The Forever Home by Sue Watson

Chapter Twenty-Four

‘Ryan?’ He wasn’t supposed to be here.

‘Carly, what are you doing?’

‘What are you doing?’ I snapped, grabbing my phone. ‘You’d finished for the day; I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow.’

‘I came to see you – we left things on a bit of a—’

‘Why didn’t you knock?’ I hadn’t given him a key yet and was still creeped out that he’d turned up and just let himself in.

‘Whoa, hang on.’ He was holding his hands in the air like he was surrendering. ‘I did. I knocked and I rang the doorbell, I even pulled weird faces into the camera – check your footage. I guessed you were in because your car’s in the drive, but when you didn’t answer, I came round the back. To be honest, when I saw the glass door open in this weather, I was worried.’ He walked towards me, his arms outstretched, but I still felt rather prickly and moved away. ‘What’s wrong? I was worried. The curtains were flapping in the storm, your phone and keys on the table, you missing—’

I took a breath. ‘I’m sorry, I just didn’t expect anyone to be here.’

‘I hope when I move in you don’t get scared every time you find me in the kitchen,’ he said with a smile.

‘You’re right, I need to get used to people,’ I said, beginning to calm down but still anxious over Erin, where she’d gone.

Ryan stretched out his arms again, and this time I walked towards him.

‘So, what’s going on?’ he asked.

‘I’ll explain everything, but first I need to make a call,’ I said, finding Lara’s number. I had to know Erin had got home. I wasn’t sure if she was going back to Lara’s or the cottage she shared with Mark, but she’d said Lara was looking after the baby, so I hoped she might have headed there.

I called Lara on her mobile, but it rang for ages, no answer. I considered calling her landline, but I didn’t want to wake the baby, or alarm Lara unnecessarily. Erin was probably back with Mark at the cottage by now. And I could hardly call him. She would then definitely be convinced something was going on, and besides, I doubted Erin would want him to know she’d been here. I called Lara back to leave a voicemail, but after the beep, I froze. I didn’t know what the hell to say. Lara and I hadn’t spoken for months, the last time I’d even seen her had been at my wedding anniversary, and understandably neither of us had called the other since then. I hung up, hoping that Erin had simply walked out so that she could think on what I’d said and consider her next steps. I was pretty sure she’d fall for Mark’s lies again – after all, I’d been the same once – but I hoped what I’d said would make her realise her mistakes sooner than I did. For now, though, I just had to let her find her way.

‘I’m just going to dry off my hair a little,’ I said to Ryan with a smile, kicking off my wet trainers and grabbing a towel from the kitchen area.

‘I meant to say, when I came in earlier, I panicked when you weren’t here, so ran upstairs. If you see wet footprints in your bedroom, they’re only mine,’ he said.

I rolled my eyes. ‘Ryan, honestly, it’s like having Jake back, he was always making a mess everywhere,’ I sighed, realising I quite liked the idea of mess. I wanted the house to be lived in, and not the styled film set Mark had always insisted on. I wandered back through to where he was, while drying my hair with a towel.

‘Sorry.’ He smiled, looking up at me, and my heart melted. He was so good-looking, and again that shadow came over me; what on earth did he see in me?

He was relaxing on the sofa now, and I joined him there, pulling my knees up under me, sitting so close I was leaning on him.

‘I’m not sure landladies should sit like this with their lodgers,’ I giggled.

‘Actually, I wanted to check in with you about that.’

As conflicted as I was about him staying with me, the thump of disappointment made me only too aware of how my heart felt. ‘Oh? Have you changed your mind?’

‘I’d still love to stay for a while, but I wanted to help out because you couldn’t pay me. But now your hubby’s in the money, does that still stand? I’m happy to keep to the arrangement if you’re still up for it?’

I started, taken aback. ‘What do you mean Mark’s in the money?’

‘Apparently he’s finally signed the big deal in America. The Daily Mail says he’s a bloody millionaire!’ He took out his phone, found a news article and handed it to me.

‘I didn’t realise,’ I said, reading it quickly. ‘But it says here he signed it a few days ago, and he’s heading off to Los Angeles next week?’

Ryan nodded.

‘But he didn’t tell me when I spoke to him, and Erin never mentioned it.’ I shook my head as I read the story. Why hadn’t he told me? I hoped to God he wasn’t going to renege on our agreement.

‘Erin? You’ve seen her?’ Ryan raised his eyebrows in mild surprise.

‘Yes, that’s what I was about to tell you, it’s why I was in the garden just now.’ I explained about Erin’s unexpected nocturnal visit and rather sudden exit. ‘I was worried she might have fallen – or worse. But she must have run through the side gate and down the lane back to the cottage.’

‘That’s quite a hike,’ Ryan murmured.

‘Yeah, it’s about three miles. I did think of jumping in my car and trying to find her – but—’

‘Why? You don’t owe her anything.’ He sounded irritated.

‘She was in a state. I feel like I should have gone after her. I wonder if I should call Mark and see if she arrived back there?’ I reached for my phone. ‘I might call him—’

‘Don’t.’ Ryan put his hand on my arm to stop me, then slipped his arms around my waist tightly. ‘Do it tomorrow, give me some attention now.’

I was surprised by Ryan’s neediness. I’d never seen him like this, and I suddenly remembered something.

‘Did you say your brother once went out with Erin?’ I asked.

He sighed, and pulled away from me. ‘Many moons ago.’

‘Does she keep in touch with him?’

‘I don’t know, you’d have to ask him.’ He clearly didn’t want to talk about Erin, or his brother. But I did.

‘It’s just that I overheard you – talking to Erin.’ I wasn’t going to mess about any more; I had to know before this went any further with Ryan.

‘Yeah, she wanted to get hold of Max. I don’t know why.’ His whole demeanour changed; he suddenly seemed defensive, didn’t want to elaborate.

‘Is that all? Did you really not talk about anything else? It sounded like you were… friends?’

‘Quite the opposite, she’s a pain in the arse.’

‘It’s just that—’

‘Carly, I am not friends with her!’ he snapped. ‘I’ll call you over next time my phone rings so you can listen properly, yeah?’

‘Don’t be like that. I wasn’t listening, I just happened to walk out into the garden and I heard you say her name.’

He sighed. ‘She’s just bad news, brings trouble wherever she goes. Please can we change the subject now?’

Perhaps she had just called him to ask for Max; perhaps what he said to her would make perfect sense if I’d have heard the whole conversation, in context. But I’d remembered exactly what he said – That was personal stuff between two people… How could you? – and however hard I tried, I couldn’t make it fit with his seemingly innocent explanation.