Masters & Lovers Box Set Three

Chapter 38

Twenty-Six Years Ago

The phone rings and he picks it up… “Hello?” … then jolts as he hears the voice.

“Davey? Is that you?”

“Shelley? Yes, it’s me.” He pauses, looks over his shoulder then around the doorway into the lounge. “Shelley, Stephen’s not here right now, but I’ll have to talk quietly. How are you? Why are you calling? After all this time, why are you calling now?”

“Davey…” Her voice trembles. “I was wondering if… Would it be possible for me to come home?”

“Home?” He holds the receiver as though accusing it of lying. “You want to come home? Shelley, has something happened? Are you alright?”

“Yes, something’s happened, and… no, I’m not alright. Do you think I could come? Would that be... possible?”

“Permanently you mean? To leave the City?”

Clumping sounds in the background; Stephen coming down the stairs. “Who is it?”

“Ah… no-one.”

Stephen looks at him askance. “No-one? What’s that supposed to mean?”

David takes a breath. “It’s Shelley.”

“Shelley?” Stephen looks upstairs. “And what does she want?”

a hand. “She wants to come home. I

a lot wrong when she took off the

“Steph…”

back here. Don’t ring again. You’re

I’d like

no sister of mine. And she’s not

voice babbles out of the ear-piece. “Davey, I’m scared. Something has happened and… Oh, God, please

see what I can do Shelley, but I can’t make any promises. Can you tell me

on the cradle. “So she’s in trouble. You know how she was earning a living. Probably just got herself pregnant by

sake, Steve,

home and

*****

 

The Present - James

the door:

A grunt; “Door’s open.”

both palms as he stoops over site schematics spread flat, pinned at the corners with

jerks his chin to a stack

“Thanks, yes.”

instructions up gantries and scaffolding, and across acres. He pours from the kettle and passes me the cup. I eye the chipped and stained

God for boiling

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