“Hello, Daisy blossom.” His husky voice broke through the sound of the crickets singing in the nearby garden.
“What the actual fuck?” My heart was beating so loud I was sure it was going to explode from my chest. His light chuckle did nothing beyond pissing me off more.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, I thought you could use a lift.” He’d frightened me half to death and yet, an apology never crossed his lips.
“You thought wrong, I’m okay on my own. Thank you. And I have asked you to stop calling me that.”
“C’mon, Daisy. It’s late and dark and I thought you could use a ride.” I could see the grin on his lips, smirking at his own clever turn of phrase. Still no apology for scaring me half to death or assuming familiarity between us for the pet name he’d had for me in the past.
“I’m fine.” I spit out between clenched teeth as if to prove the point I push past him down the path. I don’t get far before he grabs my wrist to halt me.
“I will follow you home then, because there is no way in hell that I’m going to allow you to walk home alone, at this time of night.”
“Follow me home? You won’t allow me? You don’t get to allow me anything Oliver, I’m not yours to control. I’m quite capable of making up my own mind. I’m a grown woman for Christ’s sake.”
“Daisy, let’s get one thing straight, you’ve always been mine and you’ll always be mine. You belong to me as much as I belong to you and I’m fully aware of how much of a woman you are.” Oliver had a way of stealing the air from my lungs, looking up at the intensity in his eyes it was all I could do not to look away. The smugness was gone, replaced by something I hadn’t seen in a long time. Unmasked desire.
“You left, arsehole.”
“And now I’m back, sweetheart.”
“You need to let go of me right now before I scream for help.” Without any further hesitation, Oliver drops his hand from where it was gripping my wrist. As soon as I am free of him I stomp past him to walk home, I hear him curse but still, I don’t look back.
It takes me all of three metres to realise he is again rolling the car alongside me as I walk. At the pace I’m walking it takes no time at all to get to my front door.
Only when I’m inside with Munchkin rubbing herself against my shins does Oliver speed away. The sound of his car’s engine reverberates through the quiet night. With the night silent again I let out a sigh, Munchkin yowls at me, she’s been waiting all day for me to get home to feed her, poor kitty, her bowl must be half empty by now. Scratching the top of her head we go about our routine, my cup of tea and her dinner. Sitting cross-legged on the sofa I cradle the steaming cup in my hands as if my only tether to the earth.
“Who does he think he is?” I asked Munchkin who was curled up beside me, purring and content with a belly full of kibble. “He’s an arrogant smug bastard, that’s who he is. Thinking that he can turn up, flash a smile, save the day and I’ll be falling at his feet again.” Munchkin had fallen asleep and was no longer listening to me. Scooping her up we head off to bed.
* * *
After the ladies from the auxiliary had stopped by to collect my contribution to the bake sale I found myself at a little of a loss. There was no way I was going to waste such a beautiful and warm day, the sky an amazing shade of blue without a cloud or breath of wind. On days like today, there was nothing more I wanted to do that take my current read and sit in the park. I was practically giddy with the idea of having a free afternoon if I hadn’t been worried about someone seeing me I would have skipped down to the bench seat by the lake.
* * *
Greedily, I devoured each page of the book, I had just gotten to the part of the story where our hero was just about to reveal the true identity of the man who had murdered his family, reading the scene was causing my heart to pound in my ears and my breathing to become shallow, everything around me had been blocked out including the shadow that had come to loom over me. A hand falling on my shoulder jerked me back to reality and I let out a yelp.
“Oliver,” I hiss his name, “You scared me half to death.” I didn’t appreciate the smile on his lips or crinkle in the corner of his eyes.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I called your name, twice. I figured you were ignoring me on purpose.”
“And yet you still didn’t take it as a hint?” I cock my head to the side, challenging him to answer my question.
“But it turns out you weren’t ignoring me.”
“But it turns out you didn’t know that.” I retort.
“What are you reading?” Without waiting for an invitation, Oliver takes a seat on the bench beside me. I twist the book to show Oliver the cover of Bees and Honey, he smirks, “I’ve just finished it. Want me to tell you who the killer is?”
“No!” I couldn’t tell if he was just teasing me or if he was being serious. “I was just about to find out when you gave me heart failure.” His face dropped, the smile gone replaced by a slight frown.
“So it’s no longer broken then?”
“What?”
“Your heart.”
“Nope, right about the time I realised you weren’t worth the tears and hurt the scab healed and I moved on. I got over you.” I knew I shouldn’t have enjoyed the pained look on his face as much as I did but I had waited a long time to see any type of reaction from him after his leaving. His next words were not what I was expecting or my reaction to them.
“I’m glad.” He was fucking glad? He wasn’t remorseful or guilty or taking any responsibility for breaking my heart. My blood boiled. My laugh comes out bitter; I hear it and I can see that Oliver hears it.
“You’re glad? I guess that lets you off the hook then huh.”
“No.” His voice is soft as his gaze is fixed on the patch of grass in front of us. I needed him to hurt like I had; I needed him to feel like I felt.
“For six months I cried myself to sleep every night because it was all I could bare. Whenever the phone rang I had hope it was you calling to at least apologise. That lasted the first three weeks. You know what the worst part of that was?” He was looked at me now, our eyes fixed on one another. He didn’t answer my question so I told him anyway, “I would have forgiven you for everything. If you’d just told me you were sorry and you didn’t mean it I would have forgiven you.” No longer can I handle being this close to him. Pushing to my feet I put some distance between us.
“I’m not sorry for leaving but there is no way you can understand how hard it was to go, leaving things the way they were between us, knowing you couldn’t come with me and I had no idea how to make you see that. I wanted it to work for us, some way, somehow but you shot me down every time I tried before I left.”
“Yeah, that’s right, Oliver, and you still left.” The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, my skin grew hot.
“It wasn’t a mistake, Daisy. I never meant to hurt you but leaving wasn’t a mistake.” Closing the distance between us, he stands in front of me. I’m forced to look up to meet his steely glare. Out of my own control, my hand cracks his cheek. If he was startled by the sudden outburst of violence he doesn’t show it. He barely blinks, as fast as lightning he takes me hands and cages them in his own. “You don’t think I was ashamed or hurt for the way things ended between us?” His cheek was starting to pink but his eyes were too captivating to look away. “You think I didn’t pick up the phone to call you at least a hundred times, on the worst days it was all I could do not to call you just to hear your voice.”