I get to my feet and pace a little before finding myself standing before Dec, looking down at him still at my dressing table.
“You were engaged,” I state more than ask in a flat tone that I hope doesn’t give the impression of anger or apathy because whilst I am not angry, I care, I care deeply. I hate the idea of him ever having felt strongly enough about another woman to have been engaged.
He reaches for my hand and brushes a thumb over my knuckles, and it is one of the most understanding and comforting things I have ever been on the receiving end of. He understands how I feel.
“Yeah. She erm…she jilted me.”
My jaw drops as I absorb what he is telling me. “Jilted you?” I just need to be sure.
“Yup, at the altar. Me and Mase stood there in our Sunday best, waiting for the arrival of the bride along with the rest of the congregation and she didn’t show.”
He laughs but it’s hard and a little cold.
“Shit!” I’m unsure what else I can say.
“Yup.” He laughs again, but this time it does at least carry some warmth and a little amusement. “So eloquently put, Cupcake.”
“Sorry.”
“No, don’t be.”
He reaches for me and pulls me down until I am in his lap, straddling him, but this is not sexual. This is comforting, open and somehow feels real and meaningful. My face immediately and instinctively comes to rest in his neck while I feel his in my hair, inhaling my scent.
“Anita,” he says just as there’s a loud knock on my door, followed by it opening to reveal my dad filling the space while my mum stands a few steps behind him.
My mum doesn’t look in anyway surprised to discover us here, unlike my dad who might have steam coming out of his ears.
Chapter 24
Declan
I still can’t believe how angry Nigel was to find his daughter in an embrace with me. Well, I can because I’m sure it looked sexual more than anything, even if that is the last thing it was. It was loving and intimate but on a deeper level. Nigel didn’t see that. I did think at one point that he was going to burst a blood vessel or something. Her mum was cool though and I think could see there was more than possibly met the eye going on.
Looking around my office in the empty club, I thank my lucky stars that Nigel’s business is no longer operating from my kitchen, or it would be really quite awkward today. Part of me regrets Anita no longer working here but then I also appreciate having my own space without the distraction of her ever-tempting self and frosting.
My phone dances across the desk and I immediately smile when I see Anita’s name lighting up the screen. I text her first thing and am relieved to see a reply.
I laugh and compose my reply.
Her reply is immediate.
I hear a lorry pulling into the back yard. Moving to the window I see it’s a delivery of beer.
I slip my phone into my pocket and head downstairs to open the cellar up.
I have just seen the back of the delivery guys when I notice another vehicle pulling into the yard.Shit.Nigel, and he still doesn’t look happy.
“A word,” he calls, already out of his van and heading for me.
