Page 53 of Yours, Truly

He noticed my reaction and finally spoke as he came out of his shell shock state.

“No, I mean, yes, Ivy is okay. Ivy is back in London, she landed a couple hours ago.” He stopped as he ran around to find his keys, frantically, he looked all over the place.

I reached to grab them from off the kitchen island where he’d placed them earlier next to the briefcase. He took them from me gently.

“Mum’s in a critical condition, I need to get to the hospital,” Nate revealed. My hand flung to my mouth in shock, I wasn't sure what to say.

“I'll come with you,” I said, trying to give him support.

“No, stay here. I don't want you to come.” His words came out harsh, it felt like a slap across the face. I composed myself, Nate was hurting. It wasn't personal.

“Nate, you're in shock, let me drive!” I said, cautiously, in a calming tone to try and make him see sense.

“I DON’TWANTYOU TO COME!” he shouted at me, which shot a dagger in my heart. His eyes turned dark, glaring at me, as he waited for me to accept his wish.

I nodded, biting my lip and holding the tears back that wanted to fall. Seconds after his outburst, he walked out the door, no goodbye kiss, nothing. He just left me standing there.

After that I couldn’t sleep. I sat on the sofa all night waiting for him to call, to update me on the situation, just something. My phone rang, and I jumped to pick it up, but it wasn’t Nate, it was Ivy. 7am. I answered, trying to mask that I was aware of the situation. But nothing came from the other side except tears, so I pressed her, desperate for an answer about what was going on.

Carol didn’t make it.

My heart sunk as I finally let my own tears fall, giving way to the sick feeling in my chest. Nate hadn’t handled the news of the accident just a few hours earlier, this would be worse. He was close to his Mum and she had his back, she was his biggest fan and he adored her and Ivy more than anything in the world.

“I'm so sorry,” was all I could say. I felt awful, pretending not to know Carol was in the hospital, and asking her what happened, making her relive the traumatic events again. But her sobs became uncontrollable and I couldn’t understand her.

“Where are you? I'm coming to get you!” I said, jumping off my sofa and running to the door.

“I'm at the City hospital… Nate left earlier, when he found out she had passed, but I haven’t moved. Gigi… he never made it in time. I tried to call him all evening but he missed all my calls. I didn’t want her to be alone, but I got back just in time to say my goodbye.” She cried as she explained.

My head was running with thoughts, Nate didn’t get to say goodbye, he missed the window. I couldn’t help but blame myself, that he wouldn’t have missed these calls if we weren’t acting like a couple of horny teenagers.

The entire drive over to the hospital, my mind was in overdrive wondering where Nate was all these hours since Carol passed, I texted him when I pulled up, waiting for Ivy to get in the car. Her luggage in the small boot, as she had come straight from the airport. Jude was flying in later today, which meant Ivy was all alone to deal with this. Nate had disappeared and I had no idea where Mark was, they just left her.

I drove Ivy home. She didn’t say a word in the car and when we got to her house she just wandered inside and made her way to her bed. I brought her luggage in and decided to try and call Nate again. I needed to make sure he was okay, but he just sent me to voicemail. Nate wanted to be left alone and I was going to give him his space, he knew where I was. I texted him to let him know I had picked Ivy up and was at hers if he needed me.

Ivy wouldn’t eat, all I could hear was her sobbing. I even laid in bed next to her and she snuggled up to me, crying, until she fell asleep.

I waited until Jude came home, he gave me a hug and I updated him on Ivy, leaving him to hold her and console her. Now, I needed to drive to Nate and check on him. If anything, he would have gone back to his penthouse, probably drunk with bottles of whiskey passed out on the sofa.

I arrived at the penthouse and rushed up letting myself in, I needed to see that he was okay. I knew he wouldn’t be but I needed to be there to comfort him. But when I arrived the apartment was dark, empty, and cold. It broke my heart that he wasn’t there. I searched every room in case he had fallen asleep, just like Ivy did, but his bed was still made from a couple days ago when we stayed here.

It was going to be a wild goose-chase. The summer sunlight kept the city awake making the day a lot longer. I checked out all of his favourite places in the city but he wasn’t in any of them. This man had money and he could be anywhere. He could pay anyone to say they hadn’t seen him. It then hit me that I didn’t know any of Nate’s friends or colleagues that I could call and ask if they had seen him. Finally, I went to the last place I remembered he loved, the Nightingale Bar in Westminster.

I ran down the steps to the entrance, asking the bouncers if Nate was here. We had been here a couple of times so they knew me. They pointed me in the right direction and moved aside to let me in. He was sitting there with a half bottle of whiskey drowning his sorrows and his pain.

“Nate there you are!” I called softly, my voice full of worry. He didn't even look up at me, he didn't acknowledge me. “Nate,” I said softly as I pulled the bottle away from him. His eyes glared at me, there was nothing in them, just emptiness. He pulled the bottle back towards him and glanced back towards it.

“I'm so sorry,” I whispered. I placed my hand on his, trying to console him with soft affection.

“You should be,” he growled under his breath. His comment confused me but I let it slide, he was hurting.

“Please, come home,” I pleaded with him, he was numb and drunk. The worry overtook me. “Nate,please.” I didn’t want him to be left here alone. He was feeling down, emotional, hurting; I didn’t know what old habit he would fall into next.

“I'm not going anywhere with you,” he spat at me, before taking another swig of his drink. I grabbed the bottle and this time he grabbed my wrist, a little too hard and removed it from the bottle. “Leave me alone,” he said, pushing me away. The bartender, a beautiful young woman, looked over at me and Nate.

“Nate, I know you're hurting, I'm not leaving you alone." I tried to make him see sense.

“You need to go, Gi,” he growled, “Besides, I’m not alone. I have the lovely Olive, keeping me company, and pouring me drinks,” he slurred, nodding towards the bartender, the one who had looked over at us a second ago. Where had I heard that name before?Olive…Olive…Olive… “Olive Willis from the Nightingale bar, she said he was amazing in bed.”Her friends had been bragging that she had slept with Nate that night at Ivy’s engagement party.

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