Free Twelve Days - The Beginning by Jade Reyner

as he formulated the few short words.
    “No Elise, I don’t need to know why.” he said simply. “I already do.”

Chapter Seven
    It was 7pm and Elise had finally got home from the hospital. She walked into her lounge on tired legs and sank down onto the sofa without even bothering to turn on the light.
    Dale was still in hospital as they had decided to keep him in for a couple of nights. The concussion had worn off and he was awake and talking but due to the quantity of alcohol in his system, they had been unable to perform certain tests and wanted to make sure that everything was absolutely clear before they released him.
    Elise couldn’t say she was sad about that. Dale had been in a foul mood when she had arrived at the hospital and the poor nurses were getting it in the neck. She could tell that he was still under the influence and briefly wondered how much he had drunk to end up in such a state.
    Patiently she had sat with him, explaining that the nurses were only doing their job and eventually he had calmed down and become more amenable to their poking and prodding. The alcohol was finally starting to wear off and the Dale that she married was beginning to re-appear. It had taken her all afternoon though and had left her with no time to check in on Cole. She knew that he was OK but she wanted to see what had happened with the police and of course apologise for the mess that she had got him into.
    Privately, Elise was relieved to have a couple of days away from Dale. Things had turned upside down in the last twenty-four hours and her exhausted brain needed some time and space to process everything. She had to work out what she was going to do about Dale and his association with alcohol, which was undoubtedly getting worse. She also needed to think about their relationship, their marriage, where they were heading and what she could possibly do to get things back on track. If she even wanted to get things back on track. Things were rough right now but part of her still believed in her vows and so she supposed that she wanted to give Dale another chance. The real Dale that was. Not the one obscured by alcohol.
    She also wanted to think about Vaughn and how she could possibly have let him kiss her like that. In the cold light of day, she had finally come to her senses. Although she had loved their moment and it had made her feel alive for the first time in ages, she knew that it was totally wrong and that nothing like that must ever happen again. Despite his insistence that it would and despite the fact that her lips were still tingling.
    The other positive thing with Dale still being in hospital was that she could go out shopping with Celeste tomorrow guilt-free, and she acknowledged that that felt really good and was now something that she was very much looking forward to.
    After sitting in the dark for what felt like an eternity, she made herself go and put the kettle on, hoping that a hot cup of tea would soothe her nerves. She stood and watched it absently, pondering on how things had suddenly become this complicated and wondering if life was ever going to be simple again. The irony of that was that her situation had been far from simple for a very long time – she had just gotten used to it, which was not an altogether good thing.
    The kettle began to jump around in agitation signalling that it was boiled, at the exact moment that her mobile phone began to ring; both sounds breaking through the interminable silence.
    Unaccustomed to the ringing, it took Elise a moment to register the sound before she dashed into the lounge, rummaging through her bag trying to find it thinking it must be the hospital. Why couldn’t they have called the landline? She had asked them to use the landline first. Cursing at the general population’s inability to follow instructions, she finally dug out her phone and answered it.
    It wasn’t the hospital. It was Vaughn.
    “Elise.” His ridiculously sexy drawl vibrated down the