Sive stifled a gasp at the mention of a husband. ‘Just a couple of months.’ But she’d known Sam a lot longer than that and she’d ruled out the possibility of him having a girlfriend because she’d have surely known about it if he had. They spent so muchtime together, she’d at least have heard of her, if not met her. And Sam was so open, he’d have no reason to hide the fact that he was seeing someone. Unless, of course, he was having an affair with a married woman, snatching any time he could get with her whenever her husband was away …
‘Well, give it time,’ Sophie was saying. ‘I’m not being a bitch, just warning you. She’s one of the reasons Sam and I split up.’
Sive frowned. As far as she knew, Sophie and Sam had split up because she’d dumped him when she realised he was broke.
‘It was like Princess Diana said,’ Sophie continued while Sive’s mind whirled. ‘There were three of us in the relationship, so it was a bit crowded.’
It was all Sive could do not to roll her eyes at this.
‘Well, nice seeing you,’ Sophie said, putting the little dog down. ‘Enjoy the rest of your shopping.’
‘Yeah. You too.’
Sive tried to put what Sophie had said out of her head, but it was impossible. It preyed on her mind for the rest of the afternoon. She didn’t get any more shopping done, wandering around in a daze, staring blankly at shop windows, her head full of questions and unable to focus. Giving up on getting any more done, she went to a little Italian restaurant for an early dinner before heading to the theatre, mulling over Sophie’s words as she ate a bowl of ricotta and spinach ravioli. She hated that Sophie had put doubts in her mind about Sam. Everything she knew about him told her that it couldn’t be true – that Julie was just a friend and Sophie was mistaken about their relationship.
But she couldn’t deny that hehadabandoned her mid-date that one time, behaving just as Sophie had described. Within minutes of getting a call from Julie, he’d been jumping into a cab to be with her, leaving Sive standing alone and bewildered on thepavement. She pictured him pacing outside the restaurant when he was talking on the phone to her. From his facial expressions and body language, it had clearly been an intense conversation. Sam had seemed upset, somewhat distraught.
Maybe it was just as he’d said, and Julie was simply a friend who was having some kind of crisis. But if she was such a good friend, why hadn’t Sam mentioned her more often? Why had Sive never met her? She didn’t seem to be a big part of his life.
She sighed wearily. If Samwasin a relationship with a married woman, it couldn’t be a very happy one if he could only see Julie when her husband was out of town, which didn’t seem to happen very often. Maybe he was trying to move on – maybe he already had? Perhaps he’d been breaking up with her that night and it was over now?
She hated the thought of confronting him about it, but she had to know for sure. She couldn’t live with this uncertainty, and she didn’t think she could bear to be with Sam knowing that even a little piece of him belonged to someone else. She was all in with him and she needed to know that he was all in with her.
As she got ready for the show that night, she’d never been more grateful for work to still her thoughts and take her mind off everything. For the next couple of hours she could hit pause on her own life and be somewhere – and someone – else.
Being around Sam again calmed her because try as she might, she couldn’t see him having a grubby clandestine affair. He was the most forthright, transparent person she knew and the more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that what Sophie had said wasn’t true.
‘You’re very quiet,’ Sam said later as they made their way home on the tram.
‘Just tired.’
‘Good day shopping?’ He nodded to the bags at her feet.
‘Yeah, pretty good.’ She wanted to talk to Sam about what Sophie had said. It was all very well trusting him, but it wasn’t enough. She’d trusted Ben. She needed to know for sure where she stood. But she wanted to wait until they were home, so she fell silent as they walked to her house.
‘Cup of tea?’ she asked as she took off her coat in the hall.
‘Yes, please.’
They went to the kitchen and she flicked on the kettle. ‘I ran into an old friend of yours today, actually,’ she said, her back to Sam.
‘Oh? Who?’
‘Sophie.’ She turned to face him. He was sitting at the table, his hands clasped together on its surface.
His eyes widened. ‘I think the word you’re looking for is “former”,’ he said with a laugh. ‘Former friend. What did she have to say for herself?’
Sive shrugged. ‘Not much.’ She made tea and brought the two mugs to the table, sitting opposite Sam. ‘Why did you two break up?’
‘She dumped me when she found out I was broke. I don’t blame her, really.’ He shrugged. ‘It wasn’t much fun.’
‘And there wasn’t … anyone else?’
‘No.’ He frowned. ‘I mean, she did get with Hugo pretty quickly afterwards, but I don’t think she was cheating before we’d broken up.’
‘I meant for you?’
‘No.’ He seemed genuinely startled by the idea. ‘Why would you think that?’
