Page 47 of Bedding his Innocent Mistress

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When her phone rang the next day, Ivy reached for it as though it held the secret to everlasting life. She answered without checking the screen, swiping it and holding it to her ear with an urgency that controlled her entire body.

“Hello?” It was a husky, breathless query. She paced to the bay window of the lounge room and stared out, unseeing. It was a cold day – winter was making itself felt. Ivy would go for a walk later; she’d need to rug up.

“Ives.”

The voice was instantly familiar and heart-breaking. She gripped the phone in her hand as though it might shatter or explode.

“Steve?”

“Yeah.”

She squeezed her eyes shut but it was useless. Pain lashed her. Pain and anger and hurt and reproach.

“What are you--,”

She asked, at the exact same time he said, “How are you?”

So that they were both silent, letting the cards fall, waiting for the other to speak.

Ivy drew in a breath, and then sagged to the floor, sitting with her knees cradled to her chest, her face pale. “What do you want?”

A thousand and one memories stirred inside Ivy at the sound of his laugh; it was the laugh she’d grown up with, the laugh she’d been sure she’d hear until her dying day. “Good question.”

She toyed with a loose piece of fabric on the bright Moroccan rug that covered her floor.

“I’ve been… thinking about you,” he said.

“I gathered as much.” She cleared her throat. “I got the flowers.”

“I wondered…”

“Why did you send them?”

Steve was quiet and Ivy braced for whatever was coming. Her stomach hurt. “I wanted you to know that I … remembered.”

She snorted. “You shouldn’t remember. Our anniversary no longer has any insignificance.”

“Don’t say that.” His hurt was obvious. “It means something to me.”

Ivy froze. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare act like… like you…”

“Care about you?” He interjected, and her heart fell.

“Yes! You dumped me. You walked out on me, on us, on our life. You’re getting married to someone else. You don’t get to send me flowers. You don’t get to call me. You don’t get any part of me anymore!”

“But…”

“There is no ‘but’!” She disconnected the call and dropped her phone to the ground, flopping onto her back and staring at the ceiling as hot, salty tears fell from her eyes.

How dare he?

Her phone began to ring and she ignored it. She stared at the ceiling, listening to the ring tone, picturing Steve holding it to his ear and sadness seemed to engulf her.

It was all so useless.

She had loved Steve. She would have spent the rest of her life with h

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