by Melissa Hill
“Well, if it was me, I’d have to tell him. I wouldn’t want her poking around in my business like that. I mean, she could be talking to anyone.”
Nicola sighed. “I wonder if she has spoken to anyone else?”
“To be honest, I kind of got the impression that she had, because she seemed to know an awful lot about your marriage. But she didn’t get much from me.”
What would Chloe want to know about their marriage? Her first guess was that Chloe was basically insecure, but she couldn’t imagine how any woman could be so bad that they’d resort to sneaking around like that. “Look, thanks for putting her off.”
“No problem. I just thought you should know, though. I wouldn’t like someone asking questions about me behind my back like that.”
“Thanks. And listen, you should come over soon, for dinner or something.”
“I will, we’ll arrange it soon.”
“Who was that?” Ken asked easily, when she returned to the living-room.
“What? Oh, it was Helen, wondering if I could baby-sit Kerry this weekend,” Nicola lied. She couldn’t tell him about this. Ken would go mad. And she couldn’t risk the possibility that he might confront Dan about it. Shit! She had thought this thing was over and done with.
“Oh.” Unperturbed, Ken changed the television channel.
“I’m going to make a cuppa,” Nicola said, needing a little time to think about this. “Do you want anything from the kitchen?”
Ken looked up, pondering. “Mmm, I think I’d like the table, please,” he teased, “and maybe a couple of chairs while you’re at it?”
“Ha! Somebody’s in fine form tonight.” Nicola smiled absently and left the room, her mind fully focused on what she had just heard.
Dan’s fiancée asking around about her? Why? She’d have to tell Dan and let him deal with it. It was up to him to sort it out.
Luckily, her old friends were supportive, and of course they wouldn’t tell Chloe anything. Laura certainly wouldn’t, neither would Helen, and no better woman than Carolyn O’Leary to tell her where to go! But Chloe wouldn’t be bold enough to approach her closest friends, would she?
* * *
The following day, still annoyed, Nicola dialled Dan’s number
“O’Leary, Hunt Accountancy. Can I help you?” It was a voice Nicola didn’t recognise.
She cleared her throat. “Is Mr Hunt free, please?”
“He’s in a meeting at the moment,” the telephonist told her in a song-song voice. “Would you like to leave a message?”
Nicola paused. Should she leave her number? Dan would surely wonder why she was calling him. It was probably better to phone back later and speak to him directly.
“Or possibly his PA could help you? Shall I put you through?” the girl continued, unnerved by the lack of a response.
“No, no, that’s fine. I’ll just leave my number, thanks.” Nicola recited her office number and hung up.
Nearly an hour later, she was in the gym conversing with one of the newer instructors when Sally roared across at her.
“Nicola, phone!”
It was Dan.
“Nic?” he sounded pleased, but a little surprised. “Did you phone me earlier?”
She nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see her.
“Nic – you still there?”
“Yes, sorry. Dan, can you hold for just a minute? I want to use the phone in my office.”
“Sounds ominous,” he joked.
When she was safely ensconced in the privacy of her own office, Nicola told him what she had learned about Chloe.
“Are you serious?”
“I wouldn’t make something like this up, Dan.”
“I know – that’s not what I meant . . . Jesus! What the hell is she playing at?” he asked, voice raised in anger.
“Look, I’m not telling you this to cause any trouble between you two, but I have to tell you that I don’t like it.”
“Shit! I just can’t believe that she would do something like that. And pretending to be a solicitor? Did it ever cross her silly little mind what would happen if she were found out? I just don’t believe this!”
“Well, why is she doing it?” Nicola asked shortly.
“I don’t know . . . I . . . well, I know she’s been very anxious about you and –”
“But why?”
Dan was silent for a moment. “I didn’t . . . Nicola, she doesn’t know.”
“What?”
“I just couldn’t . . . I wasn’t able to . . .” he trailed off.
“Oh, Dan . . .” Almost immediately, Nicola felt sorry for Chloe. The girl obviously felt threatened by her, and was trying to allay her fears by finding out as much as she could. Nicola tried to put herself in Chloe’s position, and knew that she herself would probably have done the same, albeit a little less underhandedly. Dan was a fool to keep things from her.
“Dan, you need to sit her down and tell her everything,” she said. “It’s only right.”
“It’s got nothing to do with her, Nic. It’s to do with you and me.”
“That’s exactly why she’s sneaking around – you’re shutting her out.”
“For God’s sake, why should it matter to her?”
“Well, it does, obviously.”
“It’s none of her business,” he said again, then sighed deeply. “Look, what has she found out so far?”
“I’m not too sure – she was asking questions about our marriage, about any problems we were having.”
“But she was told where to go?”
“Apparently.”
“Right” His voice was hard. “Well, look, let me sort it out from here and don’t you worry about it a second longer.”
She nodded. “Dan . . . it’s important that you know I’m not trying to cause any trouble between you. It’s just –”
“I know that, Nic,” he interjected, “but I’m glad you told me this. It gives me some idea of the type of person I was supposed to marry.”
Was supposed to marry?
“Oh – I thought you two were married by now,” Nicola said, surprised. Their wedding was to take place the day before Laura and Neil’s. Was Dan saying that it hadn’t?
“No, it’s a long story but the hotel messed up on the booking. We had to postpone, and the way things are going, it’s a bloody good job we did.”
Oh! At least it had, nothing to do with her anyway, Nicola thought, unsure if she was pleased or worse, relieved. She had worried a little when he kept phoning, asking to meet up again, hoping that they could maintain some kind of friendship. But what Dan was doing wasn’t fair to Chloe. The girl deserved better.
“Dan, if Chloe thinks you’re hiding something, then you can’t blame her for wanting to find out what it is. She’s just trying to protect herself and your relationship.”
“I know that.” He sounded contrite.
The conversation was suspended in silence for a moment, as both Dan and Nicola were lost in their own thoughts.
“Look, Nic, I promise I’ll sort this out but . . . please, can we meet again soon?” Dan’s voice was soft. “We didn’t really get a chance to –”
“Dan, no. As I said before, I’ve moved on – we’ve both moved on. I’ve got Ken to think of and there’s no point in our going over what went on before. It’s history now.”
He exhaled deeply. “OK, I understand. But look, I know you don’t want to hear this now, least of all from me but maybe . . . maybe sometime soon you might feel like talking about it. If you do, let me know.”
“Thanks.” Why couldn’t he just leave things well enough alone?
“All right then. Take care.” Dan hung up.
* * *
“What the hell did you think you were playing at, Chloe?” Dan raged. “Sneaking around like that – pretending to be someone you weren’t?”
“Dan, I’m sorry, really I am. I didn’t know what else to do!”
“What else to do!” he repeated savagely. �
��Chloe, I told you before that what happened between me and Nicola is none of your business. We’re divorced now and it’s over.”
“But you were always so cagey about it . . . and I was just afraid that it was something terrible.”
“Well, did what you find out put your mind at ease then?” he snapped. He had no idea what Chloe had found out, if anything, so he was particularly interested in how she answered now.
She looked away, ashamed. “I know that you and Nicola lost a baby, and that . . . that she cheated on you.” When she saw his eyes widen, Chloe floundered. “I’m sorry, Dan. I had no idea, I thought it might be something else . . . oh, I don’t know what I thought.” She shook her head.
Dan’s mind raced. What she had said surprised him, because there were only a few people who would have known about Nicola’s ‘fling’ with Ken Harris back then.
Unless Harris had been shooting his mouth off. But no, as much as he hated the bastard, Dan knew that Ken Harris had nothing but the utmost respect for Nicola. In fairness, Harris had been the one to convince Dan that there was nothing between them – that they hadn’t been carrying on some torrid affair behind his back, that Ken couldn’t help the feelings he had always had for Nicola, despite the fact that she was a married woman. The man had been distraught with guilt, and although he’d wanted to tear the fucker limb from limb, Dan respected him for his honesty. Harris had even tried his best to get them back together and for a while it had worked. Anyway, weren’t he and Nicola an item now – much as the idea galled Dan and made him sick to his stomach. So Ken would hardly go shooting his mouth off about it, would he? No, it wouldn’t have been Harris.
So who then? Dan thought back to that time, one of the most difficult periods of their short marriage. Who had he and Nicola been confiding in back then? He never told John anything. So who else? Then the thought struck him. Shit, shit, shit!
Dan clapped a hand to his forehead. There was one person who would be more than happy to blab all about it Dan raced from the room, leaving Chloe white-faced with remorse.
* * *
“You stupid cow!” he shouted down the telephone. “Don’t you have a single shred of compassion or decency? You know how hard things have been for Nicola – why drag it all up again?”
“Dan, calm down.”
“What? You’re telling me to calm down! Why did you talk to her in the first place?”
“Look, I didn’t know who she was, OK? She showed me her business card and she said she was on official business, so what was I to do?”
“You could have kept your mouth shut! I thought you were supposed to be a friend.”
“I said I didn’t know, OK? Jesus, it’s not a fucking state secret that you and Nicola were having problems back then – you two are divorced, for God’s sake! What’s the big deal?”
“You’re a spiteful bitch, and I think you knew damn well what you were doing and what you were saying.”
She sniffed. “You think I did this for revenge, Dan? You think I did it because I wanted you all for myself? That one night wasn’t good enough for me?”
Dan’s heart sank. He didn’t want to discuss this with her. He didn’t want to have to feel guilty about it all over again.
“I think you did it because you were pissed off that it was only one night,” he said. “You knew I wasn’t myself. You knew I was going through a terrible time yet –”
“Yet I dragged you into bed,” she said mockingly, “and made you go through with it – not once, but twice! Give me a break, Dan. You wanted it as much as I did. Going through a terrible time, my arse! What about my problems. What about all I had to put up with? We needed each other at the time, and that was all there was to it.”
“Look, we’ve had this out before. There’s no point –”
“No, that’s true. There is no point,” she said. “In fairness, it wasn’t all that good anyway. I could have done a better job on myself.”
“God, you’re a cold-hearted cow! You pretend to be my friend, and then at the first opportunity you turn around and shoot me in the back.”
“Shoot you in the back? I only told your fiancée what she wanted to know, and if you had any decency you’d tell her the rest. No wonder the poor girl has to sneak around behind your back. You obviously don’t trust her.”
“It’s not fair to Nicola.”
“Jesus, Dan, you and Nicola are finished! When are you going to accept that? She wasn’t there for you when you needed her; she was too busy feeling sorry for herself, without a second thought as to what you might be going through. I was the one who was there for you, Dan. Yet you’re still carrying a torch for her.”
He shook his head. “You have no idea, do you?”
“What?”
“You have absolutely no idea how hard it was for Nicola. Have you even seen her since she’s come back?”
“Yes, and she seemed perfectly all right to me,” she snapped dismissively.
“She’s better than all right, luckily. And she’s gotten over all of this, and put it behind her, so why are you doing this?”
“Doing what? Dan, I haven’t done anything. Chloe’s the one asking all the bloody questions!”
“God, to think that I defended you –” Dan broke off and shook his head from side to side. “I was there for you when you were down and out, when you were having problems of your own. And even when you threatened to tell her, trying to break up my marriage, I still forgave you – because I thought you were just upset over John, and I didn’t want Nicola to think badly of you.”
“Dan, you broke up your marriage all by yourself, and without help from me or anyone else. You were happy to come to me when you wanted it, so don’t you dare try to transfer your guilt on to me.”
“It was a stupid mistake . . . I . . .” Dan trailed off. And it was a mistake. He hadn’t meant to do it, but he had been so lonely at the time, and he couldn’t get through to Nicola – by then she was a different person and he couldn’t do anything or say anything right, so what else was he supposed to do . . . ?
“You said you’d tell her – that you couldn’t live with the guilt. You never did though, did you?”
He paused, remembering. “I couldn’t tell her,” he said sadly. “I wanted to but I just couldn’t – she’d have been devastated. Things were bad enough –”
She gave a short laugh. “It’s hilarious, really. Poor old Nicola never had a clue and the funny thing is, she still thinks we’re friends! I met her in town a while back and the dozy cow asked me to go for coffee with her. What a joke!”
Dan gritted his teeth in anger. She was one dangerous bitch – that was for sure. If only he had realised that at the time.
“I promise you,” he warned, “if you do anything, or say anything else to Nicola or to Chloe, so help me God, I’ll do damage to you. It’s none of your business, so from now on you’d better keep out of it.”
Carolyn O’Leary smiled.
“Don’t worry,” she said smugly, “your little secret is safe with me.”
Chapter 27
THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND, Nicola was buzzing around the living-room tidying things away while a giddy Barney skipped around alongside her, tongue out and tail wagging.
She was so engrossed in her tidying that only for Barney she almost missed the pasta boiling over on the hob. Hearing his shrill bark, Nicola zoomed into the kitchen and reached the cooker only seconds before the starchy water boiled over. Thank God for that, she thought, reaching down to scratch her conscientious doggy behind one ear. She didn’t have time for mopping and scrubbing, particularly when her visitor was due within minutes.
The doorbell rang, and Nicola looked up at the clock. It was almost eight. Just in time. She went out to the hallway and opened the door.
“Hello, stranger!” she said, giving the caller an effusive hug.
“It’s great to see you.” Shannon stood back, and gave Nicola the once-over. “How are you doing?”
“Great, gr
eat, come on in.” Nicola led her through to the kitchen, Barney sniffing curiously at the new visitor’s heels. “Don’t mind him. He’ll be all over you for a while but he’s harmless.” Nicola gave her dog a mock-stern look while she poured wine. “He looks after me though, don’t you, Barn?”
Barney responded by enthusiastically wagging the entire bottom half of his body.
“He’s amazing,” Shannon said, caressing his silky ears as he nuzzled into her. “How long have you had him?”
“Well, it seems like forever, but he’s only been around since I got this place.”
Shannon looked around. “It’s a great place – really well laid out, isn’t it?”
“It needed a lot of work,” Nicola said with a grin as she handed Shannon a glass of Chardonnay. “Luckily I had a very patient builder.”
“I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to pay an actual visit!” Shannon grimaced. “I should have called round long before now.” Then her expression grew serious. “Look, I hope I didn’t upset you the other day with the Chloe thing. I just thought I should let you know.”
Nicola waved her away. “Quite the opposite. I’m glad you told me.”
It had been very decent of Shannon to tip her off about Chloe’s digging. So far, the girl hadn’t approached Laura or Helen, and Nicola had yet to find out whether or not she had spoken to Carolyn O’Leary. But Nicola knew that if Chloe did, there was nothing to worry about. Carolyn would be the first one to send the girl off with a flea in her ear.
It was such a pity that she and Carolyn had lost contact after her move. Then again, she thought, their friendship had cooled somewhat as a result of her relationship with Shannon.
Nicola had been completely mistaken in assuming, as she had in the early days, that Shannon was chasing Dan. After a series of arguments about the girl, and Nicola’s complaints that Dan spent too much time with her, Nicola soon discovered that Dan’s insistence that he was just a shoulder to cry on was actually just that.
He eventually admitted that Shannon had been having an on/off relationship with John O’Leary for years before Carolyn came on the scene. Shannon was deeply in love with him and heartbroken when he married. Carolyn gradually became aware of Shannon’s feelings, and as a result the two women detested one another. Employing Shannon at the accountancy practice had been a massive flash-point for John and Carolyn. Nicola now suspected that this might have eventually led to serious problems in their marriage, and their eventual separation, which incidentally, Nicola had known nothing about until Dan had told her that day in Bray.
