I have not one hope of sleeping until she’s home. So I sit on the couch flicking the channels, restless and constantly checking my Rolex. The call I’ve been waiting for finally comes at one in the morning. I scramble to answer it and listen to Drew tell me they’re all drunk but safe and that he’s on the way to drop off Ava.
A huge weight lifts from my shoulders, and for the first time this evening, I relax. And then I do something utterly stupid. I race upstairs, strip, and hop into bed, turning off the lamp. Because of course she’ll believe that I’ve been sleeping peacefully while she’s been out tearing up the town.
It’s almost half an hour later when I hear the front door close. And a few moments after that, the sound of her shoes hits the tile floor. Then . . . silence. I fight the urge to go down and find her. She’s home. She’s safe. Nothing can happen to her now.
Then I hear a bang and I’m like a bullet out of our bed, pulling my shorts on as I fly down the stairs. I crash into the kitchen and find it empty.
‘Ava?’ I call, backing up, listening. Nothing. My heart rate shifts a few gears. ‘Ava?’ My attempt not to sound frantic isn’t working. ‘Ava, where the hell are you?’ I hurry down the hall, peeking in every room, finding them all empty.
Until I arrive at the family room. I breathe out when I see her standing at the foot of our wall. ‘Baby?’
She doesn’t turn, just raises a finger to a picture, a picture of us on our wedding day, and traces the edge of my face. ‘I remembered something earlier.’ She’s slurring. She’s definitely slurring. Drunk? Plastered, maybe. But she had a flashback? Turning her eyes onto me, heavy eyes, drunk eyes, she points at my bare chest. ‘You stole my birth control pills.’
‘Ah.’
Guilty. As. Charged.
I hold my finger to my nose, trying to think of a way to wriggle out of this. Of all the things she could have remembered? ‘“Stole” is a very harsh word.’ There’s no way out.
‘What word would you use, then?’ Her bare feet are treading the carpet.
‘Do you need the toilet?’ Or is she starting to stagger?
‘Don’t change the subject.’ Her mumbled words are getting hard to decipher. ‘Why’d you steal them?’
This again? I force my eye-roll into hiding and go and collect her before she face plants on the carpet. Lifting her into my arms, I take her up to bed. ‘Because I was madly in love with you and I thought you’d leave me when you found out my dirty little secrets.’
Her scoff takes some effort. ‘You mean your sex club. And the fact you’re an alcoholic. And the fact that you were a manwhore?’
‘Yes, all of that,’ I say, taking the stairs. And a whole pile of other shit, too. ‘Now, are you done?’
‘I had a wonderful night!’ she sings, throwing her head back and her arms up, forcing me to shift my hold or risk her tumbling from my arms. I guess that’s a yes. ‘And do you know what?’ She levels a straight face on me.
Do I want to know? ‘What?’
‘I fancy you so much,’ she mumbles, her head falling onto my shoulder.
‘I should hope so.’
‘Why, because you’re my husband?’
‘No, because I’m fucking hot.’
A hysterical bout of laughter erupts, and I’m forced to shush her before she wakes the kids. Too late. We meet a sleepy-looking pair when we get to the top of the stairs. ‘Go back to bed,’ I tell them as they mirror each other, rubbing at their drowsy eyes. ‘Mum’s just a little drunk.’
‘A little?’ Jacob looks as disapproving as I feel, though Maddie seems amused.
‘I’m a lot drunk,’ Ava declares, wriggling free of my arms. I grumble as I set her on her feet, holding her arm tightly. ‘And I love you two!’
‘Oh God.’ Maddie cringes when Ava lavishes her with affection. ‘Mum, please!’
‘You’re the best things that ever happened to me.’ She turns her attention onto an alarmed Jacob.
‘Don’t tell Dad that,’ my boy quips drily, letting Ava do what she’s going to do. ‘I think it’s your bedtime, Mum.’
‘I think so, too.’ She pulls Jacob into her and squeezes him, his cheeks all squished against her chest. ‘You’re just as handsome as your dad.’
‘I know,’ he mumbles, rolling his eyes at me. Maddie can’t contain her amusement, chuckling to herself.
‘Come on.’ I claim my drunken wife before she makes even more of a show of herself, flicking my head to the kids for them to get back to bed. Their smiles are fond as I walk Ava to the bedroom, her steps clumsy. ‘In you get.’ I unzip the back of her dress and lower her to the sheets. She proceeds to writhe around the bed. ‘Keep still.’
‘Are you going to fuck me, Jesse Ward? I’ll scream real loud.’
‘Behave, lady.’ I chuckle, dragging the gold material down her body and casting it aside. ‘Underwear.’
Her arms catapult upward, landing on the pillows. ‘Strip me bare.’
‘I did that years ago. Right down to your soul.’
She quiets down a little, squinting to look at me. ‘I missed you tonight.’
‘Good.’ When she’s down to just her skin, I remove my shorts and climb in beside her, ignoring the stench of alcohol oozing from her pores. I remain still while she finds her favourite place on my chest, flopping down heavily on a deep sigh. I wrap her in my arms and smile to myself as her breathing becomes shallow.
‘And now I’ll miss you while I’m asleep.’ Her murmured words are just what I need to hear. She’s glad to be back. With me.