by Sonia Parin
Leaning on the counter, he wrote out his message. Satisfied, he sealed the envelope and handed it back to the florist. “Make it light pink tulips instead of yellow and tie a red ribbon around them.”
He checked the time and mentally worked out the difference between Australia and London. His mother had left several cryptic messages. She hadn’t mentioned the reviews for her latest play, but he knew she wouldn’t be pleased about the lack of spotlight. It seemed one of the minor actors had captured everyone’s attention. At the rate the messages were coming in, he’d guess she was having one of her mini meltdowns. And, in the past, that had meant going into damage control.
“Would you like to pay now or set up an account?”
“I’ll pay now.” He watched her lips tighten in disapproval. Theo knew the question had been aimed at determining his interest in Eddie. Maybe even gauging his feelings for her. “Send the yellow tulips tomorrow and just sign the card with my initials. And yes, I’ll pay for those now.”
His phone rang. Theo handed over his credit card and excused himself to take the call. The deep rumble of his father’s voice told him this was the phone call he’d been expecting all along. The one he’d been dreading because he knew it meant going home. Theo tried to stall the surge of all hands on deck adrenaline. He could set aside his own personal happiness, but now he had to consider how his actions would affect Eddie.
Like it or not, it looked like he was about to give Eddie the heartbreak she wanted.
* * *
“I don’t want to leave a message,” Eddie grumbled. Every time she’d tried calling Theo, he’d been on the phone. If she left a message telling him she didn’t want to see him again... because she’d come to her senses... because now she knew the full details of his conversation with Joyce...
Had last night been about giving her what he thought she wanted?
She raked her fingers through her hair and, staring at her phone, she considered sending him a text message. But instead, she swung away and tried to focus on something else.
Eddie never missed her shift on Friday nights. It was the best night of the week at the pub with everyone putting in an appearance, dropping by to catch up, listen to whatever band was playing, shoot a few games of pool, eat and drink. It almost felt like a big family get together, with everyone making merry after a week of hard work. Most people dropped in during the week too, but on weekends, no one had to rush off or stick to a schedule.
She made the rounds of the bar checking everything was ready for the night’s influx of customers. The kitchen had been chugging along serving early diners and prepping for the next wave of customers. The meals weren’t fancy but they had a few signature dishes that were always on demand. Mostly, it was burgers and steaks but the produce was local and quite exceptional. She wondered how Theo had been coping with the limited menu choices. Someone like him had to be accustomed to variety, both of food and venues, among other things.
She swirled away from the thought and found a table to clear. She could do this. She could stay on course and not go off the rails. She’d always have plenty to do and it was the best way to keep moving forward. Purging Theo Kendrick out of her system wouldn’t happen overnight, but it would happen. Best to ease into it now, and let herself down easy...
Last night hadn’t been the start of a new adventure.
Hearing a low, determined grumble sound in her throat, she collected some empty glasses and took them over to the dishwasher.
Time for a break, she thought. She needed a break from both work and everything she’d been thinking about. But on her way up to her apartment, her steps faltered. She doubled back and stood outside her office. The flowers Theo had sent her sat on her desk. Grace had delivered them earlier that day and had known to bring a vase. When Eddie had promised to return it, Grace had told her to hold onto it. Eddie had thanked her but had silently thought she wouldn’t have much use for it.
That morning’s burst of elation had been good while it lasted, Eddie thought as she sagged against the door.
Joyce had told Theo…
He knew. And he hadn’t said anything.
According to Joyce, he hadn’t agreed to be the one to break her heart. Yes, but… he hadn’t argued against it.
Eddie frowned. Theo would find the whole idea ludicrous. No one in their right mind set out to fail. Then again, she’d been afflicted by a bad case of lust, bad enough to impair her thinking and make her believe in outrageous theories. As if life could be that simple.
She pushed away from the door.
I feel I’m being used...
Theo had said that right after Eddie had demanded they skip dinner and get on with having sex. A part of her wilted, as if she’d expected better from Theo.
She had no one to blame but herself, and now it was too late to back out.
She couldn’t ask for more, or expect more from Theo. That would be extortion, and she wasn’t the type to dupe someone into wanting her.
With her belly twisting into a knot, she strode toward her office desk and picked up the card he’d included with the flowers. It was thick with an embossed edge. The sort of detail Grace Cossington would think of. She was everything Eddie wasn’t. Elegant. Petite. She wore her hair in a tamed bob that highlighted her fine features. Her eyes always spoke of calm and careful consideration.
If only she could be more like Grace—
Cool, calm and collected.
Pick you up at eight for a cheese and crackers date.
Flowers. No one had ever given her flowers. She ran her fingers along the smooth petals. The light flush of pink made her think of how she’d felt when his fingertips had caressed her cheek, his eyes watching her, capturing her reaction, missing nothing as he made her whimper with wanting and then with explosive satisfaction.
“You’re being silly. Pink is pink.”
She swirled her finger around the ribbon that held the blooms together. Fiery red. Like the heat that had built up, rising from deep inside her…
Last night… The instant flare up, the ripping off of clothes, the way she’d responded to his touch, the mindless attraction…
It hadn’t just happened. She’d been working up to that moment. Thinking about it. Wanting it.
All along, it had been nothing but easy, no strings attached, convenient... Pity sex.
She didn’t want Theo to break her heart. She wanted him to be the one to stick around, to turn his life upside down for her.
Too late for that, she reasoned.
“Once you’ve gone too far, it’s hard not to go all the way.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Am I forgiven? This morning you rushed out of the café without saying a word,” Joyce said and sunk onto a barstool.
Eddie checked a glass for smudges and then poured some wine into it. “Joyce, I could strangle you, but then I’d have to get someone to strangle me.” She slid the glass over to her. “Of course you’re forgiven.” Eddie knew Joyce hadn’t meant any harm. When Joyce had told her about the conversation she’d had with Theo, Eddie hadn’t known what to make of it. Had Theo only made his move after—
“I’ll never interfere. Ever. Again. Promise. I don’t know what came over me...”
“Not what, but rather... oh, never mind.” If Joyce wasn’t ready to admit there were sparks flying between her and Bradford... Eddie sighed. Frustration could be the mother of all monkey wrenches. She knew that first hand. “That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.” Eddie spread her hands on the counter. “You owe me.”
Joyce stared into her glass. “What are your demands?”
“For starters, Theo can’t know that I know,” Eddie rolled her eyes and bobbed her head from side to side, “That he knows.” Last night everything had felt so right and now she was falling apart at the seams. If she could pretend for a little longer...
Joyce gave a tentative nod and slid a finger across her lips. “I’m all zipped up.”
“And—”
/> “There’s more? You’re going to turn this into a smorgasbord of comeuppance.”
“What do you think? You broke the code. I told you all that rubbish about wanting a heartbreak in strict confidence.” Eddie put her hand up. “Yes, I know you were only trying to help.”
“All right. I get it. I was bad… Very bad. Just don’t make me wear a koala suit in public.”
“Now that you mention it...”
“I don’t like where this is going. There should be conditions to payback.”
“Something along the lines of the punishment fitting the crime?”
“Fine, I won’t argue. Um... So, what are you going to do about Theo?”
“A part of me thinks I should go all the way. Enjoy the fling and then move on. Clearly, that’s all he wants. You know... once you’ve gone too far, it’s hard not to go all the way.” And if she said it enough times, she might start to believe it. “To be fair to him, I did say I knew he came with an expiry date. On the other hand, I’m feeling like a coward, and thinking I should cut my loses now. I know it’d be like deciding to start a diet halfway through my favorite bar of chocolate...”
“It’s because I told him.”
Eddie shook her head. Although, him knowing did ruin the fantasy of possibly… maybe something real developing between them. But that wasn’t something Joyce needed to know. Eddie saw no point in making her friend feel worse.
“Don’t worry about it, Joyce. I’m not... not really.”
* * *
Over the following hour, customers spilled into the pub. She flitted from one to another, stopping for brief chats with Joyce who’d met up with Sophie and Helena Wright for dinner. All the while, she kept an eye on the door, half hoping to catch sight of Theo when he made his entrance, as he was bound to do, while half praying he’d never show his face around her again.
“How are you holding up?” Joyce asked when she came up for refills.
“I’m doing fine.” She shrugged. “But I’ll be better when he arrives.” She’d had a whole day of being plagued by assumptions. A day of feeling numb because last night had meant far too much to her and very little to Theo. She closed her eyes against the thought.
They’d had a memorable night together.
Today he’d sent her flowers.
And now they had a date. A cheese and crackers date.
She checked her watch.
“He’ll be here,” Joyce said.
Looking around the bar, Eddie saw her father sitting at a long table with his Chamber of Commerce buddies. Then she spotted her brothers. She did a head count. They were all there, but had they been there all along? “This is crazy. I’m picturing Theo all bloodied and bruised, face down in the alley. I need a distraction—”
Helena rushed up to the bar, her face drained of all color, her lips trembling. She gestured with her hands as if trying to say something, and then she gasped.
“Take a deep breath,” Eddie suggested.
Helena nodded. “Something’s happened.” Her eyes welled up. “Sophie. Sophie just got a phone call. He’s gone. He’s skipped out on her. The wedding’s off.”
What? No. Crap. Eddie had wanted a distraction but not at Sophie’s expense.
Joyce jumped to her feet.
“She’s outside and wants to go home, but I’ve been drinking and—”
“Say no more, I’ll drive.” Eddie signaled to her brother Mitch. “You have to take over,” she said when he came up. “It’s an emergency. Tell Theo…” She grabbed her car keys and jacket and with Joyce and Helena in tow, took off. Outside the pub, they found Sophie holding her stomach and crouching on the ground.
“I don’t understand,” Sophie said.
Eddie knelt beside her. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
Sophie held her phone up. “He called.” Her voice sounded distant. “He eloped. All this time there was someone else… someone he met in Melbourne. All those business trips...”
* * *
It was late afternoon the next day when Eddie finally returned to the pub. Sophie had been inconsolable. They’d all stayed with her, comforting her, trying to get their heads around the happiest couple they’d ever seen actually breaking up. When she’d left, Sophie had still been in a state of shock. It would probably take her days... months to accept the reality she’d been forced to face.
Hell, Eddie didn’t believe it.
What chance did anyone have of finding a happy-ever-after if two people who’d known each other all their lives, who’d appeared to be so much in love, didn’t even make it to the altar? Ditched, two weeks before the wedding. All the invitations had gone out, the venue had been booked months ago, the dress...
Eddie scooped in a big breath and strode into The Gloriana. She wasn’t due to start her shift until later that afternoon. After the night she’d had, she focused on dragging herself upstairs and straight into a hot tub to wash away the layer of misery that had clung to her all night.
“Hey, Eddie,” her brother Matthew called out from the end of the bar, “We were starting to worry.”
Mitch emerged from the kitchen carrying a plate stacked full of food, clearly his late lunch. Eddie made a grab for the fries but he held the plate just out of reach.
“Hey, go easy on me, I’ve had a rough night.”
Mitch grinned. “Yeah, okay. So how’s Sophie?”
She gave both Matthew and Mitch a brief rundown, sparing them the gory details of tears, sobbing and the resulting puffy eyes—the sort of information that would have them switching right off. But then they surprised her by hugging her.
“You’re suffocating me.”
“You can pretend all you like.” Matthew gave her shoulder a tight squeeze. We want you to know we’re here for you, and if you have any questions, don’t be shy about asking. We know you girls sometimes struggle to understand how our superior brains work—”
“You should talk to Theo,” Mitch said butting in. “We do a good job hiding it, but guys are sensitive too.”
“Whose side are you on?” Matthew asked Mitch.
“Okay, you’re scaring me. I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. Explain yourselves.” She watched them exchange a look that she knew spelled trouble.
Mitch shrugged. “You stood him up last night and—”
“I did no such thing.”
“He hung around the bar until midnight waiting for you.”
A quiver of panic ran down her spine. “Tell me you explained why I left in such a hurry.” She dug inside her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone. There weren’t any messages.
Matthew shook his head. “We chose to serve a higher purpose. Here’s the thing. If you want a guy, you can’t offer yourself up on a platter to him. You have to make him work for it.”
“You didn’t tell him.”
“We were about to, but then he beat Mitch at pool.”
Mitch grumbled. “That’s too much information.”
“What did I say about you interfering in my life?” She swung away from them and ran up the stairs to her private apartment. Slamming the door shut behind her, she leaned against it, her gaze landing on a burst of yellow.
More tulips?
Her eyes narrowed, as if not quite trusting what she was seeing. She strode up to the coffee table, her steps wary, measured, and plucked the card nestled among the blooms, half expecting to read some sort of goodbye message.
“His initials?” She flipped the card over. Nothing. Pulling out her phone, she dialed Mitch’s number. “I don’t want to talk to you, so just listen,” she told her brother. “If a man wants to say goodbye, what would he write on a card?”
“So long, and thanks for all the fish.”
“Mitch, you’re already on shaky ground. Be serious.”
“I am. It’s a quote from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. When the dolphins leave Planet Earth just before it’s demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass—”
She hun
g up, and then dialed Matthew’s number.
“Eddie, come down and talk to us.”
“Answer the question.”
“If I wanted to say goodbye, I wouldn’t send flowers.”
She hung up, and grabbing hold of the tulips, she went into the bathroom. All the worst-case scenarios taking shape in her mind settled down as soon as she sunk into a steaming hot bath. She sat there, every now and then peering up at the flowers. Then, with a burst of can-do adrenaline, she tried calling Theo but only got as far as his voicemail.
Just as she was about to throw in the towel, the phone rang. Eddie nearly flung herself out of the bathtub trying to get to her phone. When she answered, her voice sounded husky and out of breath.
“I’m in Melbourne,” Theo said.
He’d left? Was he coming back?
“Hang on,” Theo said, his voice distracted.
Eddie surged out of the tub and grabbing a towel, she sat on the floor, her teeth starting to chatter.
“I missed you last night,” he said.
“Um, something happened. Sorry. I had to rush out.”
“I figured as much. I’m actually in the middle of something here and I need to sort it all out. I’m sorry last night didn’t work out. I really needed to talk to you. I’d like to talk to you now, but there’s so much going on and…”
Eddie shut her eyes. “You don’t need to explain.” He’d probably call her a few more times. He might even suggest having a long distance relationship. She wanted to laugh out loud. Instead, she thumped the heel of her foot against the floor, hoping the pain would distract her.
“Everything’s a bit up in the air at the moment and I feel like I’m going around in circles. I need to deal with some things. It’s a complicated story and I can’t go into details.”
Of course not. “I know.”
“It’s to do with Claire and Ben… and someone else. I promise I’m only the middle man here.”
