Page 74 of Three's a Crowd
‘Don’t beat yourself up about it. It wasn’t just your fault, it was mine too and Adam’s, to some extent. We each wanted something from the other, but were too blind to see the best thing for us all at the time.’
Zach nodded and smiled and she released his jaw and sat back down in her chair, hopeful he’d accepted her point.
‘How is Adam?’ he asked tentatively.
‘I don’t know to be perfectly honest. After he left, I didn’t hear from him again. He’s found someone else to love though, so at least he isn’t on his own. She’s called Suzie, apparently, and he’d been sleeping with her before we split up.’
‘Really?’ Zach was surprised. ‘Fast work, Adam – and a little underhand, considering the shit he’s given us when we’ve never really done anything physical behind his back.’
‘Hmm, I’m not entirely sure we can claim that,’ she said, with a rueful grin. ‘And we’ve been having an emotional affair with each other for years.’
Zach nodded slowly. ‘Yeah, I guess you’re right. We’re all as bad as each other. We’ve really tangled ourselves into knots here.’
‘He and I had been pretty rocky for some time, anyway,’ Daisy admitted. ‘We’d slowly grown apart, so there was a lot of time for us both to get used to the idea we weren’t going to be together forever.’ She felt a wash of sadness at this confession, but it was true. Deep down, she truly believed they’d both known they wouldn’t last.
‘Do you think he’ll ever forgive us?’ Zach asked.
‘I don’t know. I hope so. Maybe in time.’ Despite everything, she couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing Adam again. He’d been part of her life for as long as she could remember and the thought of never speaking to him again was devastating.
Zach obviously felt the same, judging by the expression on his face.
After a minute’s contemplation, he waved a hand at her. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll explain it all to him. Talk to him properly about it all for once. Finally be straight about how I feel. Hopefully, he’ll do the same. I’ll get through to him eventually,’ Zach said. ‘I know him. He won’t stay mad at us forever. It may take time and a lot of effort on our part, but he’ll come around, especially if he’s really in love with this Suzie now. You wait and see.’
Daisy felt relief sweep through her. If anyone could reach Adam, it would be Zach. There was too much history between them for Adam to just give up on them. She snuggled in close to him. Just the scent of him made her feel euphoric. Could she really, finally be here, in his arms? She’d always felt, deep down, that it might happen, but she’d never dared to hope.
Something was still troubling her, though.
‘Zach…’ she said tentatively.
‘Yes, Daisy,’ he said, looking at her from under his long, dark lashes.
‘About what happened on the boat. With Nathaniel.’
Zach tensed at the sound of his name, but she carried on regardless. This needed to be sorted out, once and for all.
‘I really didn’t know who he was, you know.’
He just looked at her, waiting for further explanation.
‘I met him in a café the day of the party. I had no idea he was even an actor. He introduced himself to me as Sonny in exactly the way Carol said he does to every woman he meets.’ She blushed at the memory of the shame she’d felt when she finally realised who he was.
‘Yeah. Nathaniel Kingson. Apparently, the cheesy fucker calls himself ‘Sonny’ to women, which he pretends is a nickname his friends gave him, but word has it he made it up himself.’
She made a face of disgust. ‘After Adam hit you, I was mortified. I felt like everyone at the party was laughing and pointing at me. Nathaniel came over and “rescued me”. I thought he was being kind and I got a bit swept up in the moment. I never intended to kiss him. He just sort of leant into me and it took me a moment to realise what was happening. I was so mixed up about how I felt about you and about Adam, I just let him do it. I’m so sorry, I know what it must have looked like, but please believe me, it meant absolutely nothing to me.’
She waited, her confession hanging in the air between them.
‘But you told me you knew who he was,’ Zach said gruffly, after a moment, confusion written all over his face. ‘Remember? That night we went out for a meal, before we went to the casino.’
Daisy was baffled. She desperately searched her memory for the conversation. Then it hit her. When Zach had told her about how Nathaniel had won that part that he’d wanted she’d tried to be kind and make him feel better by pretending to know who he was, but not to think much of him.
‘Ah,’ she said. ‘Well, the thing is… I lied.’
Zach just looked at her, eyebrows raised.
‘I only said I knew who he was because I wanted to make you feel better about yourself.’
‘You pitied me.’ This, he said as a statement and Daisy was afraid for a moment that she’d mortally offended him.
