Page 93 of Let Me Love You (Excess All Areas 5)

“I love you too.” Just speaking with Ben made her feel stronger. His words had reassured her. That they were in it together. Now, she had another call to make. The first call to Asher's phone went to voicemail. But, like her, he had his phone on him at all times. So, she hung up and called again.

“What, Chaya?” he said, his tone terse.

“I’m sorry, Asher, but I just wanted to give you a heads up. There is a story circulating in the press about us. It misrepresents what happened, but it’s out there.”

“Fucking hell. One sec, let me look.” The line went quiet, for a moment. “Rock star steals fiancée from overworked surgeon.Sounds about right.”

His response hurt, but she knew she deserved what he was saying. “It wasn’t as simple as that, and you know it. But I’m sorry that because of what Ben does, this is considered news.”

“Itwasnews to me.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. Ben’s PR team are going to take care of it.”

“Spin it, you mean?”

Chaya shook her head. “No. Make it go away.”

“How convenient. Look, thanks for the heads up. Seems like some of the messages I’ve been ignoring this morning are about it. Way to go in embarrassing me further.”

“That’s unfair. I’ll take responsibility for a lot of what has gone wrong, but not this. Some asshole saw the three of us in the hospital and put the pieces together that I’m now with Ben.”

“Whatever. I’m still the guy who looks like he had the wool pulled over his eyes by a woman who pretended she wasn’t in love with her best friend when everyone in the world could see it.”

She wished there were words she could say to make it better. From Asher's perspective, that was exactly what it felt like. “I’m sorry. If I could go back, I’d do things very differently.”

“Yeah. Me too, Chaya. Bye.”

He hung up the phone. She’d never been at odds with someone before, but now her family and Asher had banished her. Perhaps to move on withherlife, she needed to accept they’d never invite her back intotheirs.

But her relationship with Ben was worth the sacrifice.

While her private life was a mess, the world continued to turn on the other side of the curtain. She owed it to her patients and peers to try to compartmentalise what had happened. Opening the curtain, she caught Amber’s eye and mouthed the wordsthank you.

A few minutes later, her phone suddenly went on a run of vibrating messages. One after another, until she pulled her phone out of her pocket. The band and girlfriends’ group chat.

Jase:People are dicks, but your life won’t boil down to this one moment, Chaya.

Luke:Chin up. Remember who you are.

Iz:If you need to talk, I’m here.

Willow:OMG, babe. I saw what happened. Call me when you get a chance and I’ll help you any way I can.

Cerys:Drinks at our house tonight. Not taking no for an answer. Team huddle and all that shit.

Alex:Guys, you need to check Nan’s profile.

Zoe:I can’t believe she did that.

Matt:I can’t believe she still has all those photos.

Ben:My fucking dick is out on Nan’s profile.

Jase:I’m guessing you’d just got out of the water. Was it cold?

Alex:Snort.

A smile breaking through, Chaya discreetly switched to Nan’s profile, and there was a flip-through of photographs. Toddler Ben, naked in a paddling pool in Nan’s back garden one hot summer, his first day of school in his uniform, one of him holding his first guitar, then, him with Chaya shortly after he’d found her. On the sofa listening to music. Goofing about down by the river. At his eighteenth birthday party. At hers. Always together. A gallery of life before and after they met.

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