Page 29 of Straight to Me

“Madison?”

I stand turning around so I can no longer see her. “Sorry. What did you say?”

“Why’ve you moved?”

Oh, I don’t know, maybe because my husband divorced me, got another woman pregnant whilst we were together and left me with nowhere to live.

“Are you for real Chris? I don’t owe you any explanations for what I do with my own life after you got someone else pregnant when we were still together. I don’t even want to know how long you were fucking her before you left me.”

I have a little look around for Axl to make sure he’s not around to hear my potty mouth.

“You don’t have to be rude.”

“Fuck you.”

“What happened to you?”

“You did!”

“… Oh, right. Well, I’m fine. Thanks for asking. I checked social media to see if you were okay Madison, but you hadn’t posted anything.”

He has seriously got to be messing with me. “Updating social media wasn’t top of my priorities. I ended up deleting it because I grew sick of it.”

“Yeah, but then you started following me again a few weeks ago. I wondered if you wanted to get back in touch or something.”

“WOW. You are so self-assured aren’t you. I wanted to see if it was true, that you were having a baby. I’ll make sure to unfollow again. Look, I have a life to get back to without you. Please, just send the paperwork via email and I can sign it right now so you and I never have to talk to each other again.”

“Don’t say that. We have history Madison.”

“And I have my future to think about. Bye.”

I throw my phone on the sofa and go in search of Jess. I find her pouring two glasses of wine in the kitchen. “Thought you might need this,” she says, handing me a glass.

“What a dick,” I huff, gratefully accepting. “He thought I might want to reconcile with him.” Jess raises her eyebrows, turning to me with her glass raised high in the air.

“To dicks!”

“To dicks.”

Today, I feel fresh. Wearing a black pencil skirt with a light grey, long sleeve blouse, my hair is half up, half down and I applied minimal makeup. ‘Confidence is radiating from me’, so Jess told me over lunch. I feel anything but confident. Interviews make me so nervous.

Last night was nice. Once I’d signed the paperwork and sent them back, it felt like a weight had lifted. Jess and I stayed up late chatting away about life, and it felt so good to have something positive to talk about. All that's left to do now is to wait for the solicitor to acknowledge my signature, before I can legally change my name again.

Jess also mock interviewed me to help prepare for today. It was basically her just mocking me and me laughing hysterically at her. Our dinner later couldn’t come soon enough. We booked a table for two at an Italian restaurant in Clitheroe, about a forty-minute walk away, so we can have a few drinks.

As I enter Clitheroe toward my interview, the traffic is busy, but not too bad. People amble along the high street, enjoying the afternoon sun, and an old lady wrapped in full winter gear catches my attention as I wait at the lights. I smile as she crosses the road ahead of me, holding her coat tight across her chest. It's definitely colder up north, but not that cold.

A horn suddenly beeps, bringing me to the here and now.

The traffic light is green. I wave my apologies and pull away, stalling my car for the first time in years. More beeps. More commotion. I struggle to restart the Fiesta and the light turns red again. I can see the enraged man behind me, shaking his head and hand gesturing at me.

Jesus.

Sweat then starts forming all over my body, which is really not good in this grey shirt.

I grip the wheel with both hands, sitting forwards as if I’m about to start a drag race. The man in my mirror’s still shaking his head at me, when a low, familiar rumble advances on where I’m sat. I can tell it’s a Harley without having to look, just by the sound of it. The vibrations make my seat tickle the backs of my legs.

Anxiously waiting for the lights to turn green, I chance a look at the biker who’s weaved his way to the front of the lane next to my car. I turn my head slowly and the sunlight outside floods my soul. My heart skips a million beats.

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