with work,’ she said, loathing that she had to lie and then deciding not to. ‘I’ve been doing a lot of extra shifts,’ she explained, and took a deep breath. ‘I’ve booked a holiday. It was a last-minute thing.’
‘Where?’
‘Hawaii. I go next Friday for two weeks.’ Candy closed her eyes and tried to answer in calm tones as the questions started.
‘I’m going by myself,’ Candy said. ‘I just felt that I needed to get away.’
No, she couldn’t afford it and as she was told that Candy thought of the first day she had met Steele, who had simply said, ‘Good for you.’
‘Mum,’ Candy interrupted. ‘I’m going on holiday, I want to go and I’m not going to argue about it with you.’
‘You listen—’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I love you very much, you know that I do, but I’m not going to run everything that I do by you.’
It hurt to have this discussion but she knew it was way overdue. She knew they loved and cared for her and that they expected to be involved in every facet of her life. It just wasn’t the way Candy wanted to live any more.
‘Ma, I’m not arguing,’ she said. She took a breath, wanting to tell them to please ring in the future before dropping around. She wanted to ask for the return of her keys but baby steps, Candy decided, so she dealt with that morning’s events. ‘Mum, I don’t want you opening my mail and I’ve told you over and over that I don’t want you coming around and letting yourself in when I’m not here.’
She meant it. So much so that when her mother pointed out she was just trying to help and, anyway, she’d need someone to take care of the flat while she was in Hawaii, Candy snapped in frustration. ‘It’s not a stately home that needs taking care of. It’s a one-bedroom flat!’
It didn’t go well.
Candy knew her requests would be, as always, simply ignored so after she put down the phone she did what she didn’t want to but felt she had to.
She made a trip to the hardware store, but not just for locks. She also bought a drill.
Then she had to go back to the hardware store a second time because after numerous attempts her shiny new drill wouldn’t screw in a nail but a very nice guy explained what a drill bit was for!
She loathed that she’d done it.
She loathed more than that that she’d had to, but she had realised that despite the move she hadn’t really left home. Her parents saw her flat as a bedroom with a slightly longer hall to walk down. Candy thought of Steele hiding in her room that night and knew that was the reason they stayed at his place.
No, Candy thought as she turned the new lock on her door and then headed for Steele’s, it was her life.
It was a long day for Steele.
A very long day.
He stopped by Macey’s bed at the end of his shift and she asked if he would speak with her niece when she visited tomorrow.
‘Of course I will,’ Steele said.
Then he had a meeting to sit through, which really had nothing to do with him, given that he’d be gone in a few weeks. Not that it stopped him putting his point across about the lengthy waits in Emergency. Oh, and a few other things too.
By nine he should be more than ready for home but for once Steele was tentative.
There was no bread waiting for him in the toaster.
Steele walked through his apartment and put Candy’s case, which he had bought in from the car, down in the hallway. He knew she was here and he knew where she probably was.
He walked through to the bedroom and, sure enough, there was Candy, fast asleep in bed with the light still on. He looked at her black curls all splayed out on the pillow and he looked at the dark circles under her eyes and he stood there for a full two minutes, watching her sleep deeply.
Steele made his own toast and then had a shower and tried to watch a film. It was a film that he had been meaning to watch for ages but, unusually for him, he couldn’t concentrate.
There was something else, far deeper, on his mind.
He turned off the television and lights and got into bed next to Candy, and she rolled into him.
‘Sorry,’ she said sleepily. ‘I saw the bed and couldn’t resist. When did you get back?’
‘Just now,’ he said, though it had been a good hour.
‘I changed the lock on my front door.’ Her voice was groggy with sleep.
‘Good for you,’ Steele said. ‘Go back to sleep.’
She did.
He didn’t.
Instead, he lay staring at the ceiling.
Yes, there was a lot on his mind.
Macey’s words had now seriously rattled him too.
After
CANDY WOKE IN Steele’s arms and listened to the sound of his breathing.
She wanted him to wake and roll over and make love to her. She wanted the pregnancy thought in her head to be obliterated by his kiss.
Then she didn’t want his kiss because she felt sick.
Candy’s mind flicked over the past few weeks.
Yes, she’d been sick last month, but it had been one of those bugs.
Surely?
She really felt sick now and she crept to the bathroom and tried to throw up as quietly as she could.
It was exhaustion, Candy told herself, brushing her teeth and then showering, but when she glanced in the mirror she could see the fear in her eyes.
Steele lay there listening to Candy flush the toilet to drown out her gags and he blew out a breath.
‘Morning,’ he said a few moments later, when he came in and she was already in the shower.
‘Morning.’ Candy smiled but she couldn’t quite meet his eyes.
There was an elephant in the room that they both chose to ignore and they dashed around, getting dressed, finding keys, exclaiming they were running late when really they were actually doing quite well for time.
There was the first uncomfortable silence between them as Steele drove Candy and the massive elephant in the car to work.
There was no frantic kissing and they walked through the car
