An Unexpected Gift (7 page)

Caitlin
stood quietly. Her body was starting to tune out again, as it seemed to do each
time anything related to Carl came up.

Daniel
looked away from Caitlin, seeing that she wasn’t responding and looked at
Kerrie instead, who butted in with the rest of the news. Having the stage all
to herself Kerrie launched forth with the news enthusiastically.

“Her
ex boyfriend, the bastard,” she paused just in time and looked at Martin
apologetically, “paid someone to rough her up.”

Caitlin couldn’t bear
this much longer.  “Please don’t talk about me as if I’m not here,” she
glared at Kerrie but nothing seemed to make a dent in her rendition of the
events of that night. She had Daniel’s rapt attention and she wasn’t going to
slow down now.

“Didn’t
she tell you? Oh, her ex was a total bas- .. brute. Treated her like shi…..she
should never have been treated. She dumped him back in  - when was it
Caitlin? November?”

But
Caitlin stood rigidly with her head down, the bags weighing her arms down more
than ever. She didn’t want her painful and private life bared and talked about
like this.

What had gotten into Kerrie?

Daniel
took one of the bags off Caitlin. “So you’ve been shopping,” he said holding it
for her. She shook her empty arm in relief and nodded a silent thanks to him.

He ran his free
hand through his blond hair. She looked so forlorn and miserable. If what
he had heard from her flat mate was true, and he had no reason to believe
otherwise, then this little incident was not going to go away fast. He thought
he was the only one dealing with a terrible relationship. But Caitlin had as
bad a cross to bear as he did with Marisa. Only, Caitlin’s situation seemed
worse, if indeed her ex had paid someone to have her beaten up. The thought of
it made his facial muscles tighten. If he could get his hands on the man
again………

Kerrie
had stopped talking now and was waiting for a response from Daniel but he said
nothing. Caitlin put out her hand and Daniel handed her bag back to her. He
looked over at her but she wasn’t meeting his gaze.

Quietly,
she said, “I expect the policeman in charge of the investigation might get in
touch with you shortly.” Then she lifted her face and her brown eyes gazed up
at his. There was pain in both of their faces.

It
was a sadness that went way beyond the ugliness of the attack that they both
now shared.

Kerrie
tapped her foot impatiently but didn’t realize she was doing it. The dark and
dull grayness of the wet Saturday morning now bought with it a touch of light
drizzle; light enough to get by without an umbrella for a short while.

“Why
don’t you two get together to discuss your stories, you know, in case it goes
to court and all that. I know Caitlin can be quite shy but she works at
Brandmarks Design Agency in Covent Garden - in case you might want to meet up
with her.” Kerrie rambled on, unable to stop the sudden gush of words spouting
from her mouth.

Her
face bright red with fury or embarrassment, Caitlin wasn’t sure which it was,
she said, “I apologize for my friend in advance. Sometimes its hard to see her
face properly because her huge size seven foot is often in the way.” She was so
annoyed because Kerrie was plainly making her look a fool. Daniel didn’t want
any romantic dalliances. He was a married man. Why did Kerrie think every good
looking man was great boyfriend fodder?  A relationship was the last thing
she was looking for right now.

Daniel
smiled. He could sense that Caitlin was none too happy with her friend.

He made to leave. “Nice
seeing you again Caitlin. Nice meeting you Kerrie.” He nodded his head and
placing his hand on Martin’s shoulder, he disappeared back into the stampede on
the pavement.

Kerrie
flashed her green eyes at Caitlin accusingly, “You didn’t tell me he was so-”.

“I’m
hungry and I don’t want to talk about it,” said Caitlin abruptly, silencing her
friend immediately.

Kerrie
knew better than to push her friend now.

After
a bowl of noodles, would be better.

Ramen
noodles always did the trick. The restaurant was packed full to the brim and
the chatter of conversation mixed easily with the clatter of the kitchen,
lending a noisy atmosphere all around while the warm and comforting fragrance
of chicken, fish and noodles filled the air, making the inside of the
restaurant so warm and appealing.

Kerrie
decided now would be the perfect time to carry on the conversation she had
started after seeing the gorgeous Daniel earlier.

“You
never did tell me he was so good looking.”

For
goodness sake, stop going on about him.

Instead Caitlin said, “I
also didn’t tell you he was married, has a model for a wife and if I’m not
mistaken, that little boy was most likely his son.”

The
shocked expression on Kerrie’s face told Caitlin she had done the trick. When
no further words came out of Kerrie’s mouth, Caitlin gave her the complete run
down of how she had visited him at home on New Year’s Eve.  After a significant
pause, “Thornton’s chocolates!” was the only response the indignant Kerrie
could come up with.

“A
pen, or cool gadget, or cufflinks or tie or something cool and trendy I get,
but
Thornton
’s chocolates
?” she repeated in shock horror.

“It
was a thank you gift for saving my life, Kerrie, not a bloody Christmas present
for a boyfriend!” Caitlin scowled at her friend before menacingly adding, “he’s
married for goodness sake, Kerrie. Quit going on about him.”

The
words came out much more harshly than Caitlin intended. She was annoyed with
her best friend and partly annoyed because, yes, seeing Daniel again today,
when she thought she would never see him again, had reminded her of how
gorgeous he was. And that he had saved her. And that in itself meant that he
was a one in a million person. Not many people would put their lives in danger
for someone they didn’t know. People only thought to save themselves these
days, and she didn’t blame them. Would she ever step into a fight to save a
stranger? She liked to think she would, but in reality, if it ever came down to
it, it wouldn’t surprise her if she pretended not to notice.

“Sorry
Caitlin. I shouldn’t keep going on about it. I- It – You always seemed to light
up when you spoke about the man who saved you. After Carl, I suppose any decent
man is a good thing. But this one, Daniel – he’s a bit of a looker. I just
thought you two might – you know……” Kerrie put down her soup spoon and wiped
her mouth. Slurping the soup was a messy experience.

 “I
didn’t know he was married. How would I? You didn’t tell me you went to see
him. And I want to know why you left that bit of news out – but,” she placed a
hand in front of her, “that can wait until later.”

Caitlin
shrugged her shoulders. “He is good looking. He did save my life. You weren’t
to know. Let’s forget about it.”

“What’s
she like then?” Curiosity got the better of Kerrie.

“Who,
his wife?” asked Caitlin. “Tall, very thin, very blond. Very tall.”

“You
already said that about her.”

“And
her name is Marisa. When she’s not modeling, she’s a language teacher too.”
Caitlin scrunched up her nose at the unfairness of it all. Beauty and brains.
But she had seemed quite nasty towards Daniel from what she remembered.

Thinking
back to that day when she visited Daniel at home, Caitlin remembered thinking
it wasn’t such a close and loving relationship. His wife had hardly asked who
she was, had not even introduced herself and had not shown any interest in
Caitlin when she turned up. Come to think of it, Marisa and Daniel had barely
exchanged any words. And she had seen herself out of the door. Poor Martin, she
thought, feeling sorry for the boy, living in that house.

“Nasty?
To you?” Kerrie moved in closer towards the table.

“Maybe
nasty is too strong a word. She wasn’t very welcoming or overly friendly.”

Caitlin
said nothing more to Kerrie. She didn’t want her friend’s mind going into
overdrive. It had had enough excitement for the day as it was.

Heaving
a huge sigh and looking a little sad and lonely, Caitlin raised her head.

“Anyway,
it doesn’t matter how she was towards him. They’re married and that’s that. It’s
not as if I’m going to run into him again.”

She
moved the soup spoon towards her mouth and used the fork to haul up the noodles
before plunging it into her mouth.  

The
following week was uneventful for the most part. Caitlin heard nothing further
from the detective and tried to get all thoughts about Carl out of her mind.

Then
on the Thursday, she had a phone call at work.

“Hi
Caitlin. Sorry to call you at work.” Her heart stopped, for that second. It was
Daniel. He continued in that quiet yet commanding voice of him, “The police
called me today and asked me if I would want to press charges against the man
who attacked us.”  Caitlin listened attentively. The sound of Daniel’s
voice calmed her. She held the phone closer to her ear, as if the very act of
doing so would bring him closer to her.

But
news of filing charges against the man who had attacked her, and the inclusion
of Carl back into her life which this implied, sent her raised spirits crashing
to the ground. Not that she had any reason to be raising her hopes just because
Daniel had phoned her.
He’s married.
 She reminded herself yet
again.

“What
are you going to do?” she asked, playing with the telephone wire.
How did he
get my number?
  Then she remembered that Kerrie had told him where she
worked. It didn’t take a genius to get through to someone’s work number if you
had their name and place of work.

Daniel
paused before he answered. “I was hoping we could meet up and discuss that.”

Her
face flushed and she was thankful that he couldn’t see her.

“Okay,”
she replied slowly.  He could sense the hesitancy in her voice. She
reminded herself that there was nothing else intentional in their meeting. They
had both been party to a vicious attack and if the police wanted to file
charges, it made sense that the two of them, as victims, would want to discuss
what their next course of action would be.

“Tonight’s
good for me Caitlin. You?”

She had no social life at
the moment and every night was free in her calendar, lately.

“Tonight’s
good.” She replied.

“See
you at six then. Where do you want to meet?”

“Holborn
station?”

“Sounds
good. See you later Caitlin.”

Why
are you calling me? And why do you want to meet? Why not just discuss this over
the phone?
 But instead she
said, “See you at six.”

Caitlin
spent the rest of the afternoon trying to concentrate on her work. It was all
so complicated. Carl, the bastard. And now Daniel, her savior. Maybe that was
painting things in black and white. But Daniel literally was the exact opposite
of everything Carl had been.  And try as she might, she couldn’t stop
thinking about him.

But
the stark reality of his circumstances, that he was married and had a son, quickly
put an end to any thoughts she might have started to have about him.

Was
it wrong of them to meet this evening? Surely the police would not encourage
two victims to discuss a crime? Part of her didn’t want to meet him because she
found him attractive.

Yet
even though she had resolved to have nothing to do with men this year, she
still found herself thinking of Daniel. There was something about him, and she
was sure it was not all to do with his looks. It was to do with the fact that
he had saved her. He had come to her rescue when another man was beating her
up. Wasn’t this the stuff that many young girls dreamed of? To be rescued by a handsome
stranger? He made her feel safe and their awful ordeal bound them inextricably
together.

The
fact that he was so good looking further added to the attraction.

Daniel
hung up having spoken to Caitlin. He was looking forward to seeing her this
evening. He was even more relieved that she had agreed for he had sensed some
hesitancy from her. As far as he was concerned, it had been fortuitous that
they had run into each other at the weekend. He had been thinking about her,
even though he had promised himself he would have nothing to do with women for
now.

But
the way they had been bought together, in such vicious circumstances, made him
feel a special bond with her. It wasn’t anything that he could put a finger on
or explain. She wasn’t even his usual type.

He
normally found himself attracted to women much taller, not necessarily blond,
but taller and more obviously model looking. And look where that had gotten
him. But he couldn’t deny that for the past few weeks he had been thinking
about Caitlin. He told himself that it was more as a distraction from the
nightmare that was Marisa. And this week she had finally moved out of his
house. The next stage would be to file for divorce and then he could begin the
process of blotting out that part of his life from memory for good.