Chapter Fifty-One
I checked my phone when I got out of the shower. Another message from Tom, checking I was ok and a missed call. James. Damnit! I had forgotten all about the hearing back home. It was tomorrow!
Although it was getting late, I decided to drive back home that night. I quickly texted my mum again to let her know I was on my way back and she replied saying she would make up the bed in the spare room. At least they would all be in bed by the time I arrived in the early hours of the morning so I would avoid any awkward questions.
I dialled James' number as I drove along. He told me he was sorry to hear about Harry's accident. I decided it was probably best he knew about the situation as the fact that I was no longer in a relationship with Harry could have a bearing on the outcome of my case.
"Oh" said James, sounding disappointed. "Oh. Obviously, I'm very sad to hear you and Harry have split up and yes, you're right, if you're no longer in a relationship with him, the school's case against you will collapse."
I felt sorry for him, as I knew how much effort he had already put into researching my rights as an employee and he had been hoping if we won, that my case would become a landmark that could be referred to in future similar gross misconduct cases.
We agreed to meet at the school at 9am to go through a few more details and I hung up.
As I drove along, I tried to process what had happened in the last few days. I'd gone from being the happiest girl in the world, enjoying my engagement party with my closest friends and family, to suddenly being alone once more. I had known it would all be too good to last.
I was still very troubled by my feelings for Danny. The sex had been great and just the release for the tension and frustration I had been feeling, but it had felt weird. I wondered vaguely what would happen next between us, if anything.
Just then, my phone beeped. I glanced over at it on its holder on the dashboard. It was a text message from Danny. I swiped to unlock the phone and glanced at the message. "Hi." It said. "Just wondering how you were doing?"
It was a slightly strange message, I thought and when I stopped a little while later at the motorway services, I replied to him. "I'm doing fine." I said. "On my way back home for my gross misconduct hearing tomorrow. How are you?"
He replied almost straight away. "I'd forgotten about that! Hope it goes well. I'm fine too. Let me know how you get on?"
I replied saying I would and slightly puzzled, got back into my car and drove the rest of the way home.
As expected, Mum and Dad's house was in darkness. I let myself in and sneaked a quick look at George as he lay sleeping in his bed before climbing in myself. Mum woke me with a cup of tea and sat down on the end of the bed. Of course, I had told her about Harry's accident, but I hadn't yet told her that we had split up. I wasn't really sure what to tell her, so I decided to gloss over that fact by saying he was doing ok and recovering, but was suffering a bit of amnesia and I wasn't quite sure of the path of our future relationship. It was semi-true…well, the last part anyhow!
I met James as we had arranged and he showed me the case he had prepared, which was now a little unnecessary. We went into the meeting room and as soon as Mrs Hyams started the preliminaries, James spoke up.
"Before you go any further, we'd just like to tell you that Miss Jones' relationship with Mr Judd has come to an end and that I feel this fact means there is no case for her to answer and I would like to request that all charges are dismissed and she is reinstated to her previous position immediately."
Rachel gaped at me. Then she closed her mouth and spoke. Her voice was quiet and even and she seemed very disappointed, but also a little pleased and there was growing triumph as she spoke.
"In that case, Miss Jones, I would agree with you. If you are no longer involved with Mr Judd, or any other notable 'celebrity'…" she hooked her fingers in mid-air to punctuate her sentence. "Then yes, you will be reinstated to your previous position."
"Thank you" I said, pleased to have got my job back.
Mrs Hyams stood and held out her hand. "I hope you understand why this hearing was necessary at the time?"
"Not really" I said, "but I'm pleased with the conclusion of it".
"So are we" said Rachel, but I could tell she didn't really mean it. "We will put this in writing and give you a date to start back. You understand we will have to give notice to the cover teacher who has been teaching your classes as they are contracted to us?"
"Of course" I replied. It would be quite nice to have a bit more time off on full pay. I could spend some quality time with George and try to find somewhere for us to live again.
James shook my hand as we parted in the car park. "I really am very sorry to hear about you and Harry, Alex" he said. "You made such a lovely couple and I've never known Harry to be so happy and to talk about the future and his plans so much!"
I grimaced. "Well, that's all in the past now. Thank you so much for everything you have done for me. I really do appreciate it."
"You're welcome" he replied, climbing into his car. "Stay in touch – and out of trouble!"
"I will!" I replied, laughing. "And don't worry, my days of dating celebrities are long gone!"
He waved as he drove away and I climbed back into my own car and drove back to Mum and Dad's.
I told them what had happened over a cup of tea, as George sat on my knee and played with my hair. I had missed him so much and was really looking forward to spending time with him.
I put George down for a nap at lunchtime and decided to text Tom to find out how Harry was (just because we weren't together any more didn't mean I didn't care how he was doing) and to tell him that I had got my job back.
He didn't reply straight away, so I helped Mum with some chores and we discussed where George and I were going to live. She generously offered for us to stay with her and Dad for as long as we needed, but also suggested I contact the estate agents to find out if our old house had been re-let yet.
I did so and was gutted to find that new tenants had already been found. Well, it was a nice house and the rent was quite cheap, so I wasn't really surprised. They said that they would keep a look out for another suitable property and let me know when they found one for me.
As I hung up, my phone rang. It was Tom. "Hi Alex!" he said, cheerily. "We're really pleased to hear the outcome of your meeting, but you will always be welcome as our photographer though!" I thanked him and then asked if he had been to see Harry recently.
He hesitated before answering. "He's not really any better I'm afraid. He's asleep a lot of the time and when he is awake, he doesn't say anything, just stares into space. The doctors tell us it's shock and his body recovering from his injuries, but I'm not 100% sure they're being truthful with us".
My heart lurched. Had his spike in blood pressure when he told me to get out caused some further damage to his brain? I hoped not, but couldn't help feeling guilty.
"Ok" I said to Tom, quietly. "Will you let me know how he is the next time you see him?"
"Of course" he replied.
It started to rain in the afternoon so George and I watched TV, played and read books. It was really nice in some ways to be back to normality, but I missed Harry dreadfully and felt an immense sense of sorrow over losing not only him, but the new friends I had made through him.
The postman brought a parcel and a couple of letters for me. One of the letters was a cheque from the estate agents, returning my deposit on the house. I thought I should really send it to Harry, seeing as he had paid off my remaining rent, but decided that could wait until later. The other letter also enclosed a cheque. This one was much larger and was my payment for taking the cover photo of the boys' biography. Sadly though, it wasn't enough for me to be able to tell Rachel to stuff her job after all.
I opened the parcel, which contained an advance copy of said book. I stared at the cover. They had chosen the group photo I liked the best for the front cover and the back had one of the candid snaps I had taken of them on the boat out on Loch Ness. Happy times and the beginning of the end as it turned out.
Sadness welled up inside of me and tears escaped from my eyes and plopped onto the cover of the book. As I wiped them away, George came over and put his head on my knee. "Why Mummy sad?" he asked.
I stroked his hair and said: "It's ok baby, Mummy just misses Harry, that's all!"
"Where Harry?" he asked.
"Harry is in London" I replied, truthfully.
"See soon?" he asked.
"Maybe baby. Maybe" I said, untruthfully.
George smiled at me and wandered off to play with something more enjoyable than Mummy.
After dinner, I got a text from Danny. "Can't stop thinking about you and last night!" it read. "Call me?"
Oh God! What the hell was I going to say to him?
I put George to bed and went and sat on my bed so that I could speak to Danny in private.
He answered straight away when I called. "Hi Alex, how are you?" he asked.
"Ok, I guess" I replied. "I got my job back!"
"Yeah, Tom told me" he said. "I'm really pleased you got everything sorted out in the end."
"Me too" I said and meant it. Losing my job at this point would have been a complete disaster.
"Listen" Danny said, suddenly. "About last night…it was great…!"
I sensed a "but" coming. I was right.
"But Georgia and I have decided to give things another try."
"Oh, Danny" I said "That's great news, I'm really pleased for you!" And I was!
"Really?" he said, sounding confused. "You're not…mad?"
"No" I replied. I had to tell him what I had been feeling. "I felt a bit weird after you left last night…"
"Did you?" he said, concern in his voice. "Weird how?"
"Not sure…" I replied, cautiously. "I just had a strange feeling about what we had done"
"What do you mean?" he said, sounding confused again.
"Well…" I began. How the hell did I say this? "It was great and all, and exactly what I needed, but…but…it felt odd, more than just naughty…it felt wrong!"
"Wrong?" he said, confused again. "Like it was something we weren't supposed to do?"
"Yes" I said, "But more than just because of Harry and Georgia. It…it…it felt like I had had sex with my brother!" There, I had said it!
He actually laughed! He full on laughed at me!
"That is such a relief, Alex!" he said when he finally stopped laughing. "Cos I felt exactly the same! It was so strange, as I left, that was my exact thought!"
I laughed along with him. It didn't explain the attraction between us though. Like a mind reader, he said. "I still think you're hot though! But in a sisterly way, not in a girlfriend way".
"Precisely" I agreed.
"I'm glad we sorted it out and I'm glad we did it last night 'cos it's really put things into perspective for me!" he said, again, echoing my feelings.
"I'm glad too." I said. "I just wish we had been able to find out some other way so that I could still be with Harry".
"Yeah" he agreed, sounding sad. "He's in a bad way, Alex. His physical injuries are healing well, but mentally…." His voice tailed off. "He won't speak to any of us, even Tom. He just lies there, looking into space".
"Maybe he's not aware you're there? Do the doctors think it's brain damage?" I asked quietly.
"No" said Danny. "He knows we're there as he turns away when we go into the room. The doctors say it's delayed shock from the accident, but I think it's more than that" he hesitated once more and when he spoke again, his voice was heavy with emotion. "I think his heart is broken!"
I guessed he meant metaphorically, rather than literally as Tom had told me Harry was no longer on any kind of mechanical life support.
The tears came again. "I did that to him" I thought to myself. "Me!" "Broken hearts can mend." I replied.
"Yeah" agreed Danny. "Eventually".
I composed myself. "So what now?" I asked.
"Well" Danny said slowly. "I think we should just keep this our little secret and remember how great it was, but…"
"Never speak of it again?" I said, finishing his sentence.
"Something like that!" Danny replied.
We said our goodbyes and I hung up. I sat on my bed for a few minutes, staring into space.
