Page 9 of Best Served Hot
‘We’re both victims in this,’ Nicole told Alex sympathetically.
‘No. You were right. I’m part of this. I did this to you,’ Alex said, ashamed.
‘You didn’t know,’ Nicole said. She wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t.
Unless Alex was Meryl Streep, there was no way the last few minutes had been a performance. The woman had handed over her phone, for Christ’s sake. She’d made herself naked in all this.
As comforting as painting Alex as the villain of the piece had been, Nicole had to let that story go. ‘It sounds like he went to a lot of trouble to make sure you didn’t,’ Nicole said.
‘I should have listened to my gut. But I… I think I let it get drowned out. Because my ego needed a stroke, and I was pathetic enough to let that matter,’ she said, still angry, turning it on herself for a moment.
Nicole raised an eyebrow. ‘Because you were coming off the back of a breakup. Did I get that right? And Jen, that’s your ex's name? She did the same to you.’
Alex looked down at the ground glumly.
Nicole sighed lengthily. ‘I think we’re both going to need a lot of therapy when the dust settles.’
‘I don’t need therapy. Not for this,’ Alex said. ‘And neither do you.’
‘No?’ Nicole asked. ‘Because I might have lost a couple of marbles these last few days.’
‘Here’s your therapy. Stop taking shit. End of session,’ Alex said.
Nicole smiled sadly. ‘Yeah. Maybe.’
‘What are you going to do now?’ Alex asked.
‘I guess I’ll… The first thing is to go home and tell him I know,’ Nicole said with dread.
Alex nodded. ‘I guess so. Hey, maybe you could take my number? So that when you’ve had at him, I can have my turn?’
Nicole laughed for the first time in days. ‘Fair enough.’ They exchanged numbers, and she saved Alex’s under ‘A.’
She wondered how Ethan had saved her name in his phone. Maybe the same way? No, it might generate too much curiosity if Nicole had spotted it. He’d probably saved her under something like a fast-food restaurant, the sneaky shit.
Nicole realised something. ‘Can I ask you one last thing?’
Alex nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘You worked with him for a while, right? And he never wore a ring in all that time? And no one else mentioned that he was married?’
Alex shook her head. ‘Definitely not. Did you meet anyone he worked with?’
‘Never. We had kind of an agreement. About keeping our work lives separate. I’m a director, you see. Both being in the same industry, we decided to keep our marriage private in the professional world.’
Alex took an interminable pause before she tried to say what they were both thinking. ‘I guess that means…’
It took a lot for Nicole to say it without crying. ‘He was always gonna cheat. Before you even knew him. He was set up for it. You could have been anyone.’
Alex took a deep breath. ‘I guess so.’
Nicole tutted. ‘No, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m glad it was you.’ She paused. ‘That sounded weird.’
Alex smiled. ‘I think I understand.’
‘I have to go,’ Nicole said. ‘I need to figure out how I’m gonna do this.’
‘I know this is going to sound odd, but if you need backup, I’ll come,’ Alex offered earnestly.
