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“What did he mean?” Georgia’s voice could cut glass, but that was nothing compared to the look on her face. If I was Ben, I’d have been running for cover. He looked completely unconcerned. I relaxed slightly. Hopefully, that meant that what Simon had said was absolute and complete bullshit, designed simply to cause trouble.

Justin caught my eye, mouthing a question about whether we should give them some privacy. I shook my head. I knew Georgia better than that. I couldn’t take ten years of being reminded about leaving her in her hour of need. She still hadn’t forgiven me for the time I’d laughed when she fell in a pond when we were both twelve years old. Even the fact I’d been the one to pull her out of there hadn’t done anything to make her forgive and forget.

Ben scratched his chin. A more suspicious person might have thought he was playing for time. “No idea.”

Georgia obviously had no intention of letting the subject drop. “I can tell when you’re lying.”

I studied the surface of the table carefully, dutifully pretending I wasn’t listening while I waited for Ben’s reply. Some date this was turning out to be. I’d be lucky if Justin didn’t run a mile. I should have listened to my subconscious and steered clear.

“What do you want me to say, Georgia?”

I turned toward her just in time to catch sight of her lip tremble. “You’re seeing someone else? I thought we were…” Her voice cracked. I reached over, grabbing her hand. She clung on tightly. “I thought we were serious. How long has it been going on?”

Ben sighed, as if the conversation was rapidly becoming tiresome. I was beginning to see why he and Simon got along so well. I risked a glance at Justin. He wasn’t even trying to hide the fact his attention was fixed on Ben. He looked less than impressed at what he was hearing, particularly when Ben dropped the next bombshell. “I never said we were exclusive. If you thought that, then…I’m sorry. I like you, Georgia. You know, you’re fun. But, Ellen, well…she’s pretty sweet. And she’s a friend of the family, so…”

Tears spilled over onto Georgia’s cheeks. “How long, Ben?”

He finally had the good sense to look guilty. “Not long. A few months. But—”

Georgia stood, tugging on my hand, so that I’d stand as well. Despite the tears now running unbidden down her cheeks, I could tell she was trying to scrape as much of her dignity as she could back together. She squared her shoulders. “Well, I hope you’re going to be very happy together. And you can tell your slimy, octopus-handed friend who needs to try and trap men to get anywhere with them, that he did me a favor, because I’m really glad that I found this out now.”

She turned to me, a plaintive look on her face. “Can you take me home, please?”

“Of course.” I pulled her after me, turning to check Justin was following. As we passed the bar, it was hard to miss the self-satisfied smirk of the man who’d caused all the trouble leaning against it. He lifted a beer bottle in a mocking salute. Despite the fact I was concentrating on getting Georgia out of the bar, I didn’t miss Justin taking a slight detour toward Simon. He stepped close to him, leaning in and whispering something in his ear. The smirk disappeared immediately, replaced by a sudden look of apprehension. Justin patted him on the chest in a patronizing fashion, before walking over to follow us out of the bar

Chapter Twelve

Georgia had finally cried herself to sleep. I’d held her for the last hour, stroking her hair and assuring her that she wasn’t an idiot, and no, it hadn’t been obvious that Benedict was a player, and no, of course I hadn’t suspected and just not known how to tell her. It had been the truth. I’d known he was a bit immature, but I hadn’t pegged him for a cheat. If I had known, I’d have told her straight away.

I carefully extricated myself from her embrace, making sure she was tucked securely under the blankets. After leaving the bar, we hadn’t come straight home. Georgia had insisted on getting horribly drunk in a continuous string of bars first. Both Justin and I had trailed along behind her, barely drinking ourselves, mopping up tears, and offering platitudes when needed. Feeling guilty, I’d tried to get him to go home several times. Each time, he’d flat-out refused. He’d even insisted on accompanying us back to the house. I’d left him downstairs while I pulled a sobbing, drunken Georgia up the stairs.

Given that was over an hour ago, I assumed he’d probably called a cab and left. If I had any chance of seeing him again, I’d have to work on the best groveling apology known to man. Even then, I wasn’t sure that would be enough. Who willingly let themselves in for this much drama on what was only a third date?

It was a shock, therefore, to find him in the living room watching TV. “You’re still here!”

He smiled and patted the sofa next to him. “Of course, I am. I wanted to check you were okay.”

I sank down onto the seat. “I’m fine. It’s not me that just found out my boyfriend was cheating!”

Justin reached out, squeezing my arm in a reassuring fashion. “I know. But you had to spend the evening being a supportive friend. It’s not easy.”

I dropped my head back against the back of the sofa and closed my eyes, suddenly feeling completely and utterly weary. He was right. It wasn’t that easy trying to make sure you said all the right things without making the situation worse. And it wasn’t easy watching a friend, especially one as close to me as Georgia was, completely fall to pieces. I felt the sofa shift slightly.

“Do you want me to go?”

“God, no!” I opened my eyes to find he’d moved much closer, his concerned face less than a meter away. “I’m just trying to work out a way I can convince you to go out with me again. After I’ve subjected you to the worst date in history.”

“It wasn’t.”

I stared at him, making no effort to hide my disbelief. “Really? Tell me one good thing about tonight?”

He smiled. “I can tell you more than one thing. I got to spend time with you…” When it was obvious I was going to interrupt, he held a hand up to stall me. “Don’t ask the question. Then not bother to listen to the answer.”

I rolled my eyes half-heartedly but let him continue.

“So, as I was saying, I got to spend time with you. Not under the best circumstances, no. But, it was still nice. I got to see how much you look after your friends. That just confirms what I already knew, that you’re a very caring person.”

I ducked my head at the unexpected compliment, trying to hide my embarrassment.