Chapter 30
‘Scarlett, there you are. I’ve been hammering on the door for the past twenty minutes.
’ Rushing down the steps, Tyler halted in front of them and looked from Scarlett to Rowan and back again before walking to the other side of her and placing his hand around her waist. ‘Are you ill? I can take her from here, mate. Thanks for your help.’
Scarlett froze. What was happening? Why was Tyler speaking as though nothing had happened?
He’d always been the caregiver, ready to jump in if she needed, or didn’t need, any help.
He’d nursed her through the flu when she’d caught it and hadn’t been able to get out of bed for two weeks straight; he’d stood by her during craft fairs and helped when she’d broken her wrist and couldn’t serve.
But that had all been back then, when they’d been together.
When she’d stupidly thought she’d been the love of his life.
The ‘one’ love of his life, when she’d been oblivious to the small matter that he had a wife.
Shaking her head, she wriggled out from his grasp, from both their grasps, and turned to face them.
Rowan looked from Scarlett to Tyler and back again, deep furrows forming on his brow.
‘I’m sorry.’ Stepping forward, Scarlett gently touched Rowan’s arm before clasping her hands in front of her and glaring at Tyler.
She knew it was over; she knew she wouldn’t be able to tell Rowan her side of the story with Tyler here, and the only thing she could hope for was to get rid of Tyler before he gave her away. ‘Tyler, please leave.’
‘Scarlett, sweetheart, I’ve come to surprise you.’ He gave a calculated chuckle. One intended to be cute, one she’d have thought cute only a few short months ago but now made her very skin crawl.
‘You have no right to come and surprise me.’ She backed away, gripping the banister behind her, making sure to stand between the bottom of the steps up to the decking and Pennycress’ front door and Tyler.
There was no chance he was going to wheedle his way in as much as he wanted to.
No chance. She was just grateful he’d been too polite to try the door and let himself in whilst he’d been waiting for her. ‘Please leave,’ she reiterated.
Walking across to her, Tyler reached out to take her hands. ‘We need to talk. Listen and let me explain. When you followed me, when you met Donna, you didn’t give me a chance to explain. Just give me a few minutes and let me get my side of the story across.’
Pulling her hands from his grasp, she glanced across and watched as Rowan, who had begun to step forward when Tyler had reached out to her, paused again, taking in the whole sorry front garden show. Lowering her voice, she whispered fiercely, ‘Don’t touch me.’
‘Of course. Of course. I have some explaining to do, it’s just I’ve missed you so, so much.’ Tyler covered his chest with his hand. ‘Every day without you has had a void I couldn’t fill. I need you in my life, Scarlett. Please come home.’
Watching him as he spoke, Scarlett studied him.
What was she even looking at? Was he the best actor known to man, or was he just so self-absorbed and focused on getting what he wanted that he believed what he was saying?
Either way, one thing became clear. She wasn’t going to get rid of him unless she called him out on his behaviour and if she did that, if she voiced what he’d done, what he’d put her through, what he’d put her, Donna and his daughter through, then without a doubt in her mind she’d lose Rowan.
She looked from Rowan to Tyler and back again, her gaze lingering on Rowan, who looked very much as though he was ready to pounce to Scarlett’s defence the moment she might need it.
‘I didn’t sell the flat in the end. It’s all ready and waiting for you, just as you’d left it.’ Tyler smiled a smooth smile as though the fact that in the four short months he’d moved someone else in didn’t tell her all she’d needed to hear.
She frowned. Of course, he didn’t realise she knew. He didn’t know that Donna had rung her, that she’d told Scarlett everything that had been going on. She opened her mouth to speak, closing it again as he cut her off.
‘And I’ve left Donna. I’ll be filing for a divorce straight after Christmas. It’s you I want, sweetheart, just you.’ Tyler finished with a flurry of his arms, pointing at her as though finishing some elaborate speech in a romance movie.
With her breath caught in her throat, Scarlett looked towards Rowan, the expression on his face telling her all she needed to know.
‘Rowan, I… It’s not what you think.’ Stepping forward, she began running to catch up with him as he stalked down the garden path, pausing as the gate slammed behind him.
It was no use; whatever she said now wouldn’t make a difference.
Rowan had heard the worst and he’d reached his own conclusion, and who was she to contradict him?
After all, she should have realised what was going on; she should have noticed the signs. She should have…
‘Just you, Scarlett. What do you say? Me and you against the world again?’
Tyler’s words sliced through her, and she narrowed her eyes as she stalked past him. Lowering her voice, she spoke quietly but with a certainty she’d been lacking earlier. ‘Tyler, you’re a cheat, you’ll always be a cheat and I wouldn’t spit on you if you caught on fire.’
‘Scarlett, I…’
She heard him hot on her heels, the soles of his shoes against the garden path, and she quickened her pace, reaching the door before flinging it open and stepping inside.
Turning to face him again, careful to keep her foot behind the door so he wouldn’t be able to force his way in, she lowered her voice.
‘Do not contact me again. Ever again. You’re not having Thelma back and you won’t be getting me back either. ’
As Tyler walked towards the door and opened his mouth to speak, she held her hand up, palm forward to silence him.
‘And if you do, if you dare to ring me or set foot within fifty miles of Meadowfield ever again, then I’ll not only go into your workplace and tell your boss what you’ve been doing, but I’ll splash your private life all over social media too. ’
‘But…’
‘Goodbye, Tyler.’ Shutting it firmly behind her, she flicked the deadlock before turning her back and leaning heavily against it.
She could almost hear her heart hammering in her chest and feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins but as good as it felt to have cut ties with him once and for all, to have told him with no uncertainty what she thought of him, her heart was breaking for what she’d done to Rowan, for what he’d heard, for what he must think of her.
Hearing a burst of laughter filtering from the sitting room, she pushed herself away from the door and ran up the stairs, only stopping once she was inside the owner’s suite.
Throwing herself onto the bed, she pulled a pillow over her face and screamed, thankful Laura had chosen well-padded pillows.
She and Rowan were well and truly over before they’d even begun, and it was all her fault.
And she didn’t deserve anything else.