Ava
The cool air clung to the dampness of my cheeks when I stepped outside, and I shivered in response. My heart was breaking, but my resolve was steadfast. We couldn’t go on like this anymore. As Mason said, yes, I was running, but what was the alternative? Remaining in the stagnant pond our life had become and drowning in its murkiness? It was becoming more and more difficult to take another step forward, especially since the road ahead didn’t offer anything but more heartbreak.
Glancing one last time towards the hotel as I pulled my car out of the carpark, I half hoped Mason would chase after me. Yet I knew it wouldn’t do any good. Not now.
It was a dismal day, the overcast sky imitating the heaviness in my heart and as I left Kirkingham behind the heavens opened. The torrent of rain had my wipers working overtime. Lighting flashed high through the sky as thunder rumbled in the depressing gloom.
The road was clear, the late morning, plus the atrocious weather, luckily not providing much in the way of traffic, so I was surprised when a car suddenly appeared behind me. The speed he was travelling had me cautious, particularly when he grew closer and closer to my bumper.
“Back off, pal!”
When his lights flashed, I frowned and checked my mirror again. Squinting for a closer look through the river of water cascading down my rear window, I managed to make out Danny waving frantically at me. I returned his wave and reverted my concentration to the road. However, even though I had acknowledged him, Danny continued flashing his lights.
“What the hell?”
Slowing down, I caught him motioning urgently with his hand for me to pull over.
“Damn it!” I grumbled when I saw the plume of smoke fogging the road between Danny and me. Bloody piece of shit car Mason bought on the cheap.
Finding a safe place, I indicated and parked at the side of the road.
Danny exited his car and tucked his hood over his head to shield himself from the battering rain before hurrying to my driver’s window. “You okay, Ava? Looks like your car is buggered.”
“Typical. I’m still forty minutes from home too!”
Danny grimaced. “I’m heading towards Yorkshire if that’s any good to you.”
Surprised with his offer, my eyes widened. “Oh, um, well if you could drop me as close to Filey as possible then I can make my way from there. Thank you.”
His laugh caught me even more off-guard. “You live in Filey?” When I nodded, he smiled wider. “What are the chances! I live in Scarborough. Come on, I’ll take you home.”
After transferring my case from the boot of my car into Danny’s, I settled beside him in the passenger seat and warmed my frozen hands on the blower. Our wet clothes steamed the windows when Danny turned the temperature up and flicking the de-mister to full, he pulled into the edge of the road until the windscreen cleared.
“Not to be nosy or anything,” he said, looking at me with a slight frown. “But are you okay? You seem upset.”
“I’m okay,” I answered vaguely, keeping my gaze out of the window so he couldn’t see the truth shimmer in the dampness of my eyes.
“Trouble with the hubby, eh?”
“I’m sorry?” How the hell he knew I’d had a row with Mason intrigued me.
“Well, you were heading out of Kirkingham. You look like you’ve been crying. You have your suitcase and no husband. Doesn’t really take a genius to work out you’ve had an argument.”
“It’s complicated,” I said a little too harshly. I hadn’t meant to be rude, especially since Danny had been good enough to offer me a lift home. But it really was complicated. It wasn’t like Mason and I had fallen out over what to have for tea. There were so many factors to our fight that to explain them would have taken longer than our forty minutes drive home.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to cross the line,” Danny replied as he pulled back on to the road.
Shaking my head firmly, I gave him a genuine smile. “No, you didn’t cross a line. It just is complicated.” I scoffed. “Mine and Mason’s relationship has always been complicated. From the very first day.”
Nodding, he returned my smile. “Well, I’m sure you’ll sort it out.”
I didn’t reply. Because I wasn’t sure that our marriage was salvageable this time. We’d hit a low point those months ago when we were prepared to leave life behind. Yet we’d tried again, promising ourselves that we couldn’t get any lower. But, so far, nothing we had done had lifted us away from the feeling of absolute failure. And I was left wondering if we had done the right thing when we had driven away from that cliff top.
♡
Harry the Hog made a run for Danny as soon as he climbed from the car.
“Brace yourself!” I warned as I tried to trample through the mud to get to him before the beast did.
Harry, hearing my voice, swiftly changed direction and decided I was worth knocking on my ass much more than Danny.
Danny stood over me, staring with wide eyes, trying in vain to stifle his laughter as he held out a hand to help me up.
“He hates me.”
“Bloody hell. That’s one hell of a welcome home.”
Thanking him as he pulled me out of the mud, I brushed myself off and rolled my eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m used to him. Thing is Bob, the guy up the road, feeds him when there’s no one at the farm, and the bloody pig welcomes him with a gentle nudge of his snout into his groin. He’s the same with Mason. Me, on the other hand…”
“Much like having kids,” Danny laughed as I unlocked the front door and quickly ushered him inside before Harry decided he hadn’t left a good enough bruise on my behind.
Danny stood in the small front room, scoping out the half-decorated walls. “This place is great,” he said.
Me and Mason had managed to bring so much of the old house back to life in the few months we had been here, but the walls were still lined with fresh plaster, awaiting a coat of paint, and the floorboards were currently pending another layer of varnish to finish them off. It wasn’t The Ritz, but it wasn’t the shack we had found it in either.
When his gaze landed on the fireplace, Danny grinned at me like an excited child. “I haven’t lit a real fire for years. Do you mind?”
Nodding and indicating to the small pile of logs to one side of the fire, I was only too pleased to let him free. “Be my guest. It’s freezing. I’ll pop the kettle on.”
The fire was roaring by the time I had made coffee, and as I brought it through to the room, I found Danny looking at the photograph of George and Katie that was placed on the mantle.
“Your daughter is the spit of you, Ava.”
I smiled, glancing at the picture in his hands as I handed him his mug. “That’s as far as the similarities go between Katie and me. She’s stronger than I could ever be.”
Danny frowned slightly, his gaze fixed on me. “I doubt that. You were always a fighter.”
I scoffed quietly, remembering the early years of my teenage life. I had thought at the time that life had been cruel. How naïve I had been. Neglectful foster parents had just been the beginning. If I could only go back, stop my foolish self from packing that small bag and running. I had to wonder if Katie would still be alive if I hadn’t met her under that bridge on a cold, frosty night. Would she have gotten off the streets, had a family? What if.
“Your son has your smile though,” Danny remarked, pulling me from my bleak thoughts.
I gazed at the rare happy image of George, and I felt the familiar tug at my heart. “He had the most contagious laugh.” I sighed, attempting and failing to tuck away my heartache.
“Had?” Danny probed.
Swallowing and shaking myself off, I rubbed the nape of my neck. “George died eight months ago.”
His face paled, and he looked genuinely shocked. “Jesus, Ava. I’m so sorry!”
Forcing a smile, I nodded towards the fire, directing the conversation away. “You did well. Quite the expert.”
He nodded, his smile showing how pleased with himself he was. “My parents had a real fire. You can’t beat them.”
“You can the way I light it. I’m lucky if I manage a plume of smoke. It’s usually Mason’s job.” There went my heart again. I wasn’t sure it could take any more hurt. I could practically feel it disintegrating inside me. It was all going wrong. We had both believed that time to ourselves, away from our past, would be the thing to mend us. However, true to us, it wasn’t turning out that way.
“You want to talk about it?” Danny asked as he settled into the sofa. His gaze was soft, the warmth of his eyes and the heat from the fire lulling me in a cocoon of cosiness. But I couldn’t shake the feeling of being trapped, as though the false security of a man who was willing to listen and the refuge of a house that should feel like home weren’t real. Mason was my reality. Then, he wasn’t there either.
“As I said, it’s complicated.”
He nodded, sipping his coffee but his eyes remained on me. “Okay. Pass me your phone.”
Puzzled, I did as he asked. His own phone rang before he passed mine back. “You have my number now. If you need to talk, I’m not far.”
“Thank you.”
“So, what now?” he asked.
I hadn’t thought much about the what now. “Well, first off, I need a job.”
The money Mason had brought wouldn’t last forever, and I had left the stash of cash with Mason back at the hotel. The pantry was nearly bare, and although we had started growing our own vegetables, they wouldn’t be enough to keep me going either.
“Well, that I can help with. I own a hotel in Scarborough. If you’re not choosy, I need some fresh hands in housekeeping.”
“Changing beds and stuff?”
He nodded, adding an encouraging smile. “It’s hardly challenging, but it’ll pay the bills.”
“That’s perfect. If I can get that rust bucket of a car fixed.”
“I’ll come and pick you up Monday morning.”
“Thank you so much.”
“What are friends for?”
“Friends,” I echoed. For the first time since leaving London, I had a friend. My heart felt a little brighter. Perhaps that was what was wrong inside me, I missed my friends. They had always been a huge part of my life, and since saying goodbye to them, I had felt incomplete. Maybe Danny was the road back I needed to move on from the past. Only time would tell.