odd. I find it odd, because I’m sure many people would keep quiet about such a thing but I consider myself to be an honest person.
“You’ll want to take that up with Ward. I hired you, but the rest is on him.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry, Mari. I’ve got a call on the other line. Things are going crazy here. Seems like all the pieces of the puzzle are finally coming together now that the book is done and ready to publish.”
“He got the book in on time?” I ask quickly.
“Just about. I think it’s his best yet. Have you read it?”
“I don’t read horror.”
He chuckles. “Maybe you should watch the film then, when it comes out. You can close your eyes at all the gory bits.”
“I might just have to do that.” I can hear the other phone ringing in his office. “I have to go,” he says.
“One more thing,” I rush to ask him before he hangs up. “Where’s Ward?”
“Still in Chicago. He comes back in a few days’ time.”
“Thanks.” I hang up.
WARD
I’m about to go downstairs, when I decide to take one last look at her bedroom. Pushing open the door, I survey her room. The empty dresser, the unslept in bed. I close my eyes and try to catch a hint of her scent. But it’s gone. Just like everything that was good between us has gone.
I take my bags downstairs, and I sit on the stairs waiting for the taxi to arrive. I’ll be back home by this time tomorrow. Back to normal. No drama, no nothing.
The doorbell rings, and I answer it, thinking that the driver has turned up early. But it’s like I’ve been punched in the stomach when I find Mari on the other side.
It’s a shock seeing her again, in the place where we had a lot of good times. There were bad times too, but the good things always overshadow the bad times. It’s something I’ve had to learn, a new and better way I’ve tried to be. Focusing on the good things, pushes the bad things away and out of sight.
“Hey.”
“You’re still here?” she asks, looking puzzled. It’s as if she expected me to have left.
“I’m waiting for the taxi. It should turn up any moment now.” I open the door and let her in, thinking how nice this is, her being here. It’s been so long since she was here. So much has happened, so much could have happened if she had stayed.
“You’ve overpaid me,” she states, confusing me entirely. Foolishly, I’d thought that maybe she’d come to talk, but her visit appears to be based on financial matters. Arrangements. Not affairs of the heart.
“You were still employed.”
“I quit.”
I wince. “Technically, you did, but I felt bad about everything that happened and you didn’t let me pay for the funeral costs or help you in any way. I didn’t know how to make it up to you so …”
She gives me a careful smile. “That’s very generous of you, but I don’t feel as if I’ve earned it.”
“Please take it. I can’t make things better for you and this is the only way I know that might help you in a small way.”
She makes a face as she stares at the floor and shakes her head. “I was in a bad place when my mom died. I hit back at you. I lashed out. I wanted to blame you, but the truth of it is that my mom having a stroke was nothing to do with you. It wasn’t your fault.”
“It wasn’t yours.”
She looks at me as if I’ve removed her flimsy façade, the one that covers the real her and disproves that she has it all together.
She doesn’t. I know this because I too have lost people I’ve loved and I’m painfully aware of the damage it can do. “You blame yourself, but you had nothing more to do with what happened that night than I did. I’m talking about your mom and the stroke, Mari. There is no way you could have prevented that.” She looks as if I’ve winded her. “Hey,” I take a step towards her, wanting to hold her face in my hands and talk her through this. But it’s too late for all of that. Sadly, I feel that our time has passed.
“You’ve not just paid me, you’ve overpaid me,” she points out.
“I paid you what I thought you were worth. What I thought I could get away with without you noticing.”
“Pfft. You think I wouldn’t