Page 27 of Her Kensington
It’s late afternoon when we make it back home. The second we walk through the door, Harrison’s cell rings. Groaning, he pulls it from his pocket and swipes to connect the call as he walks into the house.
“Yes,” he barks. “What? Now?”
Those two words have disappointment flooding my body. I’ve enjoyed having him here with me a little too much.
I’m getting myself a glass of water when he reappears.
“I’m really sorry, beautiful. I’ve got to pop to the office for a bit.”
“That’s okay,” I say, plastering a smile on my face. I need to remember that just because I have nothing to do here, doesn’t mean he does too. He has a company to run. “I’ll look at the courses.” He might think I’m good enough to sell my art, and he might be right, but art school is something I just really want to experience. I want to try to make my own connections, try to carve my own way in the art world and not just rely on Harrison’s contacts. Plus, I need to make some friends, and being with people who have the same interests as me seems like a good place to start.
“Perfect. I promise not to be too long. I’ll bring back dinner.”
“Sounds good.”
Giving me a sweet kiss, he leaves me standing in the kitchen nursing my glass of water. I miss him the second the front door shuts, and I feel ridiculous.
Heading to his office, I grab his laptop and a notebook before pulling his top drawer open to find a pen. With everything in hand, I settle myself on the couch and power the laptop up. I’m scrolling through the array of courses to choose from when the phone rings.
“Hello?” I ask, still feeling a little weird about answering his home phone.
“Summer. It’s good to finally speak to you,” a saccharine sweet, female voice says.
“Uh…who’s this?” I ask, but something tells me I already know.
“The one who had him first.”
“What do you want, Rebecca?” The harshness in my tone shocks me.
“I just wanted to make sure you were settling into my life okay.”
Anger has my hands trembling to the point I’m worried I might drop the phone.
“You made your choice and you chose to leave. The only person whose life I’m living is my own…with my husband.”
“For how long, though?”
“I haven’t got time for this,” I spit, pulling the phone away from my ear, ready to hang up. That is until her next words filter through to me.
“How long until you find out he’s lying to you?”
All my fears about him not being totally honest with me about why he left Vegas resurface. I fight to swallow them down. I don’t want a quiver in my voice to give me away.
“He’s not. It was nice chatting to you, but I don’t think it’s an experience I’d like to repeat. Have a nice life, Rebecca.”
“Oh, I will. Have a good evening, Summer.”
Finally slamming the phone down on the counter, I lean forward on my shaking hands and suck in a giant breath of air.
Who the fuck does she think she is? Deciding to forego my water, I pull a new bottle of wine from the cooler and pour myself a giant glass. It does little to relax me.
At no point have I forgotten that I still don’t know the real reason for Harrison’s disappearance or that he’s obviously hiding something from me, but everything’s so perfect that I allowed myself to push it to one side, believing that he would tell me when he was ready.But Rebecca knows he’s lying to me,a little voice says. How would she know? They don’t talk. He hates her. How would she know?
The sound of the doorbell followed by a series of knocks on the front door pull me from my turmoil. Placing the glass down on the counter, my hands still trembling, I make my way to the hallway.
Assuming it’s Danni, or maybe June, I pull the door open. What I’m not expecting is to find two kids standing looking back at me.
“Uh…hi. Can I…uh…help you?” I ask, looking over their shoulders for their parents.
