AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘No! It isn’t like that,’ she began but he didn’t let her finish.
‘Don’t bother explaining. It’s obvious that Tim still loves you if he’s so eager to talk things through with you. And you obviously still love him if you’ve agreed to meet him after everything that’s happened.’ He gave a dismissive shrug that made her heart curl up inside her. ‘I’m only glad that I was able to help in some small way. It appears that sleeping with me has helped you realise exactly what you want from life, and it certainly isn’t an affair with me.’
Bella couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Oh, she understood the words all right—they were plain enough. However, the fact that Mac believed that she had slept with him to help her decide if she should go back to Tim was beyond her comprehension. If he loved her, as he claimed to do, then he would know that she was incapable of such behaviour.
All of a sudden she couldn’t take any more, couldn’t bear to stand there and listen to him accusing her of such terrible deeds. Snatching up her bag, she pushed past him and ran up the steps to the deck. She heard him shouting her name but she didn’t stop. What was the point? He had said everything that needed to be said, made it abundantly clear how he felt. Oh, maybe he had thought that he loved her but it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be when he didn’t know in his heart that she would never go back to Tim after what they had done. Once again the thought that it was all down to her rose to the surface to taunt her. If she had only shown Mac how she really felt, convinced him that it was him she wanted and no one else, told him she loved him too even just once then maybe things would have turned out very differently.
Tears streamed down her face as she ran along the towpath, tears of grief for what she’d had so fleetingly and lost so quickly. It hurt so much, far more than when her marriage had ended, but that was to be expected. This time she had given her heart and had it ripped to shreds and thrown back at her. It had to be the most painful rejection of all.
* * *
Mac sank down onto the couch after Bella left. He knew that he should go after her but he felt incapable of doing anything at that moment. Bella was planning to go back to Tim; could it be true? But if it wasn’t true then why had she agreed to meet Tim?
His head reeled as question after question assailed him. He realised that he needed to find out the answers before he drove himself mad, and leapt to his feet. There was no sign of Bella when he reached the deck so he set off at a run, expecting to catch up with her in the lane, but there was no sign of her there either. His heart began to thump as he wondered where she had gone. It was only when he caught a glimpse of the bus disappearing around the bend that he had the answer to that question at least. As for all the others, well, he would need to speak to her. She was the only one who knew the truth.
Mac made his way to where he had parked his motorbike. He started the engine, feeling his stomach churning with dread as all his old fears of rejection surged to the forefront. Maybe he did need answers but he could only pray that he was strong enough to hear them.
* * *
‘Four-year-old in cubicle three—Oscar Starling. Mum thinks he’s swallowed some detergent. Who wants it? You or Mac?’
‘I’ll take it.’
Bella grabbed the child’s notes, turning away when she saw Trish look at her in surprise. There was no way that she intended to explain why she was so eager to take the case. Mac had been trying to get her on her own all morning long, but she had no intention of talking to him. That was why she hadn’t answered the door when he had turned up at her apartment yesterday after she’d got back from the boat. What was there to say, after all? That she had no intention of going back to Tim? Why should he believe her when she had such difficulty expressing her true feelings?
Bella pushed back the curtain, preferring to focus on her patient’s needs rather than her own problems. There was a little boy sitting on the examination couch and he smiled when she went in.
‘I’ve got a new tractor,’ he told her importantly, holding up a bright green toy tractor for her to admire.
‘You lucky boy. It’s beautiful.’ Bella took the toy off him and ran it across the couch, making appropriate tractor noises. She handed it back then turned to his mother and smiled. ‘Hello, I’m Dr English. I believe Oscar may have swallowed some detergent—is that right?’
‘Yes.’ Louise Starling sighed. ‘He was playing in the kitchen with his tractor. He never normally goes in the cupboard where I keep the detergent but he did today. I’d gone upstairs and when I came down, he had the box on the floor. I use those liquid capsules and one of them was broken open. The liquid in them is bright blue and I could see that Oscar’s lips were stained blue as well.’
