Page 37

‘You seem good at what you do,’ he said a little awkwardly. ‘Do you enjoy it?’

Alyssa let out a long sigh. ‘I used to.’

‘And now?’

She stole a glance at the side of his head, as though sizing him up. What the hell. If he blabbed, she could always deny it. He had a history of lying.

‘Like all careers, it has its moments.’ She wasn’t about to admit business had been rubbish for a while, or that she’d received a few reasonable enquiries since the love tasks began, but somehow, she was still holding back from them. It didn’t yet make sense to her either.

‘And the persona?’ he asked gently.

She watched the lake ripple. Was that a fish?

‘Not always me,’ she conceded, when the water stilled.

‘Why did you drop Beryl?’ he asked, his voice still soft. He was probably trying not to scare off his tea.

‘People weren’t that into her.’

‘I was into her,’ he said, with a sudden firmness. ‘I liked her just how she was. She didn’t need to pretend to be …’

Her head swung around to face him and his followed. Her eyes dared him to continue but he halted.

‘You clearly didn’t like her enough,’ she challenged.

His gaze held hers for as long as she would let it, hurt seeming to flash across his face. He was hurt? Tears stung her eyes and she turned back towards the water, a stir of old emotions broiling. As he started to speak, she shushed him.

‘We have a fish to catch. Then I’m getting out of here.’

Nearly an hour passed, with nothing pulling at their rods or swishing the water. Even the trout didn’t want to breathe their uneasy air. Alyssa could feel the tension building inside her. Should she have seized that moment to scream out her hurts or address the stampede of unspoken elephants? Could she honestly continue like this? But blurting out her feelings would be like saying ‘Here’s the ugly scab you made; come and pick it.’ Like showing her weakness. Letting go of her power. She wasn’t down for that.

So she quietly seethed.

‘Maybe we should give up and order you a takeaway, if you’re staying. And me a taxi,’ she finally said, when her backside was numb and her patience had reached its limit. She had no idea if they were close to food or phone reception, but anything was better than this passive-aggressive waiting game. In fact, if they could get a car to bring takeaway, she’d get a lift home.

‘Alyssa Heart.’ Devan put his hand on hers, clearly trying to bring back the easy humour from earlier. ‘You would cheat?’

She. Would. Cheat. That was the wrong choice of joke. She stood up quickly, her fishing rod catapulting into the water. She glared at him, his last word still echoing across the lake. How did he have the audacity to look confused?

‘What did I say? I know you’re not really a—’

‘No, I’m not,’ she said pointedly. ‘Shame about you.’

His forehead creased, as though his brain was on rewind. ‘Oh right.’ He rubbed the back of his neck, as people often did before they told a massive lie. Again. Alyssa wasn’t stupid. ‘I know it looked bad back then, but it was complicated, and—’

‘It looked bad? When my best friend ended up pregnant by my boyfriend. The boyfriend who hadn’t yet slept with me, because he wanted the moment to be “right”.’

Devan put down his fishing rod carefully, slowly standing, his hands raised as though he was fully expecting missiles.

Alyssa wasn’t finished. ‘And before I’d realised all of that I made an absolute idiot of myself, announcing my “love” for you on a stupid stage, with everybody gawping. You legged it from the room, leaving me alone up there. Then, to make it even worse, Sylvie’s dad started yelling that you were marrying her because you’d got her up the duff. And that’s the last time I’m drinking cheap-shit wine.’

‘Did you?’ He shook his head, as though it was helping the thought to settle. ‘Why did nobody tell me that? I must have left the room before you said that, though I heard the gossip about what Sylvie’s dick of a dad had shouted.’

‘Like it would have made a difference.’ She thrust her hands on her hips, so she didn’t whack anyone with them. ‘You’d made your choice, and it wasn’t me.’

‘No, Alyssa. It wasn’t like that. I tried to speak to you. I wanted to explain. I called you, I knocked on your door, I threw stones at your bedroom window. Hell, I even tried to climb a tree and get in. You wouldn’t let me near you. And then you left so quickly. You changed your number. I didn’t know your address and your parents said they were under strict instructions not to pass your contact details to anyone. They had their own stuff going on and they got sick of me and Sylvie bugging them. We had to back off, but we wanted to explain. I know it must have seemed terrible to you. The worst. But the truth of it was such a mess. Sylvie was gutted too. She missed you. But she was so ill through her pregnancy and then Emmalina arrived.’ He couldn’t hide the small smile at the mention of his daughter’s name. ‘Please believe me, Alyssa. There was so much more to that story. Things I couldn’t share and still can’t, because it’s not just my story to tell. But I promise you this: I thought the world of you, and I never meant to hurt you.’

He took a slight step towards her, but she backed away. Her head was spinning. She’d known Devan all of her life. From everything she could see on his face and through his body language, he looked honest and sorry to the point of desperation. But she knew how getting pregnant worked, and he’d married Sylvie. His actions had hurt her – beyond measure.

She screwed her eyes shut and exhaled. ‘Whatever. It was a mess back then, but none of it’s my problem. We’re just two people, trying to get through seven tasks without killing each other. I need to get paid. You need to promote your app. Nobody needs any pointless heart-to-hearts.’

‘Alyssa … The rod. I think we’ve caught something.’