Page 42 of The Monday Night Heartbreak Club
‘You need to tell her, Eddie.’ I bent forward over the table to bring my face closer to his. ‘Because what she’s imagining’ – I didn’t add that we’dallbeen imagining Eddie and a scantily clad, much younger woman and lots of frisky sex – ‘is much worse than having to monitor your diet and keep your weight down. And that’s not fair.’
Eddie sighed. ‘I know.’ He looked at the three of us, sleep deprived and a little bit rumpled. ‘Are youreallya club for heartbroken people? Did Annie honestly join something like that? It’s not the sort of thing she usually does, when she’s worried, she normally just crochets something.’
‘She was lonely,’ I said. ‘We were all lonely. She’s only got you and she thought she was losing you, so she wanted to find other people who understood how she felt.’ Like we all did, I added silently. We’d all wanted company in our misery. Now – I glanced at Flynn, who was drinking his tea with hishands wrapped around the cup – I felt a lot less lonely. ‘After all,youjoined a group to help you. Why wouldn’t she?’
‘Oh.’ Eddie’s head went down again. ‘I was trying to protect her,’ he said glumly. ‘It didn’t work, did it?’
‘I’m sure she’ll forgive you. When you tell her the truth.’
There was a moment’s more tea drinking. ‘I will,’ Eddie said. ‘Thank you. She ought to know.’
‘Everything will be better if you tell her,’ I went on. ‘You won’t have to sneak out of the house or take days off any more.’
‘She’s going to read all the books.’ Eddie still sounded mournful. ‘She’s going to end up knowing more about diabetes than I do. And I’ve been to these things,’ he added, looking around the hotel.
‘It might be for the best. And… can you not mention us?’
‘Oh, Lord, no!’ Eddie looked alarmed. ‘No, I don’t want her to know that you’ve been investigating me. I’ll tell her the truth tonight. I promise.’
‘Lovely.’ Fraser stood up. ‘Can we go now?’
There didn’t really seem much more to say. Eddie clearly felt ashamed of himself for letting his wife down, and we were collectively horrified that we’d followed him to Doncaster to find out he was just trying to avoid getting ill. Somehow a showdown in a hotel room with a naked woman clasping sheets to her chest and protesting that she didn’t know he was married would have been more satisfying.
But this was better. Definitely better. We all agreed as much on the way home, while Flynn was checking the status of his delivery and Fraser was messaging Margot to let her know the outcome. Eddie not wanting to appear vulnerable to Annie and not wanting to let her down, while managing to let her down by forgetting her usual Valentine’s flowers, was the best possible outcome. She wouldn’t have to decide whether to forgive acheating husband and live with the uncertainty of not knowing whether he’d do it again. Yes. Much better.
‘So, what’s next?’ Flynn and I went up to the flat over the wine bar. He went up two steps at a time while I was still limping. ‘Do we reconcile Margot and Bruce? Find Wren someone who wants to treat her like a princess? What do we do for an encore?’
‘I think we live happily ever after, don’t we?’ I looked out of the window. At the back, the flat looked out across the little yard and over the jumble of roofs, a tangled medieval building pattern of random houses and gardens that stretched to the edge of the moors. ‘In whatever form that takes.’
Flynn came over and looked out with me. ‘I’d like it to be with you,’ he said quietly. ‘I think we can make a go of it.’
I turned around and he was right there. ‘Do you? I’m not much of a catch. I have a brother I hate and parents who think that everyone should love him as much as they do.’
He reached out almost dreamily and touched my hair. ‘I lost my mother when I was fifteen,’ he said. ‘That kind of complicates one’s thinking about family.’
I moved closer. All my skin wanted to be close to Flynn right now. ‘We can see how it goes,’ I said softly.
‘I think that sounds like a bloody good idea.’
The kiss was better than the one in the toilet. This one involved no rubber gloves or toilet brush, which meant that Flynn had both hands free, and we made use of all our hands until we reached the point where bed seemed more appropriate. His room was closer and we tumbled together onto the soft path indicated by sheets and duvet until we reached a common destination, out of breath but happy with the view.
‘Wow.’ Flynn still had his glasses on, which was a miracle. ‘Thatwas… exciting.’
‘Evidently.’ I blew my hair out of my eyes. ‘I’m glad I wasn’t a disappointment.’
‘You,’ he kissed my shoulder, ‘could never be a disappointment, Fee.’
‘Perhaps you’d like to pop round and tell my parents that.’
From outside there came the sound of a large vehicle rumbling to a halt at the kerb and Flynn jumped up. ‘Hell, that’s the delivery!’
He then carried out a rather strange performance, where half of him leaped out of the bed and the other half tried to stay in, while he grasped at various things, some of them me. ‘I don’t want to leave you like this. But – the delivery…’
‘It’s fine.’ I laughed. ‘Go and sort the bottles.’
‘But it feels… wrong.’
‘We’ll have plenty more opportunities for this.’ I pushed at his hand. ‘Just go.’
