Page 30 of A Scottish Christmas Hideaway
Jessica stared back at her, then looked at Reuben. ‘It’s fine. I was just leaving anyway,’ she said curtly.
‘Good. Because there is a lot I need to discuss with my husband.’
Reuben frowned. ‘I’ll see you out, Jessica.’
She gave Belinda a small nod, grabbed her coat and then walked into the front room and to the door where she had left her boots and quickly pulled them on. ‘Thanks for the tea, Reuben. And great job with the house.’
‘Erm, thanks for popping by,’ he said with a shake of his head. ‘Sorry about this.’
Reuben looked as if he was about to say something else and then his eyes moved down to her lips. Why was he still looking at her like he wanted to kiss her? From what everyone said, Belinda was his ex but she was still in the next room. Jessica desperately tried to think of something smart to say. But whatcouldshe say to him? None of it was any of her business. The last thing she wanted to do was get in the way and Belinda was clearly a woman on a mission. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ She pressed her lips together to stop herself from saying anything else that she might regret. The safest option was to leave, pronto.
‘Bye then,’ called Belinda, now standing with her arms crossed in the doorway of the kitchen. Her words had a definite undertone ofplease bugger off now.
‘See you later,’ Jessica said as casually as she could to Reuben who now looked as though he had regained the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Chapter Eighteen
Reuben couldn’t believe that Belinda had turned up out of the blue. He hated to think what Jessica must be thinking now. Especially after what had just happened in the kitchen.
‘Who was that?’ Belinda said, her voice dripping with disdain when he returned to the kitchen.
‘My friend, Jessica, who also happens to be a neighbour, like she told you,’ he said. ‘There was no need to be so rude.’
She raised a beauty-parlour shaped and tinted eyebrow at him. ‘Really? Do neighbours always look disappointed when wives turn up. Did I interrupt something?’
Reuben shook his head at her. Jessica wasn’t the only one to look disappointed. He could still smell the scent of coconut in her hair and the subtle smell of her floral perfume. He had wanted to pull her back into his arms and not let her go. Aside from the physical attraction, he had also really appreciated having the chance to talk to her about his dad. And she had actually been listening to him. Her eyes hadn’t glazed over and she hadn’t tried to change the subject. Which was Belinda’s speciality. ‘Why are you here, Belinda?’
She smiled at him, lowering her lashes. ‘Come on now, that’s no way to talk to your wife.’
‘Belinda, you aren’t my wife any more. We’ve been separated for a while now. You are very much my ex-wife.’
‘Oh, that’s harsh,’ she said perching her bottom on the kitchen table. ‘Technically we are still man and wife.’ She flicked her hair over her shoulders and pouted at him.
He looked at her in astonishment, again wondering why on earth he had married this woman. And what on earth had she done to her eyes? Her eyelashes looked as thick as the tassels on his granny’s old sofa. Had she always been so vain and self-absorbed? And he just hadn’t noticed? Or had their verydifferent lifestyles exacerbated the fault lines that were always there? She had always taken care of her appearance and liked spending money on clothes and jewellery. Reuben hadn’t really bothered about her lavish spending to begin with — some of his friends had told him their wives were exactly the same. But after they had been married for a couple of years, she just seemed to want more and more and Reuben felt as though nothing he ever did would ever be enough. It was as though she had a God-sized hole that she would never be able to fill. Whether it was clothes, jewellery, trips away, expensive meals out, she was always on to the next thing. Her salary didn’t match her expensive tastes and his income had taken a bit of a bashing too. It was awful to admit, but he had actually felt a sense of relief when she was offered a job working for a large marketing firm in Dubai. Reuben had refused to move there. His life and work were very much rooted in Glasgow. She said there was no way she was turning the job down, and so they reached an uneasy truce when they agreed to try their marriage long-distance. Belinda said plenty of people had long-distance relationships but Reuben knew in his gut that it wouldn’t work. And it hadn’t.
She smiled at him. ‘I take it you haven’t changed your mind about coming over to Dubai then?’
Was she having a laugh? What was going on with her? Why was she here now? She must have known that wasn’t an option. When Reuben had gone out to visit her, eighteen months ago, he quickly knew there was no way on earth he would ever live there. Lots of people loved the way of life in Dubai but it wasn’t for him. They had spent all of his visit socialising with Belinda’s work colleagues, whose idea of a good time was partying on yachts, drinking champagne and eating out in overpriced restaurants. It just wasn’t him at all. Reuben had never been more relieved in his life to get off the plane — in fact, the flight had been the highlight of the whole trip — and take gulps of fresh, coldScottish air. It was never going to work. Belinda positively loved that kind of lifestyle and all it brought with it, and he absolutely hated it. All he wanted to do at the weekends was be outdoors, whether it be walking in the hills, or messing about down at the loch, or having dinner in a cosy pub. She’d refused to visit him in Glasgow and so they’d reached a stalemate. Until she then told him, over FaceTime this time last year, that she had been having an affair with one of her colleagues and their marriage was over. He hadn’t seen her since. Until now. He felt her hand on his arm, reminding him that she was still there and standing in his kitchen. ‘I think it’s fair to say that will never happen, Belinda. Are you going to tell me what you want?’
‘Have you missed me?’ she purred.
He pulled a face. ‘No, Belinda, I haven’t. Not at all. Please just get to the point and tell me why you’re back?’ He moved away from her to create some distance.
‘Well,’ she chided, looking a bit put out that her charm hadn’t worked. ‘I was back in the country for a few days and I was in Glasgow,’ she said with a shiver of distaste. ‘I was planning on trying to catch up with you and knew you were down here.’ She looked around the cottage, bemused. ‘I bumped into some of the boys at the pub the other night in the west end,’ she said in explanation. She dramatically placed her hand on her heart. ‘So I jumped in my car and decided I would just come straight down and see you. It’s always better to chat in person, don’t you think?’
Reuben inwardly groaned. ‘You should have called to let me know you were back.’
‘Oh,’ she said, clearly not impressed. ‘Well, anyway, now that I’m here, we may as well chat. I wanted to see you because . . .’
As her voice trailed away, he looked at her again as objectively as possible, realising how once upon a time he had been absolutely devoted to her. He would have done anythingfor her, aside from move to Dubai. Now, he really just wanted her to leave. ‘Because?’ he said impatiently.
‘We were good together, babe.’
Babe?She had never once called him that when they were married. And he certainly didn’t want her to start calling him it now. Had she been watching too muchLove Islandor was that the lingo over there with the crowd she ran about with in Dubai? ‘That was then, Belinda, and things have changed now.’ His stomach sank when he realised it had started to snow outside.
‘But, Reubs . . . I think I made a mistake. I still love you.’
He looked at her now, incredulous that she was bringing this up after a year of being separated. ‘You had an affair, Belinda. This time last year you called me to tell me you were seeing some bloke from work. And that our marriage was over.’ He paused, watching her brow furrow and the seductive smile disappear from her face. ‘Let’s face it,’ he said, trying to make sure his voice was a bit gentler, ‘we weren’t meant to be together. We wanted different things.’
