Yesterday - Now Complete

Part 17

They walked slowly back to the car, hand in hand, in a comfortable silence. Paul opened the car door for her and she sank into the seat gratefully. Paul climbed into the driving seat and looked at her. She was sat back with her eyes closed. 

"You OK Annie love?"

She nodded, her eyes still closed.

"Good."

He started the engine.

"Annie love?"

She opened her eyes and faced him. He was looking at her she realised, with love and concern in his soft brown eyes. She held his gaze for a moment.

"Yes?"

"Am I driving you back to Oxford now?" he asked.

Annie studied him for a moment.  "Would you mind if I stayed at your house tonight Paul? I'm so cold and worn out, I don't feel up to hours of driving at this time of night?"

"Yes, you know you can but..."

"What?"

"I meant to be in the studio from 9 am tomorrow. I won't be able to take you home before 2 pm."

"That's OK...would you mind if I ring mum to let her know though?"

"No problem. You don't need to ask Annie, you know that!"

The car pulled up outside Cavendish Avenue and the couple went in quickly out of the cold. Annie followed Paul in to the kitchen.

"Are you hungry Annie?" he asked as she sat at the table.

"A little."

"Fancy a snack?"

"What's on offer?"

Paul looked in his fridge. "Cheese on toast do you?" He grinned at her.

Annie laughed. Paul's signature dish was cheese on toast. "Sounds lovely!"

As Paul made the food, Annie brewed a large pot of tea before they sat down together. They chatted as they ate.

"How are you feeling Annie?" Paul asked softly, "Did tonight help?"

Annie stopped and looked at him. Her eyes filled with tears as she nodded. "It was lovely." she told him, wiping the tears away, "It made a difference to say good bye. I feel...I feel more ...I don't know...settled I think. Thank you for suggesting it."

"Hey, no problem. I'm glad it helped."

"It did." She smiled at him. "Paul, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"The balloon thing...where did the idea come from? It was so lovely?"

She saw his expression change. He sighed. "Do you remember when we met briefly at Abbey Road, just after the charges against me had been dropped?"

Annie nodded.

"You told me to get help. Do you remember?"

Again Annie nodded.

"Well, I got help. I addressed the gremlins as you called them. You were right....things were eating me up."

Annie came over to him and held his hand. He sat her on his knee.

"The main thing that was getting to me Annie was my mum. You know she died when I was fourteen, well I never grieved for her. We didn't even know she was ill until she was dead. Me and Mike couldn't even go to her funeral...kids didn't in those days. For a long time I buried my feelings and hurt until I couldn't any longer. Suddenly it was all I could think about...but I was angry again. I felt stupid because I was still an adult. I couldn't rationalise my feelings. Anyway, when I went for help. I talked for a long time about mum and everything."