Chapter 31
31
‘Hey, you OK? I was getting worried; it’s late,’ Joel remarked as Kate struggled through the front door, three shopping bags on each arm.
‘Have you any idea how long it takes to find the perfect accessories for a fake wedding?’ Kate asked, dumping the bags on the floor and slumping down onto the sofa next to him.
‘No idea.’
‘Well let me tell you, it takes forever ! But a bangle, a pair of earrings, a fascinator, a garter would you believe, two pairs of pearlescent stockings and a pair of shoes later and Hermione is happy we’re ready,’ Kate explained.
‘It sounds like it was painful,’ Joel remarked with a smile.
‘Yeah, it was. But not as painful as something else,’ Kate spoke and she reached inside her handbag and brought out Joel’s wallet. She handed it to him.
‘It is yours, isn’t it,’ Kate said, needing it to be clarified.
‘Yes, but where did you get it? I mean—’ Joel exclaimed.
‘Matthew. You were right; everyone was right. You weren’t just mugged, he arranged it and he had the nerve to use your wallet, flaunt it like some sort of trophy. I am so sorry, Joel,’ Kate said, looking at him.
‘I knew,’ Joel replied, putting the wallet on the coffee table.
‘I know and Hermione suggested it and I wouldn’t listen and?—’
‘No, I mean I knew, for certain,’ Joel told her.
‘What?’
‘When they’d finished kicking me, they pressed his business card into my hand,’ Joel explained.
Tears pricked Kate’s eyes and for a moment, she couldn’t respond.
‘But I couldn’t tell you that. You still loved him and I wasn’t sure you’d believe me. And he’s Bethan’s dad at the end of the day. I couldn’t tell the police and be responsible for her father being on the end of an assault charge,’ Joel spoke.
‘You should have told me,’ Kate said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
‘What good would it have done? I wasn’t playing games like him. If you wanted to be with me, you had to decide that for yourself, not because of anything I’d told you or anything he’d done.’
‘He hurt you because of me; it’s my fault,’ Kate spoke, trying hard not to sob.
‘Now that’s one of the most stupid things you’ve ever said and I don’t want to talk about it any more,’ Joel told her seriously.
‘But what he did?—’
‘He did because he loves you,’ Joel reminded her.
‘No,’ Kate said with a shake of her head.
‘I think he does. I think he knows he made the biggest mistake of his life when he left you and he’s desperate to make up for that,’ Joel continued.
‘No. He’s still with Amanda. We saw them tonight, together – like he’d never made me any of those promises,’ Kate told him .
‘I’m sorry,’ Joel said, looking at her.
‘No, don’t be. I needed to see it; it opened my eyes. There he was, looking at Amanda the way he used to look at me and I saw him and I didn’t feel angry that he was looking at her like that; I felt sad because I didn’t know if it was real. I mean, did he ever love me? Does he really love her?’ Kate asked.
‘I think he’s a fool for letting you go,’ Joel told her.
‘He didn’t just let me go; he walked away without a second thought,’ Kate told him.
Joel took hold of her hand and held it tightly.
Kate looked up at him and felt a wave of feeling wash over her. Here she was, sat next to the most gorgeous man she had ever met, someone who had entered a relationship contest with her to help her and Bethan crawl away from near bankruptcy and she had wasted so much time pining for someone who didn’t want her and perhaps never had wanted her.
She reached up to touch his face and Joel sprung from the sofa like she was about to poke him with a live wire.
‘I saved you some lasagne. I’ll warm it up,’ he spoke quickly.
‘Great, thanks,’ Kate replied, not knowing what else to say.
She had left it too late.