AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Jane,” he groaned, running his fingers through his dark hair and staring at her with desperation. “Tell me how to fix this.”
She laughed, but her heart was breaking all over again. “Let me go, and don’t contact me again.”
Carlo narrowed his eyes. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“You must. If you care about me at all, and want me to be happy, then please just leave me alone.”
CHAPTER TEN
It had been raining for days. Jane hardly felt it. She walked slowly along the High street, pausing occasionally to stare in shop windows. She wasn’t looking to buy anything. Only to appear normal. It seemed to be what people did. Walk, browse, talk, smile.
She was trying to go through the motions, but she felt entirely wooden. Would her facsimile of normality fool anyone? Probably not. But Jane couldn’t sit in her townhouse a moment longer. Rain or not.
Unfortunately, she’d forgotten a coat. And an umbrella. Dressed in a simple black dress, she was soaked through. Her blonde hair was plastered to her face. Her feet were drenched.
She moved onto the next window, scanning the eclectic arrangement of lamps and cushions. A pink one at the front was pleasing enough, but she didn’t go inside.
With a sigh, she turned away and began to amble further down the street. She was wandering pointlessly. In the week since returning from Italy, she’d been perfectly without aim. Without destination or motivation. She hadn’t been miserable. She’d been numb. Totally devoid of emotion and feeling, she’d woken eac
h morning, and kept herself going, but nothing had penetrated her soul.
She waited at the stop lights, to cross in the direction of her home.
“Aren’t you cold, lady?” A young boy asked. He was sweet. Pudgy, with spiky black hair and dark brown eyes. His uniform was one she recognised; must have been from one of the local schools.
She tried to force her lips into a smile, but suspected she looked deranged instead. “No.”
“But it’s pouring with rain.”
Jane nodded, and willed the lights to change. “I know that.”
“Don’t you have a brolly?”
Jane did smile now, but only for a second. “Somewhere. It’s always hard to find what you need, when you need it. Don’t you think?”
His nose wrinkled. “My mum always stuffs one in my school bag.”
“I see. You must have a very clever mummy.”
The boy shrugged. The lights changed and Jane gave him a fleeting smile then walked across the street. It was the fastest she’d moved all week, and she went quickly only because she wanted to get away from the sweet young man, and the necessity for any further conversation.
Her house was dark and dreary looking, despite the cheery window boxes. She paused outside, and flickered a gaze at it dubiously.
She would sell it.
It no longer felt like home. She wasn’t sure it ever really had. It had been a bolt hole. A sweet place to think of as home while she mended her broken heart. She wasn’t sure she could ask that of it again. And she certainly wasn’t sure her heart was repairable second time around.
She moved slowly up the stairs and paused, her key in the lock, when a voice summoned her.
“Jane.”
She turned, hesitantly, her pulse firing through her body.
“I’ve been waiting for you. God, you’re soaked through.”
Jane nodded. “Liz. You’re back.”
Her friend, or the woman she’d considered to be a friend, didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “I want to come in and talk. It’s important.”
