BooksBarbecue
Back When I Lost You
Chapters (81)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Dedication
  4. Prologue
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. Forty-six
  51. Forty-seven
  52. Forty-eight
  53. Forty-nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-one
  56. Fifty-two
  57. Fifty-three
  58. Fifty-four
  59. Fifty-five
  60. Fifty-six
  61. Fifty-seven
  62. Fifty-eight
  63. Fifty-nine
  64. Sixty
  65. Sixty-one
  66. Sixty-two
  67. Sixty-three
  68. Sixty-four
  69. Sixty-five
  70. Sixty-six
  71. Sixty-seven
  72. Epilogue
  73. Acknowledgments
  74. Read More
  75. Prologue
  76. One
  77. Two
  78. Three
  79. Four
  80. Follow Merilyn online
  81. Dedication

Then everything happened at once; or in a sequence Carla was unable to untangle, even days, weeks later. Baz was coming towards her with a pint of beer; the woman was taking a step back, then another; Baz was near to their table and no one seemed to be concerned with the frightened woman by the wall; no one seemed to care about the look on her face – fear, panic; no one was looking to see what she’d seen so they could help and no one seemed to know what Carla knew: the woman was about to jump.

Carla stood, shouted to Baz, the sound muffled in her head. He looked to where she was pointing. Shoving his beer on the nearest table, she watched as he pushed his way through the crowd; as the woman slowly climbed the wall; as Baz was two feet away when the woman opened her arms; the woman looked up to the sky and, just moments from Baz reaching her, the woman leant back, someone shouted, ‘Alice,’ and then she fell.

There were screams, staff scrambled to see what had happened, pushing through to get to the spot where she’d fallen. People leant over the wall, peering at the road below before turning back, hands clutched to face. Baz, a few feet in front of Carla, wasn’t moving. She knew she needed to go to him, to check he was OK, but she couldn’t seem to make herself walk forward. She felt suddenly cold but a flash of heat to her face made her stomach lurch. Oh God, she was going to throw up; she couldn’t, not in front of everyone – not when a woman had died. She reached to her left and grabbed the table. Sort it out, Carla. The police would be there soon and the last thing she needed was for them to see her, a civilian, that way; it was bad enough fighting to get their respect, without finding her passed out on the roof terrace.

The crowd was subdued, after the initial panic, groups reformed and hushed conversations followed; staff by the door fending off those who wanted to leave before the police got there. Baz walked back to the table, took one look at her and said, ‘Jesus, are you OK, you look grey.’ When she didn’t reply, he took her elbow, and slowly helped her onto the tall stool.

‘Is she dead?’ Carla didn’t want to picture the woman on the road below, and yet it was the only image she had – a body crumpled, limbs at wrong angles, blood slowly pooling around her head.

Baz pulled up a stool next to her and took her hand. ‘I think so.’