she didn’t know how she felt.
Their food was long since gone, although Annabelle couldn’t remember actually eating her crumpets. But she must have since the spoon from the little pot of marmalade was sitting on her bread plate, remnants of orange rind still clinging to its silver bowl.
‘Maybe you’re right. Maybe it is time to do something.’ She could contact her solicitor and ask him to prod Max to sign, since she couldn’t seem to get the nerve up to ask him herself.
‘Unless you decide you still love him. Then I say you fight.’ Ella reached across and squeezed her hand. ‘I know that doesn’t help, but maybe you need to take a closer look at your heart. See what it’s telling you to do.’
‘I don’t think I can.’ That kiss went through her mind. He was certainly still attracted to her, he’d said as much, but Annabelle had always assumed that he’d stopped loving her when he’d left their home. So even if she cared about him, would it matter?
‘Maybe that gala will give you the strength to do just that. If it does, then you have a decision to make. And this time you’d better act on it, one way or the other. Unless you’re content to remain in stasis for the rest of your life.’
No. Of that Annabelle was sure. She had been locked in a kind of suspended animation for three years now. It was time to move forward.
Even if that meant leaving Max behind. For ever.
MAX SAT ON the stairs, listening to his parents argue.
Again.
For the first time in his fifteen years he was scared about what might happen to him. Would they leave him here by himself?
‘I am going on that cruise, whether you come with me or not.’
His dad’s angry voice carried easily, just as it always did. Even if Max had been upstairs in his room, he would have heard those words.
‘And what about Maxwell?’
‘What about him? If you’re worried, ask your aunt Vanessa to come and stay with him. I’m sure she’ll be happy to lounge around the pool and do nothing.’
‘Doug, that’s not fair.’
‘What’s not fair about it? I consider it an equitable trade. I worked hard for this bonus, and I’m not going to give it up.’
There was a pause, and he held his breath as he waited for his mother’s answer. ‘Okay, I’ll ask her. But we can’t keep doing this. Vanessa has accused me more than once of not wanting him.’
‘Just ask her.’
No reassurance that his parents actually did want him. They never took him on any of their so-called trips.
His hands tightened into fists as they rested on his knees. Then he slowly got up from his spot and crept back up the stairs. To pretend he didn’t care.
Except when he got to his room and opened the door there was someone already in there. A woman...crouched on the floor beside his bed, crying. She looked up. Blue eyes met his.
Annabelle!
Suddenly he was grown up and his childhood bedroom morphed into the bathroom of their London flat. Anna held a small plastic stick in one hand, her eyes red and swollen. When he went to kneel down beside her to comfort her, she floated away. Through the door. Down the stairs, where everything was now eerily quiet. No matter how hard he tried to reach her, she kept sliding further and further away, until she was a tiny blip on the horizon. Then poof! She was gone. Leaving him all alone. Just as his parents had.
Max’s eyes popped open and encountered darkness. He blinked a couple of times, a hand going to his chest, which was slick with sweat.
God. A dream.
He sat up and shoved the covers down, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
Well, hell!
He didn’t need a dream to tell him what he already knew.
But maybe his subconscious had needed to send him a clear and pointed message about going to that Christmas party with Anna: that he needed to tread very, very carefully.
* * *
Baby Hope was still holding her own. And he’d finally shaken off the remnants of that dream he’d had that morning.
He’d also received some positive news about the accident victims they’d treated a couple of days ago. Several of the patients had already been released to go home, and the rest of them were expected to recover. Sarah, who’d been one of the most badly injured, might have to have surgery to stabilise the sternal fracture. But everyone was hopeful that she’d heal up without any lasting damage.
That was some very good news.
He hadn’t seen Annabelle yet this morning. Which was another good thing.
Right, Max. Just because you’ve passed the entrance to the hospital multiple times since your arrival this morning, means nothing.
A thought hit him. Maybe she’d come down with the same virus that had plagued other hospital staff.
It didn’t seem likely. A few of those had trickled back to work today, and no one else had called in sick. At least, that was what one of the nurses had told him. So it seemed that the outbreak might be dying down. A good thing too. The closer they got to Christmas, the more patients they’d probably be seeing. Everywhere he looked, there were doctors and nurses whose faces appeared haggard and tired.
Frayed nerves were evident everywhere, including the operating room this morning, where he’d had to repair a hole in a young patient’s heart. The anaesthetist had snapped at a nurse who’d only been trying to do her job. He’d apologised immediately afterward, but the woman had thrown him an irritated glance, muttering under her breath. It was probably a good thing that he’d understood none of the words.
All of a sudden, Annabelle came hurrying down the hall, a red coat still belted tightly around her waist. When she caught sight of him and then glanced guiltily at the clock to his right, one side of his mouth cranked up in spite of himself. She was late.
The Annabelle he knew was never late. Ever.
He moved a few steps towards her. ‘Get held up, did you?’
‘I’m only six minutes late.’
For Anna, that was an eternity. He held up his hands to ward off any other angry words. ‘Hey, I was only asking a friendly question.’
‘Sorry, Max. It’s just been quite a day already.’
‘Yes, it has.’ His had started off with that damned nightmare, followed by a surgery at five o’clock this morning. Fortunately, the procedure had been pretty straightforward, and he’d been out of the surgical suite an hour later.
