The Life You Left. Carmel Harrington

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       Chapter One

      ‘Time for the big finale,’ James thought to himself. With a dramatic sigh he put his hand over his face and said, ‘and as the sun set, I held her in my arms and she died. I just feel honoured that I was with her when she breathed her last breath. And maybe in some small way I gave her some comfort at the end.’

      He wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye and sneaked a peak at his date. Had he overdone it this time? Maybe the tears were too much. Nope, hang on; she had bought his story, hook, line and sinker.

      ‘God she is beautiful,’ James thought.

      She stifled back a sob and leaned in close to James. ‘Oh James,’ She whispered, ‘You were so brave.’ She then touched him on his leg and he knew he’d be getting lucky tonight. Result! The hero story never failed him.

      His date was clearly mesmerised by him. At 6′2 with blonde wavy hair, worn slightly long, James had always had plenty of attention. His blue eyes normally sparkled with mischief but sometimes would show hints of hidden depths that made women desperate to be the one to unlock their secrets. He was one of those lucky people that were born with a natural charisma that attracted both men and women. Men wanted to be his friend and women in the main had more than friendship on their minds when they met him.

      The sound of his mobile phone blaring out Eliza Doolittle’s Pack Up interrupted his daydream of how the night was likely to end. Glancing at the handset, he saw that it was Sarah. He ignored the phone and said to the blonde, ‘Let them leave a message, nothing is more important than this, right now, with you.’ She really seemed to like the cheesy lines. She was practically purring – some girls were just too easy to play.

      Momentarily he felt a wave of guilt assuage him. He knew that after a few dates he wouldn’t be interested in seeing her again. He just wanted some fun and had no intention of settling down with anyone, just yet. He’d grown up in a house with parents who at best were polite to each other, but on a daily basis made it quite obvious that whatever love had drawn them towards each other at the beginning had long since died. In his career as a private detective, he’d also seen more unfaithful marriages than he’d had chicken curries. From his experience there weren’t very many happy ever afters anymore, any excuse and one or the other of the couple was jumping into bed with someone else.

      And what about his sister, Sarah? Sure he’d watched her fall apart these past few weeks since Paul had done his vanishing act.

      What he wouldn’t give for five minutes with that man!

      A hand gently touching his shoulder brought him back to his present situation and the hot blonde seated in front of him. He brushed aside any guilt he may have felt; after all they were both adults and he never promised any of the girls he dated anything more than they got. He had a firm rule that he always detangled himself before the fourth date. In his experience it was after this dating milestone that most girls started humming the wedding march.

      He could see Sarah’s disapproving face in his mind’s eye and once again felt a slight twinge of guilt. But one look at his date’s long bronzed legs and that guilt disappeared. He was just about to make a suggestion of a nightcap back at his house when his phone beeped with a new text message. It was Sarah again. He clicked open the message on his phone. Two words glared back at him.

       Edward’s back.

      This was bad. Even though Sarah had not mentioned Edward in years, James knew immediately to whom she was referring. The aftermath of Edwardgate still left a mark on both of them.

      ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go.’ James leaned in with genuine regret and kissed the blonde on the cheek, slightly amused by the look of astonishment on her face.

      James could see his date beginning to panic at the sudden realisation that James really was leaving. He smiled at her with genuine regret, she did seem like a nice girl, but he was needed at Sarah’s and that came first.

      ‘What’s wrong?’ She asked.

      ‘Edward’s back.’ James replied.

      ‘Edward?’ She asked puzzled. ‘Who’s Edward?’

      ‘Trouble, that’s who Edward is, a whole lot of trouble.’ James replied and with that ran to his car, texting Sarah as he went that he was on his way.