Secrets and Lies (Sequel to Your Lying Eyes)

Secrets and Lies Chapter 18

Howard groaned in frustration.  He and Gary had been trying constantly to get in touch with the Lagoon Hotel, but to no avail.  Likewise his efforts to get a flight out there.  The next available one was in three days time.  And only then if the weather improved.  There had been thick fog over the north of England for the last two days, not unusual at this time of year, the end of November, and a backlog of passengers waiting for flights.  He'd be lucky to get a flight over there within the next seven days.

"I'm not kidding Gaz, everything's against me at the moment," he complained to him as he skimmed his phone down.  "And if you carry on being all reasonable I may very well have to kill you!"

Gary grinned back at him.  It was good to see him so animated again.  For the last couple of weeks, he'd been listless and lethargic.  Getting up later and later.  Not doing anything except worry about Anna and the kids.  Now he had something to get up for in the mornings.

"While you're delayed like this you could start packing up for your move to the new place," he suggested to him.  "That will keep you busy.  And if you do have to wait for another week, a lot of the moving could get done.  I'll always give you a hand you know!"

"Yeah I suppose so," he agreed, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that he could be right.

The weather didn't improve over the next couple of days, but by the third day, the fog had gone, to be replaced by rain.  Howard's mood didn't improve much when he got a call from the airport telling him that he'd been put on standby for a seat on the earliest available flight.  This would be over the next couple of days.  It was an improvement of sorts he supposed but he still was no closer to Anna.

He was in the new house when he received the news.  He decided to take it out on the drum kit he had set up in one of the downstairs rooms.  He was pounding away, venting his frustration on them, when his phone rang again.  It went through to voicemail, the caller leaving their message there for later when he would pick it up.

Anna meanwhile was having better luck.  She, Amy and the children were up bright and early the day after her conversation with Catherine, and left in lots of time to catch their flight back home.  Amy had bid a sad farewell to Zack.  He promised that he would come out and visit her over Christmas and New Year.  He'd use the time to look around the university as he was planning to do some further studying there later the following year.

As they settled into their seats on the plane, Amy raised a question that so far Anna seemed to have overlooked.

"Where will we stay once we get back home?" she asked her.  "Where will 'home' be for us all?"

Anna looked at her blankly at first as the question sank in.  This was something that she hadn't really considered.  Where was home going to be for the four of them?  In all the excitement about going back to Manchester, she hadn't thought about it.

"We'll book into a hotel to begin with," she told her, "then I suppose I will have to start to look for a flat or a house somewhere.  I must be honest, it's not something I've thought of.  If we did get stuck, I suppose that Gary would help out and let us stay with him and Sandy.  But I don't want any of them to know that we're back until I see Howard and speak to him. I want to be able to decide who I talk to first, and when I do that."

Amy nodded in understanding.  If Anna couldn't find somewhere, she knew that she could always go to one of her friends for a short stay.  She hoped that it wouldn't come to that and that Anna and Howard would be able to work things out.

They arrived to a damp and dismal Manchester, the last flight allowed in in the worsening foggy weather.  Once they had collected their luggage, they took a taxi to one of the city centre hotels.