Shereallywanted to, though.
And would it really hurt?
Suddenly, she took the two steps required to move across to the counter, and picked up the envelope and stuck it in her cross-body bag. Declan had bought the bag for her for Christmas the year before last and shelovedit.
And now it contained Declan’s secret.
She couldn’t open it now, just in case someone came in.
Okay, so she was going to go to the loos in the pub and open it in there.
A minute later, she was perched on top of the toilet inside a cubicle, and pulling the letter out of her bag.
She knewasshe did it that she really shouldn’t, but having come this far…
She eased the envelope open, so that no one would notice when she put it back, and then slid the piece of paper out from inside.
And… What?
It wasn’t Declan’s handwriting; it was Georgie’s.
She closed her eyes for a second and thought back. Shehadbeen quite drunk that evening and maybe she’d misremembered.
Hmm.
She should definitely put the letter back. She actually didn’t know what had come over her. She shouldnothave decided toread Declan’s secret. And she shouldn’t be reading anyone else’s secret, either.
She opened her eyes and then froze.
There was only one sentence on the page and Declan’s name had leapt out at her.
She couldn’t help reading it.
And no.No. No way.No way.
No no no no no.
It was so much worse than she’d imagined.
She couldn’t even…
She leaned her head on the side of the cubicle for a moment and then opened her eyes and stared at theweirdwallpaper lining the three walls of it – tiny women in pornographic sapphic poses. Strange thing to be looking at when you’d just discovered that your husband and your lifelong best friend had betrayed you in the worst way possible.
Fuck them both.
Fucking fucking fucking fuck them.
She put the letter back in the envelope and stood up, accidentally scraping her fingers hard against the toilet roll dispenser on the side of the cubicle, and stumbled her way out. She walked blindly out of the loos and stared into the main body of the pub.
Georgie and Declan were both there together, in the same group, laughing and having fun.
Just.What? Unbelievable.
How. Fucking. Pathetic they must think she was.
Were they laughing at her now? Did they laugh at her behind her back?
Fuck them.Fuckthem.
