Chapter 9
MR & MRS – DISCOVER THINGS ABOUT YOUR PARTNER YOU DIDN’T KNOW.
It had been quite an eye-opener for Xavier, seeing Harriet for the first time in five years.
The pregnancy had knocked him off his game to begin with, but once they’d started talking, he’d soon regained his equilibrium.
Meeting her again had been something he’d been dreading, but now it had happened he realised it hadn’t affected him in the way he’d expected.
In fact, he’d been surprised, after talking to Soli about it all and reflecting on it later that evening, by the startling realisation that he wasn’t angry with Harriet any more, despite the pregnancy she’d sworn she’d never want.
Thinking about what he’d had with her just conjured a sense of bittersweet nostalgia now, but that was all it was.
It seemed he’d finally moved on from the hurt and bitterness he’d felt about her rejecting him.
It was actually quite liberating. He’d been walking around with this sense of loss and inadequacy for so long, it was a huge relief to finally feel it lifting.
He had a strong suspicion that Soli’s steadfast support and compassion had had a hand in breaking the grief he’d been living with too.
Her tackling the subject head-on had made him realise how he’d bottled his feelings up, and how unhealthy that had been.
He’d not talked to anyone about what had happened to him before, worried it would make him seem weak, and had cut everyone who knew about it out of his life so that he hadn’t had to face it.
But he knew now he couldn’t hide for ever. It was time to get past his hang-ups.
He had an inkling that Soli wouldn’t let him carry on the way he’d been going anyway.
She was a real force of nature.
They’d spent the next day in the house together, with her reading a book in the garden and him moving between his home office and joining her on the terrace to eat, where they’d chatted about inconsequential things.
He’d appreciated her allowing him some personal space and leaving the subject of Harriet alone, but also making it clear she was happy to talk if he wanted to.
It seemed he’d made a good move in choosing her to be his stand-in wife. He found he was actually enjoying her company now and could imagine them getting on fine for the next few months. Until it was time to call a halt to it all.
Strangely, the thought of that brought with it a heavy, tense feeling, so he pushed it to the back of his mind. There was no point in dwelling on what would happen when their arrangement came to an end. It was almost a year away yet.
* * *
Walking into the kitchen on the morning of his birthday to grab a quick cup of coffee, he stopped in amazement as he saw that the table was set for two and there was a plate loaded with Scotch pancakes covered in maple syrup and two large mugs of coffee sitting on it.
Soli was standing at the stove, attending to what looked like poached eggs.
‘Happy birthday!’ she said brightly when she noticed him standing there, open-mouthed. ‘I thought I’d make you breakfast. You like eggs, right?’
‘Er… yes. I love them.’
‘Great. Take a seat and dig in to the pancakes. I made them fresh. There’s more coffee if you need a refill after that one too.’
‘You didn’t have to do this—’ he began to protest, but she waved his words away.
‘Of course I did! It’s your birthday. Everyone should get special treatment on their birthday.’
Never having had ‘special treatment’ like this before, Xavier went to object, but snapped his mouth shut at the last second, feeling it would be rude and unkind to contradict her.
Just because no one else had done it for him, it didn’t mean he couldn’t accept it from her.
Tingly heat rushed across his skin as he made the conscious decision to accept her indulging him today.
It would actually be pretty nice to celebrate his birthday. He’d not done it in a while.
‘Well, I appreciate the thought,’ he said, sitting down at the table. ‘I’ll wait for you before I eat though.’
‘Okay,’ she said, shooting him a warm smile.
A minute later, she came to join him, laying down plates of buttered wholemeal toast with two poached eggs balanced on top.
‘So! What are you going to do with your day?’ she asked, sitting down opposite him and picking up her cutlery.
He frowned at her. ‘Go to work.’
She looked aghast. ‘Really? Can’t you take the day off for once?’
‘I wasn’t planning to. There’s a lot going on at the minute.’
‘But you have a large staff working for you.’
‘Yes.’
‘So let them do the work today. You’re the boss, right? Take the day off and hang out with me. Treat yourself.’
He considered this for a moment, feeling a throb of unease about not going in to work at such short notice.
Though, if he thought about it, he’d not had a day off in five years, so it was probably overdue.
Soli was right too – his staff were more than capable of getting on with what needed doing without him for one day.
‘Well, I suppose I could—’
‘Great!’ She grinned at this and began tucking into her breakfast.
After they’d finished the delicious meal, Soli ordered him to go and sit in the garden and read the papers that she’d nipped out and bought earlier while she cleared up. She wouldn’t hear of him helping her, even though he pointed out he should be the one to do it since she’d cooked.
They spent a lovely morning looking out across the garden, reading and chatting about current affairs, which she seemed impressively clued up on – another by-product of working in the cafe, he supposed.
Just before lunchtime, Soli stood up and brushed down her skirt. ‘Right! It’s time for a walk on the heath, then lunch. I’ve already put together a picnic. You’ll need your swimming trunks, your trainers and your tennis racket,’ she called over her shoulder, as she walked away into the house.
He stared after her, dumbstruck, his body rushing with endorphins, as it occurred to him what she’d done. She’d planned the ‘perfect day’ he’d told her about for his birthday.
Heat pooled in his belly, and he was horrified to find his eyes had welled with tears.
No. No! He couldn’t allow himself to feel sentimental about this. She was just fulfilling some obligation she felt she had as his wife, that was all.
Still, a little voice told him, she hadn’t needed to do it, and from the glee he’d heard in her voice he suspected she was actually enjoying it.
* * *
A couple of hours later they were stretched out on picnic blankets, groaning happily after wolfing down the fabulous lunch she’d put together, which included slices of her amazing – and apparently legendary – chocolate fudge cake.
‘I can see why that’s so popular in your cafe,’ Xavier said, nodding towards the now empty container that had held the cake. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything like it.’
‘An “orgasm in food form”, one of my friends calls it,’ she said with a grin.
There was a small pause, where they didn’t look at each other for a moment and pretended to watch a couple of squirrels running up a tree trunk instead.
Xavier cleared his throat, reminding himself what a bad idea it would be to act on the kinds of thoughts that had just popped into his head following that comment.
‘So, tell me what your perfect day would consist of,’ he said, attempting to circumnavigate the strange atmosphere now zinging between them.
Her brow furrowed as she appeared to think about this for a moment.
‘Well, if I could choose anything, I’d probably go for spending the day on a Mediterranean island. I’d eat lunch on the beach and go for a swim in the sea. Then I’d spend the evening having someone servicing my every need.’
‘That sounds good,’ he said, smiling at her and noticing how her cheeks had flushed an adorable shade of pink. ‘I think I could probably manage to enjoy a day like that too.’
‘Well, maybe we’ll do it for your next birthday,’ she quipped, her face falling as it obviously occurred to her that they wouldn’t be together for his next birthday. Their time, and their marriage, would be over by then.
‘When was the last time you had a holiday abroad?’ he asked hurriedly, attempting to sweep past the awkwardness.
‘Er…’ She thought about this for a second, looking relieved to have the conversational diversion.
‘I guess it was about four years ago, just before my dad died. We went to Brittany on the ferry. It was a great holiday. We were all really happy.’ He saw grief flash across her face and a sudden and acute instinct to make her happy again overwhelmed him.
‘You know, it’s probably been that long for me too.
I’ve been so focused on building the business, I’ve not stopped to take a proper break.
’ He dragged in a breath, throwing caution to the wind.
‘You know, I own a holiday property on Corsica. It’s just been renovated, and they’ve completed the fit-out early, so it’s just sitting empty at the moment.
We could go and stay for a week.’ He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant.
‘It would do us both good to get away.’ He smiled.
‘And there wouldn’t be any solicitors there, checking up on us. ’
Her eyes had lit with excitement as he’d talked and as soon as he finished speaking, she blurted, ‘That would be amazing! I’ve always wanted to go there. It sounds like such a beautiful place.’
‘Okay, then,’ he said, satisfaction coursing through him at being able to bring back her smile. ‘I’ll arrange for us to go this Saturday. I’ll just need to let my colleagues know.’ He paused and smiled to himself. ‘They’re going to wonder what’s happened to me. I never take time off.’
‘I guess they’ll just assume you’re having a honeymoon with your new wife,’ she pointed out with a grin.
‘Yes, of course.’ He blinked, realising it was a detail he’d overlooked and feeling pleased it would still fit their story. That solidified it as a really good practical excuse to go.