‘Here we go,’ Cammy interjected. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
Caro took a deep breath, then exhaled, aping an athlete warming up for a challenge. ‘Okay, I’m ready. Shoot.’
‘Have you heard from your dad? Or that daft cow of a wife? Or that feckless tart that this one tried to propose to?’ Josie asked.
The answers should hurt. Really hurt. Yet even as she prepared to deliver them, Caro felt no pain. It didn’t matter. If she’d learned anything in the last week, it was that the lies, and the past and the people who didn’t love her didn’t matter. All that mattered was the future, and the people she brought into her life from this point onwards.
‘He called, once, the day after I got back. I didn’t tell him Mum had died. Didn’t want to give him any kind of closure in case there was even a tiny bit of guilt in his messed-up mind. Anyway, he wasn’t calling to say sorry, or to ask how I was. He was calling because his wife, his other wife asked him to…’
‘She stayed with him?’ Val gasped, incredulous. ‘I’d have had my Don’s balls off and his stuff in a skip.’
‘She stayed with him,’ Caro confirmed. ‘She actually came on the phone and asked me to promise that I wouldn’t contact Lila and tell her the truth about him. Said his heart wasn’t up to it. After all that he’s done, she’s still pandering to him, defending him, still allowing him to live a lie.’
‘What did you say?’ Josie this time.
Caro shrugged. ‘I said he’d been using his heart condition to manipulate her and my mum for years. Then I said he could rot in hell.’
‘Good girl,’ Josie responded.
‘It wasn’t my best work,’ Caro said, with a rueful smile.
‘Are you going to tell her?’ Cammy asked.
Caro shook her head. ‘No. What would be the point? It’s not my story to tell. They made it quite clear that she wouldn’t appreciate knowing that she had a half-sister, sharing her space in her dad’s life, and that they wanted to preserve their family unit. I’m not one for dropping bombs into people’s lives so I’m going to leave them to it. It’s up to them. I hope if you see her that you won’t tell her either.’
Josie and Val gave her a look that wasn’t entirely convincing, but Cammy nodded.
‘I agree. No point in messing up her life…’
‘Oh for the love of God, what are you like?’ Josie reprimanded him.
He put his hands up in a surrender position. ‘Look, I admit I was a first-class idiot, but come on; Lila isn’t exactly going to welcome Caro with open arms is she? She’d hate it. It would cause chaos with her parents, and let’s be honest, they’re all she’s got. Caro doesn’t need the carnage that Lila would bring either. I agree with her – best leave them all to it.’
Caro nodded. They’d discussed this on the phone so none of it came as a surprise.
Cammy clearly decided it was time to change the subject.
‘Anyway, enough of all that. So Caro, we were thinking…’
Cammy was trying not to let Josie’s glare of irritation sidetrack him. He knew she thought he was sticking up for Lila and sparing her heartache by not telling her, but it wasn’t that simple. His biggest motivation for agreeing with Caro was that it would prevent any more heartache for the woman sitting next to him, holding her own against the Glasgow inquisitionby Josie and Val. Lila would want nothing to do with Caro, he knew that for sure. She was cut from the same cloth as her dad. Caro, meanwhile, was completely different, and she’d lost enough. Her dad. Her mum. Her life as she knew it. He wanted only good things for her, no more heartache. It was beyond strange. He’d known her for a handful of days, and yet he felt like he’d known her forever, got her, understood her. It wasn’t like his relationship with Lila. This was more like the bond he had with Josie, with Val, with… Mel. He waited for the stab of longing that always consumed him when he thought about her. It didn’t come.
‘So anyway, we were thinking…’ he said, switching from the topic of Lila to better things. ‘You know I’ve moved in with Val until I find somewhere to live…?’
Caro nodded. He’d told her that he’d picked up all his stuff on the way back from Aberdeen.
‘Well, we’re having a party tonight to bring in the New Year and we’d like you to come.’
Caro’s face broke into a huge smile, then immediately flicked to what looked like disappointment. ‘Thank you so much, but I’m here with my cousin and his boyfriend and I couldn’t leave them.’
‘Of course you can’t!’ Val agreed. ‘They’re invited too!’
‘Really? Because I’m sure they’d love…’ She was cut off by the sight of the two gorgeous men alighting from the lift and walking towards them.
Val and Josie’s eyes immediately followed in the same direction.
‘Val, the one on the left is yours, I’ll take the one on the right. He looks like he could lead a conga.’
Caro was laughing now, properly belly laughing, and Cammy realised immediately it was contagious. He also knewhe wanted to watch her laughing for the longest time. No, it didn’t make sense. And perhaps it would never come to anything more than great friends, but he was all in to find out.
