Chapter Thirty #2
‘I played right into her hands. I was the one who said it was an emergency, but she would have found some other way to lock us inside, to activate Panic Room Mode. She was always going to do that.’
‘Forced proximity romances are very popular these days,’ Spence said, and I couldn’t get over how she didn’t seem to have even a glimmer of remorse.
‘You thought you could trap us in the house together, and it would turn into some kind of magical love story for the ages?’
‘It didn’t?’
‘Do you see Ethan anywhere? Is he here right now, holding my hand and staring adoringly into my eyes?’ I flung my arms wide. I felt exhausted all of a sudden.
‘So what happened? Sarah and I were sure that you only needed to see each other again, that the love was still there, for both of you.’
‘You were that certain?’ I sat up straight. ‘Even though all you know is what I’ve told you, and you’ve never even met him? You were sure we’d perform the way you wanted us to? We’re not your characters, Spence.’
‘Georgie, come on.’ Her tone was mollifying.
‘A beautiful clifftop house he’d created, partly with you in mind.
A secret you’ve been keeping that made convincing you to go back there easier than I’d expected – though I still don’t know what that is – and a chance for the two of you to be together, with absolutely no distractions. It’s the perfect plot.’
Spence had always followed her own path, but I still couldn’t believe her audacity or the assumptions she’d made, and that she’d thought it was perfectly OK to ask Sarah to mess with the Sparks system for Ethan’s crucial event.
I felt a twinge of guilt, because when I’d seen the messages on Ethan’s phone, I’d thought that it was all her – or her and Ethan, conspiring against me.
But Spence was the driving force, and I knew all too well how persuasive she could be.
Sarah had changed, she’d got her shit together – I’d seen the results at the open house – but she had still been lured by Spence into breaking the rules.
‘You didn’t bank on a whole lot of messy emotions,’ I said quietly. ‘On people not being quite as predictable as you expected. On you not being the only one making assumptions.’
For the first time, she looked unsure. ‘You really can’t work it out?’
I shrugged. I didn’t want to feed her any more information. ‘I need to go.’
‘You’ve only just got here.’
‘Yes, to discover that the crazy night I just spent with my ex and a psycho Smart system was all down to you. It’s not exactly the matchmaking approach I’d expect from a friend.’
‘You’re lucky you have a creative friend, then.’
I stood up. ‘You don’t get it, do you? I’m not a damsel in distress for you to manipulate.
I’m a real person and this is my real life – these are our lives, mine and Ethan’s.
You think it’s fine to toy with us, to move us where you want us, but you never stop to think, do you?
You don’t think about what it feels like to be trapped in a place—’
‘I very much do,’ she said firmly, but I kept going.
‘And you can’t imagine how it feels to be offered something so great, something potentially life-changing, like writing a book with your favourite author, only to realize it’s her way of keeping you in check.’
Spence’s gaze sharpened. ‘That’s a genuine offer. We were always going to write it together. My motives for getting you to the house might have been a little more complicated, but—’
‘And what else will be complicated? When there’s a discussion about the payment, or my name on the cover, or any kind of genuine recognition? What compromises will I have to make? What will be just a little too unorthodox for a publisher once I’ve put in all the hard work and the book is written?’
‘I would never hurt you.’
‘Not intentionally, but you’re blinkered as to how I might get hurt inadvertently.
Like putting me in a house with Ethan, making me realize what I’ve lost, and that …
’ I took a gulping breath, surprised by how close my tears were to the surface.
‘I thought I’d moved on, but now I’m right back where I was, and it’s all still out of my reach. ’
Spence’s expression softened. ‘Oh, my dear.’
‘I need to go. I can’t do this now.’
She was frozen for just a second, caught in imaginary headlights, but then she smiled. ‘I understand that this has been a shock, but I do have some correspondence to get done today, so I really don’t think you can shoot off just yet.’
‘I’m sorry.’ I took our mugs to the kitchen, rinsed mine in the sink and topped hers up, then returned it to her side table because I couldn’t completely abandon my duties. ‘I’ve got other things to do this morning.’
‘Other things like what?’ Spence sounded curious rather than irritated.
‘I need to follow up on some letters of my own,’ I told her. ‘And these ones are really urgent, because they’ve stayed unanswered for a very long time.’
I left her sitting in her chair with her fresh cup of coffee, and walked down her vanilla-scented hallway to the front door, where Alperwick and its bright summer sunshine were waiting for me.