by Melissa Hill
“Great.” Nicola sounded pleased. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
So am I, Chloe thought, her thoughts going a mile a minute as she wrote down Nicola’s address on a post-it note.
So am I.
67
Dan drove slowly on the outskirts of Lakeview, trying to spot the turnoff to Nicola’s house.
He was looking forward to seeing her again – probably a lot more than he should be, he thought wryly, reminding himself yet again that he was about to marry somebody else. Still, he was glad they would have the chance to talk, and he was ashamed and more than a little embarrassed about the whole situation with Chloe. He also knew that Nicola would no doubt by now have figured out that Carolyn had blabbed about her. He would have to try and explain that to her too, although he certainly wasn’t going to admit the whole truth – that one night he and John’s wife had somehow ended up in bed together.
Dan shook his head. He didn’t know what had come over him that night. At that stage he had been so upset about Nicola and everything and even thought he might have to sell out his share of the business. It had been a tough, dark period in his life and Dan needed solace. Carolyn had been only too happy to oblige.
And that was why he had let Nicola go. He wasn’t good enough for her, he knew that. There was no point in trying to pretend that everything would be OK, that they could pick up the pieces and go on as normal. They weren’t strong enough for that – he wasn’t strong enough for that. Once he had been tempted by Carolyn, Dan was made only too aware of his own limits. A marriage would need to be solid as a lump of titanium to get through the whole thing and at that stage the strength of Dan and Nicola’s marriage had been tested way too often.
No, he had done the right thing by leaving Nicola when he did.
Yet, after all these years, Dan was convinced that he and Nicola had unfinished business – business they hadn’t even scratched the surface of at their last meeting. Again, he didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the strong and confident Nicola he had met that day. OK, she had put on quite a lot of weight but she had still looked so well and so content that it was almost frightening.
Then again, Dan thought, he should have known that Nicola would survive. She had always been the stronger one, hadn’t that been proved over and over throughout their short marriage? No, he was the one who had fallen to pieces, who had let her down in the worst way imaginable. But was it possible that Nicola now might be ready to forgive – even forget?
Dan really hoped so.
He had been thrilled at Nicola’s invitation to her house tonight – especially for dinner – well, in retrospect he hadn’t been quite sure she had actually mentioned dinner but obviously that was what she’d intended. He knew this was a breakthrough; she wouldn’t have let him near the place a couple of months ago. Anyway, he’d decided to come a little bit earlier than they’d agreed on the phone, so he could maybe give her a hand with preparing dinner. That was something they used to really enjoy when they were together and perhaps might make things a bit more relaxing and less formal than just him turning up when everything was ready. Dan was really looking forward to sampling some of his ex-wife’s fantastic cooking. Nic had always been a whiz in the kitchen and usually went all out with her culinary creations. Dan had really missed that – Chloe could barely make toast.
And this supposed ‘thing’ she had with Harris at the moment couldn’t be up to much if Nicola was inviting her ex round for dinner now, could it?
Suddenly spying the turnoff, Dan indicated and quickly jammed on the brakes.
He continued on a little way down the road, recalling the instructions Nicola had given him. “About half a mile down, yellow bungalow, third house on the left.”
Dan was surprised she had bought a bungalow; Nicola had always hated that type of house. “Unimaginative and functional,” she had said, when she and Dan were making plans to buy a house of their own. “No character whatsoever.”
She had fallen in love with a chalet-style house she had seen for sale in the Wicklow Mountains once, a mammoth place with indigenous stonework, woodwork and “tons of personality”. That had been some house, Dan thought, shaking his head in wonder. He had been partial to the place too; it was ideal for a dynamic, up-and-coming businessman like himself and had been without doubt their idea of the ‘perfect house’. Not for the first time, Dan wondered how their life together would have turned out, had things not gone sour.
And after all that, Nicola had settled for a bungalow. It couldn’t have been the money; financially she was pretty well off at this stage. And it wasn’t as though she was stuck for choice; there were lots of very beautiful period houses in Lakeview. If Nicola loved character so much, why didn’t she go for one of those? Dan considered this for a few moments and then, realising his stupidity, mentally slapped himself on the forehead. Seeing a row of bungalows come into view on his left, Dan slowed his driving, deciding that he must be almost there.
One, two three … Dan mentally counted the houses, and then trailed off as he spied what must be Nicola’s house
“What the …?” he said out loud, puzzled. Right in front of him, pulling into Nicola’s driveway, was none other than Chloe’s Rav4. But it couldn’t be … why would she be … ?
Dan’s heart raced with panic as he watched his fiancée stop the jeep. Chloe got out, took a quick, uncomfortable look around and seemed unsure as she locked the car door.
Oh no. Dan had to reach her before she got to the house – he had to.
Dan hit the controls for the electronic passenger window. In his haste, he pressed the wrong button and wound down his own window instead.
“Damn,” he cursed, fumbling with the controls.
Chloe was now running a hand through her hair, and walking unsurely towards the house. She had almost reached the door when Dan put his head out the window, hoping that Chloe would hear him from this distance.
He needed to talk to her first, to explain …
But when he saw Nicola smiling and welcoming his fiancée from the open doorway, Dan knew that it was already too late.
68
Ken lightly ran his index finger over the newly polished diamond. Would she like it? He certainly hoped so. He was taking a hell of a chance choosing the ring beforehand, he knew that, but he wanted this to be a real proposal, a proper proposal. Ken closed the box and put it in inside his coat pocket.
He couldn’t believe how terrifying all of this felt. Would she say yes immediately, thrilled with the thoughts of marrying him, or would she maybe ask for some time to think about it? Ken steeled himself for every possible scenario, even one where she might say no. She might not yet be ready and if she wasn’t, then of course Ken would accept that. He would have no problem waiting for Nicola – he knew she loved him and she was most definitely the one for him. Sometimes, Ken couldn’t quite comprehend the strength of his feelings for her.
He was glad the thing with that other moron was finally over and done with. Ken hated the fact that Dan had sauntered back into Nicola’s life lately – almost casually – as if she was some kind of afterthought. Ken would never treat her like that, would never have let her go in the first place.
Ken knew that Hunt had been phoning her recently. He knew because the asshole had phoned her at the house a couple of times, and Ken had answered. He was sure that Hunt had recognised his voice too, but typically had been too much of a coward to speak, and had simply hung up. Still, the main thing was that Nicola wasn’t reciprocating. And Ken knew she wasn’t reciprocating because Nicola was over Dan. Hadn’t she told Ken that she wished he had been the one she was married to back then? Hadn’t she told him that he and Barney were her family now?
Well, Ken thought, taking the turn-off to Nicola’s road, if things went as well tonight as he hoped they would, they were about to become a proper family.
He began rehearsing the words again in his head, how he would say it and how he woul
d lead up to it. Ken grimaced, almost unable to look at the house. He shook his head. Wow, this was nerve-wracking. He had been practicing the build-up these last few days and hopefully, things would all go according to plan.
Suddenly, Ken stopped the car, icy daggers shooting up his spine.
Hunt. What the hell was he doing here? Ken was still a little away from the house, but he could quite clearly make out the other man’s fat, ignorant head. And Dan was eagerly running up Nicola’s driveway, running towards something – or someone …
Ken sat back, stunned.
Had she been lying to him all along? Had she been covering up the fact that she and Hunt were in much greater contact than she was letting on? After all, she had been secretive about the phone calls – what else was she being secretive about?
Immediately, he wrenched the ring-box from his pocket and flung it furiously onto the floor of the car. Then, reversing into a nearby gateway, face red with anger and tyres screeching wildly, Ken sped off in the other direction.
69
“Neil, it was fantastic,” Laura danced excitedly around the kitchen. She had just returned from another day of the Crafts Exhibition, and although Neil had come with her on the first day to set up her exhibition stand, she was on her own once the doors opened to the public.
“I couldn’t believe the amount of people that were interested in my work. I must’ve given out at least two boxes of business cards!”
Neil crossed the room and gave her a massive hug. “That’s fantastic, love – didn’t I tell you it would be brilliant?”
Laura beamed at her husband. It had been brilliant. Finally her designs had been exposed to the right people – or to the right market as Helen would say – and the feedback had been enormously positive.
Helen. Laura’s heart lurched again as she thought about her friend. She had heard nothing from her since the other night.
Maybe Helen didn’t want to discuss it at all. Maybe she just didn’t want to deal with it, preferring instead to just get on with it and cut Laura out of her life like she had the first time round. That was Helen’s way, after all. When faced with unpleasantness or trouble, she generally preferred to pretend the problem didn’t exist. That was what she had done with Nicola, and to a lesser degree with Laura, immediately after the thing with Neil.
Laura doubted that Helen was troubling herself about it, although she looked very shaken upon her departure the other night. Laura didn’t think she had ever seen her look so ashamed.
But it was good to have it out in the open. She was pleased too that she had had the guts to stand up for herself, and not let Helen paper it over with excuses and pleas of drunkenness. Yet, in spite of everything, in spite of their ups and downs, Laura didn’t want to lose Helen as a friend. They had been through a lot together and lately life hadn’t exactly been all that rosy for Helen. Her friend was lonely – who would have thought it?
Laura collapsed onto a chair, unwilling to let thoughts of Helen get her down.
“Oh, and guess who I met there?” she said.
“Who?” Neil asked with a grin, pleased at her enthusiasm.
“Debbie – from Amazing Days in Lakeview.”
Neil looked blank.
“The stationery designer?” she prompted.
“Oh right.”
“She’s a dote – we had a great chat.”
Laura had bumped into Debbie while rushing off to grab a coffee – trusting the girl displaying handmade fudge across the way to watch over her stand. She had felt a tap on the shoulder while standing in the queue, and saw a smiling Debbie standing behind her.
“I thought I recognised you, earlier,” Debbie said cheerily. “Are you just browsing
or …”
“No, I’m exhibiting,” Laura said proudly. Now she was amongst like-minded people and was getting so much positive feedback, she wasn’t at all apologetic about her work. “I’m a jewellery designer.”
“Really? I had no idea. I must pop over and have a look at your work. You already know what mine looks like,” she added grinning. “Oh, and cheers for the ‘Thank you’ card – do you know you’re the first bride ever to send me one?”
Laura was amazed. “But you did such a fantastic job. We were delighted with the invitations, people were mad about them.”
“Mmm, a fantastic job alright – apart from the fact that we gave them away to someone else,” Debbie bought two coffees and, Styrofoam cups in hand, she and Laura walked back towards the stands.
“That’s right!” Laura pretended she had forgotten, not wanting Debbie to think that it had been a problem.
But Debbie had something else on her mind. “Actually,” she said, “I don’t mean to gossip or anything, but the other girl was so stuck-up, and you were so nice about the whole thing…”
“What?” Laura was intrigued.
“Well, it turned out that …” Debbie paused at Laura’s stand and stopped mid-sentence when she saw her display. “Are these yours? They’re fabulous.”
Laura hardly heard her. “What? Tell me about that other girl.”
“Oh right. Well,” Debbie lowered her voice conspiratorially, as if Chloe might pop out from under the pile of Aran sweaters at the next stand down, “it turned out that her wedding had to be postponed.”
“Postponed? Why?”
“She didn’t say. I know it galled her to have to ring me and ask for a reprint and another date, but what else could she do? The template was made and it would cost her a fortune to get them made up from scratch again somewhere else.”
Dan’s wedding postponed. Laura was amazed. But why? Did it have anything to do with Nicola?
“Anyway,” Laura said to Neil now, “we went for coffee together when the exhibition closed, and she told me all about how she got started in the business, and how it took her ages to get going. Neil, to hear her talking, it was like listening to my own story. Her family were always popping in unannounced for coffee when she was trying to get some work done, and she too got landed with baby-sitting her friend’s children while they went off shopping, or whatever. People used to send her off collecting laundry, or get her to wait at their houses to accept furniture deliveries and things like that.”
Debbie experiences had practically mirrored her own.
“They acted as though I was just sitting at home, with my feet up and nothing else to do but watch Jerry Springer,” Debbie had confided. “Eventually I had to put a stop to it. I was getting nothing done, and being out of the house as often as I was didn’t help the business.”
“So, what did you say to them?” Laura was particularly interested in how she handled that, although Debbie didn’t seem the type of woman to take nonsense from anyone.
Debbie grimaced. “I ended up falling out with some of them for a while,” she said. “Most of my friends understood, but only after I sat them down and explained that even though I was working from home, I was still working and they couldn’t just call in when they felt like it and expect me to be free. After that they were very supportive. Of course, once I got the shop on Main Street I was able to separate business time from personal time and that helped enormously. But I’ll tell you,” she said with a shake of her head, “it wasn’t easy.”
Laura nodded sympathetically, thinking about her own family situation.
“But in order to keep going, you have to keep believing not just in your product, but in yourself. And you have to condition your mind into believing that failure is not an option. It’s not easy and no matter what the papers tell you, there are very few overnight successes and instant millionaires out there.” She took a mouthful of coffee. “You just stay determined and keep working away and eventually you’ll get the break you need.” She gave Laura’s hand an encouraging squeeze. “You know, sometimes that’s all it takes – just one break. And by exhibiting here today, Laura, you’re definitely on the right track.”
Sitting now in her kitchen, Laura wondered about that.
; Just one break? If that was all it took, would she recognise the all-important opportunity when it came?
Or, she thought nervously – recalling Brid Cassidy’s interest in her wedding jewellery – had the opportunity already passed her by?
70
That same afternoon, a weary and despondent Helen called to Kerry’s primary school.
She was still reeling from events at Laura’s. How could her friend have known all those years and never said a thing?
She knew she had taken Laura’s friendship for granted, asking her to pick up Kerry from school and look after her daughter while she slipped off for sex sessions with Paul. She had taken advantage of Laura’s kind heart and gentle nature in the same way she had mistreated Jo, who had always been helpful and accommodating where Kerry was concerned, even when Helen treated her like muck.
She had finished with Paul that night. What was the point? Nicola was right. She had gone too far in her lies, so far that she had even denied her own daughter’s existence. No matter how much she wanted someone, there was no excuse for that.
That time with Neil – of course she had felt guilty about it afterwards, realising how nasty she had been in coming on to him. Poor thing, he was so drunk and so innocent he hadn’t a hope, really. But the guilt hadn’t lasted that long, and certainly wasn’t severe enough for Helen to really comprehend the damage she might have done.
At the time, Helen hadn’t been too worried. Nicola had interrupted them and they hadn’t ended up sleeping together, so really, it was no big deal, just a bit of a fumble. Why feel guilty, when there was nothing to feel guilty about?
But the fact that Laura knew all along – had been her friend and had still managed to help and support her without question – now made Helen felt very guilty indeed. She felt sick when she thought about it. Would she have done the same as Laura had? Would she have examined the situation and thought about Laura’s state of mind at the time, and her motives for trying to steal Jamie away? Helen didn’t think so. She certainly wouldn’t have kept her as a friend, and she most definitely wouldn’t have understood.
