Outback Reunion (Bunyip Bay #6)

Chapter Twenty-five

This was like a scene from a terrible romantic comedy; Mark declaring his love to one woman—badly at that—and seconds later his ex-wife arriving. Could Tahlia have chosen a worse moment to walk back into his life? And as if that wasn’t awful enough, there’d been dozens of witnesses.

He’d definitely be getting a phone call from his mum tonight!

‘What are you doing here? How did you even know where I was?’ he demanded, his body tense as, against his better judgement, he turned his back on Gabriela and looked to Tahlia.

‘Well, I dropped into the café to pick up a slice of your favourite cake—’ she grinned as she held up a small cardboard box, and he had to admit, she had a killer smile; it was one of the first things that had attracted him to her ‘—and this young chick told me this party was going on, but aside from that, I still have a tracker on your phone.’

‘You what?!’ All thoughts of her smile and the fact she’d remembered him talking about Frankie’s chocolate cake vanished. Talk about violating his privacy. Then he registered the second part. ‘What do you mean still ?’

Had she been spying on him their whole marriage?

‘Oh, Mark.’ She laughed and flicked her long, salon-gold hair over her shoulder. ‘You’re a footballer— were a footballer—and you travelled a lot for work; how was I supposed to sleep soundly at night if I couldn’t make sure you were where you were supposed to be?’

Was she for real? Shock rendered him speechless.

She pouted. ‘Don’t look at me like that. All the wives and girlfriends do it. I wanted to know if you cheated on me.’

Mark scoffed. ‘That’s rich coming from you.’

‘I know, babe.’ Tahlia sniffed as she fiddled with one of her platinum gold hoop earrings, a telling sign that her confidence was wavering. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t believe I did what I did. That’s why I’ve come. I hate myself for hurting you. Being with Alex was the worst mistake I ever made.’

‘Trouble in paradise? Or did he ditch you for someone else?’ If this were the case, Mark was surprised one of his ex-teammates hadn’t been in touch about it, but then again, he’d made it clear to them that he didn’t want to talk about his ex.

‘He was nothing but a lapse in judgement,’ she gushed. ‘Your accident freaked me out. Everything changed so fast—one minute you were at the top of your game and the next you wanted us to move to some tiny town on the other side of the country.’

‘That was always the plan, Tahlia. I was honest with you from the start, and you said you were fine with it.’

‘I thought I was, but when I had to face the reality of packing up our lovely apartment, saying goodbye to my friends and family, I panicked.’ She looked right into his eyes, pleading with him. ‘But with you gone... without you in my life, none of those other people matter and our apartment no longer feels like a home.’

Mark stared at her, unable to believe this was happening. ‘Took you a while to come to this realisation. We broke up almost six months ago.’

At the sound of a rustle from the long weeds on one side of them, Tahlia sprang at him and somehow landed in his arms. ‘Shit! Is that a snake?’

Gently disentangling them, he pointed to a shingleback a few feet away. ‘Relax. It’s just a lizard. They scare off the snakes.’

‘Thank God.’ As her hand rushed to her chest, Mark glanced back towards the house, hoping Gabriela hadn’t seen her in his arms. Tahlia hadn’t stuffed things up with Gabriela—he’d done that all by himself—but he didn’t want her to misread the situation.

Tahlia’s hand landed on his forearm. ‘I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I hope you’ll consider it. I’ll never forgive myself for treating you so badly. I was a fool to let you go. We’re perfect together, and you’re right, I can run my business from here. The beach will be a great place to take photos of my clothes and I’m sure I can find some local models.’

‘What about kids?’ Mark asked, feeling as if he’d just been hit by a road train.

She blinked. ‘Kids?’

‘I thought you’d decided you didn’t want them?’

‘Oh right.’ Tahlia bit her lip. ‘I was scared. Losing my body, my independence, to someone else, but none of that matters if I’m not with you.’ She whipped a book out of her bag. ‘Look, I even bought a baby name book so we can start—’

‘It’s too late,’ he interrupted, waving the book away. ‘We’ve been separated for months. We’re getting divorced the moment it’s legal.’

‘Please, Mark, I love you.’ She clutched his arm again, her nails digging into his skin. Remorse, regret and desperation were etched across her face. ‘It’s not too late. We can start over properly this time, knowing we’re both on the same page.’

But they were no longer on the same page. He was in a completely different book.

‘Maybe we could even renew our vows,’ she suggested hopefully.

Even after what she’d done to him, he hated hurting her. They had history and a couple of months ago this would have been everything he wanted—at least, he’d thought so—but staring at Tahlia now felt like staring at a stranger, not someone he’d shared a bed with for the better part of five years.

Had they ever really known each other?

He shook his head. Not the way he felt he knew Gabriela. On a soul level.

‘You shouldn’t have come,’ he told her.

‘What was I supposed to do? You wouldn’t answer my calls or messages. And then I realised this was better face to face anyway. I wanted you to see in my eyes how much I mean what I’m saying. How sorry I am.’

‘I believe you.’ He truly did, but in the end, it didn’t matter whether she meant what she was saying, or whether Alex had dumped her and she’d come crawling back because she didn’t like being alone. They were never ever getting back together. ‘But it’s too late. Things have changed. I’ve changed.’

Tahlia huffed as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. For a second, he thought she might cry, but she chose the other option. ‘Is it because of that woman you were talking to when I arrived?’

She made ‘woman’ sound like a swear word.

‘Yes and no,’ he admitted. ‘I don’t hate you for what you did. Not anymore. I was a mess after my accident. I just wanted to get away from Melbourne, where I was reminded of football everywhere I looked. I didn’t think about what moving so quickly might mean for you, but I don’t know if we’d have lasted the distance anyway. Neither of us were prepared to compromise. We were always thinking about ourselves rather than us as a couple.’

‘Who is she?’ Tahlia spat.

‘Gabriela is a circus performer. She’s working in town at the moment.’

She coughed out a laugh. ‘You’re not serious? You’re not going to throw away five years with me—most of which were freaking fabulous—for five minutes with some circus chick?’

‘She’s not just some circus chick. I’ve known Gabriela longer than I’ve known you.’

‘What?’ Tahlia looked like he’d slapped her. He told her about meeting Gabriela in the pub. ‘I think I fell in love with her that night. I don’t think I ever stopped. I’m sorry.’

Tahlia straightened. ‘Well, I’d say congratulations, but it didn’t look like she felt the same way about you!’

She was clearly trying to hurt him like his words hurt her, but whatever it may have looked like, Mark believed in his heart that there was something once-in-a-lifetime between him and Gabriela and all he had to do was convince her to give them a chance. Even if they were doomed, that didn’t mean he wanted to pick up with Tahlia where they’d left off. Maybe things would have been different if he hadn’t reconnected with Gabriela—if he hadn’t known any different—but after what he’d experienced and felt the last week, he’d rather spend his life alone than in a relationship with anyone else.

When he didn’t respond to Tahlia’s cruelty, she thrust her hands onto her hips. ‘What am I supposed to do now? I bought a one-way plane ticket and rented out the apartment. A truck with all my things will be arriving at your farm next week!’

Jesus. She was unhinged. He couldn’t believe she’d been that confident that he would take her back, especially when he hadn’t even answered her phone calls.

‘I’ll get you a room at the pub for tonight,’ he told her. ‘Liam will take care of you, and I’ll drive you to the airport tomorrow.’ Some would say he didn’t owe her anything after what she’d done, but he wasn’t a monster. ‘Or do you have a hire car?’

She must have; he doubted a taxi or Uber would have driven her all the way from Perth.

Swiping at her eyes as a tear finally snuck down her cheek, she nodded. ‘I think I’ll drive back to the city now. No point hanging around here.’

‘Good idea.’ Mark saw Tahlia to her car and this time when they said goodbye they both knew it was for good.

She surprised him by giving him a quick hug. ‘I truly am sorry.’

‘That means a lot,’ he said. ‘And I am too.’

She sniffed, then smiled. ‘Good luck with Circus Chick.’

‘Thanks.’ He had a feeling he was going to need it.