Page 36 of One Snowy Day
‘I mean, what kind of guy would do that? If I found out that someone was trying to get back in my bed and have me commit my future to him while he was sleeping with someone else, well, I’d…’
She paused, watched him squirm a little more as he asked, ‘You’d what?’
‘Well, first, I’d probably dip his willy in disinfectant while he was asleep, but after that I think I’d be done with him because he’s just not a decent guy. If he truly cared about me, he’d take care of his stuff first, before even suggesting any kind of reconciliation.’ She leaned forward, warm smile still in place. ‘Anyway, I’m glad that’s not you.’
Another squirm.
‘And I’m glad we had this conversation, because if I found out later you’d been seeing someone and lied to me, I think it would wreck any chance we had of friendship, never mind a relationship.’She let that hang, before dismissing it. ‘Anyway, glad you’re not.’
‘No.’ Was it her imagination or was he now sweating slightly and checking the location of the exits?
‘But also…’ she went on.
‘Yes?’ Definitely sweating.
‘Would you mind if we didn’t do the party together tonight? I just think it could be confusing for Kayleigh. I don’t want her to get her hopes up that we’ll get back together until we definitely know for sure that’s what we want.’
He sat back in the chair. ‘And you don’t know yet?’ His whole energy and demeanour had changed since she’d sat down, and she couldn’t tell if he was relieved or perturbed by her request.
She pretended to mull his question over for a few seconds. ‘I think we need to take more time. You know, I haven’t told you this, but I feel I need to be completely honest with you too.’ Time to go in with the cut-off switch, the one thing that she knew would send him racing to the hills. It was a complete lie, but the only thing she could think of that would unequivocally end his hopes of skipping off into the sunset together. ‘I’ve begun to realise that I’d like more children.’
‘You what?’ The horror on his face was almost comical and made her warm up even more to the story.
‘Yes, at least one more. Maybe two. Now that Kayleigh has moved out, I feel like there’s a void that I want to fill. I’m only thirty-eight. Some women are just starting their families at my age.’
His wide eyes and raised eyebrows screamed pure panic. ‘Georgie, I definitely don’t want more children. No way. I feel like we’ve just hit a time in our lives where we have no commitments and it’s just for us. We can do anything, go anywhere…’
Shag multiple women and lie to them,she added, but again, only on the inside.
‘But that’s the thing, I don’t want that. I want to be home, with another couple of little ones running around. I’m sorry if that doesn’t align with how you see your future, but it’s a deal-breaker for me.’
‘Then I’m so sorry, Georgie, but I guess it won’t work.’ To his credit, his sad face was fairly impressive.
‘No, I guess it won’t. Good thing we realised now, before either of us had our hearts torn out again.’ This wasn’t the time to point out that the only people who’d had their hearts decimated when he left last time was her and Kayleigh. He was too busy stocking up on SPF10 for his jolly to Thailand. ‘Or before I fall pregnant again and then we’re right back in it.’
He visibly paled at that thought. ‘Absolutely. And you’re right, I probably shouldn’t come tonight.’ His relief was almost palpable. ‘Listen, I’ll go.’ He got up from his chair. ‘I’ll tell Kayleigh that I’ve got a…’
‘Work emergency?’ she suggested.
He missed the irony. ‘Yeah, a work emergency.’ He leaned down, kissed her cheek. ‘I’ll, erm, see you… soon.’
He was out of the door before she even had a chance to reply to that. Only after he’d gone did she notice, with a wry chuckle, that this time he’d remembered his wallet. The second thing she noticed was that her relief had shoved her fury to one side. Deep down, she knew that she’d never wanted him back and Monica had done her the biggest favour by removing the option. Lucky escape.
Dilemma number one of the day sorted. Now she just had to deal with the other one.
19
ALYSSA
Alyssa could hardly believe that this man was sitting here. All day, she’d been desperately trying to get hold of someone from the Morden family without success, and now someone with the same surname had come to her. And she had no idea how or why, but it couldn’t be a coincidence. As soon as she’d introduced herself, she cut straight to finding out if this was the person she’d been looking for.
‘The person who owned this building passed away recently – a man called Martyn Morden. Are you related to him?’
As soon as she saw his chest deflate and his slow, resigned nod, she knew the answer. ‘He was my father.’
Business could wait a second because she could see the flinch of sadness on this guy’s face and reminded herself that she might be about to lose her home and her business, but he’d lost his dad. And that was far more important.
‘I’m really sorry for your loss. I read a bit about him, and it seems like he was a good man who cared about people. Losing him must have been a terrible thing.’ She hoped that was the right thing to say. She and Ginny had never known their dad –he’d buggered off when they were about three and four – so she didn’t have the best insight into the relationships between fathers and their children.
