Changing Places (34 page)

Anna gasped and closed her eyes. ‘Oh, please stop, Charlie. Anyone could come along.’

‘Let’s go to a hotel. No one will know. Liam’s not going to miss you.’

‘He’ll be phoning and wondering where I am.’ Anna glanced at the clock; to her dismay, it was nearly ten o’clock. ‘Shit, I’ve got to go.’

‘Call him on your mobile. Tell him you’re just about to go to bed.’ Charlie’s eyes twinkled wickedly as he pushed her shirt back and began to kiss her shoulder.

Anna pulled back, horrified. ‘I couldn’t do something like that!’

‘Hey, I’m sorry, it was just a joke.’

Anna straightened her clothes and turned away from him. ‘Please take me home.’

‘Only if you promise to meet me tomorrow.’

‘I’ll get out and walk,’ she threatened, her hand on the door handle.

‘Okay, okay.’ He turned on the engine and drove back on to the road. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.’ He put his hand on her thigh and squeezed it.
‘It’s just I’m so crazy about you.’

Anna closed her eyes. Her head was beginning to throb and she felt a bit sick. ‘I just want to go home.’

Charlie turned up the radio and said no more until he’d stopped the car outside her house. ‘Will you meet me tomorrow?’

‘I don’t know.’ She had already opened the door and was stepping out of the car.

‘I’ll phone you.’

‘No. No, I’ll phone you.’

Charlie leaned across so that he could look up at her. ‘Promise?’

She nodded and hurried inside. As he drove away, Anna flopped on to the bottom of the stairs and closed her eyes.

‘Anna?’

Her eyes flew open again and she looked up to see Liam’s silhouette in the sitting-room doorway. ‘Liam!’

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I thought you’d need the car tomorrow and that maybe we could talk. Where have you been? Who was that dropping you off?’

Anna couldn’t believe that she hadn’t even noticed her car outside. She’d really have to give up alcohol.

‘Anna?’ Liam’s face was pale, his lips in a thin line.

‘That was Charlie Coleman, a client and a good friend of Mark’s. There was a bit of trouble today and I didn’t want to come home to an empty house so he took me out for a
pizza.’ Pizza sounded much more respectable than dinner, she thought.

‘What kind of trouble?’ Liam was still looking suspicious.

‘I was showing Beech Wood to a couple. You know the old house out on the back road?’

Liam nodded.

‘But only the husband turned up. When we got as far as the bathroom he pinned me against the wall and started groping me.’

‘Oh Anna!’ Liam was on his knees at her side, his eyes now full of concern, and his fingers stroking her cheek.

‘It’s okay. I managed to get away. When I got into the car I phoned Mark and he came over with the police. He told me to go home but I was shaking so much I was afraid of crashing. I
pulled into the filling station and just sat there. The next thing I knew, Charlie was hammering on my window.’

‘Oh love, why didn’t you call me?’ Liam pulled her into his arms and cradled her like a baby.

‘You had enough on your plate,’ she said weakly. ‘I didn’t want to give you anything else to worry about.’

‘Did the police catch the bastard?’

She shook her head. ‘No, he was gone by the time they got there and it turned out he’d given a fake contact number.’

‘You should never have been put in that position. Mark is going to have to take steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again.’

‘That’s what Charlie says.’

‘So you went out with this Charlie guy?’

She nodded. ‘Like I said, I couldn’t face coming home.’

Liam pulled back to look at her face. ‘So who drank the saké?’

‘Oh, I did, I forgot. Sorry, it must be the wine. Charlie brought me home, but I’d forgotten you weren’t going to be here. When Charlie went to leave, I realized I
couldn’t stay here alone so we went back into the village.’

‘You could have asked him to drop you over to me,’ he pointed out.

‘Like I said, I didn’t want to worry you.’

‘I called your mobile a few times.’

‘I switched it off. I wasn’t exactly in any condition to talk.’

He hugged her to him and kissed the top of her head. ‘I don’t suppose this is the best time for a chat either. And I really should be getting back to Mum.’

‘Oh, of course, she’ll probably be nervous on her own.’ Anna stopped at the guilty look on Liam’s face. ‘Ah, she’s not alone, is she?’

‘Tara dropped in to see how Mum was and she offered to stay with her until I got back.’

‘That was nice of her.’

‘Anna—’

She stood up. ‘It’s okay, Liam. Look, I’m exhausted. You get home to your mum and we’ll talk tomorrow.’

‘I hate leaving you. Are you sure you’re all right?’

‘Fine.’

‘Okay, then. Lock up when I’m gone, will you?’

‘I will, stop worrying.’

After the door had shut behind him, Anna collapsed back on to the stairs and buried her head in her hands. That had been so close! What if she’d gone to a hotel with Charlie? Or worse,
what if they’d kissed again outside the house or she’d brought him inside? Not that she would have, of course. She dragged a hand through her hair and groaned. As if going to an empty
house with him was any better, she thought, knowing full well what would have happened if Paul Brennan hadn’t appeared. She and Charlie would have had sex, and even though the fact riddled
her with guilt, she knew that she’d really wanted it.

As she moved around the house, locking doors and turning off lights before carrying a large glass of water to bed, she relived the moment when Liam had appeared in the sitting-room doorway.
She’d felt physically sick, thinking she’d been discovered. If she hadn’t been attacked today, it would have been very hard to come up with a plausible reason for Charlie’s
presence. She shuddered, thinking how strange it was to be grateful to a terrifying pervert who’d tried to rape her.

Anna undressed and climbed under the covers, aghast at how easily she’d lied to Liam and how readily he’d believed her. How could she even think of starting a family with him if she
went to bed with the first man who asked her?

Anna closed her eyes tight and tried to banish the image of Paul Brennan’s knowing look. God, he probably thought she did this on a regular basis. His image was replaced by that of Liam,
and how his closed, guarded expression had melted into one of tender concern when she’d told him about the attack.

Well, that was it, she certainly wouldn’t see Charlie again, but what about Liam? If she truly loved him, surely she’d never have gone with Charlie in the first place? And yet, if
she didn’t love Liam, why was she so jealous of Tara? The questions ran round and round in her head until she finally fell into a troubled sleep where strange men lurked in shadows and she
was chased by Charlie while Liam watched.

Liam was glad he’d put the bike in the boot rather than taking a taxi home. While he cycled through the clear night air he was able to think, and the physical exercise
helped to keep his increasing panic at bay. Between his mother’s accident and Anna’s attack there was plenty going on to distract him. But still, at the back of his mind there was a
little voice reminding him that he hadn’t got a phone call. The interview had only been on Friday and, for all he knew, they could be doing more interviews this week but that didn’t
matter. He’d expected a call. He knew in his heart that he’d done an excellent interview and he knew they’d been impressed. He should have heard something by now. He’d
called the recruitment company first thing this morning to give them his mother’s phone number, and any time he’d left the house, he’d placed the phone by Josie’s bed. He
was beginning to wish he’d taken Anna’s advice and bought a cheap mobile phone. It would be much better to be contactable wherever he was. Maybe tomorrow he could slip out and get one
– there was a good place in the village where Tara had bought her latest snazzy new phone.

He turned on to Ballymun Avenue and into a freezing cold wind. Crouching lower over the handlebars, Liam pushed himself even harder, almost enjoying the pain in his calf muscles. Physical pain
was a lot easier to deal with than the emotional stuff. On one side, he had Anna who seemed to be moving further away from him, and he wasn’t sure how to get her back or even if he should. On
the other, he had Tara, gorgeous, sexy and funny, but she was beginning to suffocate him.

They’d fallen into the habit of having the odd cuppa together but recently, Tara had started wearing fewer clothes when he was around and making some very suggestive comments. Liam, who
had been enjoying the mild flirting, had gotten the fright of his life. Tara had practically offered herself on a plate, making it clear that while she’d accept the post of mistress in the
short term, she’d expect a bit more at a later stage. Liam had immediately pulled back and tried to visit his mother only when Tara was busy with clients, but Josie’s accident had put
paid to that strategy. Tara had been on the doorstep within seconds of them arriving home from the hospital today, and while she’d said all the right things and sympathized with Josie, she
couldn’t hide her delight when Josie had told her that he was moving in for a few days. When Josie had added that Liam had to drop back to his house later, Tara had immediately offered her
services. When Liam had thanked her, she’d winked at him and said that he could make it up to her later. Liam groaned at the memory.

As he got nearer to his childhood home, he wondered how he’d get it through to her that he wasn’t interested. She would be upset because, in a way, he had led her on. He’d
given her the whole ‘my wife doesn’t understand me’ spiel and lapped up the sympathy she’d given in return. And while he hadn’t made any moves on her, he hadn’t
pulled away when she’d put a hand on his thigh or leaned up against him or bent over him in a low top showing off small but exquisite breasts. It would be a lot easier to go to bed with her
and have done with it, but the thought of being unfaithful to Anna sickened him.

When she’d arrived home tonight in another man’s car, he couldn’t believe the wave of jealousy that had engulfed him. It had been like a slap in the face. It was a relief of
course to know that the man had only been a friend in need, but Liam still couldn’t help feeling that she should have called him. In the old days she would have. He had always been the one
she turned to first when she was upset or in trouble. But she obviously didn’t see him in that way any more. Now he was an unemployed, broke loser who spent his days wallowing in
self-pity.

After his interview on Friday, Liam had been in buoyant form and when Anna had called, it felt like fate, and he was convinced that they could get back on track. But today he hadn’t heard
about the job and when his wife had been in trouble she’d turned to someone else. He was surplus to requirements, he thought miserably as he turned into the driveway and got off his bike.
Tara and his mother were the only ones who wanted him. Somehow that thought depressed him even more.

Jill’s first day back at work had been as frenetic as she’d expected and more. Vinny had been lighting a few fires in her absence and ruffling a lot of feathers.
Many of those who had supported him in the past were beginning to see him as a threat, and even Sue had upbraided him on one occasion.

‘He’s inclined to take too much on himself,’ she’d told Jill, ‘and though I’m the first to encourage independence and ambition, he needs reminding that
he’s part of a team.’

Jill should have been overjoyed at this little titbit of information but in her head she’d already moved on and Vinny Gray’s machinations no longer interested her. She had sat in the
large boardroom today watching her colleagues bicker, debate, nitpick and backbite and she’d felt like a scientist studying a swarm of angry, demented ants.

Whatever had attracted her to this job, she’d wondered, recalling how she used to be in the thick of these sessions. How could anyone get so worked up over an advertisement for crisps?
When she thought of the money she earned, the car she drove, the generous bonuses that she got paid and the relative pittance that teachers, nurses, or firemen received, she felt humble and somehow
ashamed.

As she finished tidying her desk and rose to leave, Jill chuckled at the way her mind was working. Next thing, she’d find God and go off and join a cult in the middle of nowhere! She could
see herself now – hair tied back, no make-up, making sandals and growing vegetables, living on home-made soups and rough bread. Not!

Jill called an immediate halt to her fantasy. Wherever she ended up and whatever she ended up doing, she was determined there would be no more dieting. She loved her food and that was that; so
what if she was a little on the curvy side? It hadn’t stopped her attracting some seriously fine-looking men.

She sighed as she remembered Andy and his gorgeous, sexy smile. There had been no one else since they’d broken up. Somehow, Jill hadn’t been able to get him out of her head.
She’d thought of calling him a couple of times but she always chickened out, too proud to go crawling back. What if he turned her down flat, how embarrassing would that be? It would be so
much better, she thought, as she picked up her briefcase and headed for the door, if they just ran into each other in a pub or restaurant. Then she could check out the lie of the land without
making an idiot of herself.

Not that she was going to have much time for socializing now, she reminded herself as she breezed through Reception giving the security man a friendly wave. She had to sell her car, her
apartment – oh yes, and hand in her notice. Strangely, the only thing that she had doubts about was giving up her beloved car. She patted the glossy hood lovingly before slipping behind the
wheel. Her apartment had always been more of a statement than a home, and as for her job, well, it had been fun but now it was time to go.

Jill had promised Kitty that she’d be over in time to help out with the Christmas rush. They had agreed on a six-month contract to allow them both a chance to see if they could work well
together. Then, Jill would either buy into the business or move on to pastures new. The latter, Jill believed, was unlikely. Kitty O’Driscoll seemed to be a woman after her own heart.
Kitty’s plans to expand the bar into a full apartment complex were comprehensive and well thought out. She had a good head for business but, at the moment, she didn’t have the time or
the cash to implement her plans. If things worked out and Jill came on board, she would have both.