“When are you leaving?” I ask Char as we go out the back way to the car park, avoiding the main pub.
“Tomorrow.” She twirls her car keys around her finger. “I don’t like leaving Hailey this close to her due date, but my nan’s not doing well, and I promised my mum I’d drive her down there so we can check up on her. I should only be gone a week or so.”
“It’ll be fine,” I say, wrapping my arm around her and giving her a squeeze. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t overdo it.”
Char’s bark of laughter startles a couple getting out of their car.
“Fine,” I amend, with an eye roll. “I’ll try and rein her in if she doesn’t take things easy.”
“I’m not worried about that,” she says, stopping at her car and putting her hand on my arm. “I just wanted someone she trusts here in case the worst happens and the baby decides to come way earlier than expected. My family are only up the road, but I know she’ll feel better if it’s you with her.”
I swallow back the urge to assure her nothing will go wrong. I don’t want to tempt fate again, and I know that Hailey’s age does make things a little riskier. “I’ll be here,” I promise, because that’s one I know I can keep.
SEAN
“Who was that?”Jerry asks, setting my fresh pint down on the bar in front of me. “I didn’t recognise him.”
I didn’t at first.
He’s a very young-looking thirty-eight. Maybe that’s what threw me off.
“Someone I used to know.” I’m still struggling to believe Vic Marlow was here, in this pub. And that Hailey never said he was coming. Not that she owes me an explanation or anything, but when we talked a bit about our uni years, she mentioned Vic and me and our one weekend together. If she knew he was headed here, I thought she might’ve told me.
Jerry raises an eyebrow. “I can’t decide whether you’re happy to see him or not?”
That makes two of us.
I’ve put that part of my life behind me. Seeing Hailey again after all these years is hard enough, dredging up memories I buried long ago. We were barely friends back then, but it’s been surprisingly nice to reconnect.
Vic, though...
I’m not sure how I feel about seeing him again.
Jerry nudges me with his foot and I realise I haven’t answered his question. Am I happy to see Vic?
Surprised definitely. Shocked, for sure. But happy?
“I don’t know. It’s been a long time.”
Jerry plays with the rim of his pint glass. “He’s hot. Those curls...” He lets out a low whistle. “You could bury your fingers in them while you?—”
My head snaps up and I glare at him.
“Ooh, okay.” He lifts his hands up in defence. “He’s off limits, I get it.”
“It’s not...” I trail off, not sure what I want to say. I don’t have any claim on Vic. We were hardly together even back then, so I don’t know why the thought of Jerry making a move on him rattles me, but it really fucking does.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Jerry waits, until I look up, and smiles. “Whatever it is orisn’t, I’ll leave him alone.”
“Thank you.” I breathe a little easier and then want to laugh because it’s not like Vic and I are going to pick up where we left off. For all I know, he’s happily married with a family.
And the last thing I’m looking for is to revisit a time in my life that’s a little tender, even now. I push all thoughts of Vic to the back of my mind and lose myself in the chatter around me.
That works for about twenty minutes until Hailey comes back out and stands at the end of the bar next to us. She smiles at Kim behind the bar and orders a Coke and sparkling water before glancing our way.
She’s got her son with her. Well, I presume that’s who it is. I know she’s got a seventeen-year-old son, and he bears a striking resemblance to her, so it must be him.
“Hey, Jerry, Sean.” She gestures to the young lad beside her. “This is my son, Joe.”
