Page 82 of Meet Me in Berlin

‘It’s a wedding, Casey,’ she spits. ‘All weddings are stressful to organise.’

‘They don’t need to be that intense. You’ve become a different person the past few months, and I was never part of it.’

Her expression softens. ‘That’s not true. We’re having the reception at your gallery – that was your decision.’

‘It wasn’t though, was it?’ I say. ‘It was yours and I got caught up in it.’ She recoils slightly, but I keep going. ‘It’s not just the wedding. It’s me. I wanted this to work, I really did, which is why it’s taken time to figure out I’m not happy. We’re not happy.’

‘We are,’ she pleads. ‘We’ve just both had a lot going on.’

Now that I’ve started, the words are desperate to escape. ‘I don’t love you like I should, Eva. And I don’t feel that you love me like you should either. We bicker and argue all the time – we have for months, ever since we moved in together.’

She scoots across the sofa and grabs my hand, her diamond solitaire glinting up at me. ‘That’s because things have been stressful. Of course I love you. The wedding will be over in a few weeks and we can be us again.’

She leans in to kiss me, a move that’s always worked in the past, but Holly is right there in my head and I pull away. ‘There’s someone else.’ The sentence is out before I’ve registered what’s coming, and it hangs between us, three little words that can cause so much havoc.

Her jaw tenses and she retreats. ‘I fucking knew going out with Jaz last weekend?—’

‘I didn’t sleep with anyone when I went out with Jaz.’

‘Then who? When?’ She throws up her hands. ‘You’re always at work, here, with Jaz or with your family.’ She narrows her eyes. ‘Unless it’s Jaz. I’ve always been suspicious about you two.’

‘Don’t be fucking stupid. Of course it’s not Jaz!’

‘Then who? I want to know.’

I crumble under the pressure. ‘It was in Berlin.’

Her brows shoot up. ‘Berlin? As in the trip you’ve just been on?’

My cheeks burn and I nod.

‘You were there for a week for work. How is that possible?’

I chew my bottom lip.

‘Go on, then. I’m waiting.’ When the silence stretches, she says, ‘So, you’re breaking it off with me and ruining our amazing wedding because of someone you shagged in Berlin?’

I drop my head into my hands. ‘No. Yes. No. It’s not because of that.’ I look up. ‘I was going to end it anyway. It’s just a coincidence that I met someone, and I’ve been struggling with how to tell you?—’

‘A coincidence? I’ll ask again. Who is it?’

I stare ahead at the black television screen knowing I can’t avoid this. ‘Her name is Holly.’

‘Holly? As in “deck the halls with boughs of holly”?’

‘Erm…’ Of all the things she could have said, that’s what she goes with? ‘I don’t think she was named after a line in a Christmas car?—’

‘Well, fa la la la fucking la. How delightful for you both. Did you have a nice time shagging while I was organising our wedding that’s happening in four weeks? Four fucking weeks! I assume you have been shagging? Knowing your history, I’d say you moved pretty fast to get your head between her legs.’

‘I’m sorry, Eva. I really am. I should’ve told you sooner?—’

‘Oh, you think?’

I ignore the dig and push on with my reasoning. ‘I didn’t understand what was going on with me, and I didn’t know how to tell you.’

‘Everything is booked. How is it going to look when it’s all cancelled? I have over one hundred thousand followers who are waiting for us to get married.’

Anger rises that that’s her main concern, and I glower at her. ‘I don’t care how it looks. I can’t marry you just because it’ll look bad not to.’

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