Playing My Love (35 page)

                                           TEN WEEKS LATER

  "Look, at least reconsider?  She's gorgeous, athletic, intelligent,
really
nice, and
really
into you!  Fuck it, Ali, even I want her!  Do you know that every week she casually tries to ask if you're seeing anyone yet, and when I say no her little green eyes light up.  You have to start dating again darling, cos you ain't getting any younger."

  I laughed.

  "Thanks!  Love you too!  I don't know, Jazz.  I mean, she was lovely and we got on really well, but I just didn't feel a connection with her" 
not like I did with Darcy
.

  Jazz rolled her eyes as if she'd heard my unspoken thought.

  "Ali-bar, you have to stop comparing everyone to Darcy!  She's gone, out of the picture, happy elsewhere.  You have to move on, and anyway, I thought that's why you moved back here?  In fact, fuck it!  I'm moving you on!  I'm sick of seeing you mope about like a homeless puppy.  You need love and Lottie is the one to give it"  Jazz decided firmly.

  I thought about it.  Maybe she was right?  However, just as I opened my mouth to cave to her demands my mobile rang.

  "Hello, Ms Humphreys, it's Kevin from You're Home here.  How are you today?"

  "I'm okay.  What's up?"  I asked,
a little curt.  His over jovial tone was like an instant warning signal, and from the way he paused I knew it was something I wasn't going to like one little bit.

  "It's not so much a problem, per se, more a slight inconvenience"
  he started
.  "Your tenants have requested a meeting with you in person with regards to possibly buying the property.  In fact, they insisted on talking only with you about it…in person"
  he added, in case I'd forgotten.  I chewed my lip as my heart thudded painfully against my rib cage
.  "Ms Humphreys?"

  "Yes, I'm still here"  I said, my voice a little croaky, so I cleared my throat.  "I didn't really want to return to the village if I could help it.  Like
, ever return."

  "They sounded like they were ready to make a very generous offer"
  he said hopefully.  I sighed.

  "Okay.  Okay, I'll come down"  I gave in, resignedly.  We arranged a time when I was free (and I insisted that they fit me in at my convenience) and he said he'd get it sorted out for me
before joyously hanging up.  Jazz had overheard most of the conversation and was watching me for my reaction.  When I didn't give one, she gave me hers instead.

  "Shit."

  "Yeah.  Shit."

  I drove back to my old cottage with an extreme amount of trepidation.  To be f
air, the chances of randomly bumping into Darcy were slimmer than slim, so unless I was to go into town purposely looking for her (and yes, the idea
had
crossed my mind more than once, but then I'd questioned why I would want to see her with Sam, again, to break my heart, again) this would be a quick visit and I'd be home by nightfall.  I was pretty desperate to sell the cottage now though, so this trip was an entirely necessary one.

  I'd checked the names of the tenants
with Kevin after an irrational moment of paranoia convinced me Darcy and Sam had moved in, but (to my even more irrational disappointment) it was a straight couple by the name of Tim Adams and Kotska Putlienzka.

  And now, as I pulled into my old driveway, my mouth went dry and my palms clammy.  There were so many memories associated with this place, it was hard to stop myself from losing my careful control.  I killed the engine and sat gripping the wheel for a few minutes.  I knew they would have heard me arrive and were probably waiting for me to get out of the jeep, but I had to psyche myself up first.  After wiping my clammy hands dry on my skirt, I managed to eject myself from the vehicle with as much grace as I could muster and walked slowly to the front door.
  I took ten deep-ish breaths, then knocked.

  The door opened and a young man in his early thirties greeted me nervously.

  "Hi, you must be Alison!  I'm Tim, please come in?"  he said, standing to one side to allow me in.  I stepped shakily inside, my legs like spaghetti.  "Please go on through to the lounge.  Can I get you a drink?"

  "Uh…
it's
Ali
, and a glass of water would be good, thank you"  I practically whispered.  Then I stepped through the door to the lounge and stopped breathing.

  "Darcy?"

                                                                  
23

                                                 Happy Endings

DARCY

  My heart was practically in my mouth as I heard Alison knock on the door.  Tim gave me a quick nervous glance to check I was ready, and after a couple of deep breaths I nodded.

  Shit!  Shit?  SHIT!  This was a really bad idea!  She's
gonna go crazy!

  I thanked the
little voice in my head for its tardy and extremely unhelpful advice.  It was too late now, because I could hear her in the hall as Tim greeted her.  She was probably fighting a lot of demons in returning back here, and I was about to throw a whole lot more at her.

  She's
gonna hate me.

  I told the little voice to just fuck off, just as I saw her shadow and suddenly I couldn't breathe.  What was I going to say?  What was I going to do if she just lost her temper and ran away?  Chase her down?

  "Darcy?"

  I gasped in shock.  Despite preparing for this for the last few months, she'd still caught me off guard, turning my jelly legs to mush in an instant.

  "Alison…I…please, I need to talk to you?"  I stammered.

  "Is…is
Tim your fiancée?"  she asked incredulously, looking confused.

  "What?  No!  We…oh god, I can explain everything, but please sit down first?"
  The words I'd practiced for so long seemed to jumble around in my mouth, and at first I thought she was going to refuse as she stared at me in shock.  During this time I took in that her hair was styled differently and a few inches shorter, and also that she'd put some weight on since I'd last seen her, so her curves were more accentuated and she didn't look so gaunt.

  She looked stunning.  Beautiful.  Breath-taking.  I had to resist the urge to run across and throw myself at her, begging her to love me like I loved her.

  When she finally moved toward the sofa, I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding and we both sat down together, although at opposite ends.  I decided to get the most important thing out of the way first, to gauge her reaction and get an idea for how the rest of the chat would go.

  "Sam and I aren't together anymore.  We broke up the day we saw you in the park.  She…she knew I still had feelings for you"  I said carefully.  Alison kept quiet, but I was sure her breathing had quickened slightly so I pushed on.  "I came round here to see you, but you'd gone.  You moved out
so quick!  I was utterly broken!"  She didn't say anything, so I swallowed hard and carried on.  "I posted notes through the door, hoping you'd get them, but then the For Sale sign went up and I went to the estate agents to get them to pass the message on.  I wasn't sure if they did or not?"

  She shook her head slightly.

  "I asked them to deal with all my post"  she said quietly, and inwardly I breathed a massive sigh of relief.  The idea that she'd read the letters and still chosen to ignore me would have been worse.  I took a deep breath.

  "Alison, I'm so sorry.  I…I sabotaged the sales."

  "What?  Why?"

  "Why do you think?  If the cottage got sold, I would have lost you forever and I couldn't do that until I'd spoken to you.  The estate agents refused to give me your forwarding address, so…"  I gulped.  This sounded crazy even to my own ears.  "…I got a friend to make friends with one of the girls who works in there, and she told her she wanted to rent this place with her boyfriend.  But you wouldn't rent it out, so I found out when the viewings were, and I came out and sprayed graffiti on the walls the night before.  A few times, it didn't deter them, so
we begged our friend at You're Home to call the couples and tell them a structural report had come back and it needed tens of thousands of pounds worth of repairs."

  I hid my head in my hands and waited for the backlash.

ALISON

  She fell silent, obviously waiting for my reaction to her shocking revelations.  To be honest, I didn't know whether to be flattered at the extreme lengths she'd gone to, or scared and furious by them.

  "Carry on"  I said, trying to keep my voice calm and neutral until I'd heard every last bit of the story.  She refused to look at me as she continued.

  "Eventually they managed to convince you to rent it out, so Tim and I pretended to be the professional young couple you specified in the ad. 
Kotska is his real girlfriend and they do actually both live here together, but I set up this meeting.  Just like I set up them moving in here."

  I struggled to take it all in.

  "Do you realise I could have you arrested?"  I said, my voice barely louder than a whisper.

  "I know."

  "Fraud, sabotage, damage to property…what the hell were you thinking?"

  "What was I
thinking
?  I was thinking that I love you so much, the thought of never seeing you again made my world stop spinning.  That the idea of you with another man or woman made me feel sick and empty.  That not knowing if you loved me back was destroying my fucking soul! 
That's
what I was thinking!"

  I suddenly stood up.

  "I need some air"  I muttered, heading quickly for the front door.  Tim seemed to have vanished in the car that had been sat in the driveway, obviously at Darcy's request for privacy, for which I was actually grateful.  I'd just unlatched the door when I felt her warm hand on my arm, stopping me from opening it.

  "Please, Darcy, I can't think…"  I said, finding it hard to breathe.  She pulled me into her embrace, wrapping her arms tight around me.  My senses were assaulted by her familiar scent, her warmth, her
Darcy-ness, and it only took me a split second before I responded.  I groaned into her hair as I held onto her, knowing this was what I wanted!  I wanted Darcy, and I always had!  I brought a hand up, running it through her silky brunette strands as I inhaled her shampoo that I'd missed so much.  She drew back though to look at me.

  "If you don't feel the same way, please tell me…"

  "Darcy, just kiss me"  I interrupted, and she was stunned silent for a second.  I decided to take the lead, and kissed her instead, claiming her lips with my own.

  It was more powerful than I ever remembered it being, or maybe I'd just dulled it down to make it easier to move on in my quest to try and forget about her?
  I felt my heart swelling and opening, like a thousand clichés in one moment!  Although the kiss started soft and tender, we were soon pushing into each other, desperate to regain the closeness we'd missed out on for so long.  I could barely breathe as my lips bruised against hers, our tongues thrusting hungrily together.

  Eventually, after her hand had roamed around under my shirt for a few minutes, she tore her mouth away long enough to say one word.

  "Barn?"

  I nodded, pulling her lips back to mine as we did a strange shuffle up the garden toward the barn, not wanting to do anything in the cottage amongst Tim and
Kotska's belongings.  When we finally reached the large building, we tore at each other's clothes, needing them to be gone from our bodies.

  "I can't believe this is happening!  Is it?  Is this really happening?"  she gasped as I kissed my way down her neck.

  "Daneka…"  I said, looking up at her.

  "I know, shut up."

  I straightened so we were face to face and smiled.

  "No.  Daneka, I love you."  It took a second to sink in, but I could see the effect it had on her.  "I'm so in love with you, I don't even
want to close my eyes because I won't be able to see you"  I whispered huskily.  "I love you!"

  "I love you too
, Alison!"  she cried happily.

  We made love in the barn, laughing as we rolled around painfully in the hay but not caring!  And afterward, when we were picking all the bits out of our hair and
off our sweaty bodies, Darcy looked at me seriously.

  "So, what happens now?"

  "I don't know.  Maybe we should play it by ear for a while?"  I suggested, adding, "At least until I can talk to Tim and Kotska about reclaiming my home back."