A Season for Second Chances(5)

Chapter 4



Most of the tables in the hotel restaurant were occupied by families with young children; crayons and character backpacks littered the floor and the ignorable Muzak melodies were almost lost beneath their cacophony.

Annie sipped her wine. She was the only woman eating alone. She didn’t mind. Being by herself had been a rare treat when the boys were small. Since they’d grown up, being alone had become her state of being. A man in a cheap suit a few tables down, also eating solo, consistently tried to get Annie’s attention, raising his glass and winking at her every time she looked down that end of the restaurant. Annie smiled weakly and ignored him. As she scoured the dessert menu, another man approached her table and asked if she’d like some company. She politely declined, and the man shrugged and went back to propping up the bar. She was just scraping up the last of her triple chocolate delight when another man-shaped shadow fell across the table. Annie was about to insist that she really was more than happy to share a meal with herself when she caught sight of the shadow’s shoes: two-tone, well-worn brogues. Max’s shoes.

“Hello,” said Max.

His face was all angst. His big blue eyes looked down at her imploringly. Annie realized she had frozen with the fork halfway to her mouth. She laid it down, unable to eat the last mouthful of her pudding, which pained her slightly.

“May I sit?” asked Max.

Annie gesticulated toward the chair opposite hers and Max sat. He looked tired. Contrite. His blond hair, graying attractively at the temples, was fluffy and uncharacteristically wild. His beard was almost entirely gray with flecks of white at the sides and at the edges of his mustache. She resisted the urge to stick her dessert fork into his forehead but only just.

“You froze me out of our bank accounts.” Annie’s voice was quiet but loaded.

Max looked nervous.

“Come home and we can work it out,” he said.

“What you did cannot be worked out. Not this time. Unlock the accounts. That’s my money too, and you have no right to take control of it.”

“I was frightened. I didn’t know what you might do.”

Annie took a deep breath. The couple at the next table were eating chocolate fudge cake, and Annie was filled with an almost overwhelming desire to scoop it up and squidge it in Max’s pleading face.

“Just unlock the accounts, Max.”

“I will, I promise. But we need to talk,” said Max.

“You had one job,” said Annie.

Max put his head in his hands. One of his elbows was resting in a splodge of ketchup. She didn’t tell him.

“What did we agree after the last time?” said Annie. “What did you promise?”

“I know. I know!” said Max from behind his hands.

“Don’t fuck the staff!” said Annie.

The couple at the table to the left looked over, the woman’s eyes bright with curiosity, but she swiftly returned to her mixed grill when she met Annie’s stare.

“I’m sorry,” said Max. “It was a slip-up. It’ll never happen again. I promise.”

“You’ve made me look like a fool,” said Annie. “And yourself look like an arsehole.”

“It didn’t mean anything,” Max sobbed quietly. “She’s nothing!”

“That’s even worse,” hissed Annie. “That poor girl! For God’s sake, Max, if you’re going to ruin what little was left of our marriage, at least do it for something more than nothing.”

“What do you want me to do?” asked Max. “Tell me what to do. Anything. I’ll do it.”

“I want a divorce,” said Annie.

“No, Annie. Please. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please,” said Max.

“It’s over,” said Annie. “I’m done.”





Chapter 5



When her extra nights at the hotel were over, Annie rolled over, pushed her arm out of the duvet, grabbed the hotel phone, and called reception.

“Hello, how can I help you?” came a female voice.

“Oh, hello,” said Annie. “This is Mrs. Sharpe in room 208. I’d like to book another three nights in this room, please. Just charge it to the card I used for the last booking.”

“I’m sorry,” said the receptionist. “This room is booked for tonight.”

“This actual room?”

“Yes.”

“You have no other spare rooms in this hotel?”

“Oh yes, madam, we have other rooms. We could move you into one of those,” said the receptionist brightly.

“No,” said Annie. “I don’t want to move. I’m already here and settled. But if the arriving guests haven’t requested this actual room and all the rooms in the hotel are identical, then you could put them in the room you want me to move into and they will never even know they’ve been allocated a different room.”

“But we have a system,” said the receptionist, less brightly.

“But I’m already here and they won’t know the difference,” said Annie.

“But this room is booked out,” said the receptionist.

“Look,” said Annie. “I’m a reasonable woman. Ask anyone. Ask my cheating husband! I am the most reasonable woman you could ever hope to meet. But I am not moving from this room; you’ll have to come in here and carry me out.”