Brick by Brick

Part Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Sammy was staring at the paper, Corinne was reading out the details, but it all seemed to be drifting over her head, none of it was making sense. Daniel had been charged with more than a dozen cases of fraud, against unnamed people or businesses. It didn't make sense; or rather it wouldn't have if she hadn't witnessed his behaviour at the funeral the previous week.

"Do we know who it was against? Who he stole the money from?"

Mike shook his head, "I'll call head office tomorrow, see if anyone knows anything."

Sammy nodded, she couldn't think about the future, not for a moment. Earlier that day she was about to get a mortgage, buy her and Eleanor a cute little cottage. Now she had no regular income from her husband and her brother-in-law had been arrested for fraud. Suddenly things weren't so simple; she wasn't in control of her destiny anymore. Everything was once again spiralling and she had to fight the nausea that threatened to overwhelm her.

So much was wrong, and she'd been wrong. She wanted to call Joel, apologise, admit that she got things wrong. But he hadn't replied to her message after the funeral and she had to accept that all ties to Marcus were gone now, she'd never see his family again, and neither would she see Joel. That caused a pain in her chest, she liked sitting with him, talking, reminiscing. He was the only other person who loved Marcus by choice, that was why they had so much in common. She knew that. But she had been harsh, she'd misjudged him and she couldn't blame him for his distance, but it didn't mean that it didn't still hurt. A lot.

Corinne was on her third cup of coffee, nudging Mike to decipher the financial and legalese that made little sense to the two women. He was groaning as he accepted the pages of the newspaper with the smudged print where she'd jabbed her finger angrily at the words. She loved watching the two of them interact, the control in their relationship, who had the upper hand flipped so frequently that it almost made her dizzy. But it was healthy, Corinne was laughing as Mike narrowed his eyes, then he snatched at her pulling her giggling into his lap.

She turned her head to make more drinks, because that made her feel sad. IT was the companionship that she missed so much, someone who knew you so well, was there to give you a cuddle as you watched TV, or came in from the cold.

Blinking hard to fight her tears, she turned back to them with a smile, but they were sharing a tender kiss and it broke her a little bit more. She wasn't jealous, or embarrassed, just a little lonely. Picking up a dish towel she tossed it in their direction.

"Get a room!"

They both chuckled as they pulled apart, but as Corinne opened her mouth, to either apologise or protest, she wasn't sure, the doorbell once again rang. Sammy rolled her eyes leaving the room, mouthing the word, "behave!" over her shoulder. That earned her the same dish towel hitting her head as she left the room.

She was laughing heartily as she pulled open the door, then froze dead in her tracks. Stood there was Joel; looking...well rough was putting it mildly, until he smiled at seeing her.

"Finally found you! Thought I was going to have to knock EVERY door in town to find you!"

Joel wanted to collapse on to the sofa he could see behind Sammy, but first he had to deal with the confusion and hint of anger in her eyes.

"You didn't call..."

He sighed, "I didn't get your message for ages...and to be honest I haven't been able to make a call since then. Not until yesterday, and instead of calling, I thought a visit might work out better?"