“Fucking hell! I thought I was the one who tried to bite off more than I could chew in business.”
“Is that a no?”
“No. It’s not a no. I’ll look at the figures but with the lower cost of the cinema it could be an option. You’d really need to think about what you were doing with each property and when though.”
“Thanks, Mase.”
“No problem, now sod off and do whatever it is you do while I go and sit through a three-hour conference call before looking at your figures.”
I am up on my feet and already know where I am going from here. Who I am going to. Anita. I have missed my lady and am hoping that by the time I reach her Olivia will be long gone and I can sample her special frosting. I laugh again at the idea of my earlier, innocent use of frosting. This time, it might not be quite so innocent.
Anita
As I am working from Dec’s kitchen today and he is meeting with Mase on the other side of town, it seems the safest option to meet Liv and Christian here. My sister is due any second and I am crapping myself to reveal all to her. If she disapproves, she could tell Mase before I get the chance to tell Dec and that would be the worst outcome for him to hear the details from anyone who isn’t me.
“Hi,” she calls, heading towards me if the sound of her increasingly loud footsteps is anything to go by.
“Hi,” I repeat back when I turn and find her standing in the doorway while I mix some frosting.
She is almost sneering as she looks at the huge bowl I’m mixing in.
“What?”
She shudders. “Just something Dec said about special frosting.”
I laugh and am relieved when she joins in.
“Sorry,” I begin.
“Sorry? For what?” I hear and see her bristling.
“For avoiding you. For not explaining sooner.”
She rubs a hand across her belly that I am sure has grown since she entered the kitchen. She looks concerned for me, but she also looks tired. I grab a high stool for her and once she has struggled onto it, I scoot up onto the work top, so we are pretty much eye to eye.
“Why did you, avoid me?”
It’s a simple enough question, I just hope my response doesn’t offend her.
“I was ashamed of what happened, what I did. When you walked in on me and Christian at Charlotte’s, I reacted out of fear.”
“Fear? Of me?” She kind of sounds offended already.
“Yes,” I admit a little warily and fortunately she gives me a half-smile and rub of the knee. “I was scared that you would hate me, but more than that, I was scared you’d tell Mase, and—”
“And he’d tell Dec,” she finishes for me.
“Yes.”
“You were probably justified in that fear. I mean, he may have given you a time limit to do it, or even got Jimmy digging on you, but there is no way he would have sat tight on you having been pregnant with Christian’s baby.”
We stare at each other, and it feels as though in some ways a weight has been lifted from me. She understands why I didn’t tell her sooner and more than that, she doesn’t appear to hate me or be judging me.
She is suddenly on her feet and pulling me in for a close hug, well, as close as we can be considering she’s about eight and a half months pregnant.
“So, should I assume you’ve told Dec yourself?”
She pulls back and one look at my face confirms that I haven’t.
