Random Acts of Kindness--Part 3 Read online

  He replied a few minutes later. Thanks Louise. All we can do is wait and hope.

  Louise put her phone down and sighed. She wanted more than anything to put her arms around him and hold him, but that was impossible.

  ***

  On her way home, Louise got a text from Abbie to say that she was at Brew, so she parked her car there and found her sister at their favourite table with Eszter.

  ‘What a day,’ Louise said, sinking into the empty chair.

  ‘What happened?’

  Louise told them about Hazel reappearing on the ward. ‘I just feel so sorry for them; they’ve already been through so much. And Alex, too. It makes you feel so helpless. And it reminds you, doesn’t it, how short and precious life is. Seeing that brave little girl in there, I don’t know, it makes you not want to hold back or regret anything. Who knows how long any of us have?’

  The other two looked at one another. Louise knew how grave her words sounded, but she had been thinking about it all day. She had spent two years holding back. Wasn’t it time she made a change? What if she left it too late?

  She looked at her sister and her friend. ‘So . . .’ She took a deep breath. ‘I really like Alex, but I don’t know what to do.’

  And then, embarrassingly, she burst into tears.

  Eszter and Abbie sprang into action. Eszter grabbed tissues, a coffee and a slice of cake, and Abbie wrapped her arms around her sister.

  Louise wiped her eyes and tried to calm down, glancing around to see if any of the other customers were watching. Luckily, her back was to the café. ‘I’m sorry,’ she sniffed, taking a sip of the coffee.

  ‘It’s okay,’ Abbie soothed. ‘You’ve had a tough day. I’m so sorry about Hazel. But look, Alex likes you, I’m certain of it, so please don’t worry about that.’

  ‘But I was so firm with him that we couldn’t be anything other than friends. I pushed him away. Why would he want me now?’

  Eszter gently touched her arm. ‘You’re allowed to change your mind, Lou. You’ve been hurt in the past; it’s understandable you were cautious. I think Alex will get that. He obviously cares about you. Things are difficult for him right now with his niece, but I know he’ll want your support. And then you can tell him how you feel.’

  Louise widened her eyes. ‘Tell him?’ She looked at Eszter and Abbie in horror. ‘But how? After everything I said to him.’ She sniffed again and willed herself not to start crying all over again. ‘I wouldn’t be able to find the words.’

  ‘You could show him instead,’ Eszter suggested.

  ‘I hate seeing him in pain over Hazel,’ Louise said, taking a bite of her cake. It helped a little bit. Despite the fact that seeing Alex in the hospital made her realise she had fallen for him, she knew that it wasn’t the right time to do anything. Not when Hazel’s health hung in the balance. She was sad but in a weird way also relieved. She had been fighting how she felt for so long. She had been scared. But her heart had broken free of the cage she had locked it up in after Peter. And she knew that whatever happened with Alex, she would be okay. ‘You were right,’ she told Abbie. ‘I had shut myself off for too long. I really like Alex, but it will be okay if he doesn’t feel the same way, I’ll be okay.’

  ‘You need to tell him though,’ Abbie said.

  Louise nodded. ‘I will. I will find a way, I promise.’ She glanced at the Kindness Board behind them. It had brought her and Alex together after she had put up her plea for help in finding her earring. Alex had been kind to her ever since that day. Now she needed to show him how special he was to her. But while she decided just how to do that, she would be there for him and his family, and she prayed that Hazel would be okay.

  ‘We’ll help you,’ Eszter promised.

  ‘The kindness pact just keeps on going,’ Abbie said with a smile.

  Louise smiled back. ‘I still haven’t quite fulfilled my part of the pact, but now I know that I want to, that I can, and I will,’ Louise vowed. She had been hard on herself. She hadn’t seen it until this summer, but now she knew that she did deserve to be loved. But would the man she wanted be able to love her back?

  Like Alex, all Louise could do now was wait and hope.

  Notes from the Brew Kindness Board:

  Thank you to Littlewood College for picking up litter in the park as part of their project on the environment!

  ***

  My husband for organising a surprise 40th birthday party for me. I had no idea and it was so lovely to spend the night with all our family and friends.

  ***

  Jenny for bringing in doughnuts every Friday for the office. It always cheers everyone up!

  ***

  Thank you to Olly, my ten-year-old neighbour, who offered to clean my car for me and wouldn’t accept any money for it.

  Part Four

  Available to pre-order now!

  Coming 4th June 2018

  First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2018

  A CBS Company

  Copyright © Victoria Walters, 2018

  The right of Victoria Walters to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

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  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-4711-7159-8

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.