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The evening was drawing in when Jac saw her again.
After taking the time off in the afternoon, he’d plunged himself into a fencing job in the far paddock. Thumping in the posts was the only useful thing he could do to keep his mind off Annie and Seb. He was a slimeball. He could tell. She deserved way better than him.
It was dusk before he was done. And it was as he was riding back, that he spotted her. Wearing a head-torch, she'd marched across the fields and was now climbing up through the bracken line.
In the twilight, he saw her, pounding on. Trampling the small leafy promises of spring under her feet. She was past the ancient hawthorn now. The lonely tree they’d called it, when they were kids.
“Shit!”
She always did this when something was up. Go off to their place. And the high ledge she was aiming for, and the scree below it, they were damn slippery at this time of year. Even with a headtorch, it was getting properly dark by now.
He turned the quad bike and rode as far up as he could after her.
Cutting the engine, he followed on foot as she pushed on up. Through the heathers and the gorse, pounding over the rocks, climbing up the scree slope until finally, she reached it. Their old spot at the top of the mountain.
He saw her silhouette on the ledge, the moon above her. And he was near the ridge too, when he heard her first cry out.
She screamed again, this time standing up, shouting angrily at the sky.
“Arghh! How could I have been so fuckin’ stupid!”
Breaking down then, she cried ugly, noisy, private tears.
“Annie.”
He startled her. She looked embarrassed as he came up beside her onto the ledge.
Wrapping his arms around her, he let her get it out.
It took a while, and he held her tightly as she broke down again, her wet face buried deep in his coat, against his chest. His heart.
A proper, full-on hysterical meltdown. Her jagged stuttering when she’d finished reminded him of a toddler recovering from a tantrum.
Pulling away, she slumped down onto the rock.
“You weren’t meant to see that.”
Sitting down, he put his arm around her. His other hand stroked her hand gently with his thumb as the darkness cloaked the mountains.
Shaking her head, she wiped at her face with her sleeve.
He didn’t say a word.
Instead, he took her hand, led her carefully back down the scree to the quad and drove them back to the cottage.
Still a little puffy-eyed, she smiled weakly at him as she came down from the bathroom.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“I s’pose I owe you an explanation. Seeing as you scraped me up off the floor.”
He took her through to the living room and they sat on the old sofa together.
“I dunno. It’s been building up. First, Dad. And Mam, she's not right and she’s shutting me out as usual…and then, there’s you…”
She shot him a look.
“And now Seb; tosser, that he is. And the cherry on top of the shit-cake that is my life is I’ve just found out I’m gonna get the sack.”
“Why?”
“Oh God!”
She stared at the fire.
“Jac, I'm not sure I wanna tell you all this.”
“You don’t have to.”
She shrugged, focusing intently on the cup of tea in her hand.
“I had a thing with Seb when I was in New York. And when I came back.”
“So?”
“It’s against the rules. What, with him being my boss, and all.”
She chewed the side of her bottom lip with her teeth.
“I finished it. He’s a self-absorbed, arrogant bastard...Plus, he's married.”
She flicked a look at him, expecting at least a frown. Instead, he was smirking.
“D’you find this funny?”
He pressed his hand on her thigh as she jumped up to leave.
“No! Stay! I was only laughin' cos, I’ve done stuff I’m not proud of. But, you're no angel, either. You and me, we're more similar than you think, that’s all.”
Her shoulders dropped and she settled back down.
“Why're you gonna get fired?”
She rubbed her hands over her face.
“The only other person who knew about me and Seb, was my mate, Stacey. She’s doing my job while I’m away.”
“Your friend told them?”
She nodded.
He was trying to keep up.
“Seb betrayed me first. He wanted me gone, so he flagged up some bullshit irregularities to HR. He started it all.”
“Jees, Annie.”
“Yeah. It backfired on him, big time, when Stacey ratted me out. That’s why he showed up today. To get me to keep my mouth shut, so he wouldn’t lose his job too.”
Jac scratched his head.
“What you gonna do?”
She shrugged and they sat quietly together for a while.
“Annie, you need to face the facts. Your job in that company’s over. Use this time to plan what you want to do next.”
He felt her pain as her eyes glistened.
“I’ve been such a fool.”
“Maybe… But, this Seb’s no straight shooter either.”
“And Stacey?”
“Her too. She took her chance.”
“By destroying me?”
“You do have some lousy friends.”
“Yeah,” she breathed, “Everyone I trust always ends up betraying me.”
Her words burned him.
A key, rattling in the lock, broke the silence.
“You expecting someone?”
Getting up from the sofa, he went to the back door.
“Sion, man!”
He embraced his friend.
Sion and Jason, he counted them as brothers. Each one would go through the fire for him.
Sion had done.
In Afghanistan, when their truck hit an explosive device, Sion had pulled him out of there unharmed. Seconds before it burst into flames. Others weren’t so lucky that day.
And Jason had gotten them out of sticky situations too, more than once.
What a difference to Annie’s friends.
Annie was putting on her coat as Sion strolled into the living room, Jac behind him.
“This is Sion, my army brother.”
“Hi.”
She smiled at Sion shyly.
“I better be going.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I do. I’ve got to book the funeral tea.”
She gave Jac a watery smile, “And then start applying for jobs.”
“Who’s she?” Sion asked as soon as Jac had closed the door behind her.
“That’s Annie.”
“What? As in the Annie?”
“Leave it out.”
“You back with her?”
“No.”
“You wanna be?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I thought you liked things simple, mate? What about that rule of yours, the one you keep banging on about when you’re pissed.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“If she’s free then, I might have a crack myself,” Sion winked, trying to wind him up.
“You keep away from her.”
And by the intent on his friend’s face, Jac was deadly serious. And in deep.
???
After embarrassing myself with Jac, I slip down to The Cross Keys.
It’s an understatement when I say I’m mortified that he caught me in such a state. And now I’ve told him everything. Oh God! What must he think of me?
“Hey, Annie!”
Claire, my old school friend, comes around from the bar and gives me a warm hug. I’d waved hello to her the other night, but she’d been flat out, serving at the bar.
“Great to see you, hun… Ahh! I’m so sorry about your dad. Case and a half, he was. We
all miss him.”
I flash her the same plastered-on smile I give everyone who says that about Dad. The last thing I need right now is hearing more of Glyn’s legendary shenanigans. Mam’s had a belly-full of it too.
Claire writes the arrangements for the funeral tea into the diary. Then, Kevin, the new bar manager comes over, cross-checking everything she’s already written down.
“The brewery moved him here last week,” Claire whispers.
His loud Liverpudlian voice carries over the noise of the bar, and I can see a couple of locals already rolling their eyes, every time he speaks.
Kevin lets Claire have a short break, and we go sit down at a table in the corner.
“You staying here for a while, then?” Claire asks.
“Yeah. For now.”
“What’ve you been up to? You married? Got kids?”
I take a sip of my small beer.
“No. You?”
She looks towards the door as Jac, and his friend Sion, walk into the bar.
