‘Come on, Jay, they’re trying. They have a son together; it’s not that simple. I know Maya really doesn’t want him to grow up in a broken home like she did.’
‘Well, I think it’s probably doing more harm to him by staying. He’s growing up to be a little shit. I don’t want Finn hanging around with him. The whole lot of them are toxic.’
‘That’s a bit harsh. Maya is my friend and Elliot is only a child.’
‘Well, I don’t want my son spending any more time with him.’
‘Jay, they’re in the same class; we can’t avoid them, whether you like it or not. It’s up to Finn to choose whether he wants to be friends with him. We can’t wrap him up in cotton wool; he’s going to come up against all sorts of people in life and it’s up to us to raise him so that he is able to stand his ground if needs be.’
‘Well, if Elliot Laurence steps out of line again, that’s it, I won’t hold my tongue. It’s been nothing but drama ever since you and Maya became friends.’
39
MAYA
‘Well, well, well, who would have thought it?’ Hugo tutted and shook his head as he came into the bedroom behind me. I was sitting at my vanity table using a cotton pad to cleanse the make-up off my face. I had just seen the babysitter off and was getting ready for bed.
I turned around, surprised to see him in the room behind me. It had been a long time since he had set foot in here. I was so used to him going straight to the spare bed without so much as a goodnight.
He laughed. ‘It seems Mr Nice Guy has a murky past.’
‘I just can’t believe it,’ I said, turning back towards the mirror to take out my earrings. I removed them, placing them in the little jewellery dish that sat on the marble tabletop. ‘I had thought we were just messing around, I had no idea… What are the chances of something like that happening?’ I shook my head in disbelief. ‘I feel terrible for poor Liv.’
‘You’ve nothing to feel guilty about. If anyone should feel bad, it’s Jay. He was the one who kept the secret from her.’ Hugo was clearly basking on his moral high ground. He was enjoyingbeing the good guy; revelling in the fact that for once, someone else was worse than him.
I couldn’t wrap my head around how the evening had changed from a bit of harmless teasing into uncovering something that had the potential to rock the foundations of Liv and Jay’s marriage. I kept blaming myself. I was replaying my role in it all over and over again like a bad movie. I had kept poking and prodding at him; why hadn’t I sensed Jay’s reticence and stopped earlier? I could have prevented it from happening. If I could have picked the words back off the air, put them into my mouth and swallowed them down again, I would have.
I spun around in my chair to face my husband. ‘You just never know, do you?’ I sighed. If I felt this shocked and stunned by Jay’s secret, I could only imagine how betrayed Liv must be feeling. I thought he was the perfect family man. I had envied Liv and their relationship but ifhewas capable of this level of deceit, then who could you trust? I was starting to become disillusioned with men; I thought he was one of the good ones but it seemed he was as bad as the rest of them. I couldn’t wipe the expression on Liv’s face as she tried to process what her husband had been saying off my mind. The shock had soon given way to hurt and pain so plain across her features. She hadn’t seen it coming – none of us had. A wrecking ball had swung into her world out of nowhere, leaving her crushed and devastated by the revelation.
‘Should I call her?’ I wondered aloud.
‘I’d just leave her be. I don’t think she’ll want to hear from you right now. She’s in shock, she’s probably angry and they need to talk about it together.’
‘You’re right, she’ll need some time to process this. I’ll give her space tonight but I’ll call her first thing in the morning.’
40
LIV
The next day, Jay and I moved around the kitchen, both being overly polite and awkward with one another. I knew he was sorry; he was grovelling. He and Finn had brought me breakfast in bed. It would take a while for things to be normal between us but I trusted him and knew that he had been honest in his explanation last night.
Maya called me shortly after I had got up.
‘Hi,’ she began tentatively. ‘I just wanted to check in with you to see how you’re doing today?’
‘I’m okay, thanks,’ I said, heading upstairs to take her call. I didn’t want Jay or Finn to overhear us.
‘Well, I’m sorry. I just wanted you to know that.’ She sighed and I could picture her exhaling through her plump lips. ‘I had no idea.’
‘That makes two of us,’ I said sardonically, sitting down onto my bed.
‘Obviously, if I had known, I never would have joked about it. I hope you know that?’
‘How were you supposed to know?’ I asked. ‘I’m glad you did, otherwise I’d probably never have found out. I don’t think Jay would ever have told me.’
‘Did he tell you why he never mentioned to you that he was engaged before?’
I smarted at her choice of words. ‘He said he was embarrassed. It wasn’t a very well thought-out proposal; it seems he was afraid he’d lose her, so he proposed but she broke up with him shortly afterwards. He was only twenty-one.’
