“Hamblehurst? What took you there?”
“My parents moved there a few years ago and I liked the town. So, where are you living these days?” she asked, keen to move the conversation away from herself.
“I’m near Maidstone. I just moved there six months ago. Things went south with the company I was working for and it was time for a fresh start somewhere new.”
The way he said it made it obvious there was more to this story and that Steven was hoping she’d ask for details. Carole had no intention of doing that. They’d traded enough small talk by now anyway, surely?
She was about to wrap things up and make her escape when Steven started talking again.
“I was working for a car dealership, you see,” he continued.
So, her earlier impression of him as a slippery car salesman had been bang on the money, then.
“The guy who owned the franchise was a bit of a walloper and didn’t like some of the deals I struck or the sales tactics I used. The dealership was up in the wilds of Norfolk, see. All a bit too slow for my tastes. When the manager decided he didn’t like me making shedloads of money for him, I decided to take my talents elsewhere.”
Steven laughed, but despite not seeing this guy in fifteen years, Carole detected the fabrications underpinning this story he was spinning. The shifty look in his eyes made her wonder whether he’d actually been sacked from the job, rather than chosen to leave.
This was, after all, a man she knew only two well had a track record of underhand behaviour, to put it mildly.
He was still talking, still rambling on with his bizarre account of the job he’d left and the new job he had now at another car dealership in Maidstone. Carole wondered why on earth she was still standing here listening to any of this.
“Listen, Steven?—”
“So, anyway, have you got any kids, Carole?”
The clumsy and unexpected question left her blinking in surprise. “Er, no. What about you?”
“God, no,” he said, as if the idea was ludicrous. “Not much of a fan of kids, to be honest. My second wife was all keen on having one, which was when I legged it out the door.”
Steven brayed with laughter. Carole could only stare. Had she really been engaged to this awful man? He was even worse than she remembered.
“Your second wife?” she found herself asking, unable to stop herself. “So, you’ve been married twice?”
“Three times, actually,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Married three times, divorced three times. I must be a glutton for punishment. You had a lucky escape when you caught me in bed with your pal, Carole.”
More guffawing. Carole was speechless. A minute ago, Steven had been telling her how sorry he was about what he’d done all those years ago. Now he was making jokes about it?
Still, he was right. Shedidhave a lucky escape back then. Listening to him now, it was luckier than she could’ve ever imagined. If she hadn’t found out he was a two-timing sleazeball when she did, she would’ve almost certainly become yet another of his divorced ex-wives.
At least she was spared that mess.
Steven was still talking—nothing seemed to shut him up—but from the corner of her eye, Carole saw a very welcome sight indeed.
Tom, hurrying off the dance floor and heading straight in her direction.
Thank God.
Tom’s eyes swivelled towards Steven, who had his back to him, and then back to Carole. He wiggled his eyebrows as if to say,Do you need rescued?
Yes, I need rescued!she mentally replied.Hurry up!
In a flash, Tom arrived at her side.
“Carole, your nieces wore me out with their dance moves and…” He made a show of registering Steven beside her, as if he hadn’t realised he was there. “Oh, sorry, am I interrupting?”
“Not at all,” Carole said, ignoring Steven’s frown. “In fact, I was just about to get another drink at the bar.”
“I’ll come with you,” Tom said.
