Chapter Seven: Smoke Without Fire?
"Let's get out of these wet clothes. Two doctors with pneumonia isn't good. County's already under-staffed as it is!" Abby told Carter, hanging up her sopping wet coat, he didn't need reminding of that fact. It was due to him they were understaffed by two doctors today.
Silently he disappeared into the bathroom momentarily before returning, ruffling his hair with a fluffy white towel.
"Here." He flung a towel towards Abby, who caught it neatly in one hand.
"Gawd. It's freezing in here!" she replied rubbing herself with the towel, hopelessly attempting to get warm and dry.
"Well once we're changed I'll put a fire on. It's these big old houses, you can put as much modern day technology and central heating into them as you like but they still be as cold as the day they were made. At least with a fire you can actually crowd round it and get warm." he answered, his back to her as he was already heading upstairs to change into some dry clothes.
A short while later and Abby appeared at the lounge door. For some
unexplainable reason she just stood there watching him throw a few logs onto the open fire. The only sound that could be heard was their light breathing and the crackling of the flames. Shuffling across the room she curled up on one end of the sofa, letting her eye's wander over the dancing flames. They danced and flickered, casting spurts of light in many directions. The colours swirled and twirled round each other. Orange. Yellow. Red. Darting round each other, competing with their fellow flames to see which one could reach the highest. They seemed to lick the very air around them, as if tasting it, I wonder what it must taste like to them, she pondered silently.
Feeling the couch sag at the other end she tore her eyes away from the dancing snake-like flames to rest them upon Carter, lounging casually near her. Quite literally out of no where she asked the question everyone had been dying to know the answer to.
"Why?" she asked simply.
Sighing Carter looked away, still feeling her eyes boring into him. He had been trying so hard to avoid this question but it was inevitable, he had to answer it some time. So it might as well be now.
"I just couldn't cope. I'd lost my son. I'd lost Kem. I'd lost everything. There was nothing else to live for. It was the easiest way really. Old habits die hard I guess."
Pushing her self up slightly, so she was eye level with him, she began to speak, trying to keep the spark of anger inside from travelling into her voice.
"Of course you had other things to live for. Your work. Your friends. Your family. You had all these dreams Carter, about helping others, proving you weren't just some snobby rich kid. Where did they all go? What happened to the bright eyed Carter I knew. Always there with a cheeky grin, full of optimism and determination to prove you could do something, be somebody!"
"I guess he got lost along the way." solemnly replied Carter.
Reaching out a shaking hand, he gently brushed back a lock of silky hair that was cascading over her face. "But you helped find him again."
Tensing Abby sat silent, almost afraid of what could happen next. Looking up into his deep eyes, she felt his body get steadily closer to hers. Their lips touched momentarily before she sprang up hearing a knock at the door.
"I'll get it." She said awkwardly, smoothing out her sweater, fiddling with her hair nervously.
Shaking his head, Carter slumped back onto the cushions, rubbing his eyes. You blew it, he thought, you totally blew it. From out the front he could here muffled voices then the clacking of high heels on the wooden floors of his home. He assumed it was a woman since he knew Abby rarely wore heels and didn't wear any shows around the house. Turning to face the doorway he called through to Abby before finishing abruptly.
"Who is...?" He stopped, not needing to carry on as stood before him in the doorway was a woman who had caused him so much pain in such a short time he could hardly bare to look at her.
"Hey Carter," quietly welcomed Kem, standing beside an uncomfortable looking Abby.
"I'll leave you two alone. You obviously need to talk." Abby said trying to excuse herself from the awkward situation.
"No!" called Carter, rising from his seat. "Kem was just going."
Darting her eye's back up from the floor, Kem stared at Carter in disbelief. "Look I know your angry but we..."
"No we don't. We nothing." he cut her off abruptly. "There is no we any more Kem and there never will be. You made that pretty damn clear!" Abby's eye's darted quickly from one to another, catching their expressions. Carter's was a one of pure anger and pain whilst Kem's was one of sheer shock. "We've been through a lot Kem, but you made it particularly obvious that this wasn't going to work. We couldn't cope going through the ultimate pain together. If we can't survive that our relationship was never going to survive. I'm just glad you made me realise it. Now please go, just go."
With temptation comes impetuousness, or is it just realisation?