Page 8 of Elijah

Claudia looked at me in such a way I knew I’d asked a stupid question.

“I’ll rephrase that,” I sighed. “Is that for Elijah?”

She nodded and went back to what she’d been doing. “It didn’t feel right not offering him one.”

“I’m surprised he hasn’t got a flask of tea in his truck. He usually does.” I paused as memories squeezed at my heart. “Well, he always used to.”

Claudia stopped stirring and looked over her shoulder at me. “You don’t have to hate him you know. It’s not mandatory when you divorce someone.”

I sat up straighter and placed a hand against my stomach. “In this case it is.”

“Okay, but maybe hold off the hostilities for a little while. You’re going to be working close to him for the next couple of months at least and that’s a long time to be angry every day. It’ll only make your days long and give you a constant headache.”

“Yeah, well as I said before, hopefully he’ll be too busy.”

“You obviously loved him once, Amy, so I understand how hard this must be for you.”

As she passed me my cup of coffee, Claudia actually looked sympathetic, not something I was used to from her. She was normally extremely unsympathetic and hugely sarcastic.

I wasn’t sure what to say. Was it hard for me? I had no idea, we’d been apart for five years. Did it still hurt what had happened – of course it did. I’d thought we were going to grow old together. But would it be hard for me seeing Elijah every day, it pained me to say it, but no it wouldn’t.

As soon as I’d seen his truck, I’d felt an anger brew inside me from the pit of my stomach to the top of my head, but I’d also felt a tingle of excitement. I was going to see him after five years. The first time since I’d found him in bed with fucking Lauren Proctor.

He was the boy who stole my heart and gave me some of my best memories, then he tainted them all when he broke my heart.