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. Since when have you takensugar in your coffee?I freeze mid-stir, frantically searching mybrain for a viable excuse.We ve nottalked, but things are comfortable.Advising him that I m pregnant willcatapult us straight back to awkwardness,so I m going to be a total shitbag and waitfor him to go back to Australia, then I llget our mum to tell him. I m knackered.Ineed a sugar hit. It s the best I come upwith. You look tired. He sits down, eyeing mesuspiciously. I am tired. I admit.No hair twiddlingneeded. Why? Work stress. Half true, but now I mfighting my hands to keep them on thetable. So, you re okay? Kate told me to take a leap, but I m sureyou know that already. He un-wraps hissandwich and takes a bite.Yes, I do, but there is little pointconfirming it. You should never havegone there, and you really shouldn t havegone there on my wedding day. Yeah, I was out of line.I m sorry. Hereaches over and places his hand overmine. We ve never had cross words. I know.It was horrible. It was my fault. It was, I grin, and he dips his finger inthe froff of my coffee and flicks it at mynose. Hey! Congratulations, anyway. He smiles. What? I blurt. I never congratulated you on your actualwedding day.I was too busy being anarsehole. Oh, thanks. The relief that takes holdmakes me sag in my chair, but just asquickly, I m stiff as a board.Matt knows,and he has been doing a fantastic job ofkeeping my parents informed and up-to-date on my love life.He ll be like a pig inshit over this.That cooling fury has justboiled over into the realms of panic.Iquickly disregard the possibility that he scalled my mum and dad already because ifhe had, then Dan would know, and hewouldn t be sat opposite me happilychomping his way through a tuna melt.This is bad news.I need to get to Mattbefore he gets to my parents.Or I couldjust ring my parents and tell them myself.That would be the sensible thing to do, butI want to see them with Jesse.I want to dothis bit right, which is absurd, but afterhow they found out about Jesse and theshock of a rushed wedding, I want to makethis part special. You okay? Dan s worried tone pulls mefrom yet more mental meltdown. Yeah, so when are you going back? I ll get on-line when I get back toHarvey s to see what s available. Hedabs his mouth with his napkin andproceeds to launch into a proper apologyspeech.I spend the next half an hour listening,nodding, yes-ing and no-ing, but I m amillion miles away from the conversation,my head struggling to decide on what todo for the best.Why hasn t Matt calledthem already? You ll get sacked. Huh? I glance down at my Rolex, notingits two fifteen.I m already late, but I feelno sense of urgency to hurry back to theoffice.The only urgency I have is toresolve my little Matt issue once and forall. Yeah, I d better shoot. Nice watch. He nods at my wrist. Wedding present, I stand and brushmyself down. Which way are youheading? Back to Harvey s. Okay, will you call me? I mean, youwon t just leave, will you?His eyes warm and he stands beforepulling me into him and giving me thebiggest cuddle. I wouldn t go anywherewithout saying goodbye to my little sister.He kisses my head. Let s not fall outagain, okay? Okay.Keep it in your trousers then, andtry to be civil to my husband if you everhave to share company with him again. I promise. He assures me.I m a littlesurprised he doesn t point out that Jessewas discourteous, too, because he reallywas. Take care. You, too. I leave Dan, but instead ofgoing to the office, I call in sick again andgo to get my car.I m walking on thin ice,but this really cannot wait.Matt won t behome, but he ll be at his office, and Ireally don t care where I verbally bashhim.Chapter 18But he s not at his office, and he hasn tbeen for weeks.After driving across thecity in mid-afternoon traffic, I pulled up tothe glass building which houses the salescentre of the firm that he works for, onlyto be told by the receptionist that Matt losthis job a few weeks ago.I remember himmentioning it, he d used it as an excuse forhis shitty behaviour, but I never gave itanother thought.Despite his misfortune, though, I don t feelpity or concern.Nothing is going todampen down my resentment andcontempt.I sit in my car and pull myphone from my bag, full of determination.I ll track him down.It rings once. Ava,I was expecting a voice laced withsmugness and deep satisfaction, so when Ihear this one, which is broken andstrained, I m thrown completely.It takesme a few moments to piece a sentencetogether and when I do, it s not at all whatI had intended to say. Are you okay?He laughs, but it s weak. Why don t youask your husband?The back of my head hits the headrest ofmy seat, and I stare up at the ceiling of mycar.I should have predicted this. Howbad? Oh, just a couple of broken ribs and ablack eye.Nothing major.Your husbandknows how to do a job properly, I ll givehim that. Why did you do it? Because I want everything he has withyou.Or I did [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]