TODAY ON THE BLOG, OUR TEAM MEMBER, AUTHOR EVA BIELBY, IS SHARING CHAPTER 2 OF HER NOVEL, 'THE HEALING' - SECOND BOOK OF 'THE HURT' TRILOGY. #RWRTeamBlog #ReadWriteRepeat
- Feb 16
- 5 min read
CHAPTER 2
The taxi dropped me at Charles De Gaulle airport with five minutes to spare. Their flight would have landed fifteen minutes earlier; nine twenty. Before the cab picked me up, I logged onto my laptop to check if there were any delays. Fortunately, after trying five minutes of browsing, I found that none had been reported. Allowing the girls time to get through passport control, customs and then baggage reclaim, I reckoned on twenty to twenty five minutes before they would emerge into the arrivals hall. Taking a slow saunter to start with, I picked up my pace a bit when, from about fifty yards away, I could see crowds around the barriers. Half a dozen or so arrivals started to filter through from the corridor. I wasn’t sure whether they would be from Catherine and Ruby’s British Airways flight from Heathrow or some other flight that recently landed, but I hurried along regardless.
My stomach churned nervously as I waited. A thousand worries flitted through my head and carried on doing circuits. Would their bedrooms be okay for them? What if they didn’t like the food I cooked? What if they didn’t really want to go to the places that I planned for the week’s itinerary? What if Ruby didn’t like me? I met Catherine on one occasion already and we got along fine for the day. Maybe a week would be too long. What about Ruby? Would I take to her? I never met her. She might take an instant dislike to me. How would they like to be entertained each evening? Bugger! They were young girls for heaven’s sake. Catherine might like to visit a nightclub, she was nineteen after all, but there was no way I wanted to go out clubbing. But then I remembered that Ruby was only sixteen and wouldn’t manage to get into a nightclub anyway. We couldn’t go out and leave her alone in my apartment.
Oh shit! They’re here!
I was standing near the barriers facing down the long corridor from where they would exit and I could see Catherine waving frantically, her beautiful face breaking into a smile the instant she caught sight of me. My heart melted at the sight of her, so like her father. She was dragging her suitcase along and was surrounded by older folks. I searched eagerly amongst the faces of all the strangers around her and I couldn’t see anyone closely resembling the only image I ever saw of Ruby; a holiday snap. For a fleeting moment it crossed my mind that she decided not to come after all. Catherine ran the last few yards and with the barrier between us, flung her arms around me and kissed my cheek. “Oh, Helen, I’ve been so exc…”
She didn’t get to finish as I butted in rudely with my concern.
“Catherine, where on earth is Ruby? Hasn’t she come with you?”
Looking back for a second or two down the corridor, she stood on her tiptoes, trying to see above what must have now become two or three flights’ worth of arrivals.
“Oh, don’t worry about her, she’ll be along shortly. She’s busy throwing her undies haphazardly back into the suitcase. It happens all the time with Ruby. I left her muttering obscenities under her breath, directed at the customs guy who stopped her.”
Relieved to hear that Ruby would be joining us shortly, I turned back to Catherine and folded my arms tight around her. I wondered whether David would be watching over us. I hope so. Catherine was beautiful and charming and a true credit to him.
It was another couple of minutes before Ruby ambled towards the arrival hall. I was flabbergasted when I saw her. She was a couple of inches taller than Catherine, natural blonde hair, full make-up and just sixteen years old. To anyone who didn’t know the pair, they would readily have thought Ruby to be the older sister of the two. Catherine waved and shouted to attract her attention. Ruby gazed straight ahead, and it seemed, didn’t put much effort into looking for us. Catherine shouted at her three times before she turned her head sulkily towards us and grumbled something I didn’t quite catch. She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and crouched down, setting about emptying the contents of her handbag onto the floor, as though she was looking for something. After carefully and slowly sifting through it all, oblivious to all the people having to weave around her, she began to throw all the items one by one back into the bag. I was transfixed as I watched every move she made. I scrutinised her face and the determined expression as she rifled through loose items of make-up, pens, paperwork and goodness knows what else. The whole charade I was witnessing appeared to have no purpose. There was no jubilant expression to note about her face at finding a specific item; nothing. I’d been told by David some time ago how troublesome Ruby could be, and Catherine verified the fact when we first met. But maybe I was being ridiculous and reading too much into it.
Rather than walk around the barrier towards us, she crouched underneath and strode off towards the main entrance without a word to me or Catherine. By the time we caught up with her outside in the sunshine, she was lighting up a cigarette. Offering my hand I greeted her.
“Hi, Ruby, pleased to meet you. I’m Helen.”
The minute I started to speak, she turned her head away, her eyes following the butt of a tanned and extremely fit guy who was, at a guess, in his early thirties. I could feel utter panic creep into my bones.
“RUBY!” Catherine snapped.
She thumped the upper part of Ruby’s left arm. “You haven’t even acknowledged Helen yet and she’s been kind enough to have us as guests for the week. Show some bloody manners.”
Bugger!
The last thing I needed was my guests at each other’s throats all week. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. The sharpness of Catherine’s voice, however, did elicit a reaction. She finally faced me, as though she’d only just been made aware of my presence.
“Oh hello, Helen. It’s just that the flying stresses me out. Sorry.”
Catherine looked at me helplessly and apologetically. Ruby’s words hadn’t sounded the least bit sincere and Catherine positively squirmed. I could feel the anger building up inside me. How the hell was I expected to get through a week of this? I was torn between wanting to slap her senseless or set about to organise a return ticket for her to London. My face was burning and I couldn’t help but notice a sad look of regret on Catherine’s face. She was feeling bad, I know she was. I beamed at her and walked away to organise a taxi back to the city.
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COMING SOON: On Wednesday, 18th February, we are delighted to welcome guest author, Laura Hawks, who is sharing an excerpt from her novel, 'The Ghost and the Grimoire'.
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