WUTHERING BITES

Chapter Twenty-eight: Annabelle

Chapter Twenty-eight

Annabelle

The day after the infamous Grange dinner party, Heath decided to ring Annabelle. He asked her to come to dinner with him. Bored with the usual pattern: work, money, a feeding frenzy sated by the local blood bank - he needed a distraction. He'd been denying his true nature for too long, but there was very little alternative in polite society. Besides, Kate had moved on.

He would do the same.

That evening, Annabel arrived at his office in her work clothes. She'd been promoted at the gallery to Publicity Officer and her expensive blue suit shimmered under the lights as Heath gave her a tour of the new company premises. Afterwards, they went to dinner. Every night the following week, they did the same.

Sometimes they met up in Soho near the gallery where Annabelle was working with a more experienced Art Historian. She hoped to manage the gallery one day and Heath was surprised at her entrepreneurial vision. Annabelle was delighted by Heath's availability and newly amenable nature. He was like a new person, genuinely complementary of her work in the gallery, the place Kate one day planned to display some of her pictures.

They'd been going out for about six weeks when they met for lunch in a popular restaurant with long glass windows overlooking the Thames. Annabelle had a frown as she scanned the lunch menu. Heath once preferred pubs but his new job came with an expense account that he felt obligated to use. Annabelle was very impressed with this, but barely ordered anything.

'I'll have the soup please,' Annabelle said to the waiter who seemed unsure, as if it was his first day.

'Typical,' Heath thought, as he noticed Annabelle eating like a bird.

After they'd eaten, Annabelle told him about her day and Heath pretended to be interested. He knew he'd have to try a little harder if he wanted to pass the six-week boyfriend stage with Annabelle.

'Heath...did you hear me?'

Miles away, Heath had tuned out and was staring through the window at the panoramic London views. This was not a good sign. He was wondering how he'd dis-entangle himself from the possibility of an actual relationship with this woman whom he'd thought of as a friend - at worst, a plan. Sensing this, Annabelle did something unusual. She shocked him.

'Did you hear me Heath?'

Annabelle burst into tears as she talked.

Heath, sensing her need, couldn't believe his good fortune. Though never very interested in problems of a female nature, he'd have to make an exception in this instance. The words "unexpected pregnancy" gave him a chance to play the hero, no questions asked and also to get back at the woman he loved. The circumstances were too good to resist. He could take the plan further than he'd initially intended.

'I...I don't know what to do,' she gulped as she talked, irritating Heath who was nothing less than riveted by her out of character tale. It shouldn't have surprised him; Annabelle was needy and unpredictable. She'd barely waited for him to pay for dinner the third time they'd dated before she'd arranged his seduction in a hotel room. He knew he'd become a person Kate disliked and he didn't care. Perhaps his recently acquired egotism needed to be kept in check. The truth was he'd planned for days to spend the night with Annabelle. Still, he hadn't encountered anything but enthusiasm from her. Annabelle was almost entirely predictable and her neediness for his love was no less than riveting to a man who, since Kate's betrayal, was almost entirely devoid of emotion.

He knew Kate would think less of him for having almost no feelings for Annabelle yet taking things further with her. Since Kate had abandoned him and married someone else, he felt she had no right to an opinion. He'd been out clubbing and fanging and going home with whomever, since he'd read Kate's marriage notice in the paper years ago.