Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
I t was a knock at the door that pulled Allie from her four-hour writing spree. She groaned, less at the interruption and more at the manner in which her legs protested at this sudden movement.
‘Coming,’ she shouted, more in hope than expectation; the walls of her Victorian conversion were too thick for her shouting to have any real effect, which was great for drowning out the neighbours, not so great for making the Evri delivery person wait. Because that’s who she was expecting it to be, or perhaps some Jehovah’s witnesses. It wasn’t like normal people just called round to friends’ houses without prearranging via text, and double checking several times beforehand that you really weren’t inconveniencing them, before sending a final confirmation as you walked the last 500 yards towards their home.
Allie jerked open the front door, only expecting to have to apologise for keeping the person waiting and then realising very quickly that the homeless chic look she had been sporting was not what she would have chosen for an unplanned encounter with an ex boyfriend. Her wavy hair was piled on her head, her glasses shoved up there too, her leggings had definitely had stretch in them at some point but probably not in the last decade, and her sweatshirt bore the distinct marks of the tea she had poured down it three days ago as her writing had temporarily (she hoped) caused her to lose the ability to transport a cup of tea safely from her desk to her mouth.
‘I’m on a deadline,’ she spluttered, ‘hence the…’ She gesticulated at her get-up.
‘I’m sorry, should I go?’ Asked Dominic.
Allie sighed, she wanted to say yes. She wanted to go back to her writing and not have to explain her clothing and the state of her flat. She wanted to point out that when boyfriends left in red sports cars, kissing the driver on the lips before they pulled away, then really they couldn’t expect to be invited back in. She stared hard at the intruder before sighing again and allowing the front door to swing open.
‘Oh, come on then,’ she said, adding, ‘but take your shoes off,’ knowing how much it irked Dominic to be asked to remove his shoes before entering someone’s house. She grinned to herself as she walked back inside, pleased to have regained the upper hand.
‘So, what do you want, Dominic? Why are you here?’
Dominic shuffled in his socked feet. She knew she wasn’t making this easy on him, offering him neither the chance to sit down nor a drink but she felt she owed him nothing really, and had been rather enjoying forgetting he had even existed.
‘I brought your things,’ he held up the box he was carrying, ‘and I read about Brinkman’s.’
Allie looked at him in surprise. ‘You did?’ She wondered what kind of messed-up intersection had brought her world into his.
‘There was an article about it in The Telegraph .’
Allie rolled her eyes. ‘Of course there was.’
‘Hey, don’t be so dismissive. I came to check you were OK.’
Allie arched her eyebrow at him. ‘Really? You came to check I was OK?’ Dominic nodded, but in a rather hesitant fashion. ‘Now why would you want to come and check I was OK after an article you read? When you couldn’t be bothered to check I was OK after you left here in your new girlfriend’s car?’
Dominic flushed immediately. He opened his mouth a few times as if searching for an explanation, before realising that Allie was not in the mood. ‘She’s not my girlfriend,’ he said mutedly.
‘Not now? Or never was?’ Allie put her hand on her hip. She was enjoying making Dominic squirm but was also discomfited by the fact that it was causing her pain to relive that night. She thought she had buried it all, thought she was over Dominic, had proudly declared herself over him before the relationship had even formally ended. And now she realised, with a pang that that wasn’t quite true, and it wasn’t just her pride which was hurting, she genuinely missed having someone, even Dominic, sharing her life. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and tried to stare him down.
‘Never was,’ he said softly. ‘Allie, I’m sorry. I’ve behaved like an idiot.’
Allie was probably supposed to jump in here and make him feel better, but she remained tight lipped.
‘She’s a colleague, an ex-colleague now, anyway. She had been flirting with me for ages.’
‘And you couldn’t help yourself?’
‘No! Honestly, nothing really happened.’
Allie narrowed her eyes at this statement. ‘Just be honest with me, Dominic.’
‘OK, I had told her we had been having issues. What?’ he said, seeing the look on Allie’s face. ‘Come on, be honest, we hadn’t been happy for ages. I said I was going to come and talk to you, she offered me a lift, and stupidly I said yes. I didn’t actually think she was going to wait outside for me. And yes, when I got in the car she leaned over and kissed me. But that’s as far as it went. And I haven’t seen her since, not outside work, and she’s left now anyway.’ He paused. ‘Allie, I’m sorry. I really wish it hadn’t happened. It was really disrespectful.’
Allie grunted slightly in recognition of both the apology and – begrudgingly – the explanation, which did seem to get Dominic off the hook for being a complete swine. Just half pig then. It was Allie’s turn to shuffle awkwardly. Just because he’d apologised it didn’t mean she wanted him in her flat, but now that he had apologised, and being so terribly British, she really felt she ought to offer him a drink.
‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ she said, in a tone that suggested Dominic would be stupid to say yes. Dominic’s eyes lit up, evidently he hadn’t put on his listening ears that day.
‘That would be great.’ He plonked himself down in one of Allie’s kitchen chairs which seemed to suggest he would be staying for a while. Allie watched him for a moment, wishing she hadn’t offered, before turning to fill the kettle and reminding herself that this was her house, and if she wanted him to leave, she just had to tell him that.
‘So are you OK about the Brinkman’s thing then?’ Dominic asked as he sat, rather too at home in her kitchen, nursing his cup of tea.
‘Yes, it’s good news.’
‘Right, yes, of course.’
Allie rolled her eyes. ‘Oh god, do I want to know what The Telegraph ’s take on it all is?’
Dominic looked at her over his tea. ‘Want to take a guess?’
‘Has #metoo gone too far? Are innocent publishing executives being taken down by militant feminazis?’
Dominic laughed loudly. ‘That’s about spot on.’
‘Seriously? Why do you read that rubbish?’
‘That was always a problem, wasn’t it?’
‘What do you mean?’ Allie suddenly felt defensive.
‘With us. You hated that I was different to you. Hated the fact I wasn’t creative, had a boring office job.’ Allie bristled, ready to defend herself but Dominic continued. ‘It’s OK, I know. I do have a boring office job. I am essentially boring. Far too boring for you.’
‘Dom, it’s not… I don’t… It wasn’t like that.’
‘No? You know, I never felt good enough for you. I knew you could do so much better. Find someone so much more interesting.’
Allie felt her heart constrict. Dominic was right, she had always thought he had a boring job, that he could never understand the creative industries, didn’t care enough about her work. But she hated the fact he’d realised that, hated the fact she had been ‘found out’.
‘I never thought you weren’t good enough for me,’ she said quietly, ‘but yes, we were, are , so different. I don’t think we ever really got each other, did we?’
Dominic shook his head a little sadly. ‘But things are OK, are they? At Brinkman’s? You’re going to be OK, aren’t you?’
‘Yeah, I am. I mean, I need to finish this book, but they’ve brought Verity back in…’ She saw the look on his face. ‘Oh right, yes, you wouldn’t have known. That guy, Jake, the one in the article, he got rid of Verity. But it’s OK,’ she said quickly, seeing panic etched on Dominic’s face. ‘They fired him and gave Verity her job back. So, I’ve got my editor again.’
‘Well, that’s good. I know how much she means to you.’
Allie bit back a smile remembering the time she had introduced Verity and Dominic at one of her book launches. It had been like introducing people from different planets, with each of them falling over themselves to be nice to the other alien because they knew how important they were to Allie.
‘Yup. She really does mean a lot. This whole thing has made me realise how important some people are to me.’ Allie was talking into her cup of tea and so didn’t see the look of hope that had sprung up on Dominic’s face. Because if she had, she might have thought twice about mentioning Verity’s drinks celebration, or indeed where and when that celebration was happening.