‘His real name is Oliver Shadwell.’
My heart has ground to a halt. He hasn’t told me that. ‘I think he told me,’ I lie.
‘You know about the scandal that he was involved in – don’t you?’
Air gets trapped in my throat. Eva is looking at me with what appears to be concern. ‘Scandal?’ I croak.
I think back to how well my day started and how I boarded the train thinking I was once again curse-free. Since I touched the hand of that handsome sex addict on the train and discovered my curse has returned, my day has taken a downward turn. Now I’m about to hear that my troubled flatmate was embroiled in a scandal. Could today get any worse?
21
Eva nods. ‘You’re not a fan of reality TV – are you?’
‘Reality TV?’ Oh, God, is Oliver the male version of Francesca – the potential flatmate I interviewed who was going on a reality TV show where everyone was naked?
I grip onto the doorway of my flat.
‘You need to look at the press stories from a few years ago. His girlfriend at the time, Molly, went on a reality TV show.’ I remember Jamie saying her name.
Eva continues. ‘Molly and the other contestants were flown to a villa in Ibiza, where they were given a lot of money and filmed day and night.’
‘What does Oliver have to do with this?’
‘Molly cheated on him on live TV. It was all over the press, and social media went wild.’
I stare at Eva. ‘Cheated?’
Eva lowers her voice. ‘Molly was filmed on camera with another bloke in her bed.’
‘Oh, God.’
She nods. ‘The press hounded poor Oliver. There were cruel memes all over social media. It wasn’t very nice. I think he and Molly split up. Then he disappeared, locked himself away and started writing books.’
‘Miranda never told me this.’ I think back to the lengths my boss went to to get me to take Oliver on as my flatmate. She had admitted the bookshop had not been doing well financially and having access to bestselling romance author Oliver, via me, would give her business the boost it needed. I can now see why she withheld information about Oliver’s scandal from me.
‘Oliver has been through a lot. I know we’ve had our differences, but I care about you, Nelly. If I were you, I would keep things strictly professional between you both.’
I arch my eyebrows at her. ‘This is me you’re talking to, Eva.’
‘That man has been through something traumatic, and I’ve heard through my book contacts that he doesn’t have the best view of relationships or love. He’s still hurting, and you can see that from his appearance.’
I think about his late-night entrances into the flat, the chaos he has managed to cause in the early hours and how Jamie mentioned Molly’s name. She must still be in Oliver’s life.
Pressing her hands together, Eva inhales deeply. ‘Nelly, I am going to fight for our friendship.’
I blink in surprise at her. I don’t recall anyone ever fighting for my friendship.
Until I met Eva, friendships had been an emotional minefield. As I grew older, it became harder to maintain friendships, because most of the time I knew they were heading towards heartbreak. Over time, I drifted to the edges of friendship circles. Getting close to people meant that every day I spoke to them, I was reminded of my visions, which told me their love story would end.
Eva forced me out of my hermit-like shell. She refused to let me stay in alone night after night. As she hadn’t met a red-haired man called Karl, I put my vision to the back of my mind and did something I’d not done before – I started to enjoy life. For a few cherished months, I ignored my visions. It was bliss. Eva and I became regulars at a cocktail bar in town, we joined a yoga class, we drove to the seaside in her rusty old car, and we laughed a lot. Everything changed the day I came home to find Karl in my kitchen.
‘What happened to you and Karl?’ I ask.
She blinks. I watch her thread her fingers together and squeeze until they turn white. ‘We moved away. I left my job, and I stopped reviewing books. All for him. He swore to me he didn’t fancy Esther, but that was a lie. I found them together in my bed.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Karl and I have broken up, and Esther has returned to New Zealand… for good. Please listen to what I have to say, Nelly. I didn’t want to hear about Karl because deep down, I already knew he would never be faithful. Esther has no loyalty to me.’ Eva takes a deep breath. ‘She’s done that to me before.’
