With that last parting shot, she turned on her heel and traipsed away.
Leaving me sitting there long after my coffee had run cold.
"Hey, you alright?"
I glanced up at Archie, frowning at the interruption. "What?"
My question came out harsher than I realised, and I instantly felt bad. It wasn't his fault that I was in a foul mood and had been since yesterday afternoon. The dull ache in my head after a rare night of overindulgence wasn't helping things either.
Archie raised his brow and held up his hands. "Sorry. You're just scrubbing that floor kinda hard."
I stared down at the scrubbing brush I still held before I wrinkled my nose at him. "Sorry. I'm a little out of sorts today."
"No worries." He bent down and picked up the bucket of dirty water that was next to me, before walking over to the large sink and emptying the contents. I joined him, and we silently washed our hands together.
"I've noticed you've been a bit quiet lately," Archie slowly remarked. He finished washing the remaining soap off his hands and turned to me, concern etched in his features. "Is everything ok?"
No.
I turned off the taps and shook the excess water from my fingers. "Yeah, of course. Just tired."
I barely slept a wink last night; instead, I tossed and turned until I finally slid out of bed and made myself a cup of tea. I sat in our large conservatory, watching the first rays of sun touch our garden as my tea turned cold.
I didn't want to admit that Annabelle's words had affected me, but they had. Painfully so. Was it a coincidence that she knew where Alessio was? I guess if she really wanted to, she could have found out all that information herself. But why go to all that trouble?
And Annabelle wouldn't have known that she would run into me randomly in a busy department store, no matter how exclusive it was. She would have to be stalking his movements to know precisely where he was.
Either that, or…Alessio had lied to me, and he was still seeing Annabelle.
If that was the case, then the one thing I valued most about my marriage to Alessio—honesty—was now completely shattered.
After my little run-in with Annabelle, my appetite for shopping and anything else had vanished. I called my car to take me straight home, where I wallowed in a bath of bubbles, downing wine and playing Adele loudly. It was pathetic, really.
I kept my evening engagement and forced myself to meet up with friends for dinner. I faked my way through it, putting on my usual facade of smiling and laughing through the pain.
"Oh, yes, Alessio's so busy these days. He works so hard."
"Yes, Alessio has been extremely supportive of me going to university. Look at this new watch he got me!"
"Yes, I'm very lucky. We're heading to his father's estate in Sicily for Christmas. I can't wait!"
My friends had clinked their glasses against mine, congratulating me on snagging such a dish of a husband and making our marriage work. And if my smile was a little shaky around the edges, and my laugh too shrill, and my glass of champagne never empty, well, my friends were too polite to comment.
And as it so happened, yesterday evening was the day Alessio finally remembered my existence and messaged me to check in. An attack of a guilty conscience, perhaps? Was it a coincidence that he contacted me the same day Annabelle supposedly had a trip to the same city he was in? My mind couldn't help but ponder.
Well, stuff him. I left him on read and didn't bother to reply back.
Luckily, Archie seemed to buy my explanation—either that or he didn't want to push the issue. His shoulder bumped mine."C'mon then, sleepy head, let's take Max and Rumi out. I need some fresh air after being cooped up in here."
Welcoming the distraction, I grinned and stood, wiping the dirt off my jeans.
Archie knew the way to my heart. And thank goodness for him! I was relieved they had another volunteer spot available at the same animal rescue where I worked. We were both here nearly every Sunday in Wimbledon, and I enjoyed learning together.
Admittedly, he was a major flirt, but I overlooked that and figured it was just his personality. After all, I'd seen him turn the charm on many times with a few of the girls in our year.
He was easy to talk to, and I confided in him a lot. He was the only person in our uni friend group who knew the full scope of my generational wealth. Then, when he found out what my husband did for a living and the well-known hotel chains he owned, he whistled low and long.
"Wow, I definitely can't compete with that," he'd deadpanned.
