Page 13 of Healing Hearts on Thistledown Lane: Part 3
Oh god, oh god, oh god. Maura’s heart thudded as she eyed him in mute discomfort. What was the right course of action – to stop him before he embarrassed them both beyond repair, or wait until he’d got it all off his chest and let him down gently then? She had no idea which was best – kindest. What she actually wanted to do was run all the way home without a backward glance. She took a deep breath. ‘Um… I can honestly say—’
Once again, Liam didn’t seem to register that she’d spoken. ‘But Andy mentioned you’d been at the club on Friday night and I knew you’d never have turned up there if you’d known.’ His mouth twisted into a grimace. ‘Unless you were planning to knock Zoe out and that didn’t seem like your style.’
Maura’s brow wrinkled. ‘What? Why would I—’ She paused, replayed his last sentence over again in her head and still came up with nothing. ‘Sorry, I don’t understand. What is it I’m supposed to know or not know?’
He lifted his cup and lowered it again without drinking. ‘That Zoe and Jamie are having an affair.’
It was such a preposterous idea that Maura felt sure she’d misheard. A bubble of laughter ballooned inside her but died before it could make a sound. She licked her lips. ‘I beg your pardon?’
Liam regarded her with heavy eyes. ‘I didn’t want to believe it either. But it’s true. Zoe admitted everything the night she dumped me.’
Blood roared in Maura’s ears as she stared at him. It couldn’t be true. He was lying. No,Zoewas lying. Maybe he’d refused to accept it was over and she’d needed a nuclear option, something there was no coming back from. ‘You’re wrong.’
‘I wish I was,’ he said flatly. ‘From what she told me, it started the night of Matt’s fortieth. She didn’t go into detail, and I’ve probably blocked out some of it, but we’d all had a lot to drink. We got separated leaving the club – they ended up in a different taxi to the rest of us. Then, when everyone was back at mine, they disappeared for a bit.’ Shaking his head, he took a swig of coffee. ‘I remember wondering where they’d gone. Now I know.’
An awful image flashed into Maura’s mind, of Jamie and Zoe entwined. She shook it away, heaving in a shuddering breath. ‘You’re wrong. Jamie wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t.’
But even as she said the words, doubt was starting to creep in. She remembered his demeanour when he’d finally rolled home after Matt’s party, defensive and ill-tempered and barely able to look at her. He’d blamed the argument that followed on a monster hangover and Maura had believed him – it was hardly an isolated incident, after all. But what if there had been more behind his snappiness than a thumping head and a roiling stomach? What if he’d also been weighed down by guilt?
Liam’s gaze was troubled. ‘Have you noticed his behaviour changing recently? Has he been working late more often?’
He had, Maura thought, her head spinning. She’d barely seen him since… since that night. And wasn’t that when Zoe had become less chatty too? She fumbled in her bag, pulling out her phone and stabbing at the screen until her chat with Zoe appeared. Her last five messages stared accusingly back at her, not blocked but unread and unanswered. Maura scrolled backwards, noting how sparse Zoe’s replies had grown. And then she reached it – the message she’d sent the day after Matt’s party.
I hear it was a heavy night. Hope you behaved yourself.
Zoe’s reply had seemed innocent enough at the time, but now it made Maura feel nauseous.
Ha ha. I promise I was a VERY good girl. Ask Jamie!
She stared at it, feeling her stomach churn. It had to be a coincidence. It couldn’t be true.
‘I found his wallet under my bed,’ Liam said, and Maura dragged her eyes from her screen to his face. ‘After the party, I mean. And I couldn’t work out how it got there – he slept on the sofa. He laughed it off when I gave it back to him, said it must have been in his coat pocket and I didn’t think there could be any other explanation, until Zoe came clean.’ His lip curled. ‘He wasn’t laughing on Saturday after the match.’
‘What?’ The conversation spun off in another unexpected direction, taking Maura with it.
‘We had a fight, on the pitch. I couldn’t help it.’ He touched the livid bruising around his eye. ‘I’m currently suspended from the club.’
She gaped at him. ‘Jamie said he took an elbow from the tighthead prop in the scrum.’
Liam shrugged. ‘He lied.’
She wanted to deny it, to accuse Liam of lying rather than Jamie. The trouble was, she couldn’t work out why Liam would. Or Zoe, for that matter. ‘Why are you doing this?’
‘Because you need to know what’s going on behind your back,’ he said, the words heavy. ‘You seem like a good person, Maura. You deserve better.’
Maura threw up her hands. ‘But you’ve only got Zoe’s word that any of this is true. What if she’s lying, to make sure you leave her alone or… I don’t know – to get her own back for something? Have you thought about that?’
He sighed. ‘I’ve seen his messages. I’m sorry, Maura. She’s not lying.’
The truth of it almost overwhelmed her then, the hideous realisation that brought with it hot tears that stung her eyes but did not spill onto her cheeks. She managed to stifle a groan, putting her hands over her face and willing the awfulness away. But the everyday sounds of the coffee house continued around her, anchoring her in the moment and somehow the darkness only made things worse.Jamie and Zoe, she thought dully, and the mere act of linking their names caused a wave of misery to course through her. She lowered her hands. ‘Does everyone know?’
Liam’s mouth twisted. ‘No. They’ve been discreet, I’ll give them that. But I imagine a few of the lads in the team might put two and two together after I hit him.’
Her eyes burned with unshed tears; she could feel them hovering on her lashes, causing her vision to swim. She pressed the heels of her palms against her overheated eyelids.Jamie and Zoe.How could he? After five years together, how could he?
‘Maura? Is everything okay?’ The voice belonged to Giulia.
Maura moved her hands, blinking away black and white dots to see the barista standing nearby, watching her with a worried expression. The young man at the next table had stopped peering at his laptop and was now firing an accusatory glare Liam’s way. Maura took a breath, and let it out slowly before she felt capable of nodding to Giulia. ‘I’m okay.’
