Page 83 of Elijah

Amy nodded. “Yes, until they get enough money together for a deposit. They’re saving as much as they can, so we’re helping them as much as we can. Mum and Dad have bought them a load of stuff; nappies, clothes, a cot, and I bought them a pushchair.”

“Wow, that’s really generous of you,” I replied, remembering how we’d priced a few up for when we were ready to buy one. I’d wanted to get one straight away, but Amy had wanted to wait – something about it being bad luck. Turns out, it really wouldn’t have made any difference.

I looked at Amy to see her playing with a packet of sugar. She looked uncomfortable again and I guessed it was the talk of babies – I’d been a dick to assume Matty and his girlfriend was a safe subject after talking about Dylan.

I searched my brain for another safe subject, when Amy spoke.

“I saw you actually.”

I looked at her, wondering what she meant.

“When I was buying the pushchair,” she explained. “You were walking past the shop with your girlfriend.”

“Oh, okay.”

Amy swallowed and then gave me a small smile, which barely moved her lips.

“She’s very pretty; your girlfriend.”

I shifted in my seat, not sure what to say. If I agreed, I’d probably sound like a boastful dick and if I didn’t, I’d sound like an undeserving dick.

“Mia,” I said instead. “Her name is Mia.”

When Amy took in a long breath, I wished I’d gone for being a deaf dick, who thought she’d said the gardens looked pretty.

“What about you, are you seeing anyone?”

Why the fuck had I thought that was the best question to change the conversation with? Shit, I didn’t want to hear her fucking response. If she said a name, I knew I’d want to damn well hunt him down and punch him, but if she didn’t say a name, or told me she was single I’d end up thinking all sorts of stupid ideas that I had no right thinking.

Amy shrugged and screwed her nose up. Her usual tell for when she wasn’t sure how to answer something. Fuck, I wanted to kill the guy, not just punch him.

“I’ve had a couple of dates,” she lied.

I knew it was a lie, because her gaze darted from me to the chestnut tree. I needed to know why she was lying – to save my feelings or her own?

“Ah, okay, so how did you meet?”

Why the hell I was putting myself through such torture, I had no idea, but someone up above felt sorry for me and wanted to stop the pain because both mine and Amy’s phones started to ring at the same time.

We looked at each other with matching expressions of amazement before looking down at our mobiles.

Mia.

With my finger hovering over the reject button, I looked over at Amy’s phone.

Leon – stupid fucking name.

Looking up into her eyes, I willed Amy to reject the call. I wanted to ignore Mia, wanting to spend more time with my ex-wife. My girlfriend was hundreds of miles away, I hadn’t seen her for almost a month, yet talking to Amy was all I could think about.

As our phones continued to ring, I held my breath, waiting and watching.

When Amy’s stopped my eyes dropped from her face to her phone, to see her finger on the red reject option to the screen.

Letting out a huge breath, I did the same, my eyes never leaving Amy’s brandy coloured mirrors to her soul.