‘Well, she seems to think you are. I’ve just been sitting at the bar with her. She told me she’d been with you abroad and how you’d lost touch but were now back together again. She’s looking forward to moving in with you. Starting a new life down here. So I’ll make it easy for you, shall I? No more excuses, just go … walk back into the club and join her.’
‘I don’t want to be with her, Cat. Will you please stop and listen for a moment?’ There was desperation in his voice as he paced in front of her. ‘Since I met you I swear there has been no one else. Only you.’
‘If that’s true, why have you been in touch with her to make arrangements for her to move down here?’Stay angrya small voice inside her prompted. Anger is good; it barricades the door, keeping tears at bay.
‘I haven’t. I’ve not seen her since Bali. Why won’t you believe me?’
‘Because she knew exactly where to find you.’
‘My arrest made the tabloids. She saw the news and drove down here this morning. She spoke to Jed at The Smugglers. He told her where I was.’
Cat watched him begin to pace again, staring at the floor, his hands cradling the back of his head. ‘I don’t know what to do,’ he said, his voice rough and tearful as he stopped to look at her, his grey eyes misting. ‘What to say to convince you I’m telling the truth.’
‘I think we’ve gone beyond that point, don’t you?’ Cat bit her lip to stop herself from crying. ‘I’m sorry, Luke, but even if I did believe the things you’re telling me everything has changed.When the police interviewed you over Marika’s death and you told me what had happened between you and her, I asked you if there was anything else in your past I needed to know about. You said no. And now Tanya turns up, which means you lied to me. Believing you is one thing, trusting you is entirely different. After this I don’t and it means I can’t be with you any longer.’
Luke opened his mouth to respond but Cat raised her hand to stop him. ‘No, please, I don’t want to hear anything more you have to say. No more lies. Just go, will you?’
Luke hesitated, took one last look at her and then with a shrug and a shake of his head he turned and walked back into the club. As the door closed behind him Cat made her way slowly back to the hotel. Only when she had reached her room and closed the door did she allow herself to cry; for love, for loss and for what might have been.
Nathan returned just after midnight. Cat heard the soft knock on her door before his anxious face appeared around it. She turned on the bedside light and eased herself up against the pillows.
‘Hey, where did you get to?’
‘It’s over, Nathan. Luke and I have split up. There wasn’t much point in staying so I thought I’d come home; have an early night.’
‘Cat?’ Nathan settled himself on the end of her bed and gently stretched his hand over hers. ‘Whatever’s happened?’
‘I discovered Luke had been keeping things from me again.’ She wiped away the moisture from the corners of her eyes. ‘It’s worse this time. There’s someone else in his life. Someone he met before me.’
‘Do you mean the little brunette I saw you chatting with up at the bar?’
‘Yes.’ Cat nodded. ‘Luke met her abroad long before we got together. She’s the one who picked him up today. That’s wherehe’s been all afternoon, catching up with her. She seemed really friendly when we chatted. She had no idea about our connection. Told me about this boyfriend she’d been with abroad. How they’d lost touch but had found each other again and were planning to begin a new life here. It was when I noticed the cuff she was wearing – his cuff – the penny dropped.’
‘And what does Luke have to say about it?’
‘That she’s lying. He admits he met her but told her he was with me now. It was rubbish of course. If she wasn’t with him, why had he given her his silver cuff?’
‘Did you ask Luke?’
‘Yes and he said he’d lost it, but—’
‘Cat, I can’t believe Luke would do that to you.’
‘Well he has.’ She felt her tears threatening again, angry that Nathan could make excuses for him. ‘Don’t you believe me?’
‘Of course I do, but—’
‘Did you see her with Luke while you were in the club?’ she demanded.
‘Yes. I saw them arguing and then they both left.’
‘Together?’
‘Yes, together.’
‘Well there you are. What more proof do you need?’ Cat pressed her palms against her cheeks, feeling sick and miserable. ‘I doubt he was very pleased knowing she’d already spoken to me. Still, I guess it saved him a lot of grief.’ She took a deep breath. Her whole life was in chaos. Luke had returned to his old love and planned to set up home here in Carrenporth. The Smugglers, the mini-mart, the Copper Kettle, the harbour – everywhere she went there was more than a chance she would run into them. Always a reminder of what had happened; of the way he had betrayed her. She couldn’t allow that to happen.
‘Nathan, I can’t stay here any more, I have to get away,’ she said, deciding her only option now was to leave, her mind already focussing on possible destinations.
