Hero Next Door

“You cheated on me, Jane,” I remind her. “You broke my trust in you. There’s no coming back from that. I can’t forget what you did and if there’s no more trust, then there is no more love. You really think that I would go through all of that nightmare with the divorce lawyers just to end up married to you again? I wouldn’t punish you like that.”

“But you would do this to me. You would meet someone else?” she gasps.

“I’m sorry, but that’s what’s happened. I would be happy for you to be with someone else. I actually thought that you would be by now. Maybe even the guy that you cheated on me with…”

“I don’t ever want to see you again,” she gasps in my direction. “Never. I can’t believe that you would do any of this. I just… I don’t know who you are, Theo. I thought that you were a good guy, but you aren’t…”

As she races off having not said anything that she came here to talk about, I can’t help but wonder if she means that and I really won’t see her again, because that would be a dream come true for me.

Chapter 13 – Esme

“Esme? Esme, are you opening your eyes? Are you awake now?” The voice is angelic. I want to prize my eyes apart to see who it is. “Esme, come on. I need you to open up your eyes. I’m worried about you…”

“Delia.” Oh my God, not only can I get some words out now which is a miracle considering I couldn’t before, I am here with my friend smiling at me, and I might well be grinning back at her. “You’re here, Delia.”

“Of course I’m here.” She slips her hand in to mine as her eyes flood with tears, but she doesn’t let any of them fall. “I have been to see you lots, waiting for you to wake up. I’m so glad that you have at last.”

“How long have I been asleep?” I shake my head. “Actually, I don’t want to know. Don’t tell me. Just tell me what has been happening since I have been in the hospital. How much have I missed? Has there been drama?”

“Drama? Do you mean at work?” She furrows her eyebrows at me. “Because there hasn’t been any work. The office burned down and Mr. Jones is… well, he’s in the hospital, but he’s also going to be questioned by the police, so no one knows what the fuck is going on. We don’t know if it’s time to look for work elsewhere.”

Shit. Ice cold terror rockets through me. This is what I have been freaking out about. Having no job, no money, not being able to survive. I want to run out of this bed right now to sort it out, but I can’t. I feel like I’m pinned down while I recover from the flames which I bet have left some nasty marks over my skin. Burned and blistered, I bet.

“We need to work elsewhere,” I reply in a whisper. “We have to. There is no business anymore.”

“What do you mean?” All of a sudden, Delia bolts up straighter and she stares at me in shock. “Did Mr. Jones say anything to you? We have all been questioned by the police but no one knows anything. Then again, you spent more time with him than everyone else, haven’t you? Being his personal assistant and verbal punching bag…”

“I don’t know.” I strain my brain to try and see if there is anything in there which will answer Delia’s question but I can’t really remember much. The basics are there, I know that I was at work and then in a fire, and then I was rescued by… oh my God, I was rescued by Theo! Wasn’t I? Was I? I don’t know actually. Maybe that was in my imagination because if I think about it logically, it seems crazy that he would be my hero. “I don’t know what was going on. It was a good day, wasn’t it? In general. So, it was a surprise that I was kept behind… I think anyway.”

God, I don’t know. Now I’m not sure if that was the day in mind. I’m foggier than I thought, I don’t know if the days are all blending in to one another. I don’t know if I can be one hundred percent certain with anything.

“So, you don’t remember anything that was said?” Delia pushes. “I’m only asking because he declared that it was an electrical fire and no one believes that. Rumors suggest that it’s some kind of insurance thing…”

I wish that I could confirm or deny what she’s saying. I wish that I had some kind of answer for her because while she clearly has been waiting for me because she cares about me, she’s also been waiting for answers.