Free The One You Fear by Paul Pilkington

just wish he hadn’t met you again. He’d moved on with things. He was happy with his girlfriend, and things were going well.’
    ‘I wish he could have moved on too. I honestly do.’
    ‘I’ve got to go,’ Charlotte said. ‘But the reason why I wanted to see you was to give you this.’ She handed over a brown envelope, with Emma’s name scrawled on the front. It looked like Stuart’s handwriting.
    ‘Two days after Stuart died, I received a parcel from him,’ Charlotte explained. ‘He’d written letters to me, my mum and dad, his girlfriend Sally, and you.’
    Emma looked at it, then up at Charlotte.
    ‘You don’t have to open it now,’ said Charlotte. ‘Do it in your own time. I’m sorry, I should have given this to you before now, but I was angry.’ She stood up. ‘I’ll be going now. Would you like me to pay for my drink?’
    ‘It’s okay, I’ll get it.’
    Emma watched as she left the café. The letter felt like a ton weight in her hands.
    Should she open it?
    She decided not to, for now. It wasn’t the sort of thing she wanted to look at in public. She wasn’t sure she wanted to look at it at all, but the right place was certainly not here. So she slipped it into her bag and went to the counter to pay.
    ‘That’s fine,’ the girl said, as Emma presented her debit card. ‘You don’t have anything more to pay.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Your friend covered the tab. Paid cash for the lot.’
    ‘Friend?’
    ‘Yes, the man who left a few minutes ago. He paid for everything.’
    ‘He must have made a mistake. He wasn’t with us.’
    ‘I know,’ the girl said, ‘he was sitting by the window on his own, but he definitely meant to pay for your order. He pointed you out specifically.’
    ‘I don’t understand, I really don’t know what’s going on, why would somebody do that?’
    She smiled. ‘I wouldn’t argue with a free lunch. Looks like you’ve got yourself a fan.’
     
     
    ***
     
     
    Miranda returned from the hospital just after six o’clock. It had been a tiring day at work. The pregnancy was really taking its toll, sapping her energy levels to the extent that, for most of the day, she had just wanted to curl up in a corner and sleep. But her schedule afforded no time for rest: as a doctor, the needs of the patients came before your own. Now, however, she desperately wanted to relax – maybe run herself a hot bath, light some candles, and soak for an hour or so. Well, she might as well take such moments before things like that became too difficult. She couldn’t imagine many candlelit baths after the baby arrived.
    She entered the house and listened for signs of life. Edward had gone out earlier to meet with a client, but he’d promised to be back by five in time to start the evening meal off. ‘Edward, are you home?’
    No answer.
    She entered the living room. All was quiet. And no sign of him in the kitchen, either. The meeting must have run late. But when she got to the bedroom, she saw the one-line note, lying on top of the covers.
    Sorry, I’ve betrayed you all. Again. This is for the best. Goodbye.
    ‘No, you can’t have...’
    But a few seconds later, her fears were confirmed. A check of the wardrobe revealed that his overnight bag had gone.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    ‘Are you okay? Want to talk?’
    ‘I can’t believe he’d do this,’ Emma said, ‘to Miranda or to me. Just walk away without explanation. He’s so selfish.’
    Dan sat down on the bed and put his arms around her. It was eleven o’clock on Monday evening – some hours after Miranda had called to tell them the news about her father. She’d rung primarily to check that he hadn’t gone around to their flat, more out of hope than expectation. He wasn’t answering his mobile phone and she was beside herself with worry.
    ‘You know,’ Emma said, ‘I thought he’d learnt his lesson after what happened. But he hasn’t changed. He hasn’t changed at all.’
    ‘He’s under a lot of