Page 80 of Kissing Games
She didn’t wait to hear any more. She ran.
Outside in the street,she looked blindly left and right.Which way?She was paralysed in a living nightmare, gripped with fear. She swerved right, in the opposite direction from where they had come, and ran.
‘Valentina, wait!’
She ran faster, but her legs were no match for his. He reached her and touched her arm. She spun around and stopped, yanking away from him.
‘Valentina,’ he gasped. ‘That’s not my baby. Please, let me explain.’
‘Then whose baby is it?’ she spat, rage and hatred boiling inside her.
‘Her husband’s.’
‘What?’ Valentina couldn’t believe it could get any worse. ‘You’re having an affair with a married woman? Apregnantmarried woman?’
‘No, it’s not like that. We split up, then she married him, then we…’ He broke off, shaking his head, then straightened and looked at her directly. ‘Yes, I had an affair with a married woman. Caroline broke up with me again a few weeks ago.’
He wasn’t even attempting to hide the ugly truth.
She looked around wildly. On the other side of the street was a row of taxis. She could have wept with relief. She turned to face him. He looked desolate.
‘Do not follow me,’ she said. ‘And do not look for me. I never want to see you again.’
She ran across the road and jumped in a cab. Only when the car was moving did she allow her tears to fall.
Back at the castle,Valentina wanted to get to her room without seeing anyone. She couldn’t face talking, smiling, or lying about why she was so upset. A big group of people stood chatting on the main stairs, so she turned right, running for the library. It was empty. She leaned against the wall, gasping for breath as sobs wracked her body. Through her blurred vision, a head popped up from the sofa facing the fire.
‘Rough day?’ Shauna asked, her own eyes puffy and red.
Valentina nodded and sat beside her.
Shauna held her hand. ‘Your turn to cry now,’ she said. ‘I think I’m all out of tears.’
26
Charlie sat in the car, looking at the empty seat next to him. It was covered in tissues full of Valentina’s grief. As if she didn’t have enough to deal with, he’d now added his fucked-up life to her burdens.
She hated him and rightly so. He hated himself. Could he try and talk to her? Explain the history of his relationship with Caroline? He dropped his head back and closed his eyes. What was the point? It didn’t matter that he had been with Caroline before she got married. It didn’t matter that it had been Caroline who made the first move after her honeymoon. He’d always had a choice, the chance to choose the right path. And he hadn’t. No matter how much of a twat her husband might be, Charlie was the one in the wrong.
A yearning sadness engulfed his chest. How badly did he think of himself to allow him to be strung along by Caroline for so long? Was it some kind of masochistic punishment for what had happened with Jennifer? At least he wasn’t hiding from his past any more. He may have lost all chance to be with Valentina, but from now on he could make different choices in his life. Valentina was extraordinary. She deserved the very best and that definitely wasn’t him.
He needed to sort his life out. And that began with Caroline.
He picked up his phone and called her.
‘Charlie, hi! Oh my god, I’ve missed you so much! I’m just out with Fenella. Can you ring back in a bit?’
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ‘Caro, I’m not going to call back. What you said when we last met was true. It’s best for everyone to call it a day, once and for all.’ There was silence, then he heard the sound of a chair scraping back and her exiting onto a street.
‘Charlie, you don’t mean that. Just come home and we’ll talk about it.’
‘No, Caro. I’m done. I spent ten years waiting for you. Wanting what you have with your husband—’
‘And you can still have it.’
‘Yeah, I can. And I will, one day. It just won’t be with you.’
‘Charlie, you don’t know what you’re saying.’
