Free Fall by Sherry Hostler

Author:Sherry Hostler [Hostler, Sherry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wagging Woo
Published: 2023-07-21T23:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-THREE

O h my God. The flowers weren’t from Alex. I tried to put off admitting the knowledge of exactly who must have sent them by throwing out possible alternatives but none of them would have sent me flowers with those words in the attached card. There was only one other candidate. Saul.

Jesus, why would he do that, though? Why send an apology after being so angry and so…threatening. The dramatic change of direction completely threw me off my tracks. He’d accused me of leading him on and then all but threatened to turn up and tell Alex what had been going on. Now the guy was sending flowers and apologising. I didn’t get it.

Also, had the flowers been delivered? Or had he just turned up with them and left them on the doorstep? The thought of him coming to mine and Alex’s house yet again sent a shiver through me and, feeling suddenly vulnerable in the lighted room, I strode across the carpet to the window, pulling the curtains sharply closed.

Turning back to face the room, the flowers, once a source of joy, now seemed to sit smugly on the table. I knew I should probably just throw them out, but it would be a futile defeat. Instead, I picked up the vase and marched it into the small dining room where only yesterday Alex and I had argued over our roast chicken. They could stay in there with the ghost of our disagreement, where I didn’t have to look at them. Then, in the morning, I’d wrap them back up in their cellophane jacket and return them to Saul at our pre-arranged meeting. To hell with him.

I closed the door to the dining room behind me and, with my body awash with shame, I fired off a text to Alex, trying for some belated damage control.

Oops, turns out they were from Helen as a thank you for going wedding dress shopping with her. Helen. Christ. I should really text her, too. There was no card on them, so I just thought they were from you. I hated the fact that the lie had come so easily, but what else could I tell him?

All my earlier hopes and dreams upon receiving the beautiful flowers had been trampled on and I now felt completely bereft. Going into auto pilot, I filled up Mr Jones’ food bowl and, not really feeling the urge to eat anything myself, I emptied the remains of a bottle of wine into a glass instead, almost filling it to the brim. The bottle hadn’t looked like there was that much left in it, but never mind.

Taking the near-over-flowing glass back into the lounge, I sat in my usual spot on the right-hand side of the sofa and sipped at my drink while I scrolled through some old photos on my phone. Most had been taken before Alex’s accident, and our happy faces shone from the confines of the past, showing off how in love we’d been. It broke my heart how much had changed after the accident.

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