Page 12 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)

LILY

Somehow the echo from the heavy front door closing downstairs had a ring of finality to it. That sound only fueled the fury inside me. However, panic replaced my anger the instant I heard the speedboat engine roar to life.

Instant regret about my reaction to Alfie’s news tightened my chest. A heavy, dull ache settled in there once remorseful tears of frustration streaked down my cheeks. I began to sob from the sense of loss of seeing Alfie speed away from our home because he had never left in anger before.

Trauma of the other times Alfie had left me in the past came flooding back. They’d been due to work commitments or because he couldn’t face telling me he’d needed to leave. This time felt very different, and his furious departure stirred up insecurities I’d thought I had long since dealt with.

Back in college, I’d been left constantly wondering how it would all end between us. Then there was a time when I drew a line and tried to move forward without him. That was until fate gave us a second chance that we’d grabbed with both hands.

Since then, Alfie had always been devoted and fiercely protective of me—until perhaps the past eighteen months or so.

Life had been busier and more stressful than ever for both of us. And despite that, I’d thought any time we’d managed to grab together was even more precious than before.

Now, Alfie’s reaction forced me to take a long hard look at how our relationship had been during those brief visits we’d had.

I had noticed a change in Alfie’s demeanor.

Mostly that he had been generally less patient during that period I’d mentioned before.

However, again, I had put the shortness in temper down to the stressful lives we led, long-distance between us, and tiredness.

In public, Alfie still behaved in his usual possessive, alpha-like way, but during our time alone, he’d been more grumpy and generally less contented with life.

I sat at our sitting room window for more than an hour. By then I was all cried out and willing the small lights of our speed boat to appear in the distance signaling Alfie’s return.

I was more than ready to admit I’d reacted like a spoiled brat, to apologize and agree that he deserved some needed time off.

I think my initial anger stemmed from his lack of communication and figured if he had spoken to me beforehand, we might have been able to plan something ahead of time when we could both have a break together.

Tonight should have been special after five weeks away, but the way we’d argued and Alfie’s reaction to that had forced me to accept that we were drifting apart.

Desperation gripped me at that thought and I was determined not to let that happen, so I grabbed my cell phone, and I apologized by text.

Me: I’m sorry. I hate that we fought. I’d been so excited and looking forward to seeing you. Please come home.

I considered calling the guy we used who ran a water taxi business out of South Beach to take me ashore, but I didn’t feel confident to go into Miami alone at night without my security detail.

Plus, I had no clue where Alfie had gone. So when he hadn’t responded and hadn’t come home after another hour, I called our friends Elle and Drew to see if Alfie was there.

“Yay, Lily, you’re home!” Elle gushed in her cheerful, familiar London accent.

“Uh, yeah,” I mumbled, taken aback by her enthusiasm. “Alfie isn’t with you guys, is he?”

“Alfie? Wasn’t he picking you up today?” she asked, sounding alarmed.

I sighed. “Yeah, he did. But…” I paused when my chest tightened again but I forced myself to say it. “We had a silly fight.”

“Jeez, really? He was so excited about you coming home when we spoke to him last night. What did you fight about?”

“He went to see Gary’s sister, you know… the one he had history with? The one that hates me?”

“Lily, that man dotes on you. You have nothing to fear about other women,” she scolded in an incredulous tone.

“I guess… but he also hated that I travelled home alone with Cody. If that wasn’t enough, he then dropped the bombshell that Crakt Soundzz was taking a year off when this is probably the busiest my band has been.”

“Ah, that last item is down to me, I’m afraid. I’m pregnant again… almost four months gone, and with these other two ankle-biters, I insisted that Drew find some time to help me… at least until the new baby’s a few months old.”

Elle’s disclosure gave me more insight into Alfie’s furious reaction to my response than she knew.

“Right… Oh, jeez, I didn’t know. Congratulations, I’m happy for you both, but I don’t envy you having three under five,” I replied, shuddering although she couldn’t see me. Alfie and I were godparents to their other two children. We’d babysat a few times and damn they were a handful.

“I didn’t tell Drew until I was nearly two months. He’s been gone so much, and I knew he had that European leg of the tour to get through…” she trailed off. Her consideration for her husband struck me hard, like they shared a closeness that had gone from what Alfie, and I now had.

We continued to talk normally, but panic grew within me when it dawned on me that I still didn’t know where he’d gone. “Look, if he turns up, please call me. I need to go and figure out where he went.”

“Yeah, and once you do track him down, make peace with him.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow for a proper catch up,” I replied, wondering if her comment needed to be said. Making peace with Alfie was why I was trying to find him in the first place.

“Please, do that. I need some sane conversation around here. The mums in the baby circle I’m in drive me crazy with their materialistic competitiveness. I’m starved of good, down-to-earth friends these days,” she grumbled.

I chuckled. “Alright, I’d better go. Take care of yourself and I’ll call tomorrow,” I said, closing the call out before she could say anything else.

How did we get to this? I wondered as I quickly composed another text.

Me: Alfie, please answer me. I’m worried now. Where are you? Don’t you at least want to talk?

As minutes turned to half an hour with no answer, I scrolled through my contacts and put in a call to Crakt Soundzz’ drummer, Andy.

“Damn, Lily. What happened between you two?” he questioned, sounding annoyed.

Relief flooded through my veins that Alfie had gone to Andy’s.

“Please may I speak with him?” I replied, ignoring his abrupt response.

“Oh, he isn’t with me. He called… pissed off and complaining at your reaction to the band taking a break. I-I think he just needed to vent. I did ask where he was heading though,” he added.

“Okay,” I said, waiting for him to tell me. When he didn’t expand, I prompted him for more information. “Come on, Andy, where did he go?” My heart pounded in frustration.

“Oh, he said he had some unfinished business at that chick’s place… you know the army buddy’s sister?”

My heart stopped for a beat before rage burned in my chest and my blood turned to molten lava in my veins. “He left me and went to Sienna’s?”

“That’s her,” he confirmed, sounding relieved that I knew who he meant.

I cut the call off without saying goodbye and immediately sent Alfie another text.

Me: Did you use our fight as an excuse to run back to her? Answer me!