Page 54 of Strictly Friends
‘No, he hasn’t,’ Jake insisted. ‘He said he’d wait for me to get back so we could go together.’
It was hard to argue given that she hadn’t exchanged a single word with Griffin since the explosive scene at the beach. She had rebuffed his repeated attempts to talk to her, too deeply hurt, and furious with him for lying. While she knew she couldn’t avoid him for ever, for now at least, it was easier to hold on to her anger than to give any credence to Kenny’s bitter accusations.
‘Mum,please!’ Jake grumbled, bouncing extra hard on the bed to recapture her attention.
‘Stop it, Jake! Just give me a minute,’ she snapped.
His face fell, and Ruby was instantly remorseful. It wasn’t his fault that she was an emotional mess. She pulled him into a hug and stroked his hair.
‘I’m sorry, buddy. I didn’t mean to bite your head off – I’m just tired, that’s all. Go and find your godfather, and I’ll see you later.’
Sorting the papers in Jake’s homework folder to pack into the suitcase on his bed, Ruby paused at the sound of a knock on the bedroom door. It was almost dinner time, and she instinctively knew who it was. Her first reaction was to ignore it, but after a day of painful silence, she needed answers.
‘Come in,’ she called, annoyed to hear a slight wobble in her voice.
Griffin walked in and closed the door behind him, and for a moment they stared at each other in silence. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. He was also clearly uncomfortable, running his fingers over his hair and then around the inside of the collar of his white polo shirt.Good, she thought spitefully, relishing his discomfort, and dragging out the silence for as long as she could.
‘Where’s Jake?’ she asked finally.
‘Helping Narita set the tables for dinner. Ruby, we need to talk.’
‘That’s what I asked for yesterday, but you chose to walk away.’
Griffin nodded. ‘I know, but you were furious with me, and Kenny was there, and – I’m sorry, but please can we talk now?’
Ruby studied him for a moment and then dropped the folder she was still holding on top of the open suitcase and sat on the corner of Jake’s bed.
‘Go ahead, but you’ve lied to me for six years, so why should I take your word for anything now?’
Griffin flinched. ‘I know you might find it hard to believe after what you heard yesterday, but I swear to you that I never meant to hurt you or our relationship.’
Ruby laughed mirthlessly. ‘That’s the second time I’ve heard that in the past twenty-four hours. No-onewantsto hurt me and yet both you and Kenny have done your level best to break my heart.’
Griffin sucked in an audible breath, his expression bleak. ‘I wanted to tell you. Idesperatelywanted to tell you at the time, but you were so hurt and sad that I... I just couldn’t.’
‘I think what you mean is you were too gutless to tell me that my partner had left me because of you.’
The muscles in his jaw tightened. ‘Yes.’
‘So, because you thought I would blameyoufor what Kenny did, you decided to keep the truth from me, is that right?’
Griffin shook his head. ‘No. I was prepared for you to blame me if that helped you deal with what Kenny did, but—’
‘How magnanimous of you,’ she broke in sarcastically. ‘Well, guess what, Idoblame you. Kenny did his fair share of damage, but...you?’
She leaned forward and dropped her head into her hands, breathing in deeply to calm the fury building inside. She could hardly stand to look at Griffin, but she needed to know the truth.
‘I’m trying to understand this, but I really don’t. Even if you bottled it at the time, why didn’t you tell me later when you knew what I was going through? My God, you even encouraged me to come out here and find Kenny. What did youthinkwas going to happen?’
‘I hadn’t realised until that day in Brighton just how much what happened with Kenny still affected you. You barely mention his name and that was the first time you opened up about how badly his leaving made you feel about yourself. I would have told you that day in the diner, but I wanted you to hear his reasons from him, and not from me. I’m hardly an impartial observer andthat’swhy I encouraged you to come. If you hadn’t moved on because you still had feelings for Kenny, then I didn’t want to get in the way of that.’
‘WhatIdon’t get is why you two men think you can make decisions for me! All I need – needed from you was the truth. It wasnotyour place to judge whether or not I could cope with it.’
Griffin looked pained. ‘I know that now, and I wish I’d handled things differently. I knew the truth would come out once you were here, and part of the reason I followed you was to be here for you and tell you my side of things.’
Too agitated to sit still, Ruby jumped up and grabbed the folder, mindlessly shuffling the loose papers and cramming them back in again with no regard for order.
‘You’ve hadsixbloody years to tell me “your side of things”, Griffin, and I think it’s a bit late now. So, let me tell youmyside. One minute, I was living happily with my partner and baby, and then the next minute, boom! No partner,and –to make an awful situation worse – my so-called best friend didn’t have the common decency to tell me why my world had suddenly imploded.’
