend his well-worn honor had her trying not to laugh. This isn’t funny, her brain scolded. She couldn’t face him again. She was far too embarrassed, and he would be all smug knowing she threw herself at him and he turned her down. And then her bitchy side would come out like it always did with him.

Would he tell everyone? Of course he would, she was stupid to start trusting him. The idea of him betraying her now hurt a little. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t just explain it away as a drunken and grief-stricken mistake. It was borne from years of wanting him and never feeling confident enough to go for it because she knew how he felt about her. She forced herself to get up and stop thinking about it. No headache and no stomachache, the extra nap had worked miracles.

She was in desperate need of a shower, so she padded into the bathroom and stripped off the clothes from yesterday. She stood under the hot spray for at least half an hour before washing her hair and body. She reluctantly got out, wrapping a towel around herself and went downstairs in search of her cell. She spotted her keys on the doormat of the living room, bending to collect them, she stared at them quizzically before dropping them on the coffee table. Her heart did a silly little flutter when she realized that Dean must have locked up when he left. She ignored the feeling and grabbed her purse, digging through it and fishing out her cell. The screen flashed a voicemail and one new message. She opened her message first and saw it was from Beau.

Hope you’re okay! If you want to talk then I’m here for you. Can’t wait to see you tonight. xx

Christy groaned and threw herself down on the couch, burying her face in the cushions. She forgot about the double date, with Dean. She certainly couldn’t go now, couldn’t sit across the table from him all night accidentally brushing against his knees and him shooting her smug, dimpled glances. But she couldn’t cancel on Beau. Sweet, gentle, un-smug Beau. She looked at the time and saw it was midday, she had plenty of time to get ready. She closed the message and played her voicemail.

“Christy, hi it’s Cassie from Blossom Estates, I have some great news! We’ve received an offer on the house and its full asking price! I figured you would be very happy to go ahead with that, but please call us back to confirm so we can begin.”

Christy didn’t bother listening to the rest of the message, just dialed straight back.

“Yes, please go ahead!” she said as soon as Cassie answered, she heard Cassie chuckle on the other end.

“I figured that would be the case but just needed to check first. It’s someone looking to move into the area-”

Christy cut her off, “It’s okay, I don’t need the details. Did they even ask for a reduction?”

“No, they didn’t, they said it would be worth every cent.”

“How strange, not that I’m complaining.” Christy hastened to add.

“Yes, that doesn’t happen often, best not to query it. We’ll go ahead and get the ball rolling. We’ll be in touch when we need you. Take care now!”

Christy thanked her and hung up, she went to put her cell down, but it beeped another message alert. She swiped up and saw a message from Taylor had come through.

Hey Guuuurl! How’s your head? Cocktail emoji, vomit emoji.

Christy smiled and her fingers typed out a reply.

It was pounding but drugs saved the day. xx

Gooood! Didn’t want you bailing on tonight and leaving me with Mr. Snoozefest.

No guesses who she was referring to. Christy felt a pang of guilt at her earlier thoughts of canceling, she definitely couldn’t back out now.

No, I can’t wait! Kiss emoji.

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