Chapter 2
2
Ethan Connolly rubbed the sore spot on the top of his head and squinted up at Libby in the semi-darkness from his prone position on the floor.
‘I know you hate me, Libby,’ he said, wincing as his fingers touched the tender skin. ‘But could you refrain from actual physical violence in the future?’
As he slowly stood back up again, he drew his phone back up to light up Libby, who was still scowling at him. Libby was not normally a person to apologise even when she was in the wrong and it looked like she wasn’t going to start now.
‘What are you doing in here?’ she snapped at him instead. ‘Why are you creeping around the old school in the middle of the night?’
‘What I do in the privacy of my own home is entirely my business,’ he replied, feeling around on the top of his head once more. Luckily, he could find no bump nor, as he brought his fingers out in front of him, could he see any blood.
‘Your home?’ repeated Libby in a shocked tone.
‘As of two days ago,’ he told her.
To be fair, he was almost as surprised as Libby at the thought of him buying a property in sleepy Cranfield. It had been his home village since he was born, but he had no love for it. Not anymore.
However, the apartment above the station where he had grown up was now a love nest for his older brother Ryan and his girlfriend Katy. Ethan loved them both, but three was most definitely a crowd, and with no spare bedrooms in the nearby cottage on Railway Lane where their dad and grandad lived, Ethan wanted his own accommodation when he came to visit.
Over the summer, he had found out that the old school was up for sale after the previous owner had run out of money for the renovations and so Ethan had proceeded with the purchase.
He had kept this quiet from his family in case the purchase didn’t go through. He didn’t want to get their hopes up. Nor their expectations that he would be living in Cranfield full time, because that was never ever going to happen, as far as he was concerned.
The school, thankfully, turned out to be in a relatively decent state. The previous owner had fitted a high quality kitchen and bathroom, as well as new oak floors. The only immediate problems had been the need for a new front door as the existing one wouldn’t shut properly and the electrics, which had shorted out on him half an hour ago when he had got up, unable to sleep.
He had switched on the torch on his phone whilst he had repaired the fuse, when he had suddenly heard movement nearby. Fearing a break-in, before he had time to react, he had been whacked on the head and rather than finding a thief, he had come across Libby instead.
‘So, are you carrying some sort of roof slate around with you now?’ asked Ethan as he felt around for the overhead light switch to find out if his repair of the fuse had been successful. ‘Hoping to diversify into the building trade or just trying out a new form of self-defence?’
He finally found the switch and flicked it on.
After the initial bright glare blinded him temporarily, his eyes quickly adjusted to the overhead light. Still standing in front of him was Libby in her glamorous flight attendant’s uniform. That amazing long pale blonde hair was scraped back into a bun, although some silvery strands had escaped. She was just as beautiful as ever, even after presumably yet another long-haul flight.
‘It was the first thing I could grab,’ said Libby, looking downcast. ‘It’s a pastry slab. I only bought it yesterday.’
His eyes automatically moved down to look at what was lying broken on the floor before he once more rubbed the top of his head, which was still throbbing. So that was what she had hit him with!
‘Well, it certainly packs a punch,’ said Ethan, still wincing. ‘What were you doing barging in here like that?’
‘I told you. I thought you were a burglar.’
‘What on earth would I be stealing?’ he said, gesturing around with his arm.
Apart from a couple of suitcases that he had brought with him the previous afternoon and the camp bed that he had set up, the place was completely empty. Certainly nothing to induce him to think of it as a home yet. Would he ever think of it like that? Probably not. After the sale of his flat in Hong Kong, buying the school was an investment and it was highly likely that he would sell it on before too long. After all, he had never wanted to stay around in his home village since the age of sixteen.
A few yards away, the railway station in Cranfield had been the actual family home since his older brother Ryan had been born thirty-four years ago. But it had been in the Connolly family for many decades before then. His great-grandfather, his grandad and his dad all had the railways in their blood and had loved working on the trains and at the station. His grandad Eddie had been the stationmaster before passing on the rented apartment and the job to his son Bob.
Growing up in a close-knit community such as Cranfield, the brothers had enjoyed the freedom of the countryside and the excitement of the station bustling with people from the nearby villages using the short train line into the town of Aldwych ten miles away. But then the small branch line had been closed, along with many others around the country, due to government cuts. Their dad had reeled from the shock and had found himself lost without his beloved trains to look after. Cranfield, the village, had also closed down without the station in use.
However, things were finally beginning to turn around in the village’s favour. After years of neglect, the previous winter, chef Ryan, with the help of newly arrived Katy, had turned the old station into a successful coffee shop by day and Italian restaurant by evening, as well as providing takeaway pizzas to local customers. The station had begun to be filled with people once more. Meanwhile, Ryan and Katy had made a happy home for themselves upstairs in the family apartment.
The brothers were only three years apart and yet worlds apart in their attitudes towards pretty much everything. Ethan deliberately didn’t like to treat anything seriously, whereas Ryan had a more steady, methodical approach.
They were even different in looks. Ethan had blonde hair and was blue-eyed, like his mum, whereas Ryan was dark-haired, after their dad.
There was only one way in which the brothers were alike. And that had been both of their inclinations to run away as far as they could instead of watching the collapse of their parents’ marriage year by year.
Ethan had known it was coming and yet his dad had been blissfully unaware that his wife’s sniping and nagging was a consequence of her deep unhappiness in their marriage. Ethan had always presumed that their mum must have loved their dad once but any affection for him seemed to fade year on year.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst part was her affairs, which Ethan had become aware of early in his teens. Then, one wretched summer day when he was sixteen, Ryan had been driving them into Aldwych so that Ethan could pick up a rented tuxedo for the prom. However, on the way, they had seen a couple obviously making love in one of the many fields that surrounded the village and had realised, to their horror, that it was their mother and the local vet.
Having had a few years to get used to the betrayal, Ethan had only felt a dull ache as opposed to the deep shock that Ryan had displayed.
‘I don’t believe it,’ Ryan had spluttered, obviously trying not to cry. ‘I knew she was unhappy, but this? What do we do?’
‘We don’t do anything,’ Ethan had told him after taking a deep breath. ‘She always leaves them and goes back to him. So what does it matter?’
Ryan had looked heartbroken as he realised the truth. That their mother had had many affairs and Ethan had known all about it. Ethan had immediately blamed himself for revealing the full truth to his brother and causing him yet more pain.
So they had reluctantly agreed not to tell their dad about the real state of his marriage. He was a gentle, kind soul who adored his wife, never seeming to mind her endless criticisms about his love of the railway or even how he dressed and acted.
But the brothers had been badly affected by what they had seen. Until then, their childhood had been a happy one, but that had crashed to an abrupt halt on that day and they had both had to grow up fast.
Unable to view the sham of a marriage, Ryan had graduated from catering college and swiftly left home. Younger by three years, Ethan had kept out of the house as often as he could until he too had his electrical qualifications and could leave Cranfield to pursue his own career.
They both still had to return home for birthdays and holidays though. Ethan in particular found Christmas an especially miserable time, inwardly horrified at the fake festive atmosphere. He had often used his work as an excuse and sometimes didn’t come home for a whole year at a time.
Thankfully, his work as a lighting specialist kept him busy. He helped project manage all the technical lighting required for large-scale events, such as concerts and theatre productions. In addition, sometimes his work led him to commercial projects as well, such as shopping malls and even airports.
Whenever he had any spare time, he would fill his diary with as many dates as he could manage, not wanting to spend any time alone. He always warned any woman that he had no intention of any relationship becoming serious. His mother’s view on that had hit him deep. ‘Don’t fall in love,’ she often told him. ‘It’ll bring you no joy.’
So Ethan had kept all women at arm’s length and avoided coming back to Cranfield as much as he could until his parents’ marriage had finally completely broken down a year ago, when their mum had walked out on their dad to start a new life in Spain with her most recent lover. Ethan wasn’t entirely sure that she was happy with her decision, but he was glad for his father’s sake that his broken heart had slowly mended and that he was happy at last.
Their newly single dad Bob had moved in with their grandfather, Eddie, and was now living in one of the small cottages on Railway Lane, only a short distance from the station. The first few months of being single had been tricky for Bob but his love of trains had helped him through the tougher times.
Ryan at least seemed to have finally made his peace with the past and, after moving back home to support his dad after the breakup, was now happily settled in Cranfield with Katy, who he adored.
However, Ethan still struggled with his role in keeping the secret of his mum’s affairs. But he had tried to come home more often in the past year.
Ethan looked at the empty room once more before concentrating back on Libby, who was still frowning at him.
‘So, what?’ asked Libby. ‘You’re living here now?’
‘Don’t worry, Libs,’ he replied, with a grin. ‘I’ll make sure I irritate you at every opportunity.’
‘No change there then,’ she replied, with a roll of her eyes. ‘Well, now that I’ve ensured that the local crime rate is kept down, I’ll get out of here. Some of us have actually been working all night.’
She abruptly spun on her heels and marched over to the front door, which she had left wide open when she had rushed inside a few minutes earlier.
She totally ignored Ethan as he followed her before leaning on the doorframe to watch her drive the short distance down Railway Lane to park up in front of her cottage.
When she got out of her car, he gave her a wave. He knew she had seen him as she turned her head away, deliberately ignoring him, and walked up the front path out of view.
Ethan stood there for a moment, smiling to himself at his favourite, cherished memories, which were always those with Libby.
In the early days, they had been close – as thick as thieves, his grandad had often said. He enjoyed the company of all his friends in the village, as well as his family, but his relationship with Libby was different. Special, maybe. Unique, definitely.
She had rebelled against her father for most of her childhood. Wild-spirited Libby had broken the mould and Ethan had always been drawn to her for as long as he could remember.
Ethan was the only one who understood why she acted that way. He was always rebelling too, taking rule-breaking to the max, trying not to think about his mother’s affairs.
Once they had reached sixteen, he had invited Libby to go to the prom with him. He had been hoping that it would be the day to turn their friendship into something more. To finally stop joking around and tell her how he really felt. How she was his first love. Perhaps even his forever one too.
But that was before he and Ryan had spotted their mother in the field on the day of the prom. When the truth of their parents’ marriage had come crashing down on his elder brother and Ethan could no longer protect him from the truth. They were both feeling heartbroken and nothing could cheer Ethan up, not even taking Libby to the prom. In the end, Ethan had got drunk and called his brother to take him home, abandoning Libby at the prom. She had been angry with him and rightfully so. But he couldn’t tell her the truth. No one was to know, according to the pact he had made with Ryan.
His close friendship with Libby had abruptly halted at that moment. She obviously hated him. He’d ruined her prom and she could never forgive him. In truth, he couldn’t even forgive himself.
But no woman had ever compared to her, despite the many years of dating, looking for an alternative to the bluest eyes that he knew, as well as that gorgeous long blonde hair, so pale it was almost silver.
His mother had told him true love didn’t exist and having seen his parents’ marriage at close quarters, he knew she was right, despite his friends in Cranfield and even his brother proving him wrong over the last year or so by falling in love.
There had only been one time when he had felt that love was real. One night when he had unexpectedly bumped into Libby in Las Vegas and been true to himself and the deep feelings he held for her. She was the only one to have ever got close enough to him to reveal his heart. But it had been too close for the both of them, as it turned out.
It had been a night to forget as far as Libby was concerned, but despite nearly eight years passing since, why couldn’t he do the same?
So he joked and wound her up whenever he came back to Cranfield, all the while trying to ignore the Libby-shaped hole in his heart.
He glanced once more up Railway Lane, but she had long since disappeared from view. So he turned around and closed the front door behind him.