It Started With A House: Lizzie. Book 1 (The Westport Mysteries) (23 page)

“Nothing!” He
took a deep breath and finally looked me in the eye. I counted the seconds,
waiting to see what happened next. “Life just sucks, that’s all. No matter what
they tell you, the jerks always win.”

He unlocked the
door and slammed it open. Personally, I had no idea what he was talking about,
but I decided it was best to stay out of his way for a while.

Thankfully it
looked like no one had been for a sleep over while I was away, so finding some rubber
gloves from under the kitchen sink, I headed to my bedroom with a large garbage
bag. What sucked was I really liked these sheets and now I was going to have to
throw them away. Stripping everything off the bed, I kept thinking today wasn’t
a good one. And it was only going to get worse when I got to the office and had
to face Scott and Brenda.

Filling the
garbage bag, I took it all down to the skip and threw it in. Looking back at
the house, I stood for a while and thought how much my life had changed since I
made the decision to buy it. Riley was definitely a positive change, even
though he just wanted to be friends. Our friendship was new though and I
wondered how it would go after him being away for six months. Probably not
great.

* * * *

By
the time I’d driven into the city, my mood was definitely black. It had started
to rain, I’d had to park two blocks from the office and make three trips to get
all the damn files from my car to the office building. Riley had wanted to come
with me but I convinced him I would be safe. It was daylight after all and I
would be in the office most of the time. His mood hadn’t been any better than
mine, so I thought a bit of space would do us both good. Taking the elevator to
the third floor, I took a deep breath and prepared myself for what I’d find. All
sorts of images flashed through my mind. Like, did everyone in the office know
what was happening? Were they all talking and laughing at me behind my back? How
many times had Scott and Brenda done it in the office, maybe even on his desk? True,
that didn’t sound like something Scott would do, but I obviously didn’t know him
as well as I thought I had.

The closer I
moved towards his office, the more I could feel people’s eyes on me as I walked
past. They knew. That I’m sure of. It seems I was the only person who didn’t
have a clue. My footsteps slowed the closer I got to his outer office but I
knew this was like taking off a Band-Aid. I had to do it quickly.

Brenda was
sitting at her desk when I walked in and I know that anger should be high on my
list of emotions when I thought of her, but it wasn’t. Humiliation and
embarrassment was. To be honest, I was almost relieved the relationship was over.
I just wish it had been on my terms and I didn’t have to face the humiliation
of telling all my family and friends I was so stupid and clueless that I didn’t
know what was happening under my own nose.

Looking at
Brenda, sitting up tall, with her blonde hair perfectly smooth, not a bit of
frizz in sight—how the hell she managed that on a day like today had me
beat—her make-up perfect, I couldn’t help but think even though she was
the same age as my mother, she didn’t look it. Seeing how perfectly she
presented herself, I could see why Scott was attracted to her.

“Lizzie. Let me
help you,” she said, jumping up when she saw me struggling in the door carrying
three boxes of files.

“No! I’m fine
thank you. I don’t need your help. You’ve done enough for me already, thanks
very much.”

“Lizzie, please
don’t be like that. Let’s go somewhere and talk.” She almost seemed to be
pleading with me.

“There’s
nothing I want to say to you, Brenda,” I said, turning away from her.

That was a
total lie. I had heaps I wanted to say, none of which was polite, so I thought
keeping it to myself was probably the better option. Dumping the boxes on her
desk, I was about to walk out of the room when Scott’s office door opened and
out he walked, completely unaware I was there.

For a couple of
seconds the world stood still, none of us knowing what to do. I used the time
to have a good look at them both. Looking at Scott through new eyes, I wondered
what I’d ever seen in him. True, he wasn’t bad looking, and he did look good in
a suit, but compared to Riley, he was downright ordinary. Add to that, he’d
never really treated me that well. Sure when we first started dating, he’d
treated me like royalty but after we officially became an item, he never
bothered about me very much. At one point I thought I loved him though, and
that he at least cared about me.

How stupid was
I?

Scott was the
first to move, turning around, walking back into his office and closing his
door. Disgust rolled over my tongue. After nearly three years, I meant so
little to him he couldn’t even say he was sorry. Turning away, I walked
straight to Human Resources and quit my job.

I know, I know—I
shouldn’t make hasty decisions when I’m emotional and about an hour later I started
to panic a bit. The thought of having to see him again required more strength
than I had.

Walking
aimlessly through the city, it didn’t take long before I realized I was at the
shops. They held so much appeal today, I couldn’t resist. They contained
absolutely everything I needed to be whoever the hell I felt like being. Scott
had left me, Riley was leaving me and a bald-headed crazy freak was the only
man attracted to me. I looked tired, dull and frizzy. I also felt about ten
years older than I really was. Can you see my point?

Yeah, yeah, I
know I really should have been saving my money. I was unemployed after all, but
right now I didn’t like myself very much. At least I didn’t like what I saw in
the mirror. Maybe a complete transformation was what I needed. I’d worry about
money next month. I still had a few savings, which I had originally kept to be
spent on my kitchen, but hey, I’d just have to live with the old one until I
got a new job. Surely it couldn’t be that hard.

* * * *

By
the time I got home, it was getting dark. Riley’s truck was still in my
driveway and the downstairs lights were on, so picking up my bags, I walked
inside. I think I got a bit carried away with all the shopping I’d done. It was
one of those days where everything I tried on looked good. Maybe because it was
all quite different to what I would usually buy and I was so open to change. I
don’t know, but I wasn’t looking forward to the credit card bill next month.

Stepping into
the kitchen, I looked at Riley sitting at the kitchen table, beer in hand,
barely moving a muscle. Seeing me, a mixture of emotions seemed to pass over
his face. If I had to list them, I would say the first was relief, the second
was disbelief looking at my bags and lastly, was anger. Seeing this last one, I
stopped not quite knowing what to do. He seemed to go from calm to extremely
angry in less than a second as he looked down at his beer, obviously trying to
control his emotions. Slowly putting my bags on the floor, I walked into the
room and sat silently at the table.

“Did you bother
to think about anybody other than yourself today?” he asked, his voice very
quiet.

“What?” I
asked, confused.

“I have been
sitting here for the last three hours, trying to call you to see if you were okay.”
His voice was now getting louder. “Thinking that asshole had caught up with you
and was doing who the
fuck
knows what
to you. And you were
shopping
!”

He was full on
yelling by now, leaning over the table and looking down on me. From where I was
sitting, it was a pretty scary place to be. In all honesty, I hadn’t given a
single thought to the maniac following me. My whole day was consumed with Riley
leaving, Scott cheating and my whole crappy self-esteem.

Pulling my
phone out of my bag, I looked to see I had seventeen missed calls from Riley. I’d
put my phone on silent when I was in HR filling out all the necessary paper
work it required to resign and had forgotten to switch it back again.

“I had no idea
where to even start looking!” he yelled. “I phoned Brenda and she told me you
had left hours ago. I asked to speak to Scott but he wasn’t in the office. I
was just praying you were with him, can you believe that! Because if you were
with him, at least you’d be safe!”

He paced around
the room, eyes blazing. Actually, he had really amazing eyes when he was angry.
The outside rim of them had gone that really deep blue again. Not that I was
noticing it, of course. I was actually feeling a really bad for worrying him so
much.

“I’m sorry. You’re
right. I should have called to let you know I was okay. I put my phone on silent
and forgot about it.”

He stopped
pacing and ran his hands through his hair, as frustrated as all hell. I hadn’t
moved a muscle, too afraid of what would happen. The silence seemed to go on
forever.

“I lost track
of time. Riley, I’m really sorry. I had a really crappy day and thought a bit
of shopping would take my mind off of things. I didn’t mean to worry you,” I
added quietly.

He turned his
back and walked out of the room. I felt my stomach cramp as panic ran through
me.

OMG! What have
I done?

I could see him
visibly shaking as he walked past me, so I got up and ran after him, ready to
beg forgiveness. I don’t normally like upsetting people, but the thought that I
had upset Riley almost broke my heart. He was the last person on earth I would
want to hurt especially since it was my own self-pity that caused it.

“Riley, please,”
I begged. “Please, don’t be mad at me.”

I grabbed his
arm, forcing him to stop. Panicking he would leave for good, I walked in front
of him and forced him to look at me. It was then I saw the tears welling in his
eyes.

Suddenly, I
couldn’t breathe. I mean, I really couldn’t breathe. It felt like something was
constricting my chest so tight I couldn’t get a breath in or out. What the hell
had I done to him?

I gulped,
trying to force air into my lungs, but I couldn’t get it in. I tried again, but
still I was unable to breath. I could hear the loud wheezing coming out of my
chest and let the tears I’d been holding back fall down my cheeks. Squeezing
Riley’s arm tighter, I put my head down and dropped to my knees, fighting for
breath.

Riley pushed my
arm off of his, turned and walked away.

“I’m sorr—”
I wanted him to hear my apology and forgive me, but I couldn’t get any oxygen,
so how I thought I could talk was beyond me. Right now though, coherent
thoughts were not happening. I looked up and saw Riley’s back disappearing and
felt my heart shatter into a thousand pieces. If only I could turn back the
clock, I would do it all completely differently. Please God, if you are
listening, don’t let Riley leave me. Please, please.

Thankfully, God
was listening. Riley quickly returned with a kitchen chair and with very little
effort, lifted me into it.

“Put your head
between your knees, Lizzie.”

What? What did
he tell me to do? I could hear his voice, shaky with emotion, but I was still
gasping for air and couldn’t understand what he was saying. The next thing I
knew, Riley had pushed my head down between my knees and was holding it there,
one hand pushing me down between my shoulder blades.

Slowly, I could
feel the air return back into my lungs and when I had calmed down enough and my
breathing had started to even out, I sat back in the chair and cried. Riley
sunk onto the floor next to me. Looking over at him, his head hanging low, I
suddenly forgot about breathing at all. Sinking to the floor, I grabbed onto his
arm as if my life depended on it.

“Riley, please
believe me. I’m sorry. Please don’t leave,” I begged. Looking back at me, all
anger now gone, he just seemed tired.

“It’s okay, Lizzie.
I’m not going anywhere.”

Chapter
Twenty Three

Riley
had decided this week we would have Friday night get-together at his house. It
didn’t feel odd at all that Riley had seamlessly slid into our group, everyone
feeling like he belonged there. So after spending the morning finishing off
some client files, I decided the least I could do for staying here was to clean
his house for him.

I found the
vacuum and mop, and set about my cleaning chores. Riley’s dad had called and he’d
left me alone to go and help him on a construction job for the afternoon. He
hadn’t mentioned anything else about the quote he’d done for the job in
Loganville and I, for one, hadn’t brought it up. We were also silent on the
subject of my meltdown, which I was thankful for. Looking back on it, it was
pretty embarrassing.

I was in the
bathroom, scrubbing the shower when I thought I heard a noise outside. I
wondered if it was Cat getting into mischief, so putting down my cloth, I
wandered out to investigate. Cat had adapted quite well to his new quarters and
was behaving himself very nicely, which was a relief. When he first got here, I
had visions of him tearing up all Riley’s furniture with his claws, trying to
fight boredom. Right now, he was sound asleep on the bed. I must be imagining
things.

Walking back
into the bathroom, I heard it again. Looking at the clock, I saw it was five-thirty.
Riley would probably be home soon. It may even be him outside. I saw a shadow
pass the colored window on the side of the house as I reached the bottom of the
stairs. If it
was
Riley, it was
strange I hadn’t heard his truck pull up, but who knows, I was in the shower
with the door shut.

I checked the
lock on the front door. I hadn’t seen Sedan Man for a few days now, but the
thought of him still creeped me out a bit. I’d just stepped towards the back
door, when I saw the doorknob turn.

“Riley, is that
you?” I called.

No answer.

From where I
stood, I could see the deadlock was firmly in
 
position. Riley had this really weird deadlock system on
both his doors, so I waited to hear him inserting his key. No key.

As I stepped
back into the shadow under the stairs, I heard someone walk back around to the
front of the house and watched as the same thing happened on the front door. I
searched my pockets for my phone and I realized I’d left it upstairs. Shit!

Creeping back
up to get it, I waited and watched.
 
Whoever it was went window by window, to check if they would
open. My heart
 
moved into my
throat and Cat had woken up, the hair on his back raised.

I grabbed my
bag, my hands shaking, and pulled out everything but what I was looking for. I
found a notebook, receipts, my credit card I’d thrown back into my bag in a
hurry, tampons, I even found a half-eaten chocolate bar, but no phone. Damn. Where
the hell had I left it?

With my eyes
keeping watch on the windows and doors, I strained to hear what was going on
out there, all the while racking my brain to think where Riley’s cordless phone
would be. I know in my house it’s never where it’s supposed to be and I usually
have to call it to find it.

I remembered
seeing Riley with it last night in the kitchen, so I hoped against hope it was
still there. I crept back down the stairs, trying my hardest to be silent. I
would never have made a secret agent. I’m clumsy on a good day.

Yes! There it
was, sitting on the bench, like a lifeline. With shaking hands, I dialed the
numbers that would connect me to Riley.

Holding my
breath, I listened to it ring.

Come on, come
on, pick up. Finally.

“Hello,
Lizzie?” I let out the breath I was holding.

“Riley. Where
are you?” I whispered. I was really hoping he was going to say the back yard
and my overactive imagination was just at play.

“I’m still at
Dad’s. Is everything okay?”

Shit. It wasn’t
him creeping around then. I suddenly became really unsure of what to tell him. I
didn’t want to freak him out again and worry him.

“Yes, yes. All’s
good.” I was going to have to get brave and sort this out on my own. “Just
making sure you’d be back in time for tonight.”

“Yeah. I’ll be
leaving shortly. I’ll
 
stop at the
bottle shop and pick up a few things and then I’ll be there.”

“No! Why don’t
you come straight home? I can get Danny to pick up whatever you need. I’m sure
you’ve had a hard day and just want to get home to put your feet up.”

I’d started to
babble. That’s what happens when I’m nervous. After assuring me he would be
straight home, I hung up the phone and contemplated my next move. I needed a
weapon. I was
not
going to sit here
and be scared any longer. Time to be proactive.

In the kitchen,
I looked
 
through the drawers and
 
picked up a carving knife. It looked
scary enough and would definitely cause some damage. When I was a kid, I did a
little Jujitsu and I always remember my Sensei telling us to never pick up a
weapon we weren’t prepared to defend ourselves against. Could I defend myself
against a carving knife? I didn’t think so. In fact, the thought of being faced
with a knife terrified me.

Looking
further, I found lots of things that would be totally useless but finally came
up with the bug spray. A good squirt to the eyes and he’d be crying for weeks. Also,
this didn’t terrify me anywhere near as much as the knife.

Okay, I was armed.
I crept over to the front door, put my ear to it and listened. I had no idea
whether or not anyone was still there. I’d been making quite a bit of noise
searching for my weapon. After a few minutes, my ears adjusted and I could hear
a faint voice.

“Lizzie,
Lizzie. I know you’re in there,” I heard the taunt. “Let me in. I know you want
to.” I heard a soft chuckle.

Fear ran through
me and my blood pumped at a million miles an hour. I slowly lowered myself to
the floor for the fear of my knees giving out on me. So much for bravery, I
thought.

I don’t know
how long I sat there—straining to hear, listening for the slightest
sounds—but it felt like an eternity. I heard a car door and footsteps,
and let out a God Almighty scream when someone pounded on the door I leaned
against.

“What the
hell?” I heard from the other side of the door. “Lizzie, is that you?”

It was Danny.
T
hank God
.

Standing up and
looking through the peephole, I saw Danny and Andrew looking at each other,
alarmed. Unlocking the door and opening it, I let them in.

“God, you
scared me girl. What the hell was the scream for?” Danny looked annoyed as he
walked in. That’s how he handles fear. He gets annoyed. Or cries. Whichever. “I
nearly wet myself.”

“Sorry. I
thought I saw a bug,” I said, holding up the can of spray, trying my hardest
not to let Danny and Andrew see my hand shaking.

I had a good
look around outside before l closed and relocked the door.

* * * *

After getting Danny, Drew and
myself a drink, I decided to have a quick shower.
 
As I was drying myself I heard Riley knock on the door.

“Hey Lizzie.
 
How long are you going to be?
 
I really need the loo.”

I wrapped the towel tightly around myself
and opened the door.

“You can have it now if you like. I can
get dressed in the bedroom” I said noticing how dirty he was. “I think you
should use the shower while you’re there.” I smiled and stepped through the
door, allowing Riley to pass.

“Thanks. I think I’d have to sit outside
otherwise.”

Waiting until I heard the shower start, I
thought I’d try some of my new clothes

They were a bit
different from what I usually wore so it would be interesting to see everybody’s
reaction.

I’d been talked
into buying a new pair of jeans that sat low on my hips and gave everyone a
good view of my new belly button ring. The top I’d chosen didn’t fit me as
tightly as Molly’s fitted her. Instead it hung just low enough on my chest to
give everyone a hint of my assets. These, of course, were boosted with a
beautiful new Elle McPherson bra. The top fell loose from beneath my breasts to
my waist, with just a peek at my skin underneath.

I felt a little
bit uncomfortable but hid behind lots of make-up and fluffed up hair. As I
walked into the lounge room, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared.

“Do I look that
bad?” I asked.

 
I was about to turn and run back
upstairs to get changed when Danny let out a low whistle. “My God girl, if you
weren’t my sister and I wasn’t gay, I’d do you.” I had to smile.

“Well, I’m not
related, so that makes this easier for me. And right now, I may consider going
straight for you,” said Andrew coming over and kissing me on the cheek. “You
look absolutely incredible.”

I looked to
Molly. It was funny, but out of everybody, her approval meant the most. She
walked over to me, tears in her eyes.

“Wow. I never
really did stand a chance against you, but now I pale into insignificance.” She
pulled me into a big hug.

Holding
tightly, not wanting to let go, I said, “I love you, Molly, but I can’t hold a
candle to you.”

“What’s going
on?” I heard Riley’s voice behind us. Letting go of Molly and turning, I heard
Danny say, “Lizzie’s been shopping, thank God. She now has nice clothes.”

I saw Riley
look from Danny to me and heard him let out a long sigh. Looking me up and
down, sadness in his eyes, he silently walked past me into the kitchen. Not
quite the reaction I was looking for, but really, what did I expect?

“Don’t think
he’s impressed, Lizzie,” whispered Danny. “He obviously never understood just
how awful your old wardrobe was.”

Picking up the
nearest pillow, I threw it at him and laughed. “My clothes were not that bad.”

“Yes. They
were.”

* * * *

After
dinner, we sat around talking. I knew I would have to tell everybody about
Scott and now, with a few drinks in me, I felt a whole lot stronger. Molly,
bless her, gave me the perfect segue into it by asking me how Scott was and had
I seen him much lately.

“Um…Scott and I
actually broke up.” Silence filled the room. Nobody moved.

Then all at
once everybody started talking.

“How?”

“When?”

“What
happened?”

The only person
not saying anything was Riley.

“This is reason
to celebrate. Break out the champers,” yelled Danny.

“What
happened?” asked Molly.

Everyone
quietened down while I told them the story. I didn’t leave anything out, including
what happened yesterday and how I quit my job. This was my family and they had
to know the truth. The whole, humiliating truth.

When I’d
finished, I looked down at myself and said, “If Scott preferred a woman my mother’s
age over me, what does it say about me?”

“It doesn’t say
anything about you, but it screams a whole lot about Scott,” said Danny,
totally disgusted.

I wasn’t able
 
to look at Riley to gauge his reaction.
 
Drew walked over
 
and took my hand.

“I know how you
feel. Someone I cared about played up on me once. But you will get over it and
you will find someone who values you.”

“But that’s
just it. I’m not upset the relationship is over. It’s just that it confirms
what Scott always told me. I wasn’t good enough for him and if I wasn’t good
enough for him—the low-life, cheating, scum-bastard—then who am I
good enough for?”

The tears were
running now, messing up all the lovely make-up I’d spent ages perfecting. I was
starting to think my mum was right. My eyes were too close to my bladder. I had
never spent as
 
much time crying as
I had in the last few weeks. Drew pulled me close and held me until the tears
subsided. Molly handed me the tissues, after offering one to Danny and taking
one herself.

“Let me tell
you something, Lizzie,” she said, kneeling down in front of me. “You are, and
always were, too good for that prick of an asshole. If he said you weren’t good
enough for him, then he is not only a low-life, cheating, scum-bastard, but
he’s also a liar. And I, for one, am going to kick him in the balls so hard he
will never be able to reproduce any little liars like himself.”

I noticed
Danny, Riley and Andrew all cross their legs at this last statement. I had to
laugh. Trust Molly to put it like that.

“I have to tell
Mum yet,” I said.

“That one, you
are on your own with.”