Page 20 of Promise Me Ever After
“What do you need three thousand pounds for?” He emphasised the amount as if I didn’t already know how ridiculously large it was. Hmm, to tell him I’d accidentally bid on a private dinner cooked by a hot chef, or not?
“Decorating,” I plucked out of nowhere. “I need the money to renovate my gran’s house.”
Russ let out a hard breath. “And you needed to call me at half past midnight to ask me that? Eliza and I were sleeping.”
“You didn’t seem to do a lot of sleeping the night I walked in on you.” I knew I sounded like a petulant child, but I couldn’t resist the jibe.
“Goodnight, Georgie. Don’t call me again.”
“Wait, Russ, I’m serious. What’s the deal with the flat? I need my half of the money.”
It went silent at his end and I wondered if he’d hung up. In the background, I heard the click of a door. He must have moved to a different room. Probably didn’t want to explain to Eliza why his unhinged ex was calling him at all hours of the night. I’d be questioning why he’d answered his phone to me if I were her. You know what they say, once a cheater, always a cheater and all that.
“If you read your emails, you’ll have seen the latest update from my solicitor. The interested buyer has some questions.”
“Can’t you deal with them as you’re still living in the flat?” I pulled at a loose thread on my dress. “I just want this to be over.” I said it as much to myself as I did Russ.
Russ grunted which could have been agreement, I wasn’t sure. “You’re drunk, Georgie, and I’m tired. Get some sleep, read your emails and get in touch if you still need that money.”
The line went dead. I stared at the screen.
What had I done?
When I wokeseveral hours later, disturbed by the postman clattering the letterbox, my head throbbed with the mother of all red wine hangovers. Memories of last night came back bit by bit. The dinner, the auction, Alex…
A nagging thought I might have spoken to Russ popped to the forefront of my mind. I rolled over on the sofa, still dressed in last night’s clothes and found my phone. It was dead. With a huge sigh, I headed upstairs. Now I was awake, I might as well have a shower and then attempt to sort out the mess I’d created. I plugged the phone in to charge, took a peek at my call history and winced.Shit.I must have beenreallydrunk last night.
Twenty minutes later, I felt a lot cleaner if not exactly fresher. I didn’t have to work until later and had no plans until then. Pottering into the kitchen, I made coffee and grabbed a banana and some biscuits. It was all I could stomach right now. I resumed my spot on the sofa, glancing at the flowery wallpaper. It wasn’t my taste, and I should start thinking about redecorating. After all, it was what I’d told Russ the money was actually for. Not a private dinner cooked by a hot guy.
Conflict prickled my skin. I needed to talk to someone. Ems had said she’d be around, and I didn’t need Darcy’s judgement on my monumental fuck up.
Georgie: Ems, you awake?
Remembering her comments about having today off, I didn’t expect her to reply so swiftly.
Ems: Just, what’s up?
I called her. Trying to explain everything by message was too complicated. “Hey, I need some advice.”
“About Alex?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
I filled Ems in on the events of the evening, skipping over the parts where Alex and I had teetered on the brink of something more.
Ems tried to muffle her laughter. “You bid three thousand pounds on something you didn’t even want in the first place?”
I winced. It was meant to be threehundredpounds, but clearly in my semi-drunken state, hell bent on making a point, the extra zero appeared by accident. The local Ealynn Sands charities would certainly be catered for in the coming months.
“I drank too much.” I nibbled on another biscuit. “You can’t tell me you haven’t done something totally ridiculous when you’ve been drunk.”
“Where do I begin? Although I’ve never spent that much money…” Ems cleared her throat. “So, what are you going to do? Are you going to tell him you don’t want him to cook for you?”
“We have to work together tonight. I guess I’ll tell him then. I’m sure someone else would be willing to snap up his services. There were plenty of bids, right?” The biscuit turned to sawdust in my mouth.
“Georgie, why aren’t you grasping this opportunity with both hands? And by opportunity, I mean Alex, obviously.”
Because I’m an idiot.
