Unintended

“It was brave to contact my mum. I guess she gave you my address?”

“Uh…y… yes. Yeah. Yeah, she did.” She nodded, and I thought that maybe being in jail really had done something to her. Changed her somehow. Hopefully for the better.

“Anyway,” I said, shaking my head. “I just wanted to say thanks, but also tell you that you shouldn’t come to my place again. I don’t want to see you again.”

“Then why are you here?” she asked, her voice still shaky. “You could have just called me.”

“I deleted your number at New Year after you text me.”

Hurt flashed across her features, and then she hung her head. “Yeah. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now. It’s over. That’s really why I came. To let you know that I’m okay and that I don’t want to hear from you again. I hope you can find a way to move forward, and maybe find someone to be with who you actually respect, not someone you can tread into the ground.”

That flicker of warning rage lit in her eyes but she blinked and tears formed equally as quickly. All she did was nod, and I turned away and started to walk down the stairs. When I got halfway down, I stopped and looked back at her.

Nope. Nothing. Not even a hint of a spark now. Not a shred of understanding for her, even though tears were falling down her cheeks. I didn’t wish any harm on her, I just simply didn’t care anymore.

Okay, maybe a tiny bit of me did hope she would sort herself out, but I felt no need to have any part in it because I wasn’t going to be around to see it.

I’d done what I needed to do.

It had been almost twenty-four hours since I dropped the box of photos at Ash’s flat, and I hadn’t heard from him.

I sat at my desk in my office, working on designs for new menus for one of the local pubs. I was doing their website too, so I was testing out different designs and fonts, but I was working on auto-pilot.

Why hadn’t Ash called? It wasn’t just weird that he hadn’t called about the photos, it was weird that he hadn’t even text at all. It was something he’d done most evenings lately. And yeah, I know, I could have text him, but I was worried that maybe I’d done the wrong thing and he didn’t want to speak to me.

He had to have figured out that I’d contacted his mum to get the photos; maybe he was annoyed about that. Maybe he thought I shouldn’t have reached out to her because I’d never even met her. Perhaps I’d overstepped.

It bothered me to the point that I decided I’d go over and ask him. Apologise if I needed to, because the fact that we hadn’t spoken in almost a full day wasn’t sitting well with me. If I had something to apologise for, I would.

As soon as I’d done enough work to allow myself a lunch break—an extremely loose term since I’d been snacking all morning—I grabbed my car keys and got in my car to drive to Ash’s. I could have walked it, but I was that eager to see him and iron out any problem I might have caused that I didn’t want to waste any time. I knew he was working later so he’d probably be at home.

I turned into his street and was about to indicate that I was parking outside his flat when I saw a flash of dark hair going inside his flat, and Ash closing the door.

Was that Natalie?

Nah. There was no way.

But the feeling of dread in my stomach told me it was her. Yeah, I’d only ever seen her from a distance one time, but I knew.

What I didn’t know was why she was there. Was that why he hadn’t called me? He’d been seeing her? For all I knew, she hadn’t only just arrived; maybe they’d been out together somewhere.

If I sat there in the middle of the street any longer, I’d look like a creeper, so I drove on, my car taking me to Keely’s house, because I really wasn’t sure what else to do or where else to go.

Luckily for me, Keely was home, but she was surprised to see me as we hadn’t made any plans that day.

“Evie, what’s wrong?” she asked, pulling me inside as, by this point, I was so confused by what I’d seen, I really had no idea what I was doing. Honestly, I was surprised I’d made it to her house in one piece.

“I think I just saw Natalie going into Ash’s flat.”

Keely’s mouth dropped open. “No. It can’t have been her,” she said, shaking her head. “He hasn’t mentioned her in a while. Maybe it was someone who looked like her.”

That thought didn’t make me feel much better, and Keely must have realised this as she said, “Come in. I’ll make us a drink.”

I could hear the sounds of Peppa Pig from the living room, and as we walked in, Oscar smiled up at me before turning his attention back to the TV.

“Where’s Daisy?” I asked, my hand going to my growing stomach and rubbing protectively as we walked through to the kitchen.