Love Me Till Wednesday (Sapphire Stars #1)

35

35

Nick walked into his hotel suite. He’d had another nap in the car on the way back from his mum’s, but he was still tired. It was so tempting to just get into bed and sleep, but Lisa would be here in less than an hour. And he needed to speak to Adrienne. He didn’t want her to phone while Lisa was there.

Let’s get it over and done with, Nixon. He tapped on Adrienne’s number.

She answered immediately. ’Good of you to finally phone me back. What have got to say for yourself?’

‘There’s not much to say, is there? We need to discuss when you’re moving out of my house.’

‘You’re throwing your pregnant fiancée onto the street?’

‘No, I’m asking the woman who cheated on me to leave my property. Where you go is up to you.’

‘You’re moving her in here, aren’t you?’

‘Who?’

‘Your mistress. Lisa.’

‘Lisa is perfectly happy in London.’

‘So you were with her.’

Damn. He’d fallen into Adrienne’s trap. But given the detective skills she’d used to track him down to the cafe this morning, she almost certainly knew about the online speculation about Jim. ‘We were both on the same chat show last night.’

‘But you said you hadn’t seen her.’

‘That isn’t quite what I said. But I haven’t phoned to argue with you about Lisa. The fact is you are pregnant, and I’m not the father. If you think I’m going to carry on feeding, clothing and sheltering you, you’ve got another think coming. I suggest you talk to your baby’s father.’

‘How can you be so cruel to someone who’s going to carry your child for the next few months?’ She started to sob.

‘I’m not being cruel. The baby is not mine. I can’t have children any more. I had a vasectomy fifteen years ago. You’ve been caught in a lie.’

The sobbing stopped. The line went quiet for a few seconds, and then she ended the call.

Nick leaned back on the sofa. Another relationship kicked into touch. How many was that now? He didn’t try to add up the total. It wasn’t a track record he was proud of. He hoped that his next attempt at love would be more successful.

Nick was in the bathroom, checking he hadn’t missed any stubble when he heard the door to his suite open.

It must be Brad with Lisa. He thought they wouldn’t be here for another ten minutes at least.

‘I’ll be out in a minute,’ he said, hastily slapping on some aftershave and doing up his shirt. He felt incredibly nervous. But why? He and Lisa had been relaxed with one another earlier. Perhaps he should stop thinking about how he wanted tonight to end. Just be normal, and things might happen organically.

‘I’ll leave you two to it,’ Brad shouted from the living room. ‘Call me if you need me. ’

‘Thanks.’ Nick made one last check in the mirror before walking out into the bedroom. He could see Lisa standing in the living room, dressed casually in jeans and a pretty-coloured blouse. He walked through the doorway and greeted her with a hug. She felt tense in his arms, not like earlier.

‘Thanks for coming,’ he said.

She pulled away. ‘Thanks for inviting me. I’m sure my house felt like a slum after all this,’ she said, looking around at the ornate plasterwork and expensive paintings. ‘It’s a mini stately home.’

‘It’s not to my taste. Your house is lovely. It felt like home.’

She nodded. She looked as nervous as he felt.

‘Take a seat,’ he said. ‘The menu’s on the coffee table. But if you don’t like any of it, the kitchen will make pretty much anything you fancy.’

‘Thanks,’ she said as she perched on the edge of the sofa. ‘But I’m not feeling that hungry at the moment.’

‘That’s ok. We can leave it until later. Champagne?’ He’d asked room service to bring up a bottle. It was next to the menu, chilling in a silver bucket.

‘What are we celebrating?’ she asked.

‘Finding one another again? Jim?’

‘I’ll drink to Jim,’ she said.

Jim. But not the two of them. That was worrying.

‘You seem on edge. Has something happened?’ he asked as he took the foil off the champagne bottle.

She sighed. ‘I’m not sure I should be here. If I were your fiancée, I’d be upset that you were having a private dinner with your ex.’

So that was it. At least that was easily fixed. He hoped so anyway .

‘Ex-fiancée,’ he said as he half-filled the two champagne flutes and waited for the bubbles to die down. ‘She’s been cheating on me.’

Lisa looked shocked. ‘Are you sure?’

‘She’s pregnant, and the baby can’t be mine. I had the snip fifteen years ago, and the odds of it failing are minuscule. I’d say that makes it pretty clear what’s been going on.’

‘When did you find out?’

‘In the all-night cafe this morning, just before you walked in.’

‘Wow! You have had a rollercoaster of a day.’

‘You could say that.’ He took a deep breath and sat down on the opposite sofa.

‘Why didn’t you mention it earlier?’

‘It hadn’t sunk in properly. And I was too focused on what had happened with us and Jim.’ He could see the pity in her eyes. ‘Don’t feel sorry for me. It’s freed me from a difficult situation. Do you mind me asking something? When you married Greg, what kind of wedding did you have?’

She looked bemused by the change of subject. ‘We kept it simple. Mum looked after Jim while we slipped off to Vegas. Then we just had a party for everyone at the house when we got back. Why?’

He smiled. ‘I just wondered. Adrienne was planning something a lot more extravagant for our nuptials. Acrobats, a pipe band, birds of prey, a flight of doves, and god knows what else.’

‘Are birds of prey and doves a good combination?’ Lisa asked.

‘I doubt it, but I’ll never know now.’

She laughed. How he loved that sound.

‘You could say I’ve had a lucky escape,’ he said as he topped up the champagne flutes and handed one to her.

‘And so have the doves. To lucky escapes,’ she said .

‘And new beginnings,’ he added.

Lisa sat back down on the sofa. ‘That meal was delicious, thank you.’

Her appetite had miraculously returned as soon as she’d established Nick and Adrienne were no longer together. She must’ve been more on edge about it than she’d dared to admit to herself.

She’d been relieved to see that oysters were nowhere on the menu. She’d played it safe by ordering the cottage pie. Hopefully, that wouldn’t make her ill. She still had nightmares about throwing up in the street the first time she’d gone out with him.

‘Glad you enjoyed it,’ Nick said, trying to hide a yawn.

‘You’re still tired. I ought to go and let you catch up on your beauty sleep.’

He looked disappointed. ‘Please stay. There’s still so much we need to talk about.’

‘We could meet again tomorrow?’

‘I’d love that, but I promised my sister I’d go back to Birmingham to talk to Mum.’

‘I thought you went there today?’

‘I did, but we spent the whole time talking about Jim. She’s not very well. We need to sort her out with a carer, so I promised Paula I’d go back with her tomorrow as neither of us has made any progress separately. She’s too stubborn.’

‘I used to like your mum.’

’She liked you. You’re back in her good books now she knows what actually happened.’

A text popped up on Lisa’s phone.

‘Something important?’ Nick asked.

‘Just Pete reminding me that Andy’s chat show starts in five minutes. ’

‘Do you want to watch it?’ Nick didn’t sound like he did.

‘God, no. I can’t think of anything worse.’ Lisa had hated watching herself on television when she was young. She certainly didn’t want to do it now.

‘ Bladerunner ’s on, though.’ Nick grinned.

‘Is it?’ What were the chances of that? Perhaps it was a good omen.

‘Yes, I spotted it on one of the film channels earlier. I was going to watch it if you couldn’t come tonight.’

‘We should watch it for old times sake. ’ she suggested. Is that wise? You know what happened last time you watched it together?

Nick seemed keen on the idea. ‘That works for me,’ he said, grabbing the remote. ‘You’ve got the best view from your sofa.’

‘You better join me then,’ she said.

Nick woke when the TV automatically turned off. He looked at Lisa, who was snoozing on his shoulder.

How long had they been asleep? He looked at his watch. Hours. It was nearly 1 am. He’d nodded off halfway through the film. He remembered Lisa had been gently snoring before then.

She looked so peaceful that Nick didn’t want to wake her. But he was in an uncomfortable position. Perhaps if he tried moving a fraction he could do it without disturbing her.

She began to stir. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

‘Hello, you,’ he said. ‘We fell asleep.’

‘Did we?’ she said, yawning. ‘I guess we must have. What time is it?’

‘One in the morning.’

‘Well, you’ve ruined my reputation now,’ she laughed.

‘In that case, you may as well stay. ’

She hesitated. For a moment, he thought she might be about to say yes. ‘Thanks, but I better go home.’

A pity but he didn’t want to rush things. ‘OK. I’ll text Brad.’

‘Don’t you give that poor man any time off? I’ll get a taxi.’

‘After all the fuss online yesterday?’

‘A black cab will be fine. I’ve not got far to go.’

‘If you’re sure.’

‘Yes, I’m 100% sure.’

She got up and stretched. ‘They don’t warn you that when you turn 50, everything starts aching, do they,’ she said.

‘Let me know if you need anything rubbing,’ he said.

She smiled at him. ‘It’s been a lovely evening. Thank you.’ She gave him a chaste peck on the cheek.

‘My pleasure.’ He stood up and put his hand on her waist.

They gazed into one another’s eyes for a moment. She looked like she wanted him to kiss her, but he wasn’t absolutely sure. Don’t mess this up, Nixon.

‘Can I kiss you properly?’ she asked.

He didn’t need any further encouragement. He leaned in and brushed his lips gently onto hers. And then they were suddenly kissing like it was the last time either of them would kiss anyone ever again.

It felt so good, he didn’t want it to end, but she pulled away.

‘I have to go,’ she whispered. ‘I’ll see you on Sunday.’

Before he could reply, she was gone.