“You look beautiful,” I said, reaching across the table to take her hand.
“Thank you.” She smiled. “You always say that.”
“It’s always true.”
It was. Today her long blonde hair was twisted into a sophisticated chignon. The black dress she’d opted for was sleek and smart, but tight enough to emphasise her curves. Her outfit was topped off with a sea-blue scarf that matched her eyes almost perfectly.
Kate’s beauty went deeper than that though. She was a genuinely kind and lovely person. Her sunshine was a balm to my icy heart. It hadn’t thawed it completely, but it would.
Best of all, I knew exactly where I stood with her. There were no lies. No half-truths. No evading what we were or where our future lay. Everything was open and onthe table.
Just as I wanted.
Kate sipped her coffee and waggled her eyebrows. “So, tell me everything about your stag do. Did you have fun?”
I paused. This should be the moment where I told her that there’d been not one, but two gatecrashers. Max, she wouldn’t be surprised about. Unlike my co-workers, she knew he existed. That he was away in the military. That we weren’t close.
Kate, being Kate, hadn’t pushed for more information, just quietly squeezed my hand. Like me, she was estranged from some of her family—most notably her stepbrother. She understood without needing to know more.
But Dominic? Him, I’d never mentioned. How could I? How could I explain what he’d been to me when I wasn’t certain myself?
Sure. That’s why. Not because you don’t want to explain to your future wife that he broke your heart so successfully that you’re not sure you’ll ever love someone the same way. Even her.
God, I’d learned a lot from Dominic. Hadn’t realised one of those lessons had been about being a selfish prick, but here I was.
That was how I found myself forcing a smile onto my face before responding. “Uneventful. Aiden got a bit pissed as usual.”
Kate chuckled. “Typical Aiden.”
Guilt slammed through me as she accepted what I said without question. Why wouldn’t she?
You’re not the same as Dominic. You’re not telling her because there’s nothing to tell. Dominic is nothing.
If I could make myself believe that, maybe I’d be able to breathe properly again.
Instead, I kept hold of my fiancée’s hand and focused on the here and now. Dominic was in my past. This was my future. I didn’t need to worry about anything else.
Especially not how the ice around my heart had thawed a little. It had nothing to do with seeing him again.
It didn’t.
It didn’t.
Thoughts of Dominicwere pushed to the back of my mind as I went about my work. My new role came with a new sales target, and if I had any hope of hitting it, I had to bring in fresh clients. Fortunately, a company I’d been chasing for months had finally agreed to a meeting.
I took several steadying breaths as I drove to Blackthorne Solutions.You can do this. You’ve pitched hundreds of times before.
Not as a partner though.The ballof nerves in my gut expanded. There was so much fucking pressure on this. I had to win this client, but what if I wasn’t good enough? What if they’d promoted me prematurely?
Fake it until you make it.
I winced as I remembered who’d taught me that.
Now wasn’t the time to revisit the past. Instead, I spent the rest of the drive reciting everything I’d learned about Blackthorne Solutions. Based in Reading, they were arelatively new start-up, less than eighteen months old. Them having bid on and won several significant MOD contracts had caused a stir in the defence market.
Until now, all of their tax compliance had been taken care of in-house. That couldn’t continue though, not with the figures they were now dealing with. For that, they’d need a professional firm.
I was determined that mine would be the firm they hired.
