Time After Time: A heart-warming novel about love, loss and second chances. Hannah McKinnon Mary
couple move towards the doors and squinted at the copy of Libération the guy had sandwiched under his arm. It was close enough for her to make out the words. But that wasn’t all. She understood them.
The couple continued talking and Hayley listened more intently, paying attention to each syllable, every intonation.
‘Tu vois,’ the girl said as she put her arms around her boyfriend. ‘La prochaine fois tu m’écoutes mieux, d’accord?’
Hayley gaped at them with wide eyes, understanding every word.
‘C’est impossible,’ she said out loud to herself, ‘Je n’ai jamais appris le français.’ Her hand flew up to cover her open mouth.
Since when do I speak French? What’s next? Latin? Parseltongue?
She closed her eyes again to escape any other oddities that might be thrown her way, and only opened them when her stop was announced over the loudspeaker.
At Chris’ house she mustered all the courage she could find, slid one of the keys into the lock and, heart pounding and palms sweating, pushed open the door.
Chris knelt in front of Hayley as she sat on the bed. He looked up at her, his expression peppered with hope and desperation.
‘Will you?’ he said, running a hand first through his thick black hair and then across his face.
‘Get married?’ Hayley asked. ‘Are you serious?’ A broad grin spread across her face.
‘I’ve never been so serious in my life.’
Hayley thought he looked like a puppy begging for a treat, his eyes wide and twinkling, and his mouth in an expectant smile.
‘I love you,’ he said. ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’ve finished my apprenticeship and I’m earning. If you leave university and get a job, we can afford a place of our own and have kids. I’ll get you a ring and you can be my girl. Forever.’
Hayley pictured herself at their wedding and bit her lip. They made a lovely couple, everyone said so, and she loved him so much. For the most part they were happy and the sex had become much hotter since she’d started reading Cosmo articles, given him some subtle hints and direct guidance. But leave university? And kids?
Maybe I can continue my course. Surely he’ll let me? Surely … wait a second; let me?
Ellen’s voice popped into her head: ‘God, he’s so controlling.’
‘Well?’ Chris said. He winked at her and she noticed he was flexing his muscles. He knew she’d always had a weak spot for his biceps.
She swallowed. She loved him, but … ‘Well … I don’t want to leave university,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I … I don’t know if I want to have kids. I’m only nineteen.’
Chris got up. ‘Of course we’ll have kids! And leaving uni will mean more money right away.’ He smiled at her.
‘But –’
‘You could always go back to school later. Night school, even, once we’re settled, or learn something else if you have to.’ He grinned. ‘Yeah, it’ll be great.’
‘Hang on a sec.’ Hayley’s voice became stronger. ‘I love you but I want to be a solicitor. I want to travel the world and work in New York or Paris. Mr. Simpson said –’
‘Mr. Simpson, Mr. Simpson,’ he mimicked, throwing his arms in the air. ‘He’s all you talk about.’ He stared at her, eyes narrowed and steely. ‘Are you sleeping with him?’
‘What? No!’
‘He thinks you have a real knack for law – my arse. He wants to get in your knickers. I should have known.’
‘Stop it! He’s a great teacher, that’s all. The whole class thinks so. When we debated the merits –’
‘Debated the merits?’ He snorted. ‘Mum’s right, you’re already a snob. I bet this is the crap your uni friends and that bitch Ellen are putting in your head and –’
‘Piss off, Chris,’ Hayley shouted as she jumped up from the bed and pointed a finger at him. She felt the heat rising to her face and the muscles in her jaw stiffen. ‘I don’t think I’m better than you. You’re the one with the problem and –’
Chris towered over her. ‘Don’t talk to me like that. You’re my girl and you’ll do as you’re told.’ He grabbed her dress from the floor and ripped it down the seam.
Hayley started to cry. ‘You bastard. How dare you.’
‘How dare you? How dare you?’ Chris mimicked her again then he kicked Hayley’s bedroom door, putting a boot-clad foot straight through it. Hayley draw a sharp breath at the sound of splintering wood and before she could shout at him to get out, the broken door flew open and her parents and sister burst into the room.
Despite being half a head shorter than Chris and a good deal lighter, Stan Adams grabbed him by the back of the neck and hauled him out of the bedroom. ‘Come on, sunshine,’ he said in a voice Hayley had never heard him use before – it came out more of a growl than actual words.
Jackie bent down and picked up Chris’ jacket, her recently dyed red hair a fiery mass of curls. ‘You little shit,’ she shouted as she charged back out of the room and down the stairs, ‘That’s my sister up there.’
Karen hurried forward and gently helped Hayley sit down on the bed.
‘Get out of my house and never come back,’ Stan shouted and the front door slammed. Footsteps came back up the stairs and Stan and Jackie piled into the bedroom, both of them out of breath and shaking.
‘Come on, Jackie,’ Stan said, ‘let’s give Mum and your sister some space.’ The door – or what was left of it – closed behind them.
Hayley collapsed on her bed and buried her head in the pillow, soaking it with tears. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m here now.’
‘What have I done? I love him.’ She sat up. ‘I have to go after him.’
‘No.’ Karen grabbed her arm. ‘Let him go.’
Hayley burst into tears again and put her arms around her mum, breathing in the familiar and comforting scent of lavender perfume. ‘He … he didn’t want me to … to go out wi-without him but it just means he … he loves me. He does.’
‘Maybe.’ Karen sighed as she patted Hayley’s back.
‘And I love him.’
‘You can’t live with a person who wants to dictate your life.’
Hayley crossed her arms and pulled away. ‘You said the other week you didn’t like him anymore.’ She watched as a frown crossed her mum’s face, then it disappeared.
‘That’s not what I said, Hayley.’ Karen smoothed her hands over her tartan skirt. ‘I said I didn’t agree with him telling you who you can and can’t see, and we ended up in a fight.’
Hayley looked down and kept her arms crossed. ‘Maybe if you’d been clearer I would have listened.’
‘You’re angry, I understand.’