Two weeks later …
Guy hummed his way through his shower and let the water cascade over his body. The past two weeks had been dreamlike. Every spare minute he’d spent with Nell and they’d grown extremely close. He grabbed the towel off the rail and jumped out of the shower before quickly throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Sam was barking at the front door, his tail thumping on the wooden floor.
‘What is it boy, is someone at the door?’
Sam’s feet danced as Guy glanced at the clock and twisted the key.
Nell was forty-five minutes early but he didn’t mind, he couldn’t wait to see her. She’d spent most of the week researching suppliers, builders and even discovered an internet site for all film memorabilia, which Lloyd had kindly recommended. With the auction taking place tomorrow, Nell was like an excitable puppy. Everything was in place, researched to the max, every scenario accounted for and tonight they were going through the figures one last time. Guy had already set the property details out on the table, uncorked a bottle of red and a beef casserole was simmering nicely.
With a huge beam on his face, Guy swung opened the front door, ‘You’re early, but I don’t mind.’
He stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes travelled upwards and his smile disappeared. He blinked straight at her, his mouth dry.
‘Pleased to see me?’
Guy was speechless as he stared at the woman in front of him … his wife.
Kate was dressed in her usual attire, a power suit with high heels and no doubt another new handbag, which she’d purchased from a last-minute Paris trip with her latest fancy man.
‘What are you doing here?’ Guy demanded, his tone less than friendly.
‘What sort of welcome is that?’ she said, leaning forward, kissing him on his cheek and taking him by surprise.
He bristled and squared his shoulders.
‘Aren’t you going to ask me in?’ Kate said with a sweet, sickly smile. ‘I bet you didn’t expect to see me.’
‘I was hoping I didn’t have to see you again,’ he said, meaning every word.
‘Ah, don’t be like that,’ she waltzed past him straight into the hallway.
He had no idea why she was here. All he knew was whatever she wanted, he needed to get rid of her quickly, before Nell arrived.
‘Come on in, why don’t you?’ he said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, and gestured towards the kitchen.
‘It’s a bit poky in here,’ she said, flitting her eyes over the place.
‘Homely, I’d call it.’
There was a lull in conversation as Guy hovered around the table and stared at Kate. He took a deep breath. ‘So you didn’t answer my question, what exactly are you doing here?’
‘Well, that’s a nice welcome,’ she said, her eyes glinting towards him.
He kept his poker face.
‘I’ve come a long way, you know. Aren’t you happy to see me?’
‘I’m not sure Ireland is classed as a long way or I’m assuming that’s not where you’ve come from?’
‘Oh Guy, you need to loosen up. You always seem so tense. It’s not good for you, you know.’
‘I’ll ask you again, what are you doing here?’ He said glancing at his watch.
‘Am I keeping you from anything?’ she trilled, trying to hold his gaze.
‘I’m on my way out,’ he answered bluntly, but knowing that wasn’t strictly true.
‘Surely you can make time for your wife?’
He opened his mouth to speak but words failed him.
Kate took a step towards him and ran her finger over his chest.
‘Mmm,’ she uttered seductively.
He could feel her breath on his face and she moved closer. His skin prickled at her touch and he grabbed her hand. His eyes hardened, ‘What do you think you are doing?’
‘Making up for lost time.’
Guy could feel his temples beginning to throb as the anger rose inside him.
‘Making up for lost time? You didn’t want to make up for lost when I discovered your affair, let’s just remind ourselves … with my boss, of all people.’
‘It’s not what you think,’ she said softly, giving him that look that once he would have fallen for, but not now.
Guy shook his head in disbelief.
‘Shall we talk about your trip to Paris?’ Guy stared straight into her eyes. ‘I’m not stupid, you know. I found the emails, the receipts. On a residential training course, you said.’
‘Like I said, it’s not what you think,’ repeated Kate unconvincingly, shifting from one foot to the other.
‘Really … the best you can come up with is that old cliché. What you probably actually mean is your sugar daddy blew you out, so you thought you’d come crawling back … for what exactly?’ Guy could feel his anger beginning to reach boiling point.
‘We can work through this.’
Guy shook his head, ‘You are deluded, everything about you is false,’ Guy was on a roll now and couldn’t stop himself, ‘Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie.’
‘Don’t say that, we had a good life together, we have a good life together.’
‘Did we? Which part? I gave up everything for you, even working with my Granddad because you wanted a man in a suit on your arm; a builder’s labourer just wasn’t good enough. I was an embarrassment to you, to your friends – admit it.’
‘We needed the money, you were bringing in a pittance and Daddy pulled some strings to get you that job.’
It grated on Guy the way she still called her father ‘daddy’ at her age.
‘No, we didn’t need the money, the mortgage was paid for each month, with enough left for a few nights out.’
Money didn’t matter to Guy, unlike Kate. He wasn’t materialistic in the slightest. He’d worn the same pair of comfy converse and Levi’s for as long as he could remember and had no inclination to change them any day soon.
‘It doesn’t hurt to want nice things and holidays too.’
‘Something your sugar daddy can obviously provide.’
‘Listen to me, we can’t just throw all these years away.’
‘Can’t we?’ he answered, knowing he had no intention of saving his marriage, he’d already moved on.
‘You don’t mean that, I know you.’ Kate blinked at him then sat down at the table.
‘You have no clue who I even am,’ said Guy in despair.
‘Come home, Guy, we’ve had some time apart and I’ve missed you.’
Guy was lost for words at Kate’s attitude. He raked his hand through his hair and let out an exasperating sigh.
‘The least you can do is offer me a drink,’ she added, stalling for time, hoping to bring him around.
Against his better judgement Guy began to get Kate a drink, hoping to get rid of her quickly. But he turned back round he noticed Kate was perusing the property details of the Old Picture House.
She folded her arms and looked at him. ‘What’s this?’ She asked, scanning back through the property details of the Old Picture House that Guy had left on the table.
Damn.
‘I hope you’re not thinking of investing our money in something I don’t know about.’
‘So this is what this is all about … money, the house? You can have the house, Kate, I’m really past caring.’
Kate ignored his comment, ‘Is this for you?’
‘Not that it’s any of your business but I’m looking over a project for a friend, the auction is tomorrow,’
‘Tomorrow? Looks like a good investment. They could soon flatten that and build a few houses. Quick cash turn-a-round.’
Guy could have kicked himself for providing the information to Kate, knowing she worked for a property developer. He leant forward and took the details from her hand and gathered up the loose papers on the table, placing them in a pile on the worktop.
‘Kate, look.’
‘No, let me speak,’ she interrupted, ‘I can see I’ve taken you by surprise, but surely you must have been thinking about us.’
Actually, Guy hadn’t given Kate a second thought since he’d left Ireland. The only person who had been on his mind was Nell and right at this very moment he didn’t want her turning up and running into Kate.
‘I’m hoping you will fly back to Ireland with me.’
He exhaled sharply, rubbed a hand over his face and sat down opposite her.
‘Why would I do that?’
‘Because that’s where you belong, you are my husband.’
For the past couple of weeks Guy had begun to think less about Ireland and was contemplating making a fresh start here in England. He looked away from Kate’s stare.
‘All marriages go through difficult times, Guy.’
He sighed, ‘Kate, it wasn’t just your latest affair … I know about all your other men too.’
Guy had suspected more than several misdemeanours in the past but now it was time to hold her gaze and watch her squirm.
‘Okay, if we are going to make a fresh start, I need to be honest with you.’
Guy knew exactly what she was going to say before the words even left her mouth.
‘What girl doesn’t like a bit flirting? They didn’t mean anything, it was just drinks.’
‘Drinks? How stupid do you think I am? Actually, don’t even answer that, it doesn’t matter.’
‘I didn’t connect with these people mentally.’
‘So that makes it all right, then?’
‘But you were so distant towards me! You changed, Guy.’
‘How many others were there, Kate?’
Kate shrugged, ‘There weren’t many.’
‘How many?’ He demanded.
She paused, and Guy wondered whether she was actually doing a mental calculation in her head, ‘Maybe seven or eight.’
Guy couldn’t believe she was being so blasé about it. His pulse had doubled, his palms sweating. He banged his hand on the table and straightened up his body to catch his breath.
‘Seven or eight? Kate, you are mistaken if you think we are getting back together. It’s not happening, not now, not ever.’
‘We can work through this, Guy, I know we can. I love you.’
‘You don’t know the meaning of the word. For as long as I can remember I’ve lived half a life. Always doing want you wanted me to do. You never loved me for who I was. This needs to stop now. Since we split up I’ve begun to enjoy life again.’ Guy knew he was nearly shouting now.
‘You can’t make a decent living from being a builder’s labourer! I did it for you, Guy. I wanted you to make more of yourself, realise your own self-worth.’
‘Bollocks …’ he took a breath, ‘Maybe I don’t care about mortgages, maybe I don’t care if I live in a cardboard box on the street corner, how would you know? You’ve never asked me or listened to what I wanted. All you have ever done is told me what to do. It’s always been about you.’
‘That’s not true. We wanted to start a family.’
‘Don’t even get me started on that,’ he jabbed his finger towards her.
Guy had noticed Kate’s eyes begin to fill with tears. ‘Oh brilliant and now comes the waterworks. You know what, Kate, I was mad to even get involved with you in the first place. I don’t know what I ever saw in you. You are manipulative, false and, quite frankly …’ he paused,
‘Is there someone else?’ Her eyes locked with his.
Thoughts of Nell flooded his mind; gorgeous Nell, who was beautiful on the inside and out. He looked away from her stare.
‘There is, isn’t there?’ Kate slumped back in her chair. Guy noticed a flash of anger in her eyes. Her mouth fell open and she folded her arms, waiting for him to answer.
‘And quite frankly …’ he repeated himself, ‘I want a divorce.’
Just as the words left his mouth there was a knock on the annexe door.
Guy and Kate just stared at each other.
‘Aren’t you going to get rid of whoever that is?’
Guy felt the colour drain from his face, knowing Nell would be standing on the other side of the door.
‘Is that her? Is that her now?’ Kate stood up.
‘Kate no,’ Guy pleaded.
She narrowed her eyes at Guy, ‘Does she even know you’re married? She doesn’t, does she?’
‘Kate, no, not like this.’
‘And here you are accusing me of being a liar, kettle … pot … black, springs to mind. I think she needs to know, oh, and there’s another thing she needs to know too,’ she shouted.
‘What are you talking about now?’
Kate pursed her lips, ‘She needs to know I’m carrying your baby. That’s why I’m here, Guy.’
Guy’s jaw fell somewhere below his knees and he felt his whole world crashing down around him.
It took a couple of seconds for the words to register.
‘Don’t be ridiculous, it’s not possible, we haven’t slept together for months.’
‘The opening night of the town hall project. You came back to the house, we had sex.’
Guy vaguely remembered that night. He’d been a little bit worse for wear and the whole night had been a blur, thanks to the free bar. But he had remembered spending the night with Kate and he could kick himself now
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘What, that we had sex?’
‘No, that you are pregnant.’
Kate flounced towards the front door.
Guy watched in horror. ‘Kate NO!’
But it was too late. Kate flung the door open to see innocent Nell standing there, smiling up at her.
‘Oh, hello,’ Nell said, instantly she recognised the woman standing before her, ‘I think we’ve met before.’
‘I don’t think so,’ Kate replied rather abruptly.
Nell noticed Guy standing behind the woman – he was visibly shaking.
‘Yes, we have, the deli competition – you were the mystery shopper, the judge?’
Kate stared at Nell, ‘I’ve no idea what you are talking about,
‘You came into the deli.’
‘You’ve been here recently?’ Guy asked puzzled.
‘I wanted to see where you’d run off too, there’s no crime in that is there?’
‘Have you been spying on me?’
Nell clearly had no idea what was going on.
Guy felt devastated that she was about to be dragged into this unholy mess. His pulse was throbbing on the side of his head and his heart was thumping.
If only he’d told Nell about Kate before.
Kate turned towards Nell, ‘Let me introduce myself, I’m Kate, Guy’s wife, and I hope you’re going to be the first to congratulate him on becoming a father,’ she announced, before pushing past Nell and storming off up the path. She quickly disappeared out of sight, leaving Guy lost for words.
Nell swallowed as dread rose through her body. She stumbled backwards and reached out for the fence as the words rang loud and clear in Nell’s ears … WIFE. She met Guy’s stare and shuddered as panic rose through her whole body.
‘What did she just say?’ her eyes filled with tears.
Guy didn’t want to repeat it. He didn’t want to believe it himself. He could see the hurt in Nell’s eyes and was aware he could hear his own breathing.
‘I’m sorry, Nell,’ the colour drained from his face.
Nell felt as if she’d been kicked in the stomach.
She stared at him as the hurt stabbed her entire body. She felt sick and wanted to scream and shout, thump his chest.
He had a wife, who was pregnant.
Nell edged backwards, clutching her heart.
‘Nell, please wait. Please.’
‘Don’t you ever come near me again.’
‘Please let me explain,’ said Guy desperately.
But it was too late. Nell’s legs were already powering her out of sight. She didn’t look back.