Leaving at Noon (7 page)

“
That’d work,” Jared
said.

“
Maybe.” Levi shrugged.
“Or you could go back to the beginning and start from
there.”

The room filled with silence.

“
The beginning?” Theo
asked cautiously.

“
Yeah, Hughesy. When she
opens that door, remind her why the two of you fell in love in the
first place.”

“
Call Fi,” Jared said.
“Let her know you’re coming.”

“
Good idea.” Greg picked
up his phone and held it out to Theo.

“
I’ll take you to the
airport,” James offered.

“
Levi’s right, mate.”
Spencer leaned forward. “You have to go to her.”

Greg waved the phone in his face.

“
Call Fiona,” Jared said
again.

Theo stared at the phone, uncertain. Zoey
had left. She didn’t want to see him. Going after her might be the
best thing to do, but it also might send their already fragile
marriage crashing to its final destruction.

“
Hughesy—” Levi crouched
in front of him, “—you have to go after her. Go bring our girl
back.”

Theo rubbed his scar fiercely.

Greg tapped something into the phone.
“Here’s the number.”

Feeling no less sure than he had a minute
ago, Theo held out his hand.

Greg passed him the phone.

“
Motherfucker,” he
muttered as he stared at Fiona’s contact details.

Greg stood. “We’ll get more drinks while you
make the call.” He nodded in the direction of the kitchen.

“
Thought you’d never
offer, mate.” James jumped to his feet.

“
My glass is empty,”
Spence announced.

Levi stood and patted his shoulder.

“
You got some more Jameson
in there?” Jared asked as they all trooped out of the lounge room,
leaving Theo alone.

Ignoring the pounding in his head and the
tightness in his chest, Theo touched Fiona’s number, put the phone
to his ear and listened to it ring.

Fuck knew what he was doing. Fuck knew if
going to Noosa was the right decision.

The only thing Theo did know was that he
couldn’t stay here another day. Not without his wife. It didn’t
matter how bad things were with Zoey, they were worse without
her.

“
Greg.” Fiona’s excited
voice filled his ear after one ring. “I’ve been dying to know how
the night went. Tell all and don’t leave out a single
detail.”

“
Uh, Fi, it’s not Greg.
I’m just using his phone.”

“
Hughesy?” Her tone
changed.

“
Yeah.”

“
Well, it’s about bloody
time you phoned,” Fiona huffed. “What the fuckety fuck took you so
long?”

Zoey settled into the sun lounger, took a
long sip of water and lay back. Even with the shade provided by the
umbrella, heat wafted over her skin. Noosa was a lot warmer than
Sydney in November. The humidity was already oppressive, negating
the cooling effects of the swim she’d just taken.

With the pool and garden behind her, she
stared through the glass fence of Fiona’s complex to the beach. The
hypnotic rhythm of the waves hitting shore and withdrawing should
have lulled her into a lazy daze, but it didn’t. Zoey was too
restless and too miserable to be lulled by anything.

Plastic scraping against wood, indicating
someone else had joined her outside, disturbed the peacefulness of
her surroundings, but she paid it no heed. Zoey’d never assumed
she’d be the only person out enjoying the pool, but she had enjoyed
the isolation until now.

Company or not, Zoey wasn’t distracted from
her thoughts. Or her misery. She’d done her fair share of wallowing
these past nine days.

The evenings were easier than the days. She
and Fiona spent them either at Fi’s home or her wine bar, drinking
copious amounts of tequila—in whatever form Fiona presented it to
her. Last night, Fi had favored straight shots over the tequila
sunrises they’d consumed the night before.

But Zoey wasn’t spending all her time numbed
by alcohol. In the harsh sunlit hours, she was forced to tackle her
circumstances, unpleasant as they were. The headaches she woke up
with every morning—thanks to the nights of drinking—were only the
start of the long, painful days.

Picking over the issues destroying her
marriage hurt way more than the hangovers ever could.

Her marriage was floundering. Apart from
their fighting, she and Theo had stopped communicating, and in
doing so, they’d damaged the bond that had formed over eight years
ago.

Their lack of conversation had gotten so
bad, Theo didn’t even know that the medical practice was moving. It
was unfathomable to think she hadn’t told him.

She hadn’t told him
. How was that
even possible? Her clinic had been so successful, the practice had
grown exponentially, making it necessary to find bigger rooms—and
she hadn’t shared her success with her husband.

What the fuck was wrong with her? How could
she, in all good conscience, keep it from him? Zoey shared every
little thing about herself with Theo, so why had she thought it was
okay to not mention this? This, and the raise she’d been given come
her next paycheck.

Because he hadn’t asked?

She’d definitely used that as justification
for not opening up. Several times she’d promised herself that if he
just asked about work, she’d tell him about the move and raise.

But he never asked, so she never shared.

Zoey shook her head in disgust. There was
something intrinsically fucked-up about her way of thinking. She
was punishing Theo for not showing interest in her work life—yet at
the same time she refused to tell him about it.

How could she not have told him? How, how,
how
?

Suddenly Zoey wanted Theo to know. She
wanted to hear his voice, and hear his reaction. Get his take and
his opinion on the move and the raise. The need to discuss it with
him was so intense, Zoey didn’t think twice. She grabbed her phone
and dialed.

The call connected to his voice mail.

Shit. His phone was broken. He’d tossed it
against the wall.

Disappointed, she didn’t leave a message.
Even if he’d replaced his iPhone, what would she say?
Hi, I
never told you this, but…?

Yeah, that would go down brilliantly. Theo
would love her opening up to him on voice mail.

By the time she set her phone back down, her
heart pounded and her hand trembled. She hadn’t spoken to him in
nine days, yet she’d grabbed her phone to discuss work as though
there were no problems between them.

What would have happened if he’d answered?
What would she have said after hello? Would he even have answered
if it had rung, or would he have ignored her call?

What would she say if their positions were
reversed and Theo phoned her now? Would she answer?

A cheerless sigh escaped. Theo hadn’t
called, and he wasn’t going to. Why should he? The way things had
stood between them when she’d left, he was probably only too happy
to be rid of her.

After she’d told him Liv would take her to
the airport, he’d walked out of their bedroom and out of their
house and, as promised, not returned before she’d left the next
day. Zoey had no idea where he’d slept. She just knew she’d cried
herself into a fitful sleep and woken up a hundred times before her
alarm finally jolted her out of bed.

“
You’re going to burn if
you don’t move into the shade.”

The voice startled Zoey. Her heart slammed
into her chest, and her breath caught in her throat.

God, that sounded just like…

Don’t be ridiculous, she chastised
herself.

“
Sun’s moved. Umbrella’s
not doing any good.”

Zoey jumped up and spun around—just in time
to see a head hit the water as a man dived into the pool. Her
heart, still racing from the call that never connected, thumped
uncomfortably.

Okay, so his voice
had
sounded just
like Theo’s. Close enough to send a surge of adrenaline through her
blood. But of course it wasn’t him. Theo wasn’t diving into a pool
in Noosa. He was hundreds of kilometers away, in Sydney. If it had
been him, he’d have walked up to her and spoken in person.

Well, whoever the man was—or wasn’t—he was
right. The sun had moved, and the shade along with it. Grateful for
the heads-up, Zoey pulled her lounger under the umbrella once more
and settled back into her seat, disappointment pounding through
her. For a fraction of a second she wished the man who’d saved the
left side of her body from severe sunburn was her husband.

She wished he’d come after her.

He hadn’t.

She sprayed another layer of protection
factor 50 over her arms, legs, belly and chest, mindful of burning.
Her skin was so fair, Zoey turned red just looking at the sun.

Thank God he wasn’t Theo. Zoey wasn’t ready
to see him. Aside from needing to tell him about work, she had no
idea what she wanted from him or what she’d say to him. Confronting
him, face to face, would be awkward and uncomfortable for both of
them.

Still, the relief—no matter how
intense—couldn’t mask the disappointment.

Zoey missed her husband. Being away from him
hurt like a physical injury. She felt like she’d left a part of
herself in Sydney. Not just left it. That part of her had been
ripped away, leaving a raw wound that refused to heal.

For the millionth time since arriving in
Noosa, her eyes filled with tears. Before she could force them
back, one slipped out and slid down her cheek. She batted it away
and blinked furiously, desperate to stop the deluge. Zoey didn’t
think she could bear another round of crying. Her throat hurt from
swallowing her sobs so Fiona wouldn’t hear them, and her nose
burned from the number of tissues she’d used wiping it. Her eyes
were permanently rimmed in red that no amount of makeup could
hide.

Apparently, working out how she felt about
Theo meant spending hours in a flood of tears—and still not finding
answers.

She forced her mind to blank, concentrating
on the waves swishing in the distance. Breaking over the sand and
ebbing back to sea. Back and forth, slow and constant. The sound
soothed, lulling her away from her pain.

It must have lulled her away from
consciousness as well, because the next thing Zoey knew she jerked
awake. She blinked hard, trying to get her bearings. It took a few
seconds before she remembered where she was.

When her vision cleared, her view of the
beach was impeded by a broad set of shoulders. A man stood with his
back to her, staring out to sea.

The same man she’d mistaken for Theo?

Jeez, he even looked like her husband from
behind. Tall, with a similar gorgeous tan. Theo’s olive skin tones,
so different from her own, ensured he was always tanned a golden
brown.

Zoey grunted silently. She’d fooled herself
into thinking she’d seen Theo last night too. Once in Fi’s wine and
cocktail bar, and again while walking back to the flat after. Of
course he wasn’t here. Theo was at work.

But it wasn’t just the skin tones. This man
had the same slim hips and waist as her husband. They tapered down
from his broad shoulders and back. Like Theo, he had a tennis
player’s build, with long, strong legs and exquisite muscle
definition.

His physique was trim, toned, defined and
purely masculine. And pretty damn hot. So hot that had he been her
husband, she’d have been unable to resist running her hands over
all that beautiful flesh.

He had the same hair color as Theo too. Dark
brown when wet. When it dried, would it be lighter and shot through
with natural blond highlights thanks to the Australian sun?

More than hair color, he wore the same
boardies as her husband. And Zoey would know, since she’d bought
them for him, insisting he’d look “sexy and fuckable” in them.

He did. Any time he put those boardies on,
she took them right off. Well, she hadn’t removed them in a while,
but that was probably because she’d lost interest in what Theo
wore.

She took note of the shorts now and
ridiculously wished it was her husband standing in front of her
wearing them. For the first time in weeks, she wanted to see
him.

She wanted him.

Physically wanted him, with a deep,
passionate desire that hadn’t reared its head in months. Her
breasts tingled, her belly tightened and her pussy grew damp.

The funny thing was, in Sydney, Zoey had
stopped noticing her husband. But here in Noosa, she heard his
voice in a stranger’s words and saw his body in a stranger’s form.
Here in Noosa, she ached for the man she’d married.

And the weirdest thing of all? When the
stranger turned around, his features merged together to form Theo’s
face.

Zoey blinked, sure she was
hallucinating.

The face didn’t change. He stared at her
through Theo’s dark blue eyes and exhaled through his sensual lips.
The chin and cheeks were off. Theo was usually clean-shaven, but
three or four days of hair growth covered what looked like her
husband’s square jaw and ended just below his sculpted
cheekbones.

Which meant one of two things. Either Zoey
was still seriously drunk from the night before and now
hallucinating, or the stranger standing in front of her was in fact
her husband.

The dark circles around his eyes threw her.
Theo never had dark circles.

She leaned forward. “Hughesy?” Her voice was
little more than a surprised rasp.

“
Babe.”

Holy shit.

Zoey’s heart pumped unevenly, so out of
synch with the rest of her body, breathing became difficult.
“W-what are you doing here?”