Out Of Time | A Shelby

fourteen

Nancy had avoided Arthur at all possible costs ever since Linda had told her what had been going on between them. She didn't speak to Linda at work, rather actively pretended like she wasn't in the building at all, despite feeling her eyes boring into her from across the room all day.

It had hurt her. Sure, Nancy didn't have deep feelings for Arthur, she wasn't in love with him, but there was something inside of her that was in pain because of the truth. The way he cared for her and the way he looked at her and the things he'd said and done were all things that had contributed to the way she was feeling after the curtain had dropped.

It was a Saturday evening a week later when Esme and Nancy were sat together in the pub like they usually did, chatting about their lives and updating one another on any gossip. They hadn't seen each other the week before so Nancy hadn't had chance to tell Esme what had happened between her and Arthur.

"Are you joking?"

Esme's face was a picture when Nancy finally told her what had been going on. It turned out that nobody in the family was any the wiser about Arthur and Linda's relationship. In fact, everybody was glad to see the back of her when she and Arthur finally called it quits, so it wasn't a shock that he hadn't told anybody they might rekindle things.

"He didn't spend the night with you, did he?"

Nancy sipped her wine and shook her head, thankful that it hadn't gone any further than a kiss. Now she knew why he'd left so suddenly afterwards.

"Thank God," Esme let out a frustrated but relieved sigh, "If he'd have done that I'd have killed him. I want to kill him anyway, bastard."

Over the past seven days, Nancy had taken the time to try and forget what had happened. It was hard seeing Linda's smiling face every day, she was undoubtedly smug about the whole situation, but Nancy had to remind herself every time that it simply wasn't deep enough for her to be upset about.

She had been hurt far more by men, far, far more. A man over ten years older than her going back to his ex-wife after one kiss wasn't a big enough deal for her to spend her nights crying over. And even if it was, Nancy wouldn't do it. She had wasted enough of her life at the hands of men's actions.

"Nancy! Nance!"

"Oh for crying out loud." Esme muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.

Arthur barged through the doors of The Cross Keys like a tornado. Everyone turned to stare at him, conversations falling flat after the loud entrance. Not that Arthur was bothered about anybody looking at him.

He walked straight over to the table the girls were sat at and placed his hands down, looking Nancy in the eyes.

"Will you come and talk to me outside? Please?"

"I-" Nancy just shook her head, pulling a confused face, "I have nothing to say to you."

Arthur sighed loudly, "Please, just two minutes, then I'll leave you alone."

Nancy pondered for a moment, but ultimately decided that she wanted to hear what Arthur had to say that was so important he'd interrupt her Saturday evening.

"I'm going to kill you, Arthur." Esme said, glaring at him.

"Good to see you too, Esme."

Nancy followed Arthur out of the pub, ignoring the stares of people who's evening had been loudly interrupted by a Peaky Blinder.

The sun had set now and the wind was blowing a light breeze through the early Autumn air, pushing Nancy's hair down her back from in front of her shoulders.

"Linda's a liar."

Nancy folded her arms at her chest and narrowed her eyes at Arthur as she looked up at him, an unimpressed expression on her face.

"I thought you'd say something like that."

"We're not getting back together, I swear. We just..."

"Just what?" Nancy raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue.

He sighed and looked up at the sky, muttering something quietly to himself before fixing his gaze back on a Nancy and biting down on his bottom lip.

"Before we, we kissed the other week, Linda and I had been spending time with each other again. Not a lot, just sometimes, just to see if we-"

"You still love her, don't you?"

"No, it was just sex, Nancy, we just kept each other company when we missed it and-"

"That night when I came to pick up Vincent when you'd taken care of him, you were fucking her then? And last week? When you said all those things to me and kissed me?"

Arthur said nothing. He carried on looking into Nancy's eyes like a lost puppy, his bottom lip almost quivering as he slowly, regretfully, nodded his head.

Nancy let out a laugh of disbelief, "You do still love her, I know you do."

He swallowed, cracking his knuckles as he sighed quietly, his heart being pulled in opposite directions.

"It's not like that Nancy, it's...the same as how you still love Henry."

Nancy's jaw dropped, her eyes widening at what she'd just heard. After everything that had happened, everything Arthur had done for her, she couldn't believe he could say something as stupid as that.

"I haven't loved Henry for years. How could I possibly love a man that beat me with in an inch of my life 7 days a week for the past five years? How could I love a man that would rape me as our son laid sleeping in the next room? How could I love a man that would cheat on me, hurt me, ruin my life?"

Arthur was lost for words. Nancy looked into his eyes and saw that inside his head he was desperately trying to think of something to say, anything at all that could make the situation better.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, Nancy. That was a fucking stupid thing to say, I'm sorry. Please, just," Arthur had tears welling in his eyes as he reached out to take Nancy's hand.

She let him hold it, waiting for him to say something else. He was squeezing her hand, looking down at her with an apologetic expression, trying to not to cry in front of her.

"What do you want from me, Arthur? I've been through enough."

Arthur licked his lips and nodded, gently dropping Nancy's hand back down to her side. He knew she was right, she'd been to Hell and back, and she didn't need dragging back down there.

"You're right," he said solemnly, "I'll leave you be, I'm sorry. Look after yourself, Nancy."