Rob sighed and took a long draught of his beer. ‘I had to get away, you know, after all that happened. I was holed up at Dad’s place in France for a couple of months, but God, it’s boring there on your own.’
‘That must have been hard for you.’
‘It was,’ he said, missing the irony of my words. ‘Look, Olivia, I’m so sorry for doing a bunk and leaving you to deal with everything. I suppose I had some sort of breakdown.’
I refrained from saying that he was lucky to have had that option, and a house in southern France to do it in at that. What would have happened to Bertie if I’d lost my shit?
‘I let everyone down, you, my employees, Mum and Dad. It was hard coming back, facing up to what I’d done.’
‘And what was it you did, exactly? I knew nothing about our financial troubles until the bailiffs turned up at our door.’
‘Well, you wouldn’t have, would you? You never took any interest in the business.’
I choked on my lemonade. Never took any interest? More like he wouldn’t ever let me. ‘You were about to tell me what went wrong.’
‘I was screwed over. I was a mug. The guys who persuaded me to go into the development were really convincing.’
‘And you didn’t do due diligence before going into partnership with them?’
‘Due diligence?’ Rob laughed. ‘Where did you learn that, an episode ofJudge Judy?’ He laughed again, taking another glug of his pint.
Before I had a chance to get angry, a realisation dawned on me. For all Rob’s talk, for all the showing off and expensive luxuries, sitting in front of me was a man who was crap at his job. A man who lacked the skills to run a successful company. He wasn’t a bad man, just a man whose competence didn’t match up to his ego. I almost felt sorry for him and wondered, if, given free rein over his life, what he actually would have wanted to do? I doubted it would be property development. He seemed to enjoy the idea of his job more than the reality.
‘Rob, we need to talk about us.’
‘Yes, Mum told me about your mad moment. You’re not serious about getting a divorce, are you? I thought if I left you to calm down, you’d come to your senses.’
‘I’m sorry, Rob, but my mind’s made up.’
‘But things were fine before. All this business with the money is just a blip. I’ll have a new business up and running in no time.’
‘Rob, things might have been fine for you, but they weren’t for me.’
‘But I gave you everything.’
‘Did you? What about all the other women?’
‘What other women?’ Rob’s tone was outraged, but he fiddled with his pint glass and couldn’t look me in the eye.
‘Rob,’ I said, placing a hand on his. ‘There’s no need to lie anymore. I’m not upset, I’m not angry, I just want the truth.’
‘You make it sound like I slept with an endless stream of women. There was only ever the odd one-night stand at a work do. Nothing serious.’
‘Maybe not to you, but that’s not the kind of marriage I want. You did a very honourable thing when you married me, but did you ever truly love me?’
‘Did you ever truly loveme?’ His tone was accusatory. I’d demanded honesty from him. Now it was my turn.
‘I loved the idea of being married to you.’
‘Thanks, that’s got to be the world’s worst compliment.’
‘Sorry, but it’s important we’re honest. You want a certain kind of wife, and I’m not it. I’ve done my best over the years to pretend to be what you want, but it just isn’t me. I think we’d both be better off starting again.’
‘Mum will be furious.’
‘If it’s money she’s worried about, she needn’t be. Given the state of our finances, I don’t intend to ask for anything, and I certainly wouldn’t dream of going after your parents’ money. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what Marion thinks. What do you think? Do you really want to stay married to me?’
Rob stared at his pint, then slowly shook his head.
