Page 76 of Promise Me Ever After
Ems, of course. I’d have to call her later and update her on the whole Alex situation. “Yeah, probably not what she wanted to happen at a wedding she’d organised. I bet Sonya’s fuming.” I took a sip of my too hot coffee and whipped the lid off so it had chance to cool. Mum held out the paper bag and I reached inside for a blueberry muffin. “Thanks for this.”
Her eyes fell on the overflowing saucer I’d been using as an ashtray. “I thought you were giving up?”
“Maybe it’ll be a New Year’s resolution,” I replied, crossing my fingers behind my back. It was the same resolution I made every year and without fail by mid-January, I’d broken it. Right now, I needed every ounce of nicotine, caffeine and alcohol.
“Georgie, I know you never keep those silly resolutions. And why should I push you to? You make your own decisions. Even if sometimes they don’t turn out to be the right ones.” She patted my hand. Her approach to me today was softer than usual, less judgemental. After seeing her younger daughter get married yesterday, maybe she realised how much it could have hurt me to see it.
“Have you spoken to Alex?” she asked at last.
Staring down at the carpet, I shook my head. “He left me, Mum. He told me he would fight for me, and then he left.” I swallowed the lump in my throat, fighting back tears as I spoke the words aloud.
She tightened her grip around my hand. “Georgie, I know I’ve not always been supportive of you and your… relationships, but I can see what you have with Alex is different. When you’re with him, I can tell you’re in love, that you genuinely care about each other. I saw that last night, before you saw Russ. I never witnessed the same thing when you were with Russ.”
“Then why did Alex leave me?” I demanded. “Why did he think I wasn’t enough? The same as Russ, as Nick? Why am I never enough?”
“Did you ever think he left because he didn’t want to hurt you more? In walking away, he took himself out of the firing line. Think about it, sweetheart. If they would have carried on fighting, don’t you think one of them might have ended up seriously hurt? More than cuts and bruises? And one of the hotel staff could have called the police. He could have been arrested. Alex ended it before it escalated into something he couldn’t stop. Because he loves you that much.” Mum gave my hand another quick squeeze before pulling away. “Never think you’re not enough, Georgie. Don’t let the actions of some weak-chinned pillock like Russ ruin you.”
I choked out a laugh at her description. She couldn’t have hit the nail on the head more if she’d tried. I hadn’t realised how much she disliked him as well.
Her perceptive words sank in. From the outside, it might have looked like Alex had abandoned me. But what if she was right? That he left before things went too far and he couldn’t back out?
“I’ve never heard you call anyone a pillock before.” I clutched a hand to my chest, pretending to be shocked.
Mum looked at me over the rim of her cup. “You should hear what I call your father when he traipses mud through the house after he’s been in the garden.”
I’d always considered their level of domesticity dull and boring, but it seemed they were far from it. Minor arguments and falling out with each other was normal during the course of a long-lasting relationship. Something I actively craved.
“Why don’t you call Alex and ask him over? Sort things out before they get too bad.”
I let out a hard breath. “I’ve tried. I haven’t been able to reach him.”
“Try again, Georgie. If you want this to work out, so you can get your day just like Darcy did, you need to speak to him.”
It had been a long, long time since Mum and I had sat down and talked like this. Shame it had to be after Russ had fucked things up for me yet again.
But she was right.
I had to talk to Alex to salvage our relationship before it was too late.
35
Alex
My jaw ached.Although it was nothing compared to the ache in my chest and the heaviness in my heart.
Walking away from Georgie last night had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done.
Curtis had kept me away from the rest of the wedding party, plying me with whisky, while the rest of the hotel staff fussed over Russ and Eliza. How they thought that prick deserved their sympathy rather than me I would never know. Eventually, I’d rolled home at some ungodly hour of the morning, only to carry on drinking alone on the sofa until Mum shook me awake.
“What on earth happened to you?” Mum wrinkled her nose. “You smell like a brewery. I thought you were staying at Georgie’s; I wasn’t expecting you home.”
“You hiding a man somewhere?” I laughed, then clutched a hand to my jaw, wincing.
“Yes, Alex. I had a night of wild sex last night and he stayed over to meet my twenty-something son on a first date.” She rolled her eyes so hard, I thought they might fall back into her head. “What do you take me for?”
If Mum had decided to date, I wouldn’t be against it. After all, I probably wouldn’t be at home forever. Although how I’d left things with Georgie might have stalled that particular plan for a while.
“And you still haven’t answered my question.”
