Well this is Chapter 8 of 'Today Put On Perfection'. Sorry it's taken so long to post this up. Might get Chapter 9 up in the next few days.
The next morning, Brianna awoke alone. She sat up and saw Hathaway standing by the door, "Morning, sweetie," he said, setting a cup of tea down on the bedside table. "Nice sleep?"
"Mmm," she replied, "What time is it?"
"Half past seven," he smiled, "I'm doing myself some toast, want some?"
"I'll be through in a minute," she replied.
He was drinking a cup of tea when she walked into the kitchen, "Have you had breakfast?"
"Slice of toast," he replied shortly, "Want one?"
"Please," she looked up at him, "What's the plan for today?"
"Inspector Lewis is going to pick me up in a hour" Hathaway replied.
Their fingers touched as he handed her the plate with the two slices of toast on it, she helped herself to spread and marmalade and then looked up at him. "So you're off to work and I'll head down to Exeter College and have a chat with my colleagues. Suppose I ought to get some feedback on my paper. Then I have the unenviable task of talking to Peter."
"How do you think he'll take it," Hathaway asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
"I'm hoping with equinamity." Bree responded dryly. "But I seem to have a propensity of picking unstable men."
"Oh thanks," James rolled his eyes.
"All right, present company excepted." She finished her toast and he came to sit opposite her, "I'll be all right, James. I promise."
"You promise," he said and for a split second she thought she could see the fear in his eyes.
"Yes" she responded, "I will tell him in a room full of people and I will be nice about it."
"I'm sure you were always nice about it."
"No," she looked wistful, "I wasn't. One of the reasons I get so upset about Marcus is because I may have caused part of the problem. When he approached me years ago, the first time, he scared me and I told him to go away, I was eighteen years old and very naïve. I may have been the catalyst that tipped him over the edge. So I caused him to attack me."
"No!" Hathaway sounded so fierce that she suddenly looked up startled, "Just because you were a bit of an idiot then does not give morons like him free license to assault you. He planned to kill you – that does not sound like the actions of a stable person."
"I cannot help the way I feel, James." She replied, somewhat sadly, "Remember? We all have regrets and that is one of my biggest, that I may have inadvertently exacerbated Marcus's problems. Had I been kinder he might have reacted better."
"Had you been kinder he might have attacked you sooner," James replied thoughtfully. "You give him too much credit and far too much leeway."
There was a soft knocking on the door and Hathaway opened it to find Inspector Lewis standing the doorstep, "Morning, Sir." He smiled.
"Good morning," Lewis smiled at them both, "Ready, Sergeant?"
"Sure you don't want a cup of tea?" Brianna enquired.
"No thanks,Bree," Lewis replied, "Catch you later?"
"Certainly, Inspector." She grinned at Hathaway.
Hathaway kissed her firmly before he slipped out of the door and Bree returned to her half-finished cup of tea and toast. She sat down and finished her breakfast. James had left her a set of keys. She washed up and left the flat, remembering to lock the door behind her. The bus stop was only a short walk away and she knew from checking the timetable that the buses were only eight minutes apart. Part of her felt odd, memories of the last time she'd visited Oxford intruding into her idyllic day. Sighing she boarded the bus and settled herself into one of the front seats.
As she approached the college proper she was surprised to see a group of people waiting outside the quad. A tall, slender woman approached her, "Dr Talbot, we were getting worried about you!"
"Me?" Brianna frowned, nonplussed.
"You left so quickly after your presentation we thought you were upset. Are you all right now?"
"I was all right before," Brianna replied, "I'm sorry I upset everyone."
The woman smiled, "You didn't upset us, we were just worried about you."
Brianna managed a tentative smile, "I had to be somewhere. Erm, this is rather a long story-" she began.
"Then come and have a cup of tea and tell us all about it," the woman smiled, "I'm Miranda."
Brianna was escorted to the wood-panelled room and Miranda sped off, she returned with a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits, "Now, first things first. We loved your presentation. So why did you disappear?"
Slowly, unsure of how it would be received Brianna began to explain about her meeting with the young Detective Sergeant, how they'd hit it off and how she'd bashed his attacker over the head. Miranda laughed when she heard that story, "How did he not hear you?"
"Luck," I suppose, Brianna replied, and then she saw Peter entering the room. "Er, Miranda, I wonder if I could just grab that young man."
"Peter? Oh that's all right, I wanted to see him too." Miranda said quickly, she turned to him and a slow smile crept across her face. She waved and seeing them both sitting at the table, Peter changed direction and came across to them.
"Bree!" he cried, "I've been looking for you everywhere. Miranda and I went to your digs last night but you'd gone. Someone said that the police had taken you. Is everything all right?"
Bree grinned, "Yes, Peter. I haven't been arrested, I promise."
"Thank goodness." He sat down heavily and Brianna noticed that Miranda turned to him, her mouth opening but Peter forestalled her, "I – er – we need to talk to you-" he began.
Brianna looked from one to the other and then it slowly dawned on her, "Peter, are you trying to dump me?"
He looked slightly affronted, "I was hoping for a better response. I was going to say that I don't think our long distance relationship is working."
"And you think we ought to end it cleanly and still remain colleagues?" Brianna raised an eyebrow at him.
"Something like that," Peter muttered, "how can you be so calm and collected about this? Aren't you supposed to be throwing plates or something?"
For an answer Brianna laughed, "Do you want me to?"