Come Back to Me by Sara Foster Read Free Book Online Page A

elevenses, Chloe’s mother took a good look at her.
    â€˜You look a bit peaky, dear. Are you okay?’
    â€˜I’m fine, Mum.’ Chloe set down their tray of steaming coffees and muffins.
    â€˜Working too hard again? You must be careful. You know what they say – “all work and no play …”.’ Margaret chuckled to herself as she placed her plastic bags carefully on the seat next to her, and then fussed over which one lay on the bottom.
    I’d have a damn sight more time to play if I weren’t driving up to the Lake District on a regular basis, Chloe thought. But she smiled back benignly.
    They sat in silence for a few moments, before Chloe took a deep breath and announced without preamble, ‘I’m pregnant’, startling herself with her own bluntness. She hadn’t realised the secret had been crouched on her tongue, waiting to jump. As she immediately picked up her muffin and took a bite, she wished she could put her words on top and gobble them back up.
    Her mother’s jaw had dropped.
    I’ve done it, Chloe thought. I have finally shut her up.
    No sooner had she thought this than Margaret rallied with a torrent of exclamations. ‘Oh my darling, I’m so thrilled … I’m so delighted. I can’t believe I’m going to be a grandmother … this is fantastic, wait till I tell June tonight –’
    Chloe cut her off abruptly. ‘You can’t tell them yet …’ She paused and took a deep breath as she watched the confusion on her mother’s face, before adding, ‘Alex doesn’t know.’
    â€˜Alex doesn’t … ?’ Her mother tapered off and once again seemed lost for words.
    Unbelievable, Chloe thought. Now she’d silenced her mother twice in five minutes. Alex would love this.
    Immediately she felt miserable.

11
    The rain didn’t seem to have stopped since Thursday, and it matched Alex’s mood perfectly. Wrapped up warmly, he was on his way to the village pub, a trip he’d taken regularly with Charlie on previous visits to the Lake District. It still felt strange to be heading there alone. Today he had intended to drown his sorrows while watching the football scores come up, but when he opened the door and the warmth of lights, laughter and air all hit him at once, he knew straight away he couldn’t stomach it. He let the door swing shut again, leaving him on the outside hunched against the cold as a couple of people stepped around him to get in. As a wave of noise and heat assaulted him for the second time, he strode quickly away, not really sure where he was going. He just knew he needed to try to clear his head, and the ice-cold air would help him more than the fug of the bar.
    It wasn’t difficult to find a walking trail. A couple of minutes later he had hopped over a dilapidated wooden stile set into a fence, and was following a small stony path around the bottom of a hill. The rain splattered his face persistently, but it was welcome – cool and cleansing. His trainers were quickly soaked; he could already feel water creeping between his toes. He was breathing hard with the exertion of keeping pace with his feet, which seemed to have independently decided upon a brisk trot.
    There was so much to think about that he didn’t know where to start. His mind was running around wildly in circles leaving chaotic footprints everywhere that he had no hope of following.
    He’d thought he had it all figured out, but when it came down to it he had just been living on circumstance. He was angry and upset – with himself most of all, but little sparks flew off towards others. How could she just turn up after almost ten years without a word? And what wicked circumstance had allowed Chloe to lead him innocently into that restaurant, both of them unwitting victims of the hand of fate?
    And Mark – in his wildest thoughts since Thursday, a lot of Alex’s anger had