My heart leapt into my throat at the loud pounding on my door at 9:00 a.m. Part of me hoped it was Baird and the other part knew I’d crumble to pieces if it was.
It wasn’t him.
Beth, Lily, and January stood on the other side of my door.
“What are you doing here?”
“You weren’t answering your phone.” Beth pushed in, throwing her arms around me in a tight hug.
That was all it took for me to burst into tears.
A wee while later, we sat in my living room. I’d finally stopped crying, and Lily had made me a hot cup of tea. Beth sat by my side, her arm still around me, while the girls waited patiently for me to talk.
Even January was uncharacteristically serious. Not so uncharacteristically, she was beyond pissed off with my mum.
Feeling terrible that I’d worried them so much that they’d ditched their work and school to come check on me, I turned my phone back on.
“Just don’t look at social media,” Lily advised. “At the end of the day, strangers’ opinions about you are not your business.”
I knew her words were wise, and I really tried to let them sink in. Yet, Baird’s boss wasn’t a stranger and, unfortunately, his opinion was my business. My boss was not astranger, and it mattered to me what Pennington’s thought about all of this. I was terrified to find out.
Thankfully, I’d turned off my social media notifications weeks ago because of the campaign. I did have texts and missed calls. So many from Baird, I started to cry silently. Then my heart lurched in my throat at a text from an unknown number.
Three years we were together, and you didn’t tell me about your mum. No wonder. Not so superior now, My? Guess I made the right choice.
I sucked in a breath at the callous text, and Beth peered at my screen.
“Is that from Will?” Her tone was low with fury.
Nodding, I blocked his number.
“What is it?”
Beth relayed what the text had said, and the room went chilly with their anger.
Jan seethed. “I’m definitely breaking into his flat and leaving a dead fish in his closet.”
“I still have a spare key.”
Her eyes sparkled. “Nice.”
“I can’t believe I was going to marry that prick.”
“You never would have.” Beth rubbed my shoulder. “My, you didn’t tell him about your mum because deep down you must have known that would be his arsehole response.”
“Did … did you tell Baird?” Lily asked tentatively.
My lips trembled and the sob escaped as I nodded.
“And I bet he was lovely about it,” Beth guessed.
All I could do was nod again, my chest aching so badly, it felt like it might actually be in the midst of cracking.
“Oh, My.” She pressed her forehead to my temple. “Did something happen with Baird?”
Through fits and starts and sobs and whispers, I told them what happened with the call from his gaffer and me immediately shutting him out.
“Look.” I handed Beth my phone, tapping the screen so she could see how many missed calls and texts there were from him.
