about to turn on the TV, when I hear a noise, a sort of flicking sound coming from… the bedroom? Yes, it’s coming from the bedroom. I remember the shuffling sound at the flat door not long ago. I pick up a bottle of wine off the side and, holding it close, reluctantly walk towards the sound. I stand in the hall, swaying, waiting, unable to control the shaking that starts in my feet and rumbles up to my chest and my head.
Someone’s moving about in the bedroom. She’s opening and closing drawers, rooting through my stuff, probably trying to find things out about me. My fear is choked by rage, how dare she make me scared in my own home? But then I remember that she wants to hurt me, and probably has a better weapon than my bottle of wine. So I move away, and walking slowly backwards, I head for the front door. Every pore is on fire, my hair ends are tingling. Then, just at that moment, my phone rings. A brash, tinny sound pierces the silence, making me jump. I see Jas’s name flashing on the phone just as someone leaps out of the bedroom.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I don’t turn round to see who has emerged from my bedroom, I just scream as loud as I can, and make for the door.
‘Hannah, Hannah, it’s me!’
I turn around to see him standing there, apparently as surprised as me.
‘Alex!’
I almost collapse. I’m leaning against the wall in shock and relief, my phone still ringing, Jas’s name still flashing.
‘Jesus! You scared me,’ I say, almost falling into him. ‘How did you get in?’
His arms are open and he hugs me. ‘I thought you’d be here when I arrived, I’ve been here since eight, where’ve you been?’
‘I worked late. How did you get in?’ I repeat. If Alex can get into my flat without keys that means someone else can.
‘Oh, I grabbed the caretaker guy. He was refitting the bulbs in the hall lights, so let me in through the front door. Then, when I couldn’t get in here, he unlocked it for me.’
‘I’ll have a word with him, he can’t be doing that.’
‘I told him I was your boyfriend. What is it with you about me being here?’
‘It’s not about you, it’s… For God’s sake, Alex, you just told me your ex-wife wants to hurt me. You should be pissed off it was so easy to get into my flat too.’
‘Yeah, yeah, you’re right.’ He nods. ‘I finished earlier than planned.’
‘So I see. I thought you were Helen, come to take her revenge,’ I say, sounding like Jas, and wondering why Alex is behaving like there’s nothing to worry about. When he doesn’t reply, I ask, ‘Have you eaten?’
‘No, but all the stuff I bought from the deli is still in your fridge, I notice.’
‘Yeah, I didn’t want to waste it,’ I say, feeling a bit put out that he’s let himself in, checked my fridge and then my bedroom. But he’s my boyfriend, it’s okay, I suppose.
‘And I can see you’re already way ahead of me.’ He laughs, pointing to the bottle of red I’m still clutching.
‘Ah that wasn’t to drink, it was my weapon of choice.’
‘Your weapon?’
‘Against Helen,’ I say, suddenly feeling ridiculous. ‘I thought that was her in the bedroom.’
‘I haven’t heard from her all day, so maybe she’s got the message and is starting to move on.’
‘Surely not that quickly?’
‘That’s what Helen’s like.’ He laughs. ‘I told you, unpredictable – up one minute, down the next. But enough about her. You open your bottle, and I shall prepare a cheese board to out-cheese anything you’ve ever had before.’
I grab some glasses from the side, while he throws together the deli items on a large wooden platter and walks in with it held aloft.
‘Ooh that looks delicious,’ I say, as he lays it down on the coffee table.
I pour the wine. We sit close on the sofa, and he hands me a plate and a cheese knife and we tear at the French bread, spread the salty Normandy butter, and cut wedges of soft brie and tangy blue. I sit back to enjoy this unexpected cheese-and-wine evening, when my phone goes again, a shrill, annoying baby demanding attention.
‘Leave it,’ he says.
But I pick it up to see who it is. ‘I have to answer, it’s Jas. I promised I’d text when I got in to let her know I arrived home safely. She rang before, she only