Free Waiting For You by Natalie Ward Page B

been living with me for a week or so already and they’d not said a word. She figured at least this way, they wouldn’t ever try to send out a search party, or have a leg to stand on if they tried to get her back. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t think that would ever be an issue.
    I mean, sure they never knew where I lived to ever come and find her, but they did know where she went to school and there was still Sarah across the road. But for whatever reason, and my guess is that because they were just complete arseholes who couldn’t care less, they never once tried to get her back.
    I stroke my fingers across her cheek, tracing her cheekbone, her jaw and down her neck. Evie smiles, even though I know she’s thinking about this life, nearly twenty years ago now. She shuffles around a bit and leans her head back on my shoulder.
    “Okay, so you came home early, already planned,” she says. “You then got all Mr Tough Guy and got me away from them, meaning you didn’t fail me like you think. So what…” she pauses, lifting her head to look at me. “What did you think about what happened next then…when we…” she trails off, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
    I laugh, “When we had sex?” I ask, playing with her a little.
    “Yeah,” she says, grinning up at me, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
    I burst out laughing as I pull her body up my mine and press a kiss to her lips. “Um, I don’t know. That I was pretty much the luckiest fucking guy in the world. That all my Christmases and birthdays and everything else, had all come at once.”
    Evie bursts out laughing. “So is that why you really came home early then?” she asks, smiling. I lean my forehead against hers, my eyes on her. “Ben?” she asks when I haven’t said anything. “Did you come home early just to get laid?”
    I laugh, tickling her as I lean in and kiss her. “Yes,” I say. “I did.”
    “What?!” she practically yells, pulling back even as my arms tighten around her.
    I laugh, pulling her closer for another kiss. “And,” I add, serious now. “I also came home early to check on you. To make sure you really were okay.”
    “Really?” she asks, her face softening.
    “Really,” I say, my eyes still on hers. “But mostly to get laid,” I can’t resist adding on.
    Evie laughs as she shakes her head at me before she lets out a deep breath and says, “I guess we should keep reading?” We both know what’s coming next and we both know neither of us is going to enjoy it.
    I nod, slipping my arms from around her and leaning down for the box of letters. I pause and grab the bottle of wine first, emptying it into both of our glasses before handing her a glass and picking up mine.
    “I’m probably going to need a drink for this next part,” I say, shuffling around so we are sitting side by side now.
    Evie gives me a sad smile. “I get the feeling I will too,” she says as I hand her the next letter.
    This is the letter that comes after the worst disappearance of all. This is the time when I felt completely helpless, but at the same time, incredibly angry and frustrated. And even though I can’t remember everything I wrote to her back then, I know some of it won’t be good. It makes me nervous too, and there’s a part of me that just wants to forget this part, skip right over it and move onto a time when everything was good again. But as I watch her hold it, her fingers fidgeting with the edges as she forces herself to open it, I know we have to do this. It’s part of our story.
    Evie takes a deep breath and smoothes the paper on her lap and starts reading, neither of us saying anything about the lack of payment this time around.

 
 
    29 Feb 1996
    Dear Evie,

 
    Fuck, fuck, fuck… Shit, Evie, tonight was fucking awful. Really fucking awful.

 
    Where are you, baby? Please.

 
    I need to explain this. I need you to understand what happened tonight. Or what didn’t happen. Because nothing