Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
I’m now that woman.
Leah was officially a homewrecker.
Did that still hold the same value if it was originally your home to wreck?
Well, technically, it was Hannah’s home to wreck first—
So, she was in fact the homewrecker. The jealous, bitter ex who chased down her former lover with no thought for her current fiancée and the life they’d built together.
Great, what a way to end the year, she thought.
Ariana was still silent. She sat with her arms folded across her chest, staring out into the skyline.
“I’m sorry.” Leah’s voice trembled.
“You don’t need to be sorry.”
Ariana looked torn, averting her gaze immediately as if weighing up her options.
“I should never have said that, it isn’t fair to you. I didn’t want this . . .I didn’t want to be this person. I just—”
“You just what?” Ariana encouraged. She looked back at Leah, her eyes pleading for what looked like the truth, but surely she didn’t want that?
“I can’t seem to give you up.” Leah sighed. “I’ve tried, honestly, I’ve tried so hard, but you’re always there, you’re always at the forefront of my mind and I hate it. I hate that despite my best efforts to move on, I can’t.”
She placed her head in her hands. Ariana sensed her distress and moved to kneel beside her. Leah’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. She swallowed hard, trying to maintain her composure.
“Hey, you’re not a bad person,” Ariana said, her voice shaky.
“How can you say that?”
Ariana reached out, brushing her fingers against Leah’s knee, offering a warmth and comfort that Leah was no longer used to.
“Because . . .I’m the one in a relationship. I’m the bad guy in this.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“It’s not about what I’ve done, it’s about how I feel.”
Leah nervously bit her lip, her heart racing.
“This—” Ariana gestured between them. “This connection is something I knew I wouldn’t be able to deny. Why do you think I avoided you for all those years after we broke up? It hit me all at once, the second I saw you at the fundraiser, it hit me.”
The urge to lean in was almost overwhelming.
“What about Hannah? It wouldn’t be fair to do this to her.”
Ariana’s expression changed. She longed for Leah, but she understood the consequences of that longing.
“I know, but that doesn’t change how I feel about you. Me and Hannah, we haven’t been right for a long time,” Ariana admitted.
“But she proposed to you?” Leah questioned.
“And I was just as surprised as you. We haven’t slept in the same room for nearly two months.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Ariana closed her eyes, grappling with her emotions. Leah placed her hand on the side of her face, the touch causing goosebumps to cover her arms.
“I don’t understand.”
“At first work was the excuse—she was getting in late and didn’t want to disturb me—but I think at some point we both realised that we preferred our own company. She tried to sleep back in the same bed last week and it felt unnatural.”
She felt awful for feeling it, but the revelation shifted her perspective. Suddenly, she had this glimmer of hope.
“I miss you,” Leah whispered.
Her heart raced as she fought the urge to close the gap. Ariana’s intense stare caused her breath to hitch.
“I miss you too.”
She searched Ariana’s eyes for clarity.
“What do we do now?” Leah asked, her voice trembling. “Do we just pretend we don’t feel this way?”
Ariana shook her head. “I can’t do that.”
“Then what?”
“We figure it out. Take things slow. I need to talk with Hannah.”
Leah nodded, a single tear escaping down her cheek. Ariana gently wiped it away with her thumb, their connection more evident now than ever before.
“I’m scared to lose you again,” Leah said.
Ariana leant forward, her forehead pressing against Leah’s. “I’m not going anywhere.”
The moment felt like it could turn into something more.
Her gaze averted to the lock on the inside of the meeting room door, then to the control to the left of the external windows that would soon shut out the world outside.
She had access to the CCTV cameras; she could soon disable those.
It really wouldn’t take much at all to carve out enough privacy to allow Ariana to strip her naked and have her way with her on the sturdy wooden table.
In fact, it would feel exhilarating—it would feel like she was twenty-two again, when she gave zero fucks about what was deemed appropriate to do in a public space. If only being led by her libido was an option. Now, she was too emotionally intelligent through years of experience.
Ariana pulled back, her resolve firm. “I should go.”
Leah nodded, a bittersweet smile on her lips.
“When will I see you?” Leah asked.
Ariana rose up, pressing her lips against Leah’s forehead.
Their fingers automatically laced together.
Leah inhaled deeply; the smell of her neck reminded her of a cold winter’s morning wrapped in the warmth of her embrace.
She missed that more than anything else—she missed the warmth of her body.
That’s where she’d always felt so accepted and understood.
“Soon. I promise.”
Ariana gathered her belongings, turning back once she reached the door.
“Answer your phone this time, okay?”
“What will you do if I don’t?” Leah teased.
“I’ll have to come all the way over here again and make up some poor excuse about my building going through a renovation.” Ariana winked.
“You didn’t?” Leah laughed.
Ariana shrugged. “Don’t work too hard. It’s almost Christmas.”
Ariana and Hannah never announced their engagement on social media.
That was the second red flag Leah noticed.
The first had been the timing—and Ariana’s reaction on the balcony combined.
The third came when Grace let slip that Hannah had been taking a lot of work trips in recent months.
She was always at one hotel or another, joining some loyalty scheme that allowed her to collect points she’d later spend on an extended work trip.
Not a trip with Ariana.
The fourth came from Ariana’s mouth when she told Leah they’d been sleeping in separate bedrooms.
Was Hannah having an affair?
The guilt could push her to do something as drastic as a proposal.
The lack of news surrounding their engagement suggested a desire to keep it quiet.
Who was she trying to hide it from?
And work trips? It seemed unusual that someone in finance would take so many. Leah only took two or three a year, and only for leadership events, high-profile clients, or potential partnerships—but twice-monthly trips? Odd––unless you’re trying to avoid being at home.
“Sweetheart, did you schedule the interviews for the lead financial advisor position?” Douglas Green bellowed from his office door to where Leah sat, meticulously analysing the profit report.
“No, not yet. I’ve reviewed the applications—I had it in my schedule for tomorrow.”
“Okay, good. Don’t bother, I’ve found the perfect candidate.” He beamed.
“You’ve what?” Leah spun around. Douglas was already back at his desk.
“What do you mean? I spent hours sorting through those applications.”
“I know, but someone I thought was unavailable is now available, and I think they’d make a wonderful addition,” Douglas said, his attention already back on the crowded inbox on his laptop screen.
“Care to elaborate? Or is it a secret?” Leah laughed.
“It’s not a secret, but I don’t want to compromise it, so I’m staying silent for now.”
“Okay, suit yourself.” Leah wasn’t invested enough to dig deeper. Her mind was too focused on the mountain of work she had to finish—and the added stress of wondering when she might see Ariana again.
If clarity was what she wanted, she had next to none.
There had been an admission of feelings; there was no unrequited love as Leah first feared. It seemed clear Ariana still felt something—but was it enough? Where did that leave her and Hannah?
She had the urge to send a text, just two words—
Now what?
There was a dirty, seedy feeling about knowing something Hannah didn’t. Leah despised it. She didn’t want a hand in causing someone else’s misery. But if it was already over, and Ariana was making the decision with sound mind and a settled heart, who was she to interfere?
Leah was always considerate of others’ feelings, but she wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t about to throw away her chance at happily ever after over some distorted sense of guilt that wasn’t hers to feel.
The text message she’d been waiting for since yesterday finally appeared on her screen. A rush of excitement flooded her.
Ariana
Pizza?
Leah
Now?
Ariana
Tonight? A post-work treat?
Leah
I could eat pizza.
Ariana
Do you remember our favourite spot?
Leah
Like I could ever forget.
Ariana
See you at 6:30?
Leah
It’s a date.
Or not a date.
Was it a date?
What exactly counted as a date?
Leah Googled the definition—a planned social meeting—especially between two romantically linked people was secondary.
But they were romantically linked, right? They hadn’t kissed yet—not in reality. In a dream-like state, absolutely. Had she pictured Ariana naked in every room and on every surface she’d seen in the past twenty-four hours? Sure.
There was an element of distrust around the conversations they’d already had. The soft touches, the longing stares—almost impossible to deny. They had history. It didn’t make it okay, but the history trumped the inappropriateness of the behaviour—or at least that’s what she told herself.