Sleepwalk (9 page)

‘Oh……..’
Opportunity
; w
hat does that mean?

‘If you really do want to see me again, as I do want to see you then we need to talk. There’s something I have to tell you.’

‘Oh…….. Ok.’
He was married; m
arried with three children. Or
…... he was leaving the country;
going to live in
Australia
……….

‘Ok. Well you’d better come over then. But David………?’

‘Yes’

‘I’ve been quite upset today. I’m not looking my best’.

‘Nor am I’.

He was there by
eight thirty
. Felicity had rushed upstairs, dabbed on a little make-up and changed her top. She looked in the mirror. She looked awful. Her eyes were red and swollen from all the tears but today she didn’t really care. When she opened the door to him and he held out his arms to her she burst into tears once more and he held her close to him for a long time, then led her inside and closed the door. She told him about
Sandy
coming over; about them finding the cat and about Mark coming to bury him. She felt so at ease with David and talking to him was like taking a breath of fresh air; a release for all her bottled up emotions. He was on her wavelength. Here, at last was someone for her to share things with. Now it was his turn to talk and she felt sure he was going to bring her newfound happiness crashing down to earth at any moment. This was a man with something that weighed heavy on his mind. He sat her down and took her hand.

‘Flick. I really like you and…….. I have to be totally honest with you.’

‘You’re married and you have five children and you’re going to live in
Australia
.’

‘Yes. No. Ok let me tell you first and then you can judge me, afterwards and…….. decide if you still would like to see me again, ok?’

‘Ok.’

‘You’re right I am married.’
Great. I knew it. Wait for it, how many kids? When does he leave the country?
‘But we separated over a year ago. It…… It’s complicated. She still relies on me from time to time. We have a son, Oliver. He’s two. I expect you wondered why I hadn’t been in touch yesterday….. We went to the beach together, Ollie and I. He; Oliver that is, lives with me. His mother is not well. She…….. Well she does some odd things but that’s another story. Obviously it’s difficult for me to get out without Oliver and, although my mother helps a lot, usually when I’m not at work, I’m with Ollie.’

‘I wish you’d told me this before David.’

‘I know. I should have. I’m sorry. But I thought you’d probably run a mile. I understand if you want to call it a day, really I do……… but I hope you don’t.’

She looked up at those deep blue eyes and her heart went out to him. Bringing up a child alone must be hard enough for a woman but for a guy who is working full time she felt honoured that he should take the time out to be with her.

‘So where is Ollie now?’

‘He’s staying with my parents tonight. I told my mother about you and she seemed quite happy for me to take some time out, although I don’t think she wants me to make a habit out of it which is perfectly understandable.’

Felicity thought for a minute. He was asking a lot of her. He wanted a relationship with her but it wouldn’t be an easy relationship.
Blue e
yes had baggage.

‘Ok.’ She sighed finally. ‘Look. David I like you, a lot. I think we’re on the same wave length and I’d like to see more of you. Oliver is not a problem to me. I love children. I’d like to have some of my own some day but……. let’s just take it slowly eh? Not rush into anything.’

‘That suits me Flick. I just thought …….. Well, at least now that you know you’ll understand if sometimes I can’t see you. Especially at weekends, which is the only time I get to spend properly with Ollie.’

She hadn’t thought of that. David would only see her w
hen he could get time out from
his son and that wouldn’t be very often. He wouldn’t want her to become involved in Oliver’s life until he was sure about her and rightly so. But this wouldn’t be easy.

‘Of course I…….. I understand completely.’

Abi was in the kitchen loading the washing machine when she found the bloodstains on Ellie’s nightdress and on her grey sloppy Joe jumper. She must have had her period come on in the night and not been able to deal with it.
Oh God … the new mattress
. She could do without this right now. She ran upstairs and pulled back the sheet but the mattress was clean. She put the two garments soaking into a bowl of powder and added some stain remover. Ellie was hard work these days and she was getting worse. A few nights before, Abi had caught her coming up the stairs at two in the morning wearing jeans and a nightdress. She had stood back in shock as Ellie seemed to look right through her and made a bee line for her side of the bed. Like she was on auto pilot, she took off her shoes and jeans and stood for a minute in her nightie watching the empty bed while Abi looked on from the doorway, then climbed into bed and closed her eyes. Abi had gone downstairs to find the front door open and the car in the middle of the road at a funny angle with its engine running. She parked the car and came in, locking the front door behind her. What the hell was Ellie doing? Was she actually going to drive the car in her sleep? Was she asleep? Abi had never seen anyone sleep walking before; let alone sleep driving. She realised now what David had had to put up with and understood why he’d put all those locks and alarms on the windows and doors. She’d hid the car keys and the apartment keys and gone back to bed but she hadn’t slept properly. Even the slightest movement and she would look to make sure Ellie was still there. Now she began to wonder about the bloodstained clothes. Had she actually gone out in the car that night and done something; something terrible? Abi shuddered at the thought. If only she wasn’t so tired. She couldn’t even think straight right now; she felt under so much pressure to stand by Ellie; look after her; see that she came to no harm, and surely Ellie would not harm anyone else? Not her Ellie. Yet there was so much that didn’t make sense. Ellie claimed to be happier than she’d ever been since they’d moved in together; so why was she so obsessed with following David? It was as though their weekends were consumed by private investigations; the need to know Ollie’s whereabouts at all times. Ellie said that she needed to be near him and to know he was safe. So why then, during the week when David was at work, was she quite happy to fulfil her duties as a loving partner and not give Ollie a second thought? Was it David she was following and not Ollie at all?
Was she still in love with David?
Abi threw the wet washing into the basket; slammed the washing up bowl back into the sink then went to the balcony and hung the washing on their make-shift
lines that never caught the sun.

Felicity had been seeing David for three weeks now and although the loss of her tabby cat was still great it didn’t seem to hurt her nearly so much these days. She felt as though she had a new lease of life. They met at lunch times and after work quite often during the week and he had been to her little cottage and eaten in with her once or twice but always left by seven and went home to his son. The weekends were harder but this last weekend he had left Oliver with his parents on Friday night and they had had the most amazing night. He’d taken her to the Retreat again as they’d enjoyed it so much the first time and this time when he took her home he’d come in for a night cap and almost ended up staying. They had talked all evening and held hands and it wasn’t until he stood up to leave and leaned forward to kiss her that her resolve began to weaken. The tenderness of his kiss took her breath away and sent shivers down her spine and on, into the very depths of her womanhood.

‘Oh God, stop David please.’ She’d cried but instantly regretted her plea as he pulled back and smiled his perfect smile.

‘Sorry. I’m sorry Flick I…….. I get carried away with you, you’re so………’ he’d turned away from her and walked to the door, ‘y
ou make me feel so bloody horny!
Night babe.’

He had disappeared into the night and then reappeared and seized her with both arms around her waist and kissed her long and passionately, then had pulled himself free leaving her in a state of temporary comatose and backed away. She’d laughed as he walked backwards along the garden path looking at her longingly, one hand waving in the air and then tripped and almost ended up in the flowerbed. Had she ever felt this happy before? She didn’t think so. As she made her way along the High Street to meet him now she thought of these past few months since their chance encounter at the station and how fast things had moved on since that beautiful day. She turned the corner and headed for the Bad Rock and then stopped in her tracks. There he was, the love of her life; but he was not alone. He was deeply involved in conversation with someone. Someone Felicity had seen before; the leggy blonde from the nightclub. She was crying and throwing her arms about in despair. She watched as David tried to console the girl and felt her heart rise into her throat as he stepped forward and held his arms out to her. They stayed there for some time locked in an embrace. The girl lifted her head and looked up into his eyes and then Felicity saw her face. She had the face every girl dreamed of; a natural beauty with shining long blonde hair in perfect condition; perfect skin; perfect features; full lips and curves in all the right places and Felicity hated her at once. She couldn’t see his face but damn; they looked good together. She left them then, turned and walked away. He hadn’t seen her and she couldn’t see him now. She couldn’t see anything through all the tears. Back in the privacy of her car she took her foundation from her bag but as soon as she looked in the mirror the tears began to flow and she couldn’t fight them back. There was nothing you could do to this face to make it look like hers. She found a tissue and wiped her eyes, turned the key in the ignition and started to pull away as
F
rankie goes to
Hollywood
burst into the fi
nal
throes of ‘
The power of love
.
’
Felicity turned the radio off and decided there and then that she wouldn’t see David again. It was over. Thank goodness she hadn’t slept with him. That would have made it even harder. She went back to the office and threw herself into her work. But later that night at home, with no cat to talk to she began to
wonder if she had overreacted. Maybe she should
have
contacted
him. The girl she had seen him with must have been Ellie and after all, he was still married to her and he had said she still relied on him.
But she was leaning on hi
m
and she was gorgeous
...........

Her fingers moved over the
telephone but she didn’t lift the receiver.
At nine thirty, after channel hopping on the TV remote for most of the evening she went upstairs and
ran
a bath; set the alarm for work
and climbed into the hot soapy water where she stretched out to try and relax but instead a million thoughts raced through her mind. Thank goodness she hadn’t slept with him?
Who was she kidding?
It would have been better if she had. At least then she would know how it felt to be really with him. Now she would never know; never feel the closeness between them that she longed for. Felicity was exhausted by the time she fell into bed and wrapped herself in her duvet. She didn’t check her phone. She hadn’t heard it
ring
. She couldn’t be bothered to draw the curtains and she still didn’t see the light outside her little cottage as the car drew up in the parking bay some thirty minutes later and she didn’t hear the key turning in the lock at the back door. The last thing she remembered was the dream. She was on a white horse. A white horse
for Gods sake
-
she’d never ridden a horse in her life
, but there she was……. bareback - no saddle or anything, just her hand clutching his long flowing mane as they galloped over the sand; then suddenly he was leaping high over some rocks and she fell from his back and there she was flying head first into the hard wet sand ………….

Her head hurt. It hurt a lot. She wanted to get up but she couldn’t move. She tried to open her eyes but they didn’t seem to work. It was like they were stuck down with superglue and would probably never open again. Why wouldn’t they open? She was awake wasn’t she?

‘Flick? Flick can you hear me?’

Oh yes I can hear you blue eyes
…….

‘Flick? What happened?’

If I knew that I’d be able to tell you wouldn’t I? And maybe my eyes would work……

‘Flick. Oh my God, you’re bleeding! Shit! I’m going to get a Doctor….. an ambulance, I’m going to get an ambulance. Stay here!’

I’m not really going anywhere am I? I can’t even open my bloody eyes……

David turned and began to leave the room and by some amazing coincidence Felicity opened her eyes. Just like that. Her eyes were open and she was awake.

‘David?’

He stopped.

‘Don’t.’

‘Flick? Are you ok?’

‘Yes…… Don’t phone. I’m fine really. I was just asleep. I couldn’t open my eyes and I thought they were stuck but I must have been dreaming they were stuck because look………….’ She blinked several times to clarify her eyelids did indeed now work which made him laugh.