I acknowledge silently and stand to leave when he stops me. “And, by the way, Gemma?”
I peer at him over my shoulder, hand on the doorknob.
“I agree with you,” he adds.
My brows furrow in confusion.
“Louise really is a miserable cow,” he declares.
For the first time in nearly a week, I smile.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Gemma
“Hey!” April greets, rushing toward me.
“Hey,” I say, wrapping my arms around her.
She texted me just after work and asked me over for nibbles and wine. My response was immediate.
“Come in, come in,” she says, stepping aside.
I follow her to the kitchen and take a seat at the breakfast bar while she pulls out two wine glasses and a chopping board, which she begins loading up with cheeses, sliced meats, and other goodies.
“James is at the studio, so we have the house to ourselves,” she says, rolling the salami into neat little piles. I eye the cold cuts, aware of how little I’ve eaten this week but unable to fathom forcing food down my throat. I’m worried I’ll heave it back up.
April pours two generous glasses of red. I stand and help her, carrying the board over to the coffee table. We settle onto the sofa, clinking our glasses and taking a long, much-needed sip.
“So,” April says, and I can tell she’s about to get stuck into me. “I spoke to Anna.”
My eyes close softly. “When?” I ask.
“Sunday.”
I gulp. My stomach folds in on itself knowing Anna’s been speaking to April but ignoring me.
“What did she say?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Nothing I didn’t already know.”
I blink back tears, and she reaches forward, rubbing a soothing hand over my thigh. “She’s going to be okay, Gem. She was just taken aback. Give her time.”
“You should have seen her, April. She was…” I search for the right words to articulate her despair, the broken look in her eyes when she saw Max and me together. “Inconsolable.”
April sighs, turning her body to fully face me, balancing her wine glass on her knee. “She told me what happened. Why she was at Max’s.”
I perk up, straightening my spine. “Is she okay? What is it?”
Her expression turns sympathetic as she regards me. “She and Mason are getting a divorce.”
My hands shoot up to cover my mouth and my eyes water instantly.
Oh my God.She came to Max’s seeking comfort and found the two of us together instead. I shake my head, because how stupid could I be? How utterly and completely self-absorbed?
“What?” I whisper through my fingers.
April nods. “Mason decided against having children. They’ve tried to see if the relationship could work if they didn’t go on to have a baby, and Anna can’t do it. Mason doesn’t want the pressure. He doesn’t want to feel as though he’s holding her back from living her life, from someone who can give her what she wants,” she explains.
