chapter Six
Rebecca ambushed him the instant after he’d climbed into the driver’s seat of his car.
Tom had asked the child minder, a local teenager, if she could stay half an hour later that evening to look after Kelly as he needed to catch up at work. After collecting Kelly from Chloe’s cottage, Tom had spent the next three hours with her before reluctantly handing her over to the babysitter. He was still uneasy about letting his daughter out of his sight, but decided that if he didn’t break this feeling of paranoia right now it would take hold. So he’d secured the teenager’s agreement to stay a little longer, and had headed back to the surgery.
At half past nine, Ben having already gone home, Tom helped Tracey the receptionist to lock up, then headed across the car park to his Ford. He was behind the wheel, considering whether to cook something at home or get a takeaway en route, when a tapping at the passenger window made him start. Ducking his head to peer out, he saw Rebecca glaring at him through the glass.
Without invitation she opened the door and climbed in beside him.
‘Rebecca,’ he said. ‘How long have you been –’
‘I knew it was your evening surgery so I arrived a few minutes ago,’ she said. ‘I kept out of sight because I didn’t want people coming up and saying hello, or wondering what I was doing here.’
‘And what are you doing here?’
‘Who is she, Tom?’
He turned to stare at Rebecca. Her eyes were narrowed, her lips compressed.
‘Who –’
‘That woman who picked my daughter up from nursery today. Who is she? Your girlfriend?’
‘You –’ There were so many things Tom needed to say and ask that they crowded for space in his throat. ‘You were watching the nursery?’
‘I drove past in the morning to see if I could get a glimpse of my daughter, yes. And what do I see? This strange woman helping her into her car, both of them smiling and chatting as if they’re old friends. If there’d been room I would have pulled over and confronted her, I can tell you.’
‘What are you doing in town anyway?’
‘Tell me who she is. That woman.’
Tom stared at his ex-wife, then took a deep breath, counting slowly to defuse his anger. ‘She’s a friend. Nothing more. Not that it’s any of your business. I asked her to pick Kelly up from nursery.’
‘Why? You were still at work.’
‘Yes, as you’d established by ringing the surgery.’ He rounded on her. ‘What was I supposed to think, Rebecca? I hear that you’ve been phoning to enquire about my whereabouts, but not leaving a message for me to call you back. This comes just a few weeks after you announce you intend to try to pry Kelly away from me. Of course I’m going to speculate, to assume the worst.’
‘Oh my God.’ She gazed through the windscreen, her tone wondering. ‘You thought I was going to kidnap Kelly.’
‘I didn’t know what to think. And can you blame me?’
‘You’re paranoid, Tom, do you know that? Delusional.’
‘And I suppose you’re now going to use that as evidence that I’m not fit to look after Kelly.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Give me a break.’
She said nothing. He watched her for a moment.
‘So why did you ring to ask if I was at work, Rebecca?’
‘Because I was going to ask to talk to you. I changed my mind when I spoke to your receptionist.’
‘Talk to me about what?’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘I’m not budging on the custody thing, Rebecca. I mean it. So you can save your breath.’ A thought struck him. ‘But why are you in Pemberham anyway? If you’d wanted to talk, why couldn’t you just phone from London or wherever it is you are this week?’
‘I’m… staying here for a few days.’ She didn’t make eye contact.
‘Why?’
This time she turned her face to him, cool defiance in her eyes. ‘None of your business. It’s a free country. I can stay where I please.’
‘Oh, come on, Rebecca. You mean to tell me you decided on a whim to spend a few days in a little Cotswolds town that just happens to be where your former husband and your daughter are living, soon after you’ve announced you’re going to fight your ex for custody? You expect me to believe that?’
‘I didn’t say… I don’t want us to fight, Tom.’ Her voice trembled and for a moment he wondered if she was going to start crying. But she held her tears in check. ‘I haven’t taken legal steps yet. I just – I guess I was hoping that by meeting you in person again I’d be able to persuade you.’
‘Despite the fact that the last time we met, a few days ago, your parting words to me were, and I quote: “You have no idea what I’m capable of.” Some people, quite a lot of people, in fact, would see just the glimmer of a threat in a statement like that, Rebecca.’
Once more she sat in silence, staring ahead.
Tom felt drained, suddenly. He slumped in his seat. ‘Where are you staying?’
‘Just around. Doesn’t matter.’
‘I’ll give you a lift, if you want.’
‘No. My car’s parked nearby.’ She climbed out without looking at him.
For the second time in a few days he watched her walk to her Mercedes and get in.
After she’d pulled away Tom sat behind the wheel of his own car, too bewildered to trust himself to drive. Had he completely misjudged the situation? Had Rebecca’s threat of a few days earlier simply been the petulant, throwaway remark of a young mother who profoundly regretted her decision to renounce custody of her only child? And had she come back to Pemberham for the reason she’d told him, namely to try to negotiate some sort of agreement with him?
If that was the case, then he’d done her an injustice. She’d betrayed him during their marriage with her new lover, Andrew, and she’d been petty and often spiteful during the divorce, but she was still a human being, still capable of feeling guilt and regret, and of changing her ways. Was she more to be pitied now than feared, a desperate young woman who realised she’d made a terrible mistake in voluntarily separating from her child and perhaps even from Tom?
And yet… and yet… There was something about Rebecca’s account that didn’t ring true to Tom. She’d given superficially plausible explanations for each individual piece of the mystery, but the whole thing didn’t hang together convincingly. Clearly she’d been hanging around the nursery, and even if her intention hadn’t been to spirit Kelly away, Tom had been right in his assumption that she’d go there.
Then a thought came to him like a blade of ice to the heart. Rebecca had seen Chloe put Kelly in her car and drive away. Might she have followed her home? Had she noted her address, and decided not to confront her then and there but rather to speak to Tom about the mystery woman first? In which case, was it possible Rebecca was on her way to Chloe’s right at that very moment?
Tom rubbed his knuckles across his forehead in frustration. Get a grip, Carlyle, he thought. He was being paranoid again, spinning an elaborate fantasy out of the flimsiest of threads. Besides, even if Rebecca did pay Chloe a visit, she was hardly likely to do anything more than make a fool of herself. She wasn’t going to slash her tyres or attack her physically or do anything drastic like that.
With a jolt Tom realised he was late for the babysitter and, turning the key in the ignition, he put his foot down.
***
The call came as Chloe was watching the ten o’clock television news. Jake was long in bed, and fast asleep when she’d checked on him an hour ago.
At first she assumed the late phone call at that hour was the long-awaited confirmation from the councillors’ offices that one of the politicians would meet Chloe for an interview, and she jumped up to grab the buzzing handset from the table. But when she glanced at the number on the screen, she recognised it as the one that had come up earlier that day, nearly twelve hours ago.
Tom Carlyle’s.
Chloe put the phone to her ear. ‘Hello? Tom?’
‘Chloe, I’m so sorry to trouble you again, and at this hour. Is everything all right?’
‘Yes. Why wouldn’t it be?’
She could sense his relief down the line. ‘I know this is quite a thing to ask, especially after all you’ve done for me today, so feel free to say no. But would you be able to meet me briefly? Tonight?’
Oh, wait a minute, thought Chloe. What’s this? She said carefully, ‘Is there something wrong?’
‘No. Well, not really. I don’t know. Look, I’m not making much sense, I know. And I know Jake must be asleep, and Kelly is too. I could wake her up –’
‘No,’ Chloe said, making her mind up. She’d told herself earlier that day that she would try to help Tom, to be a friend to him, and this was a good place to start. ‘I should be able to get my neighbour to sit in with Jake for an hour. Let me come round to your place.’
Margaret McFarland was only too happy to come over, in spite of the hour. She was of course intrigued as to where Chloe was going at that time of night. Chloe said only that it was a friend of hers who needed some support, and promised she’d be gone an hour and a half at the most. She was amused to note that Mrs McFarland was desperate to ask who this “friend” was, but managed to keep herself from doing so.
Twenty minutes later, Chloe stepped out of her Astra and walked up the driveway to Tom’s front door. The night was warm and she wore only a thin sweater, no jacket. Tom must have heard or seen her pull up because he opened the door as she approached. He grinned, his expression apologetic once more.
As he ushered Chloe into the living room she glanced about, unable to stop herself casting an appraising eye over his home. The house was tastefully but simply furnished in a country style, neither the lounge-lizard bachelor pad it might have been nor the chaotic mess of some of the single men she’d known over the years. One wall was dominated by a huge stone fireplace which must create quite a cosy effect in the winter, she thought.
He offered beverages – she accepted a decaffeinated coffee – and she propped herself on a kitchen stool while he prepared the drinks in two earthenware mugs. A shelf was crammed precariously with well-worn cookbooks, and Chloe noticed an exotically stocked spice rack, strings of onions and garlic, and window trays blooming with herbs of various assortments. A country kitchen, and one that clearly saw a lot of use.
Tom noticed her looking around and said, ‘Never used to be much of a cook, but I’ve learned through necessity.’
‘Do you like it?’
He chuckled. ‘To my surprise, yes, I do. You?’
‘I’ll burn water when making coffee if I’m not careful.’
‘Somehow,’ he said, ‘I doubt that.’
Chloe watched him over the rim of her mug as he sat opposite her across the kitchen table. Despite his cheerful demeanour, tiredness was dragging at him, tautening the skin around his eyes.
After a short silence Tom said, ‘I asked to see you because I wanted to warn you about Rebecca, my ex-wife.’
‘Warn me?’
He sighed. ‘Maybe that’s too strong a word.’
And he told Chloe about his meeting with his ex an hour earlier. Chloe was startled when she heard that Rebecca had seen her pick up Kelly. She tried to remember any signs that she might have been followed home, any suspicious goings on outside the cottage, but couldn’t.
‘I doubt she’d really follow you, or put you in any danger,’ Tom said. ‘She’s not the stalker type. But she can be… unpredictable. She’s like a child sometimes, or an adolescent. She’ll fly off the handle, do things on impulse that she later regrets. And she doesn’t like being thwarted. Never has done.’
‘Do you think she’ll take the custody issue down the legal route?’
Tom rocked his palm. ‘Perhaps, perhaps not. She’s in town at the moment to try to persuade me to give up custody without recourse to that. It suggests she doesn’t want to get the lawyers involved. My hope is that she’ll give up and retreat.’
‘And if she doesn’t?’
‘If she doesn’t, I’m prepared to fight my corner.’ Tom had been gazing into his tea mug but now he raised his eyes to Chloe’s. ‘I don’t pretend to be the perfect father, Chloe. There are a thousand things I could be doing better with Kelly. I never feel I’m spending enough time with her. I worry she’s not eating enough, or not the right things. I have this nagging fear that her mum and I have harmed her by separating as we did. So, I’m no saint. But I think I do a fair job. And I believe Kelly’s better off with me, that she’ll have a more stable, normal life here in Pemberham than she’d have jetsetting off around the world with Rebecca and her man.’
Chloe smiled. ‘I’ve no doubt about it. And those worries you have, about not spending enough time with your daughter? All parents have them. All good ones, anyway.’
He nodded his thanks, sipped his tea.
After a pause he said: ‘Anyhow, the reason I wanted to tell you about Rebecca in person was that I didn’t want to alarm you. A phone call might have sounded like I thought you were in imminent danger or something. I just think it’s best that you be on the lookout, that’s all. Probably just for a few days, while she’s in town. And if you’re worried about her at all, if she approaches you or anything, please let me know immediately, okay?’
Chloe said gently, ‘Thanks, Tom. But I’m sure I can take care of myself.’
He ran a hand through his hair. ‘See, there I go again. Sounding patronising. Of course you can take care of yourself. I didn’t mean to suggest you needed me to come riding to the rescue.’
‘I know what you meant. And thanks again. Advice noted.’
The conversation seemed to come to a natural end there. Chloe finished her coffee and stood.
‘Long day. You for one look like you could do with some rest.’
He rose with her and came round the table. ‘Chloe, I really appreciate what you’ve done today. Both picking Kelly up and… well, and being there to listen.’ He reached out a hand, and Chloe took it.
Whether Tom drew her towards him or whether it was Chloe herself who stepped nearer, she couldn’t for the life of her remember afterwards. But in the next instant she was at him, up close, their torsos not quite touching, her hand gripping his elbow and his on her upper arm. She stared up at his eyes, their blue in contrast to his unruly hair, and was fascinated to see that his pupils were dilated, crowding out the irises. Between them she felt the tingle of near contact.
They said nothing, studying one another’s faces. Her gaze slipped to his mouth, the faintest ghost of a smile settled there in what she’d come to recognise as his resting expression. His cheeks, his neck, were lightly shadowed with stubble. She noticed that his nostrils flared slightly, as if his breathing were quickening.
Once again it was uncertain who moved first, but she found herself pressed against him, the heat of their chests combining into something more intense than the sum of its parts. Her arms twined around Tom’s neck as his slipped about her waist and tightened deliciously, drawing her hips closer so that her loins pushed against his. His mouth descended on hers as she raised her face to meet his and their lips joined, their tongues probing. The heat between them flooded through her, and she felt the pressure of his chest against her breasts tease her nipples into hardness through the fabric of her bra and sweater. And against her lower belly she sensed the nudging of his own arousal through his trousers.
Tom broke free from the kiss and she felt his breath hot against her hair, her ear, before his teeth nipped at her earlobe and his tongue teased it exquisitely. She titled her pelvis so that it pressed even more tightly against his groin and he groaned, low and guttural, in her ear. Chloe became aware that her own breath was coming in little gasps as she buried her mouth against his neck.
And, from a distant part of her that retained a semblance of control, she heard a small voice saying: No. Stop.
‘No,’ she murmured out loud, surprising herself.
Tom drew back, still holding her, looking into her face. He was flushed, his eyelids heavy. ‘Why?’
‘No,’ she said again, more clearly this time.
‘Don’t you want to?’
‘It’s just –’ Her words came thickly, as if she’d lost the power of speech and was having to relearn it.
‘If you’re worried Kelly will walk in, we can go in the –’
‘No, Tom. I can’t.’
‘Can’t, or won’t?’ His tone was soft.
Flustered, Chloe stepped away from him, ran her hands over her face, straightened her clothes. She felt dizzy, disorientated. Her heart was hammering and for a moment she didn’t trust her legs to support her.
Somehow she managed to look Tom in the face. The desire was still there in his eyes, but it was dwindling under the fog of resignation.
‘I’m sorry,’ she muttered. ‘I have to go.’
‘Chloe –’
She held up a vague hand, didn’t look back but walked quickly to the door and let herself out. In the car she paused a moment, sucking in great lungfuls of breath, fighting the urge to hyperventilate which she knew would make her even more lightheaded.
When she felt composed enough to be safe behind the wheel, Chloe started the car and set off for the cottage.
***
She glanced at the green digital display of the clock after what seemed like an hour. It read 2:55. Ten minutes had passed since she’d last checked.
Chloe decided enough was enough. She wasn’t going to get to sleep by lying there waiting to drift off. She rose from bed, pulled on a thin terrycloth dressing gown – the night was still warm despite the hour – and went into the kitchen. There she poured herself a glass of water; caffeine was the last thing she needed.
The shaking had continued all the way home and she’d had to sit in the car outside the cottage and compose herself once more before going in to Mrs McFarland and sending her home. After the older woman had left, having tried unsuccessfully to find out again exactly whom Chloe had been to see, Chloe took a tepid shower, not sure what the stinging needles of water were quite supposed to achieve but hoping they’d somehow settle the turmoil within her.
They didn’t, and Chloe sat up for half an hour more before turning in. Lying in bed, trying in vain to find a comfortable position, she began to realise with a creeping dread that the insomnia which had last plagued her in the months after Mark’s death was planning on paying her a repeat visit tonight.
Standing at the kitchen counter, Chloe took a deep draught of water, then pressed the cool glass against her forehead. She’d had no idea feelings of the power of those she’d experienced that evening were still rousable within her, and the realisation that the capacity to experience sensation so intensely lay dormant within her was breathtaking and more than a little frightening.
She’d been taken completely by surprise by what had happened between her and Tom, yet she knew she ought to have expected it. Part of her even wondered if she was as surprised as she told herself. It had been there between them, nearly from the start, this attraction which neither of them had spoken about or even alluded to, and just because she’d admitted to herself in a careless, throwaway manner that Tom was an attractive man it didn’t mean her true feelings towards him were any less real.
Now, she had to face up to the fact that the situation was different. She couldn’t deny any longer that what she felt for Tom was more than the harmless appreciation any woman might have for a good-looking man. Her feelings for him were intense, as visceral and as powerful as any she’d ever known, and yes, while she was being honest, that included her dear Mark. It wasn’t even just adolescent lust. She understood that Tom appealed to her on multiple levels: he was, yes, physically sexy, but he was also warm, funny, gentle, a kind and honest man and a great father.
Chloe hadn’t been with a man for over a year, since Mark’s death. She hadn’t even looked at a man in that way. But now, for the first time, she recognised that she wanted, needed a man. Not as some sort of saviour, not to protect her or make up for some inadequacy – Chloe was an independent, self-sufficient woman, something she’d proven to herself since being widowed – but as a soulmate, a partner with whom to share her thoughts and her fears, somebody to walk with and comfort and be comforted by in turn. And, yes, someone to writhe entwined with, naked in bed, to indulge in adult pleasures with and then to wake up alongside in the drowsy warmth of a new morning.
But it couldn’t be. Not yet, not with any man. Mark had been gone a little more than a year, and it was far too soon for her to be “moving on”, as the phrase went. And in any case, it couldn’t be with Tom. Not now, not ever. Tom was a doctor, trustworthy as an individual but always carrying the mark of Cain which his profession conferred on him. Doctors weren’t to be trusted. Tom was a doctor. Therefore Tom could never be trusted, however trustworthy he was. It was illogical, it was absurd, Chloe knew. It was also what she believed, as deeply within her bones as some people held religious convictions.
She had a problem, then. She was passionately, ardently drawn to Tom; and she could never, ever, let matters progress any further than they had this evening, or even get as far as they had. Chloe filled her water glass again and, as she drank, considered her options.
There were two, as far as she could tell.
She could discuss the matter openly with Tom, face to face. Acknowledge that there were powerful feelings between them but that there was no possibility of their getting together romantically, and sound him out as to whether or not he wanted to stay platonic friends. Even if he agreed, it would always be a spectre between them, as real as it was before it made itself known; and there’d be times, surely, when they’d let their guard down and succumb as they had done tonight.
Or, she could break off contact with Tom, explaining her reasons as painlessly as she was able. She could register herself and Jake with the other GP practice on the opposite side of Pemberham, and revert to the cordial, nodding acquaintance she’d had with Tom until recently.
The second was the more painful option, at least in the short term. But in the long run it was the more likely to work.
Her mind made up, Chloe went back to bed. This time, after only an hour, sleep came to her.