Woman Walks into a Bar by Rowan Coleman Page B

you, of course,” he said to her with a wink. He looked up and saw me.
    â€œHi, Sam,” he called. But before I could reply I felt an arm slip through mine.
    â€œHi!” Marie looked excited. She pulled me away from the pub door to the quiet end by the ladies’. Joy was standing there, one leg straight, one leg bent, so that the curve of her hip jutted out at an angle as she leant against the bar. When she saw me she smiled.
    â€œYou’re looking good, babe,” she said, pushing my jacket off my shoulders and twirling me round. As I turned I saw Brendan, clipping the lids off bottles of Bud before setting them in a line on the bar.
    Brendan was working. I wasn’t meeting Brendan.
    I had begun to believe it so much that it was taking a second for my brain to catch up with my sinking heart.
    â€œSo,” I said, feeling suddenly tired and old. “Let’s get on with it.”
    â€œIn a minute,” Joy said. She looked at Marie. Marie bit her lip. “Now listen, you know this man. You haven’t seen him for a long time. For a really, really long . . .”
    I opened my mouth.
    â€œIt’s not Adam,” Joy said firmly. “Anyway, I saw this bloke the other day on the bus. His car had broken down. He never normally takes the bus! When he asked after you, I thought it must be like fate, right? It must be meant to be. He said he wanted to see you again. And I want you to know I thought about it for a long time, Sam. Me and Marie talked about it. We thought you should meet. I thought you should meet.”
    â€œMeet who?” I said, starting to lose my temper.
    Joy put her hand on my shoulder and guided me round the bar to where I could see a man in a suit, his dark head bent over his mobile phone as he sent a text.
    â€œLuke Goddard!” she said.
    I felt as if the breath had been sucked out of my lungs. I felt fifteen again with my heart thundering in my chest as I looked at him, sitting on the swings waiting for me.
    I should have seen this coming. It was obvious, really. But I hadn’t thought of it, so I hadn’t stopped it.
    All I knew was that I didn’t want to see Luke Goddard, because the moment I realized that that man was him, all I could feel was the cold, hard slap of those insults and lies hitting me in the face again. All I could see was the look of contempt and disgust Luke had given me when I asked him to help me. Everything I thought I had put behind me for good was being raked up again.
    I felt angry, humiliated, and scared.
    And I hadn’t felt like that since the night I broke up with Adam.
    The One Who Broke My Nose and Three Ribs
    He walked in from the bar.
    â€œDinner’s ready,” I said, keeping my eyes down. I knew better than to look at him until I could tell what kind of mood he was in. Sometimes he’d slip his arms around my waist and kiss my ear and I’d know that he was in a good mood.
    And when he was happy, he was the Adam I was in love with. Kind and loving. Funny and sweet. I knew that Adam would be gentle with me. He would hold me like I was made of glass. He would make Beth laugh and laugh before reading her a bedtime story. That was the Adam I’d fallen in love with, the Adam I couldn’t leave.
    But sometimes Adam wasn’t like that. Sometimes he got angry, really angry. And the last few times he’d got that angry, he’d hit me.
    It went like this. Sometimes he kissed me. Sometimes he would bring me flowers. Sometimes he would do the washing up. And sometimes he’d hit me. But I still loved him and so did Beth. She was three then, and she was a proper little daddy’s girl.
    It had started out as slaps. Slaps became shoves. And then, about a year before that night, he had punched me hard in the stomach. Knocked the wind right out of me. I had bent over double on the kitchen floor and had waited for another breath to come. He had stood in the doorway and watched me. He