The Man You Meet in Heaven: An absolutely feel-good romantic comedy by Debbie Viggiano

Author:Debbie Viggiano
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786815859
Publisher: Bookouture

Thirty-One

When I next opened my eyes, it was with the feeling that I’d slept for a hundred years. I stretched, luxuriating in the cosiness of the covers over my body, frowning slightly as I observed the unicorns galloping all over a faded duvet from my secondary school years. I was back in my old bedroom at Mum and Dad’s.

I looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was a little after seven in the morning. In the kitchen below, my mother could be heard humming along to the radio. Every now and again there was the sound of muffled conversation as my parents spoke to each other.

It was Monday. A work day. It was also the morning after that unspeakable night before.

My parents had already been in bed and asleep when I’d crept into the house after leaving Martin’s apartment. I’d quietly made my way to the family bathroom, shut the door softly behind me, and started running a bath, tipping copious amounts of Mum’s luxury bubbles under the tap. The writing on the plastic bottle had claimed to relax and rejuvenate in seconds. As the waters had started to foam, I’d found myself hoping that the manufacturer’s promise wasn’t just marketing hype.

Stripping off my clothes, I’d tossed them into one corner. Later they would find themselves bundled into a black sack and tossed into the wheelie bin outside, along with the shoes I’d been wearing. The physical distancing of what had happened was now firmly in motion. I wanted no reminders, including that set of clothes and footwear. Likewise, I was also now distancing myself mentally and emotionally. As I stepped into the boiling water, it was with only one thought. To scrub myself clean.

I must have stayed in the water for nearly an hour, until Mum tapped on the door, wanting to spend a penny.

‘Are you all right, darling?’ she stage-whispered, on the other side of the wooden panels.

‘Yes,’ I lied. In fact, numbness had descended and everything that had happened was buried deep within. I was reminded of Russian doll trinket boxes. The smallest now contained something hidden. And it had been placed inside another trinket box. Then another. And yet another. Over and over until it was unreachable. But I knew it was there. A tiny particle embedded somewhere deep within me.

‘Will you be much longer?’ Mum asked. ‘Only I shouldn’t have had that last cup of tea. I knew it would disturb me later.’ I could hear her tutting at herself, out on the landing.

‘No, I was getting out anyway,’ I answered. Which was true. The water had long since cooled. Shivering slightly, I pulled the plug and then dripped my way across the floor, wrapping one of Mum’s soft mismatched towels around my body before releasing the bolt on the door.

‘You’re bathing late,’ said Mum. She looked bug-eyed as she stepped from the dark landing into the harsh glare of the energy bulb dangling on its flex from the ceiling. ‘I thought you had a wash before you went out?’

‘I fancied another one,’ I said.

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