Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Drained from a full-on week at work, Alba lowered herself to the couch and snuggled up with Colin.
The cushions dipped beneath her weight, the softness offering a kind of relief her body had been craving all day.
Her muscles ached in that dull, persistent way that came from holding herself together for too long—too many conversations, too many expectations, too many hours spent being on.
Colin’s tummy had been a little bit iffy this evening, and he didn’t seem overly enthused about anything going on around him, so a quiet night in was just what the doctor had ordered for them both.
Last weekend’s spa break felt like a distant memory now.
Alba exhaled as she settled, her fingers instinctively finding his fur and threading through it in absent strokes that grounded her far more than she cared to admit.
She’d considered sending Ellie a text to ask how her week had been, she’d found herself hovering over her phone more than once throughout the evening, but she’d ultimately decided against it.
While she loved having Ellie over—the ease of her company and the way she filled Alba’s space without overwhelming it—she was becoming too attached to her.
It had crept up on her without warning, slipping into the spaces she’d thought were still protected.
Whenever she looked at Ellie lately, she wanted to pull her in and kiss her.
That thought had started to come so naturally that it scared her a little.
And when she laughed, something Ellie did often now, Alba could melt.
She did melt. Every single time. So, a weekend without seeing one another was a good idea.
It had to be. For her own sanity, if nothing else.
“What shall we watch tonight, Colly?” Alba scrolled through the TV channels, aware that she was one step away from binge-watching an entire series tonight.
She felt that need to switch off completely, to lose herself in something that didn’t require anything from her.
“Nothing with doggos. You don’t know how to keep your mouth shut. ”
Alba didn’t care if Colin was vocal when another dog came on the TV, but she didn’t want to fall out with her new neighbours before she’d had a chance to get to know them.
The walls here were thinner than she’d expected.
Just because Colin was adorable and everyone’s best friend, it didn’t mean his bark was enjoyable through the walls.
She’d caught herself listening for noise from next door more than once already, far more aware of those little things than she had been in her old place.
“How about…a rom-com?” Colin sighed and curled into a ball, turning his body away from the TV. Alba laughed, though it felt hollow tonight. “God, it’s like I have an actual sulking child sometimes.”
Alba knew he was missing Ralph. They hadn’t seen one another in almost two months now.
She didn’t want him to miss out on time with his brother, but Audrey never seemed to be available whenever she got in touch to arrange a visit.
Alba would always push for them to see each other; she would keep trying even when it felt pointless, but her ex-wife made it painfully hard at times. Harder than it ever needed to be.
She lifted her phone from the arm of the couch and scrolled through her recent calls, hesitating for a fraction of a second before she committed to it.
She went as far back as three weeks ago before she reached Audrey’s details, the gap between contact stretching further than it had before.
“I’ll try again, but don’t get your hopes up.
” She called Audrey’s number, sighing as it rang out. “Yep, as I thought.”
As Alba was about to end the call, it connected.
“What?”
Her shoulders slumped, the tension in her body shifting into something heavier.
Audrey made her miserable no matter what the reason was for the call.
It didn’t matter how neutral Alba tried to be or how careful she was with her tone; there was always an edge waiting on the other end.
“You could answer the phone with less of an attitude. It wouldn’t kill you to be amicable with me. ”
“Called to rub it in my face, have you?” Audrey scoffed. “I should have known you’d be fucking someone high up the moment I found out where you’re working.”
“I’m sorry?” Alba’s brows drew together.
“What do you want, Alba? You may think I have no life since you left, but I do. I have a much better life than I ever did with you.”
Alba’s heart sank at that, her ex-wife’s words landing far more brutally than she would ever admit.
Every time they spoke to one another, Audrey became more and more hostile, and the distance between who Alba thought she’d known and who this person was now grew wider by the second.
While Alba didn’t believe she deserved that, maybe it was true.
Maybe she’d been a terrible wife, and Audrey now knew her worth…
while diminishing Alba’s with each passing moment.
“I just wondered if I could take Ralph for a couple of hours so Colin can see him. I think he’s really missing him. ”
“Well, if you’d left Colin with me, he wouldn’t have to miss Ralph. But no. It’s always about what you want, right?”
Alba rolled her eyes, though there was no real energy behind it. She was just…exhausted. “I don’t know how many times we’ve been through this. Colin is my dog. He was here long before you were. Ralph, on the other hand, belongs to both of us.”
“And I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that Ralph is just fine and doesn’t need to see Colin.
He always was too boisterous for him. The poor thing never got the chance to relax with Colin around.
” Audrey cleared her throat. “Cut your losses and move on with your life. You can’t call me every time you feel lonely, or you think Colin needs Ralph.
He’s a fucking dog, Alba. Stop being so ridiculous! ”
A fucking dog? Alba clenched her jaw, her hand tightening around her phone as heat flared in her chest. She forced it down, refusing to give this woman the satisfaction of upsetting her.
Not tonight. Not when she’d felt…brighter lately.
Since Ellie had come into her life, Alba felt as though everything was flourishing again, with small pieces of herself returning unexpectedly.
Audrey would only shit all over that if she had the chance. “I feel like I don’t even know you.”
“Oh, sweetheart. It’s quite clear that you’ve never known me. Maybe if you’d paid more attention to me rather than yourself, we could have had a better outcome.”
And maybe if Alba had paid more attention to the red flags, she never would have been in this position to begin with. Still, she wasn’t fighting with Audrey. She genuinely couldn’t be arsed. The energy it required…she didn’t have it anymore. “You know what, forget about it. It doesn’t matter.”
“See? We came to an agreement just like that.”
Alba sighed, her gaze lowering to Colin as he shifted beside her, unaware of the tension filling the room. How had she found herself sitting here being belittled once again?
“Oh, and Alba?”
“Y-yeah?”
“Say hi to Eloise Hamilton for me.”
“It’s…just Ellie.” Colin’s head shot up at the mention of Ellie, his ears twitching, but Alba frowned when something uneasy slid into place.
That had been the first response to the fact that Audrey knew Alba and Ellie were friends?
“And I’m sure you can say hi to her yourself the next time you see her. ”
“Oh, you don’t want me to see her. Trust me.” Audrey laughed. “Because when I do, she won’t be fucking you for much longer.”
“I… We… You really think I’m dating Ellie Hamilton?
” Alba burst out laughing at that, but it was edged with disbelief.
Even if she desperately wished she was dating Ellie, it simply wasn’t true.
“You’re more deluded than I thought you were.
” Alba ended the call and stared down at the screen, her reflection visible in the black glass.
Of all the things Audrey could have said to her, she hadn’t expected that.
And then it dawned on her. Audrey had put Alba through a lot of shit while she was still at her old school. What exactly was stopping her from spreading more rumours now that she knew Alba had a position at Park Haven? And about Ellie of all people.
Alba’s heart slowly slid into her stomach, a cold, nauseating drop that left her feeling unsteady where she sat.
She felt sick at the mere thought of Audrey doing something like that to Ellie.
She couldn’t stand the idea of her ex-wife dragging Ellie into something messy, or cruel…
something she would never deserve. From this moment on, Alba had to keep her wits about her.
No more calls to Audrey, even if they were hardly provoking, and in turn… hope that Audrey forgot Alba existed.
Her phone pinged in her hand.
You may think that I’m stupid, but I’ve seen you together on several occasions now.
Don’t think I don’t have contacts and friends at Park Haven who report back to me, because I do.
Eloise will realise the woman you are soon enough, and I’m going to make sure of it.
You’re more of an idiot than I thought you were if you think a woman like that would be interested in you.
You’re nothing more than a fuck to her. Then again, you always did prefer fucking the ones in a position of power, didn’t you?
Anything to climb your way up the ladder!
Don’t call me again. I’ll have you done for harassment if you do!