|14| • Curses and Kisses •

                                    

                                          
It took me quite some time to calm down after Alice's visit if I was honest. I hadn't thought so, but my mind was stuck in various scenarios as to why she had come here, and what she had really wanted here. She couldn't have known that I was here. Could she? Not unless Brian was still in touch with her. But why should he be? He had made it very clear that he was relieved it was over with her, why should he have lied? He wasn't evil enough to do something like that. It took an entirely different person to pull off such a complex evil plan like that. Right..?
                          
I hated myself a little for doubting Brian like this, but I couldn't help it. I didn't want to, but sometimes my mind simply took over. I just needed him to come home now and tell me that he hadn't seen her since they broke up. 
                          
What had she wanted here? Had she known about Brian and me? She couldn't really have, because that article in the Daily Mail was the only time I had been mentioned in a context like that and that stated that I was with Roger. Maybe she had come here to see if he wanted to give their relationship another try not that I 'was with Roger' according to the public opinion. That didn't seem entirely crazy.
                          
I couldn't do anything but wait. And try to keep my imagination under control until Brian came home. But he took his time. I had no idea when he was supposed to be home, but I had expected him some time in the afternoon. However, it was past six in the evening and he still wasn't home, so I was getting a little restless. I had missed him, it had been two weeks since I had last seen him and for our relationship that was a very long time. 
                          
There was nothing I could do though, they might have gotten up very late and taken it slow. Who knew. He hadn't called and I didn't have anywhere to call so I had to wait. But I decided to wait while I got started on dinner for us because I was getting hungry. I hadn't planned anything fancy, but it still needed to be done and who knew when brian had last had some proper food.
                          
It was just a casserole dish I had planned, so once that was in the oven I could clean the kitchen again to save us the work later. And then once the dish was done, I turned down the temperature just enough so the food would stay warm and returned to the living room. I hadn't brought anything in particular here, but I remembered Ruth had mentioned she had brought Brian some knitting needles and wool because he had asked for that. I didn't know why exactly, but at least that meant until he got here, I could keep myself busy, trying to remember what I knew about knitting. I didn't want to actually make something, I just wanted to experiment a little.
                          
I could get quite a bit done actually, after managing to knit a few not terribly ugly rows I decided I would try to make some potholders, just because that was basically the standard thing to knit aside from a scarf, wasn't it? And I managed to get about halfway through one of them, when I could finally hear a key turning in the lock. And unless he had more exs who still visited him, it had to be him.
                          
I couldn't lie, I was excited to see him again. Why wouldn't I be? It had been so long, I really missed him. I put down my knitting and got up, into the hallway. I could see the front door being pushed open before a suitcase was pushed in, followed by a couple of curses when it got stuck on the rug he had on the floor in the hallway. I stepped over there and moved the suitcase out of the way. "Well, hello to you too," I replied, unable to keep a smile off my face.
                          
"Sorry," Brian apologised, dragging the rest if his luggage inside, before he pushed his hair out of his face. "Hello, my dear," he greeted me, not even closing the door before he hugged me tightly. "It's so good to see you again, you have no idea... I love coming home to someone who is excited to see me."
                          
"It's good to see you again too," I told him honestly, hugging him back. It had started as a simple quick welcome hug, but we didn't let go, it turned into a proper hug because we had missed each other a lot. I missed his his arms around me and the feeling of his warm body against mine, it felt oddly relieving. It was good to have him back. "You're home very late, I expected you a bit earlier if I'm honest." I pulled away and looked at him, smiling at him. I couldn't resist that while looking at his handsome face.