Read Delicious Desires Online

Authors: Jackie Williams

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Women's Fiction, #Contemporary Women, #Romance, #Romantic Suspense, #Teen & Young Adult, #Contemporary Fiction, #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery & Suspense, #Suspense

Delicious Desires (14 page)

BOOK: Delicious Desires
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“Hugging? I
s that all? I thought you meant something serious. Hugging doesn’t mean anything. Loads of people hug me in the street. Doesn’t mean they love me.” He shrugged.

Adam drew in a deep breath, trying to block out the memory of Caroline and the man.

“They hug you because you’ve cured them of some disgusting illness. She was looking all gooey eyed at him and she held his hand as she dragged him into her flat. I bet you don’t get carted off the street like that.” Adam sounded as beaten as his broken fingers looked. He started to massage an aching shoulder with his palm. He wasn’t sure what pained him most. There  was a blue bruise directly under his hand and he grimaced as he rubbed the tanned skin.

Daniel bulldozed o
n, clearly attempting to have everything out of Adam now.

“So are you angry with her, or is it yourself you’re mad at? Seems to me that you’re giving up, even though you haven’t told her exactly how you feel, or why you’ve been out of contact. That’s not like you Adam.” Daniel gave Adam a withering look.

Adam spread his arms in defeat.

“But I haven’t been out of contact. I’ve sent literally hundreds of emails. She hasn’t answered one.” He argued.

Daniel raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Do you look at your emails? I mean, look at them all? I certainly don’t get time to read all
of mine. I’d be on the internet for hours every day,” he said, his tone telling Adam exactly what he thought of his efforts.

Adam tried to argue with his friend
’s reasoning.

“I don’t have to
look at them all. I employ someone else to do that for me, and I know she hasn’t replied. Someone would have told me. I asked particularly for any messages from her to come directly through to me.” Adam scratched his head and examined the piece of stone chip that came away from his scalp.

Daniel was clearly frustrated now.

“Does she employ anyone? Anyone that may not have known the email address you were calling from? None of my staff would ever respond to an unsolicited email if they were not sure who it came from. They wouldn’t even open it. Fastest way to lose your computer security known to man.” He argued back reasonably.

Adam
was silent for a few seconds, realization suddenly dawning on his face.

“Oh God!
I bet she doesn’t even know I’ve called! I never even thought about it. The mails have been from all over until I could get my new blackberry going. She wouldn’t have recognized the address or been able to get through to the number anyway. I had a call blocker put on the line after it was stolen. No one could get hold of me until it was all sorted out.”

Daniel laughed at his friend.

“Then you’re a bloody fool, for a clever man that is. I don’t care that you saw some other bloke with her, I suggest you go straight round to her and give her some choices, and this time don’t assume anything. Don’t give up until you know that she doesn’t want you. I think you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.” Daniel put his spare bandages back in his bag. “Well those are your doctor’s orders, so you’d better get on with it. And don’t think I’ll forget about those. You might be able to move them now but you’re going to be in a real state with them when you’re fifty unless you sort them out properly.” He nodded knowingly at Adam’s hands. “I’ll see you at the hospital at three this afternoon for some x-rays.” He started towards the door, taking the half empty bottle of vodka with him.

There was light tap on the door and Tricia came back in. She looked slightly nervously at Adam but her face cle
ared when she saw him washed, shaved and standing with Daniel, apparently relaxed.

She held out a small device.

“Your bleeper’s just gone off Adam. Do you want me to phone and say you can’t make it?” She was referring to the lifeboat station.

Adam immediately grabbed his jeans and shirt from the chair.

“No Trish, I’ll go now, tell them I’m on my way. Is it just a drill again?” He hopped about lugging his jeans up quickly and then pulled the shirt over his wet hair as he spoke. She turned immediately and left the room calling over her shoulder as she went.

“No. Apparently somebody may be cut off by the tide. You need to be quick.”

Daniel put his hand on Adam’s arm. “Be careful with those hands. I don’t need you to make them worse.”

Adam nodded.

“Stop worrying. They’ll be fine. They’re just a bit painful, that’s all.” Adam winced as he flexed the joints and felt them crunch inside. “I’ll call you if I think I’m going to be delayed for the x-rays. I don’t want to be charged for overtime at your hourly rate.” He shoved his friend’s arm. “Thanks for coming over Dan. I was being pretty self- centred.”

Daniel smiled as they raced along the corridor.

“Oh, think nothing of it, it’s all part of the service we doctors have to perform on a daily basis. Now hurry up and go save some lives.” Daniel walked quickly down the wide wooden staircase with Adam. They surveyed the battered lounge as they hurried through. Even Adam was shocked at the devastation. The sculptures were nothing more than rubble; all the pictures were shredded, shattered glass was everywhere and the furniture was unrecognizable. Adam puffed out his cheeks as Alf came through from the kitchen with what looked like chopped firewood.

The older man frowned at his employer.

“Next time you want a clear out, just say and I’ll get it sorted. This is going to take hours to get straight.” Alf grumbled as he threw the wood outside into the garden.

Adam put his hand on Alf’s shoulder reassuringly.

“I’ll talk to you about it later Alf. I’m really sorry but I have to go now. Do you want to give me a lift to the station?”

Daniel caught hold of Adam’s arm. “N
o, don’t bother Alf, I can take you. It’ll be quicker as I can put on my emergency light and I think I’ll hang around the boat station just so I can haul you off to the hospital when you get back.” He pulled Adam towards the door. “I’m afraid your love life is going to have to wait a few hours longer.”

They hurried out of the glass doors together, breaking into a fast jog as they hit the driveway
.

They
threw themselves into Daniel’s BMW. He pulled a blue light out of the glove compartment and shoved it on top of the car. Gravel sprayed up from the tyres as they left the driveway and raced to the lifeboat station.

Chapter Fifteen

 

 

It had been a long few days for Caroline. She made an appointment to see her doctor and had been assigned a pleasant-lookin
g
midwife who had taken some blood and a urine sample, weighed her and given her some leaflets on what not to eat.

The list seemed to be very long, but as she couldn’t stomach very much at the moment anyway, she wasn’t too worried. They had booked in some ante-natal lessons for later in the pregnancy and the midwife explained about the free health care now available to her.

She had filled in several forms and had been given a thorough check-up by the doctor. There was apparently nothing else much to do except have some scans in a few weeks’ time and then wait for another seven months for the baby to make its appearance. It was all slightly confusing, alarming even.

Her morning sickness seemed to be lasting throughout the whole da
y and virtually anything strong-smelling appeared to set her off. But at least the tiredness seemed to be more under control now that David had given her a few days’ break. She hoped it would be enough to keep her going for a while. David had worked another three days on the van trying to give her some time to get over the fatigue and he had come back to the flat each night completely exhausted.

“I don’t know how you women do it!” He complaine
d on the third day. “This has wiped me out and I’m not even doing any of the baking. Caroline, there’s no way you’re going to able to keep this up for very long. Have you thought of what’s going to happen in a few months? You won’t fit behind the counter in the van anyway for very much longer. And the
n
what happens afterwards? Are you going to get some childcare?”

He was slumped in the chair as she flicked through a baby book the midwife had given her.

She still couldn’t get her head round the idea that she was going to be a mother. She wasn’t sure if the prospect of doing it alone frightened her.

She looked up at him and appeared to think about his question.

“I don’t know yet, but something is bound to come to me. I’m not giving this business up David. All those years at catering college are just beginning to pay off and we’re just starting to make a decent profit.” She shoved some papers that she’d been looking at earlier towards him. He scanned them quickly.

“Wow, that’s fantastic. This van thing was a good idea. It seems to be paying off better than the shop did. You really will have to get proper premises for all the baking though. Have you done some forward figures based on expanding at the same rate?” His voice was filled with admiration.

She shook her head.

“Not yet. We’re pretty much at full capacity with the van at the moment but yes, I think you’re
right, I must seriously look into renting a unit for all the cooking, it’s becoming impossible here. I’m going to expand the pub idea too. The guy up the road is very enthusiastic so others probably will be as well. It would be good to get regular orders. I may even buy another van especially for that side of the market.” She paused and thought for a second. “I think I’ll either ask Georgie and Lucy to come in more hours a day, or see if Gemma wants to come on board full time. She’s doing wonders with the website. I could be at our new unit more, cooking and filling orders from there.” Caroline was smiling. “We’ll all work out something together.” She stopped and looked pointedly at David. “Talking of together, have you phoned Natalie yet?”

David grinned sheepishly.

“Yes, she’s still mad, but apparently I can go home at the weekend if I want to make up with her.” He looked happy at the prospect.

Caroline laughed at him.

“See… Missing them all now, aren’t you? You really should pay more attention to them. The pub and golf aren’t the only things in life.” Caroline ribbed him.

“Yes, you’d be surprised how comforting it is being with one
’s family. I know it’s only been a few days but I can’t wait to see the kids again. And I can‘t wait to make up with Natalie. God! I’ve missed her.” He stopped suddenly as he saw Caroline’s crumpled face, and then added.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think before I said it, but it
’s true. I love them all so much…” He paused thoughtfully before he carried on. “This baby you’re having will be Cavendish’s family. You really have got to go and talk to him Caroline. If he finds out that you’re keeping this from him, he may react badly. Don’t forget he’s got plenty of money to back him up. You don’t want him to take this baby from you.”

Caroline gave a horrified gasp.

“He couldn’t! He wouldn’t dare try.” She looked almost panic-stricke
n
and she automatically put her hands protectively on her still-fla
t
stomach.

David put his hand over hers.

“I’m not saying he will do anything of the sort. I don’t know how the guy will react. You know him better than me, but I wouldn’t like to count my chickens, some men are very keen on their children you know. Rich men who want an heir especially. Don’t think I’m being old fashioned because I’m not. It’s true.” David looked at her seriously. She knew that he was right. She’d have to find Adam soon. I
t
wouldn’t be good if he found out from anyone else.

She thought frantically.

“I’ll go out on the van tomorrow. I’ll see if I can get anywhere on the building site. They must be able to contact him. I’ll see if he can spare me a few minutes. I don’t suppose he’ll be that interested anyway. If he’s not there I’ll try and leave some kind of message or maybe I could try at the lifeboat station. They must have his number for emergencies.” Her heart started thumping wildly at the thought of telling him. Perhaps he would think she was trying to trap him, but if she could have thought of anything to make him stay with her, she would have used it by now. She loved him almost too much. The ache in her chest was becoming too painful to bear.

“I’ll have a chat to the girls about working times tomorrow too. I haven’t told them about the pregnancy yet. I hope they won’t be too disappointed with me.” She sighed.

David laughed.

“I’m pretty sure they’ll be fine. I kind of let it slip to Cathy today. She was wondering why you were having all this time off suddenly. She seemed quite excited for you. Something about, maybe getting the guy after all.” He watched Caroline as she flicked through some more papers.

Caroline looked up sharply at his words.

“I’m not going to try and trap
him like that David, and Cathy should know me better. If he wants to be a real dad then it’s up to him, but I won’t be making a big fuss if he doesn’t. And I won’t be using our baby to try and make him come back to me. What would be the point if his heart isn’t in it?” She took the paperwork back off him and looked at the figures herself once again. They were very good and the wedding cakes hadn’t even been included with this side of the business. It meant that hopefully she wouldn’t have any money worries whatever Adam decided to do.

 

It was windy in the morning and for the first time Caroline and Cathy had to find more sheltered areas to serve their customers, many of whom were now regulars. The sand blew up from the beach and almost immediately Caroline realized that they would need more protection. It was coming up to the summer and although that would probably mean plenty of warm days, winter would soon creep up on them and she wanted to be prepared.

She
manoeuvred the van round so it faced away from the sea. They didn’t have such a good view but at least the sand wasn’t blowing onto the cakes. Cathy lifted a huge chocolate brownie slab onto the counter and started cutting it into generous squares. It was still slightly warm and the thick chocolate smell wafted through the van. 

Caroline had decided early on that she wasn’t going to compromise on portion size. People ate with their eyes these days and a big slice of cake always
looked better than a small one; if there was too much to eat in one go her customers could always eat it later.

But today she couldn’t stomach it the look of it
let alone the smell, and she had to leave the back of the van quickly. She couldn’t be seen being sick anywhere near it and she breathed deeply, desperate to hold back the nausea. Cathy saw her predicament and waved her off, insisting that she was fine by herself for an hour. She told Caroline to go and have a walk along the beach and let the wind blow away the cobwebs from her mind. The strong breeze buffeted her as she walked past the back of the lifeboat station. It was shut up, apparently abandoned but that wasn’t surprising as it was run by volunteers and they only came down when there was an emergency call out or a drill. She wandered onto the beach and along the seafront towards the high cliffs. It was so pretty along this stretch of coastline, full of hidden coves and rock pools with crabs left stranded by the receding tides. She sat down on a rocky outcrop, her hair blowing about her face, and stared at the sea.

E
verything seemed to overwhelm her at once. She felt sick and tired, her heart was broken and she was going to be a single mother. She slipped from the rock onto some dry and, realizing that she was out of the wind and suddenly quite warm, she curled her fingers into the soft sand before letting it blow away into the wind above her. She sobbed out loud and let the tears flow down her cheeks as she sat there. It wasn’t self-pity, she was just sad for what might have been.

Adam had been so sincer
e, she had thought she had seen love in his steel grey eyes. She couldn’t believe he had done this to her. Admittedly he knew nothing of the baby yet, but she felt so abandoned by him all the same. If only he’d rung a few times, maybe she would have been more forgiving about the other woman, perhaps she would have been prepared to share.

The night t
hey had made love she had put his lover to the back of her mind. She’d needed him badly, needed him forever. Their lovemaking had been spectacular. She had never felt like that before; completely fulfilled, completely loved.
God!
How she wanted that again, but it would be useless to try and find that with any other man. She knew now that Adam was the only one who could have ever given her such an incredible experience.

He’d been so genuinely surprised t
hat she’d been able to take him and still want more, but it had been impossible for her not to. He fitted her so perfectly. Everything about him was perfect for her. She wondered sadly why she wasn’t just as perfect for him.

The sun was lovely on her face and she lifted her head for a moment and then closed her eyes as the fatigue swept over her again. Perhaps a nap in the fresh air would be a good idea. She pulled her jacket around her shoulders and laid down on the soft sand, curling up as she held her arms around herself and drift
ed off into wonderful dreams of Adam making love to her again.

BOOK: Delicious Desires
4.99Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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