Page 27 of Love Is: Two Bodies One Soul

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Slowingfor traffic near the Royal Pavilion, Lexie changed down through the gears and said, ‘Pity you couldn’t hold back on the job change until after Mum and Dad’s anniversary.’

‘Couldn’t be helped.’ Xander shrugged and peered out of the side window.

‘Dad thought it was his opportunity to get you back in medicine, and Mum told him she thought it was unlikely. They had a blazing row about it on their anniversary.’

‘Who told you that?’

‘Gran. She had a ring-side seat.’

‘It couldn’t be helped.’

And you don’t care, Lexie thought. ‘Shame Kate couldn’t come today. She gets on so well with Mum and can often jolly Dad out of a mood.’

‘She’s the only one who can.’

‘Kate knows you’ve left the magazine, doesn’t she?’ Lexie asked, a sudden doubt entering her head.

‘Yep.’

‘So why didn’t she come with you today?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Yes, you do. I didn’t buy that rubbish at lunch. I can always tell when you’re lying, Xander.’

‘Don’t throw the twin thing at me again.’

‘I’m not. But you were lying, weren’t you?’

‘Yes! All right, I was.’

‘So, what’s happened?’

‘We split up,’ Xander muttered, scowling into the footwell.

‘What!’ Lexie squealed. ‘You’re joking. Why?’

‘Careful, you nearly ran into the back of the car in front.’

‘I did not, and don’t change the subject,’ Lexie argued, thinking again about Friday when she’d met Kate. Whatever had gone wrong between Kate and Xander, it had happened on Friday. It was the real reason Kate had wanted to meet. Why hadn’t Kate told her? ‘Tell me,’ she demanded, ‘why have you broken up with Kate? Or has she seen sense and dumped you?’

Xander shifted uneasily. ‘Do we have to go into the detail now?’

‘Yes, we do. What happened?’

‘I ended it with her. Okay? Happy now?’

‘Why?’

‘She was getting way too possessive. I couldn’t breathe.’

‘Couldn’t breathe?’ Lexie echoed incredulously. ‘What kind of rubbish is that? Xander, you’re an idiot!’

‘I know you all like her. I like – liked her,’ Xander corrected himself. ‘But it was getting way too serious for me. I was trapped. I was suffocating.’

Lexie drove the remaining half-mile to Brighton Station in speechless fury. Her silence filled with the roar of the speeding VW as Xander gripped the door handle, his knuckles whitening. The brakes squealed as she rammed them on at the taxi rank, stopping an inch behind the last vehicle in the queue.

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