Chapter Five

The doorbell brought Cat back to the present. She slid off the bed and headed for the front door. 

“Yes?” Calling from her side of the wooden door.

“Locksmith Miss Sinclair.” An unfamiliar man’s voice replied.

Cat sighed in relief. “Hang on.”

Cat unlocked the door, letting the locksmith in. “Hi, I want the locks changed on both the front and back doors please, and a deadbolt put in as well.” 

While the locksmith got busy, she went about cleaning the townhouse, finding a few more things that belonged to Eric, and put them into the box in the bedroom. Closing the box up, she sealed it, writing his name and address neatly on the top and leaving it by the front door to give to Jo next time she saw her. 

Cat had never told her foster parents about Eric, and he had never asked to meet them. Jack and Dawn are old-school in their thinking, not that you had to be a virgin on your wedding night.

What they didn’t believe in was casual sex. Sex was part of a deeper relationship with the person you intend to marry. They would see her relationship with Eric for what it was, a dead-end affair based on casual sex that wasn’t going anywhere, which was right on the money. 

Eric had no plans to marry her. He had been honest with her from the very beginning, that he wouldn’t give her a forever commitment and not to angle for more. They would only stay together for as long as they both found enjoyment. Once it wasn’t there anymore, they would move on.

Cat had been happy in the beginning, but she’d been less important to him than a lot of other things in his life, work being just one of them. Eric had become more distant and working harder. He didn’t call her anymore while travelling. Just saying when he returned there just hadn’t been time or the time zone had meant it was too late or too early. 

Cat wanted children one day. She wouldn’t have them outside of marriage, even in this modern time, where women could have children on their own without the stigma or shame of being a single parent. It was for her own reason that the children she would one day give birth to would come within wedlock.

Granted marriage was no guarantee, but it still gave a child security which she didn’t get until she moved into the Nelson’s household. Love and security had come freely, without strings attached.

Cat decided then she wouldn’t give the box to Jo to pass onto Eric. She would mail it back to him. It was about time she ended this chapter of her life and moved on. Now she just had to work out how she was going to get the BMW back to him, because that wouldn’t fit into the box! 

It had almost been a week since Eric had left on his all-important business trip and boy! Hadn’t she been tense waiting for the other shoe to drop? 

Knowing he should be home within the next few days. Cat had let the answering machine take all her calls to her landline and had blocked his number on her mobile, not that Eric had been calling her much during his business trips.

Part of the reason Eric probably didn’t call her was partly her fault. She tried to play it really cool on the phone at the start of their relationship .... affair, trying not to put too many demands on him. 

Cat had wanted to seem independent and not at all clingy, but she soon wished that she hadn’t played it so cool because Eric had stopped calling her, unless he had something to tell her. 

Work had been really tough this week, hard to concentrate. She only had tomorrow to get through before the weekend started and after this shitty week, she thought about going to visit Jack and Dawn in Cowra.

Hoping she got the chance to catch up with Julie, who within weeks of Cat starting her new role, Julie and David had decided to move home and she really missed spending time with her friends. Cat was also really excited for them. Julie had found out last month she was pregnant and was over the moon, not planning the baby, she said, but not an unwanted surprise. She would really look forward to seeing them both and sharing in their happiness. They were going to make great parents. 

Cat got off the bus after work that afternoon, having had a car removal company pick up the BMW last week and drop it off at Eric’s country home. She now used the bus to get to and from work. She had told herself that a clean break was a clean break, no matter how much she missed the car. 

Walking the few blocks to her townhouse took only a few minutes, and as she was putting her key in the lock, her mobile phone started to ring. She tensed like she did every time it rang. 

Swearing, she swung her bag around, digging her mobile phone out, trying to get it before the ringer stopped. Seeing Jo’s office extension number on the screen, she answered straight away, putting the phone to her ear. Opening the front door at the same time stepping into the lounge room of the townhouse, saying into the phone.

“Hi Jo! Why are you working so late? Don’t you have a new husband waiting for you at home?” The other end was quiet for a few moments, making Cat frown.

“Jo! Are you there, hon?” 

“Yes, I’m here. Cat, I think Eric might be on the way to your place,” Cat could hear Jo take a deep breath before adding. “I gave him your letter, Cat. I can tell you he wasn’t happy with what he read. He got a thunderous expression on his face and stormed out of here, swearing. Please take care I haven’t seen him this angry before. Do you want me to come over?” 

Wow, she didn’t think he would be so angry. Cat felt sick, and she didn’t know if she was ready to face him yet... did she need Jo here? She had to face the music eventually, maybe sooner than she had first been told. It was always a possibility he would return sooner than first thought, and that’s why she had become even more tense as the week went on.

Saying into the phone. “No Jo, thank you for the offer, but I don’t need you here. I’m ok, please go home to your husband. Eric will never hurt me. I have one question though! How long ago did he leave the office?” 

Jo replied quickly, “Just before I called you, I only waited long enough for the elevator doors to close before picking up the phone to call you. I wanted you to have enough warning in case.” Joanna really did sound worried. 

Cat looked at her watch, so she had 20 to 25 minutes until he got here, depending on how fast he drove and traffic. If her place was the destination, he was heading for. She tried to reassure Jo on the other end of the phone. 

“I promise Eric has never and will never physically hurt me.” Laughing bitterly, she added, “Eric warred with his words, not his fists, as you should know seeing him in action at the office.”

Jo replied, still sounding uneasy, “If you are sure....” her sentence just fading off.

“Honestly, I’m good! Go home.” Cat said her goodbyes and thanked Joanna for letting her know, then hung up the phone.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

Cat looked around her, quickly locked and dead bolted the front door, deciding in that moment she needed more time before facing Eric. Not because she was worried about what he might do to her. Cat’s genuine concern was her ability to say no if he touched her. It was something she wasn’t willing to put to the test, not yet anyway. 

Soon, but today, she was going to be a coward. She pulled the shade at the front window down and then headed straight for her bedroom, as far away from the front door as possible. Distance, she thought, not a lot but enough for now, closing the bedroom door after she entered. 

She looked around her white bedroom with antique furniture and decorative items in a teal colour here and there to add some drama to the room. It helps break up the white coverlet and throw pillows. The room wasn’t huge, but it fit a queen size bed and two bedside tables. With the large built-in wardrobe, she really didn’t need any more room living by herself. The en-suite was the only other door in the room, and she didn’t know if she should lock herself in there before Eric arrived. Let’s be honest, here was exactly where he was heading. Cat gave a sharp laugh. 

Why was she worried like she had told Jo Eric wouldn’t hurt her? He never had, not physically. The hurt he had inflicted had never come from any bodily harm. Just her own stupidity. She seated herself on the side of her bed, then laid back and stared at the white ceiling, thinking back....... When she had first met Eric, she had been a twenty-two-year-old virgin, not the norm in today’s world. 

She had stayed away from men and sex because Cat had a very colourful history with her birth mother, who had bounced from one man to another, including one-night stands. Never thinking of the damage she was doing to her young daughter, only caring about her own satisfaction and enjoyment. 

Some men... most of them, hadn’t been very nice using physical and verbal abuse of them both. After her mother had passed out drunk on the couch, one man had even tried to sexually assault her. Cat wasn’t even sure her mother would have cared.

Instead, she had to look after herself. Cat had bitten the man, then kicked him in the nuts before running out the door to neighbours. The neighbour had been so worried about Cat safety; she had called social services. After investigating her mother and current boyfriend, they had removed her from her mother’s care. Cat’s life had then truly started. After the experiences of her past, 

Cat hadn’t really got over her trust in men and had stayed away. Plus, the values Jack and Dawn had then installed in her.

Eric persistently asked Cat to have dinner with him for weeks. During this time, Cat discovered some endearing qualities about him. Such as his humour, boyish grin, and laughter when teasing his mother, as well as his ability to remember everyone’s first name, regardless of their position in his company. In a company that size, that was impressive. 

“So, are you going to have dinner with me tonight?” Eric asked out of the blue, as she was about to leave one afternoon.

Looking up in surprise, she started to say, “I don’t think...”

Eric interrupted her before she could say more. “I’m going to keep asking, Cat. So, you might as well say yes. I’ll wear you down, eventually.”