Someone Like You

Part Forty Four

He looked dreadful. His face was pale, his hair unruly and he looked dishevelled, added to the fact that he was comatose on the sofa, Nina knew she wasn't going to get any answers that night. She needed to get him to bed. He'd taken custody of his daughter when hi s ex wife had been in this sort of state, there was no way she could leave them and go home. And there was no way that this was what he'd planned when he left the house. She was right, something was wrong, she just wish she knew what.

It was a battle of power and wills getting him upstairs, he was physically much bigger than her, mountainous, and he was resisting her every move. She was hot and bothered by the time she pushed him back onto the bed. He was still wearing his shoes, jeans and t-shirt. The latter would have to do, but she struggled to pull off both his shoes and then tugged until his jeans came off, depositing her with a thud on the floor.

He was starfish shaped in the bed, so she had no chance of sharing with him, instead she closed his door and made for the spare room opposite, making sure her door was open to hear Melody if she woke. She wanted to protect her from her father's...what was it? An escape? A protest? Stress relief? Whatever it was his daughter didn't need to witness it.

But she couldn't sleep; there was too much buzzing around in her mind. Was it just this morning that Lilah had her surgery? Was in the same day that she'd had breakfast with Gabriel; it seemed like a million years ago. Reaching for her phone, she sent a message to her best friend, there was a chance that she was awake.

"Hey girlfriend, thinking about you. How you feeling?"

She didn't expect a response, but one came through almost immediately.

"Neeeena. I feel like I've been hit by a wrecking ball, but M & D have been great. I'm glad you called them. U's the best. xxx"

That made Nina smile; she wasn't sure what to think about the fact that she appreciated her parents being there, Lilah and her parents' relationship thrived on a minimal input.

"Where's Lilah? And who is this imposter??"

She grinned as she pressed send, but knew that her friend was laughing too.

A few seconds later her phone rang and she answered immediately, "the nurses are letting you call me?"

"It's two in the morning, they're all asleep. Why are you awake? Thought you'd be all collapsed and weary after a night of magic with Theo."

She didn't mean it in a bitchy way, but she knew that Lilah would feel pain at her blossoming romance.

"He went AWOL this afternoon and then passed out on the sofa drunk, so I'm in the spare room."

Lilah sighed, "bloody men, they just never quite deserve us, hey?"

"How you feeling?"

She needed the topic change for many reasons.

"Sad, tired, painful, and sad..."

It was Nina's turn to sigh, "we've got each other darling, you know that. We can take a trip, somewhere warm and sunny, away from all this shit."

"I'm not taking you away from Theo again, you need this, and the fact that you're 'dating' someone...YOU. Well it means I have to grow a pair and deal with this. Ma and Pa have offered to take me back to their country retreat...I could recuperate there."

"Scotland...December? That sounds like many things, but not R and R. We'll talk soon; I'll come see you tomorrow. Think about the Canary Islands...it'll be warm there, sun, swimming...or Cape Verde...Google it and we'll talk later."