Almost Home

Chapter Two

13 YEARS LATER

'So Joan was telling me William is back in town for a few weeks, do you remember him? Come on you must remember little Willie?' mum adds after she was met with silence and a withering look. 'He used to be so fond of you, always following you around.'

'Little Willie, as you so lovingly call him, was an idiot. He used to trip me up in the corridors so I that I fell in front of everyone and he purposefully sat behind me in class just so he could throw things at the back of my head. He wasn't lovely, he was a tyrant.'

'Oh Emma, that was years ago, I'm sure he's grown up since then. Anyway, Joan was telling me he works in the city now as an accountant. Apparently his fiancé left him and he's thinking of moving back to town for a bit. I told Joan to tell him where you work so he can pop in and see you sometime.'

I look over to mum but she's refusing to meet my eye, instead choosing to examine a punnet of grapes and I glare at the back of her head in disgust.

I didn't want William coming in to see me. I don't want anyone I went to school with coming in to see me. It's bad enough that I've had to move back home after years of living in the city but one thing I could do without right now is mum trying to set me up with William-bloody-Jones.

I wonder if he still has that tragic mullet haircut he used to think was so cool.

It wasn't.

'Do you prefer the red or green ones? I can't remember.'

'Mum!' I gasp, halting in the middle of the aisle and gaping at her in disbelief. Does she really think that she can brush past this without me having any say in the matter? 'What did you do that for? I barely know the guy, we haven't spoken in years.'

'Yes, I'm well aware of that but it might be nice for you to spend some time with him. You could meet for a coffee or go for a walk and I'm sure he could use some company as well. Right, I'll get the green ones,' she says, throwing them into the trolley I was pushing and walking on ahead, still avoiding my eye.

'Company? Is that what this is about? Because I don't want company mum. I have Sam and I have you, I don't need anyone else.'

'Emma, Samantha is about to have a baby. She's going to be busy and I don't want you on your own, okay. I'm just trying to look out for you. I hate seeing you like this.'

She finally turns to face me, her expression full of concern. She's been looking at me like this a lot lately and I know why, even if she won't say it out loud. It's because of Nathan, my ex-boyfriend.

'I'm fine mum, can we not talk about it? Especially now.' The middle of a supermarket didn't really feel like the right place for a deep discussion about the atrocity of my now non-existent love life.

'We're going to have to one day, Emma.'

'I know, but not now. Let me just survive this shopping trip, okay. Red or green grapes?' I say with an eye roll. 'Do they even taste any different?'

Mum laughs and goes back to her shopping list as I follow begrudgingly behind her. I know it's because she cares for me but I'm definitely not ready for coffee dates with boys I went to school with, especially ones as hideous as 'Little Willie'. I may be well and truly back on the market after nearly a decade but I am more than happy on my own. And you know what I've realised? My newfound freedom has actually been doing me some good. I've finally been able to take up all those hobbies I've been wanting to try but haven't had the time to do. Like diamond painting and tracing my family tree back a couple of hundred years...

Okay, maybe I do need to get out of the house a bit more.

I'm reaching out to grab a pack of cinnamon buns from the shelf when someone catches my eye and I freeze.