ABBY
I flee the crime scene as discreetly as possible. The only crime I’d committed was one against myself and everything I claim to be.
People everywhere smirk knowingly at me. My secret is out. I tell Shelly and Nadine I’m going to find a toilet, but I’m actually heading home. They’re on their fifth glass of prosecco. They wouldn’t notice if the tent was on fire, let alone if I return or not. Callum’s tied up doing the rounds, thankfully. I need to reinstate the distance between us. He crossed the line. I crossed the line. The line’s so blurred at this stage, I don’t even know where it is.
I can no longer deny it to him. I’m attracted to Callum Connolly. Ok, I’d appreciated his aesthetic appeal from the second I’d laid eyes on him. But at that point, he’d been aesthetically appealing, arrogant and infuriating. Now, after today’s developments, he’s also the kind of man that represents a charity organisation that counsels people with mental health issues. I can relate more than he’ll ever know. He’s a much better man than I’d initially given him credit for, even if he does have a reputation with the ladies.
This changes everything between us. I actually like him. Like really like him. As I finally admit it to myself, I realise I still don’t want to be another notch on his bedpost. No, I want to be the last notch on his bedpost. Which is so much worse, because we all know that will never happen.
After the devastation that Sean left, I swore never to let a man that close to me again. I should run for the hills and never look back, but I still need him to come on my show next week. The jingle of his voice has been playing all day, every day. It’s all anyone at the station can talk about. Candice will kill me if don’t deliver the goods now. And I did promise Callum I’d go to James O’Malley’s wedding with him, and worryingly, after today, I want to go with him now, as his date. Things are complicated. I’m a mess. I can’t believe I fell at the first hurdle. I’ve let myself down not only spectacularly, but publicly.
When I get home I open a bottle of white wine and drown my sorrows in my back garden. My phone beeps with an incoming message.
Callum: We have unfinished business.
I throw the phone down on the rattan furniture and exhale a frustrated sigh. You might have got to first base, Callum Connolly, but there’s no way you’re nailing the home run. No matter how charming and believable you are.
* * *
After a restless sleep, I throw my runners on. The park run is never going to be enough for me today. I venture out into the early morning sun and don’t stop until I have fifteen kilometres on my Garmin. Karen calls as I get back to my house.
‘You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do, young lady,’ she scolds.
‘What have I done now?’ I head straight to the fridge for water.
‘I presume you’ve seen yourself inThe Suntoday? With your tongue stuck so far down Callum Connolly’s neck you could eat his lunch from his stomach.’
I groan. Now it’s public news before the show on Monday. All the callers will want to know if we’re a couple. This is bad, really bad.
‘I got carried away in the moment.’ My excuse sounds feeble, even to me.
‘I can see that alright. You look enamoured with each other. It’s blazingly obvious for the entire country to see what you two get up to in the moment.’
Cringing, I open my laptop to search the news for the incriminating evidence. There’s going to be a lot of questions come Monday. I’m relieved that Callum will be there to take half the rap for it. Then I reconsider as I remember I can’t trust myself not to dry hump him.
The first picture that pops up shows me pulling Callum in closer, with my hand round his neck. It is pornography to my sexually starved vagina. I shut the laptop quickly again, in danger of developing a stupid idea, like inviting him over here right now. I even have the perfect excuse. My sink is still awaiting a part, and I’ve barely turned that particular tap on since.
‘You haven’t so much as looked at a man in four years, then all of a sudden you’re plastered all over the newspaper chewing the face off one of the most high-profile womanisers around.’
The landline interrupts us; it’s my mother. God help me. She must have seen it too. Candice is currently on call waiting on my mobile phone.
‘Karen, I gotta go. I’ll call you back later.’ I take a deep breath and accept Candice’s incoming call.
‘Abby, you are an absolute marketing genius,’ she screams down the phone at me.
‘The entire country will be tuned in on Monday morning after this little stunt. I couldn’t have staged it better myself. The fact that you’ve never been linked to a man since you started on the show, just makes the whole thing sooo much more intriguing. Not to mention that Callum Connolly is so freaking, knicker-drenching hot. You’ve got it in the bag, girl. I hope your passport is in date – you’re going to the Big Apple.’
‘Ummm… Thanks.’
‘Holy shit, Abby…was it for real?’ she says in astonishment.
‘Ummm…kind of.’ It was for me, anyway. I can’t guarantee that Callum doesn’t kiss every girl that way.
‘This is even better. I for one, cannot wait for Monday morning.’ A gentle click informs me she’s hung up.
I put my head in my hands, wishing I could bury it in the sand until this blows over. How can one man have such an impact on my normally controlled life?
And who would listen to a word of advice from me, when Callum smashes my heart to pieces all over the media?
