Lips of an Angel
Phil Hunter's mobile phone buzzed to life on the bedside table. He fumbled around in the dark and tried to pick it up before the vibrating woke his girlfriend of three months, Tanya Harris. He looked at the display and sighed as he slipped out of bed and into the next room.
"Hello." He answered, his voice barely a whisper.
"Phil, it's Sam." He already knew that much. Before he could say anything more he heard Sam choke out a sob on the other end of the phone.
"Is everything okay?" He asked.
"No, not really..." Sam replied. "It's Stuart."
Phil knew that he shouldn't get involved. She wasn't part of his life anymore and he shouldn't still feel this way about her.
"We had a huge fight and he stormed out." She continued. "I didn't know who else to call."
"It's okay." Phil replied but he knew this wasn't good for either of them. He heard a noise and looked up to see Tanya stood in the doorway. "It's work." He lied. "I didn't want to wake you, I'll be back to bed in a minute."
Tanya nodded and headed back to their bedroom. She wasn't sure she believed him.
"I can't talk right now, I'll speak to you tomorrow." Phil said, his heart torn in two between his girlfriend and his ex girlfriend. He hung up and headed back to bed. He loved Tanya but he had know Sam so much longer. Tanya had already fallen to sleep again with her back to Phil. He climbed back under the covers and continued to think about Sam. After their short fling she had gone back to Stuart and he had started dating Tanya. He worried about Sam being with Stuart, Phil knew she could do much better and what a creep he was. He wanted to know what their fight had been about.
Phil finally drifted off to sleep, his mind still preoccupied with thoughts of Sam. He even dreamt about her. They were sat on a hill, eating a picnic and watching their children playing together. Phil remembered the dream when he woke up the next morning. It was just a dream, he told himself but he wasn't quite convinced.
At work the next day Sam and Phil sat opposite each other in the canteen discussing the case they had been thrown together on over cups of tea. Sam wondered if Jack had assigned them to the same case simply because they were the only two detectives not already working on something or because he wanted them to resolve the tension that was apparently so obvious. After discussing all of the relevant information, the two of them focused on their cups of tea and silence reigned for a while. When he had finished his drink, Phil put his cup down on the saucer.
"I had a dream about you last night," He confessed.
Sam put her own cup down and looked at him with interest. "Really?" She wasn't ready to admit how often she dreamt of him right now.
"Yeah," He replied, not wanting to reveal all of the details. "It was nice."
Sam allowed herself a small smile. Being with Phil, despite all they had been through, was so much easier than when she was with Stuart. When she was with him everything was a competition but she knew that Phil accepted her exactly as she was and she missed that.
"Did you sort everything out with Stuart?" Phil asked, watching Sam disappear into her own thoughts.
"I haven't seen him since before I called you." She confessed. "But today is his day off so maybe he'll be at home later." She didn't sound particularly pleased about this but maybe that was just Phil's imagination. After a brief pause she added. "I didn't get you in trouble with Tanya, did I?"
Phil shook his head, ignoring the coldness of his girlfriend's behaviour towards him that morning. "No not at all." He smiled.
"Hi, honey." Sam greeted when she arrived home from work. She had seen Stuart's car parked in the street outside her house so she guessed her must be home.
"In here!" He called back and Sam followed the sound of his voice into the kitchen. "Hi," He smiled when he saw Sam, offering her a large bouquet of flowers. "I'm sorry about last night babe, I was out of order. Will you forgive me?"
Sam let out a little sigh before fixing a smile on her face. "Of course you're forgiven." She said, hugging him. "And thank you for the flowers."
"You're welcome." Stuart replied, resting his hands on her waist and drawing her into a lingering kiss. Although part of Sam was still angry with him, Stuart was helping her to forget her rage from the previous night and the guilt she had about turning to a man her boyfriend loathed for advice.
"I never got round to asking you how your day was," Stuart commented as they lay in bed together a while later. Sam looked up at him from where her head was resting on his bare chest.
"It was fine." She told him. In fact it had actually been a good day and she had forgotten how well she and Phil worked together as a team. Obviously this was not something she was about to admit to Stuart.
"Just fine?" Stuart asked, surprised that Sam hadn't gone into more detail.
"Yes," Sam smiled, but she was becoming a little suspicious about Stuart's incessant questioning. "And how was your day off?" She asked, eager to turn the focus of this conversation away from herself.
"It was good thank you, nice and relaxing." He replied. "I met up with a friend I used to work with." Stuart told her. "Did you work on any interesting cases today or was it just paperwork?"
Sam rolled her eyes, she wondered whether they ever talked about anything but work. With Phil she had been able to talk about her love of films and they discussed books they loved and hated, people they used to know, their kids and exchanged funny anecdotes from their pasts. With Stuart it was different, they didn't have the same history that she and Phil did and less similar interests. With Phil they had been able to argue and make up like lovers but Sam was afraid of fighting with Stuart.
She began to tell Stuart about the case she and Phil had been working on but she was careful to leave out the fact that it had been him she was paired with.
"Sounds interesting, do you think you'll get the witness to testify?" Stuart asked once Sam had finished telling him all the details.
Sam shrugged. "Phil seems to think that she'll come forward, it just depends..."
She was cut off by a near explosion from Stuart. "Phil! You were working with Phil Hunter! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I knew you'd react this way," Sam fired back. "Thanks for trusting me Stuart, thanks a lot." She quickly moved away from him and hastily re-dressed, waiting for Stuart to stop her but he did not.
Phil arrived home from work and had the feeling that something wasn't right. He had had a good day at work being able to spend time with Sam and work a case together. Things had been relaxed between them today like they used to be and he had thoroughly enjoyed being with her. When he unlocked the door he expected to find Tanya in the kitchen cooking like she usually was when he came home from work but the place was empty. He tried calling out her name but there was no reply. He looked around the room and found a note addressed to him by the telephone.
He picked it up and read it, not believing what was happening.
"Dear Phil,
I'm sorry for running out on you like this but I think it's easier for both of us this way. I do love you, I really do and I know that you love me but your heart is with your ex and who am I to stand in your way?
Best wishes for the future.
Love, Tanya."
Phil sighed, he did love Tanya but he couldn't say that he wasn't relieved that she had left him. At least it meant that one day when Sam decided she couldn't love Stuart anymore, he would be able to take her back. He selfishly hoped that that day would come sooner rather than later.
Phil slept badly that night, confronted with dreams of Sam, Tanya and Stuart. He awoke from one particularly strange dream by the phone ringing. For a moment he thought he was dreaming it, but he quickly snatched it up and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Phil, it's me. I know it's not fair on you but I've left Stuart and I'm outside your flat. I'm sorry if this makes things difficult between you and Tanya, but I need you."
"She left me." Phil replied, overwhelmed that Sam had come to him so soon. Clearly she had enjoyed today as much as he had. "I'll buzz you in." He said, climbing out of bed and going to answer the door. Sam tumbled inside and Phil caught her in his arms. "I love you," He whispered to the top of her head.
Sam buried her face into his shoulder. "I never stopped loving you." She admitted, letting Phil lead her into his home. For the first time in a long time she knew she had made the right decision.