CHAPTER SEVEN
He was staring at me with a stricken expression, totally ignoring Emily’s attempts to talk to him and get a response.
I was frozen to the spot, my mind whirling out of control.
What was going on?
How did they know each other?
I felt like I was watching a scene from a movie. It didn’t seem real. Was I missing something here?
Was Emily a friend... someone he worked with?
She might be the sort of touchy-feely person who embraced everyone, whether she knew them well or not. Could she be the woman whose voice I’d thought I heard in the background when I was on the phone to Richard that time?
I started to walk over, telling myself to calm down because Richard was about to explain how they knew each other and why he was looking at me with that weirdly stiff expression, as if I’d caught him with his hand in the sweetie jar...
Because there had to be a reasonable explanation, didn’t there?
But as I drew nearer, Emily reached up on tiptoe, cupped his face in both hands and kissed him full on the lips.
Richard’s reaction was instant. He pushed her firmly away from him, and in my confusion, I drew comfort from his gesture.
Maybe Emily imagined there was something between them and Richard was trying to fend her off? If they were working together, it might be difficult for him...
But even as my mind was coming up with all sorts of ‘reasonable explanations’, I could feel a growing sense of dread inside. I was only trying to protect myself from having to face the terrible truth.
Because that shocked look as Richard turned in my direction told me everything I needed to know.
Richard, who I’d really believed loved me, was clearly involved with this girl...
Reaching them, I was shaking. My face was burning and I felt physically sick.
Emily was looking from me to Richard and back to me, like a spectator at Wimbledon, clearly baffled as to what was going on. His cool reception – and his apparent rejection – was obviously not what she was used to.
I gave her a stiff little smile. ‘I must apologise for Richard. He obviously hasn’t told you about me. I’m his girlfriend. We’ve been together for six years.’
I saw the shock come over her face. So he really hadn’t mentioned me?
‘You’re Katja ?’ She stared at me. ‘But you broke up at Christmas time, so why are you here?’
I looked at Richard incredulously. ‘Oh my God, that’s what you told her? That we broke up before you came to New York?’
‘Well... not exactly.’ He was squirming now, his eyes flicking away from mine and back again. ‘I said we hadn’t been getting on as well as we used to and that I knew you were feeling the same as me... that maybe our relationship had run its course?’ He shrugged. ‘Which is all true. Isn’t it?’ His look was almost pleading now, as if he wanted me to be complicit in his twisting of the truth so that Emily wouldn’t think he’d been lying to her.
Well, he could stuff right off if he thought that was going to happen!
Emily was frowning. ‘That’s not what you said, Richard. You told me you’d broken up with Katja. I’d never have started seeing you if I hadn’t been totally clear about that.’ She blew out a big breath and shook her head. ‘I’m not in the business of going out with guys who come on to me while I’m cleaning their apartment but then “forget” to break up with their girlfriend before sleeping with me!’
‘So you’re his cleaner ?’ I gasped, in a flash of understanding.
She nodded. ‘I delivered the clean laundry at eleven-ish, as I always do, and I saw his note.’ She shrugged. ‘I thought it was meant for me. It was lying on the kitchen table.’
Where I must have left it.
She glared at Richard. ‘I thought he wanted to meet me at the top of the Empire State building at noon. He knows it’s my favourite ever movie. We watched it together last week. So that’s why I thought... but I was obviously wrong. The note was clearly for you.’
She turned and we exchanged a look of understanding that might have been comforting if I wasn’t currently dealing with the biggest emotional betrayal of my life.
‘Look, I’m sorry, Emily.’ Richard’s voice was low and urgent and he tried to take her hand but she snatched it away. ‘I didn’t get around to talking to Katja before I left and I didn’t want to break up with her over the phone...’
‘So you decided to let me come all the way over here? So you could then break the news to me that it was over ?’ I gave a bitter laugh. ‘I can’t believe this. Why didn’t you just tell me over the phone? Or better still, break the news before you left for New York ? Because it seems to me that you were just keeping your options open until you met someone you fancied more than me.’
‘It wasn’t like that. Honestly, Katja. It wasn’t.’ He looked so crestfallen and sorry that I almost believed him. ‘I just... didn’t know how to tell you... that I’d... well, that I’d fallen out of love with you. I didn’t even realise it myself until... well, until I got to know Emily.’
‘Right.’ I nodded, my throat aching. It felt thick with unshed tears. ‘Well, I obviously know now, don’t I? So I guess there’s no point in me sticking around because you’ve clearly moved on.’ I smiled stiffly at Emily. ‘You seem nice. I just hope he treats you a whole lot better than he’s treated me.’
I looked at Richard. ‘So did you seduce her over a mop and bucket?’ I snapped.
‘No.’
‘So how did it happen?’
He glanced away. ‘We met in The Old Ale House. That’s Emily’s local.’
‘Ah! The Old Ale House. Now things are starting to make sense. No wonder you didn’t want me to go in. You were obviously worried Emily might be in there and your dirty little secret would be out.’
I stared up at him, my lips pressed together, determined not to show that I was falling apart inside. ‘Well, I’ll be booking the first available flight home after I’ve collected my things,’ I told him, grasping my hands together to stop them shaking. ‘It was nice knowing you, Richard. Have a great life!’
I started walking away from them towards the lift, but my eyes were so blurry with tears, I kept blundering into people and having to apologise.
‘Katja, wait! I’ll come back to the apartment with you.’
‘Just don’t, Richard.’ I turned and held up my hands to stop him getting nearer. ‘I’ve still got the spare key. I’ll post it through the letterbox when I leave.’
‘But...’ He gazed at me helplessly. ‘I never meant to hurt you, Katja.’
‘Really?’ I looked at him in disgust. ‘ That old chestnut? Is that all you could come up with?’
‘Look, it just happened with Emily and me. It feels right. I didn’t know how to tell you.’
‘So you let me travel thousands of miles so you could break the news to me face to face! Seriously, Richard, on what planet does that make any sense at all? You could at least have got on a flight yourself to tell me. Didn’t I deserve that? Or was I never that important to you in the first place?’
‘Of course you were important to me. You still are. But I’ve been so busy since I got here... working.’
I glared at him. ‘You probably weren’t even going to tell me it was over, were you? Were you planning on keeping me hidden from Emily for the whole visit? Then you could have waved me off at the airport and avoided the unpleasantness of having to dump me for another few months?’
He looked appalled. ‘What? No way! Of course I was going to tell you.’ He took a step towards me but I flinched back.
‘Get away from me.’
‘Look, I’m so sorry, Katja.’ He held out his arms in a gesture of helplessness. ‘One day you’ll thank me. You’ll meet someone new who’s more suited to you than I ever was.’
‘Like you and Emily?’
He gave me a sheepish look. ‘Emily and I... we just couldn’t help ourselves.’
‘No? Well, I hope it works out for you and that you’re not making a huge mistake. Are you sure you weren’t just flattered by her attention? She can’t be more than twenty years old, for goodness’ sake.’ I shook my head. ‘You’re pathetic, Richard.’
His face hardened. ‘Whatever.’ He shrugged. ‘It hadn’t been right between us for a long time, and you know that. And by the way, she’s twenty- two . And anyway, age is just a number. Emily makes me feel like a teenager again. Is there anything wrong with that?’
I was so furious with him, I couldn’t even formulate a reply to that. Instead, I looked him straight in the eyes and said, ‘Look, go back to Emily and good luck making it right with her. If she has any sense at all, she’ll already be seeing the red warning flags.
‘Goodbye, Richard.’