Read Online Someone Like You by Victoria Purman - Free Book Online
Authors: Victoria Purman
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nowhere?
For once in four goddamned months he hadn’t been thinking about that night, about the accident. He’d been feeling okay, and maybe even let himself feel a little…hell, feel something that wasn’t a dulled sense of dread.
So why now? A few minutes before, he’d stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel to dry himself, and had pulled on a shirt and jeans to go down to the pub for that meal with Lizzie. He was in the kitchen, had just poured himself a glass of water and was drinking it over the sink, when it struck. Ordinary, stupid, mundane shit that he did every day.
Dinner with Lizzie.
He buried his face in his hands. He knew he wouldn’t go. Couldn’t. Not tonight. Not this way. Because he knew that after the fear and the confusion, came the exhaustion. And then deeper still, came the guilt, the disappointment, the shame.
Those things that were easier to hide when he was alone, in the dark.
At 8.30 p.m., Lizzie picked up her handbag, locked her office and wandered home in the fading twilight. She needed the ten-minute walk to think. Dan couldn’t have made it more obvious. She got the hint. Maybe he’d had a rush of blood to the head yesterday, or even somewhere else, when he’d suggested they have dinner together. Whatever he was planning was now irrelevant. He’d clearly changed his mind.
Lizzie tried to tell herself she was okay with it. She’d had a full life before Dan McSwaine ambled into town, and she would just have to get back to it. During the past four months, Ry and Julia had been distracted by Dan’s situation, as any friends would be. Lizzie’s problem was that she’d let herself get sucked into their lives as well. Of course, she’d been more than happy to step up at the pub while Ry and Julia were up in the city in the weeks after the accident. It was her first few weeks as manager anyway, and she’d kept the place ticking over like a well-oiled machine. Ry had placed his trust in her and Julia had relied on her friendship. She hadn’t let either of them down.
But now it was time for Lizzie to get back to her own life. She’d done it before, knew the drill. Knew that getting up in the morning, brushing her teeth and slicking on the mascara, creating a brave face for the rest of the world to see, created a routine, a reason to keep getting out of bed. There had been many times in the past when she’d needed to find reasons.
As she got closer to home, Lizzie looked over the dunes to the darkening, wild sea. There was so much to be thankful for, she knew. She’d always loved her job at the pub and was loving it even more now she’d been promoted. She had a life here. She was a de facto daughter to Harri next door, and Julia was back in the Point. Ry was now part of that circle too. It was a good life.
What she didn’t have, what she hadn’t had for a long time – two years, six months and he’d been a dud, but who was counting – was a man. While she loved Middle Point with everything she had, there were certain limitations in its man department. Half the boys she’d gone to school with had married their high school girlfriends. Others had married girls from other towns on the peninsula. The only guy she’d had a crush on, who she’d always considered really cute with perfect hair, had moved to Sydney and burst out of the closet the minute he’d stepped out of a taxi on Oxford Street. Men had been pretty thin on the ground in the years since. There were some single guys around Middle Point, either newly divorced or never married, but Lizzie hadn’t been tempted the first time around.
For all these reasons, the news of Dan’s arrival had been a glimmer of hope in a depressed man market. The first time they’d met, caught in the crossfire between Ry and Julia’s battle about the merits of Ry’s company’s Windswept Development, they’d predictably taken the sides of their best friends and gone at it, tongues and tempers blazing. The next time they met, it
For once in four goddamned months he hadn’t been thinking about that night, about the accident. He’d been feeling okay, and maybe even let himself feel a little…hell, feel something that wasn’t a dulled sense of dread.
So why now? A few minutes before, he’d stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel to dry himself, and had pulled on a shirt and jeans to go down to the pub for that meal with Lizzie. He was in the kitchen, had just poured himself a glass of water and was drinking it over the sink, when it struck. Ordinary, stupid, mundane shit that he did every day.
Dinner with Lizzie.
He buried his face in his hands. He knew he wouldn’t go. Couldn’t. Not tonight. Not this way. Because he knew that after the fear and the confusion, came the exhaustion. And then deeper still, came the guilt, the disappointment, the shame.
Those things that were easier to hide when he was alone, in the dark.
At 8.30 p.m., Lizzie picked up her handbag, locked her office and wandered home in the fading twilight. She needed the ten-minute walk to think. Dan couldn’t have made it more obvious. She got the hint. Maybe he’d had a rush of blood to the head yesterday, or even somewhere else, when he’d suggested they have dinner together. Whatever he was planning was now irrelevant. He’d clearly changed his mind.
Lizzie tried to tell herself she was okay with it. She’d had a full life before Dan McSwaine ambled into town, and she would just have to get back to it. During the past four months, Ry and Julia had been distracted by Dan’s situation, as any friends would be. Lizzie’s problem was that she’d let herself get sucked into their lives as well. Of course, she’d been more than happy to step up at the pub while Ry and Julia were up in the city in the weeks after the accident. It was her first few weeks as manager anyway, and she’d kept the place ticking over like a well-oiled machine. Ry had placed his trust in her and Julia had relied on her friendship. She hadn’t let either of them down.
But now it was time for Lizzie to get back to her own life. She’d done it before, knew the drill. Knew that getting up in the morning, brushing her teeth and slicking on the mascara, creating a brave face for the rest of the world to see, created a routine, a reason to keep getting out of bed. There had been many times in the past when she’d needed to find reasons.
As she got closer to home, Lizzie looked over the dunes to the darkening, wild sea. There was so much to be thankful for, she knew. She’d always loved her job at the pub and was loving it even more now she’d been promoted. She had a life here. She was a de facto daughter to Harri next door, and Julia was back in the Point. Ry was now part of that circle too. It was a good life.
What she didn’t have, what she hadn’t had for a long time – two years, six months and he’d been a dud, but who was counting – was a man. While she loved Middle Point with everything she had, there were certain limitations in its man department. Half the boys she’d gone to school with had married their high school girlfriends. Others had married girls from other towns on the peninsula. The only guy she’d had a crush on, who she’d always considered really cute with perfect hair, had moved to Sydney and burst out of the closet the minute he’d stepped out of a taxi on Oxford Street. Men had been pretty thin on the ground in the years since. There were some single guys around Middle Point, either newly divorced or never married, but Lizzie hadn’t been tempted the first time around.
For all these reasons, the news of Dan’s arrival had been a glimmer of hope in a depressed man market. The first time they’d met, caught in the crossfire between Ry and Julia’s battle about the merits of Ry’s company’s Windswept Development, they’d predictably taken the sides of their best friends and gone at it, tongues and tempers blazing. The next time they met, it
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