My Spanish Love Affair (The European Love Affair #1)

Chapter One

M y relationship ends the same way that it started: with a bang.

Except this time, I’m not the woman on all fours.

“Liv, wait. I can explain.”

My now ex-boyfriend chokes as he calls out my name from the doorway, but I ignore his pleas as I make my way through the apartment in auto-pilot. My brain hasn’t caught up with what I’ve just witnessed, and my body moves through the familiar space without my full control.

Now that the new year has passed, I was supposed to be moving in with him in just a few weeks time. Most of my things are already packed and ready to be sent over to this very building.

That won’t be happening, now, of course.

As I reach the hallway and slip my shoes back onto my feet, I know that this is the last time I’ll ever set foot in Liam's apartment.

“Olivia, please. ”

He’s closer than I thought he’d be, and I turn on my heel and look up at him. My blonde hair flies around my face with the movement, and I don’t try to hide the fury in my gaze.

Honestly, he looks ridiculous. He’s always had the most beautiful blue eyes, but I can’t look at those right now. His jeans hang loosely from his hips - still unbuttoned from where he’d hurriedly yanked them on as I walked into the bedroom - and his feet are bare against the cool wooden floor.

My heart feels like it’s somewhere between being sunk in my stomach and leaping out of my throat. It’s the most god-awful feeling, and fuck, I need to get out of here.

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“If you would just - just listen to me, okay?” he says. “I know I fucked up, and I know what you think you saw just then, but -”

“What I think I saw?!” I practically screech.

The loud volume of my raised voice catches us both by surprise. I’ve never been one for yelling, and furious as I may be right now, the last thing I want to do is show this asshole just how much he’s hurt me.

So. I pull myself back in.

“You know what? I don’t even care,” I sneer. He actually has the nerve to look horrified, which is interesting given that I’m the one who just witnessed his dick being buried inside another woman. “Save your shitty excuses and gaslighting for someone who gives a crap. I’m sorry I interrupted.”

I yank the front door open and dart through it just as Liam reaches out to try and stop me. His fingertips ghost over my upper arm, but it’s too late.

I’m gone.

And I sure as hell don’t look back.

∞∞ ∞

“Wow. I hate him.”

I snort out a laugh as I scoop up a questionably large forkful of sweet and sour chicken and fried rice.

“You and me both, sis,” I grumble before I shovel the food into my mouth.

There are a lot of things that I’m uncertain about after today’s events. But if there’s anything at all that I still believe in, it’s the fact that there’s no problem in this world that the elite combination of my best friend, red wine and Chinese take-out food cannot solve.

Somehow, Laura always knows exactly what to say to cheer me up and make me feel better about everything. And at times when all I want to do is curl up into a ball underneath my bed covers and cry, she has me full-belly laughing until my sides hurt.

“No, I mean it. I’ve never felt so strongly about anyone, ever. I loathe him, and I’m still processing all of this. Give me a few days to actually get to grips with what I’m feeling and I promise you, it will be even more overwhelmingly negative.”

I snort at that.

“I’m serious!” she grins. “Honestly, I’m still in shock. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling. But I mean it. I. Hate. Him.”

My expression grows sombre. “I know you do. And trust me, I feel exactly the same. You don’t need to worry about me ever even considering going back there. It’s never going to happen.”

“Thank god for that,” Laura huffs.

“Honestly, he’ll be lucky if I so much as acknowledge his existence again. He’s pretty much dead to me already.”

“Have you answered any of his calls or texts?” she prods.

“Nope,” I confirm, popping the p for emphasis. “And I have absolutely no intention of doing so. ”

I’m actually quite proud of myself for point-blank ignoring Liam. The thought of answering a call or responding to his grovelling messages by telling him exactly what I think of his lying, cheating ass is tempting, sure; but I refuse to allow myself the momentary satisfaction.

Knowing him as well as I do - which apparently doesn’t count for much, since I never saw this coming - I know that harsh words won’t hurt him. After all, he’d still be getting my attention and energy that way.

No; my disappearance from his life and my lack of response to his attempts to reach out will be what hurts him most.

“Thank god for that,” Laura comments. “Although he deserves for you to read him to filth as an absolute minimum, honestly.”

“As much as I would really love to, it’s not worth it,” I explain. “He’s a man-sized toddler, and any attention - be it positive or negative - is still attention. He thrives on it. It’s better to take it away from him altogether.”

Laura eyeballs me for a moment before smirking. “Clever,” she says. “I like it.”

“Well, you know me,” I tease.

“That I do. And you know, as much as I know that this hurts like hell right now, he actually did you an enormous favour here. Right? Because imagine an alternate reality where you moved in with him. Where you started an actual life together - fuck, even one where you actually had a family with him prior to him pulling a stunt like this?”

“That’s a very good point,” I tell her. “I didn’t even think about that.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” she smiles, breaking apart a spring roll. “All that being said… how are you really doing?”

I shrug, stabbing a piece of chicken with my fork. “I’m fine. ”

Alright, perhaps I stabbed the chicken a little too forcefully for that to be believable.

Laura raises an eyebrow, her expression skeptical. “Liv, come on. You walked in on your boyfriend of almost two years cheating on you. Like, dick-inside-another-woman cheating,” she says, as if I need reminding. “That’s not something you just bounce back from.”

“I know,” I admit, leaning back into the couch. “I’m… angry. Of course. But I’m obviously really hurt, too. More than anything, I feel kind of - stuck, I guess. Lost, maybe. Like, what do I even do now?”

Laura chews thoughtfully. “You could key his car.”

I let out a snort of laughter. “Tempting, but no.”

“Fine,” she says, grinning. “In all seriousness, I can’t even imagine how this must feel. Fucking hell - you were supposed to be moving in together in a couple of weeks.”

“I know,” I frown.

Silence passes between us for a few beats. The comfortable kind, of course - it’s always the comfortable kind with Laura.

“You know what? Maybe this isn’t a bad thing after all,” she says suddenly, breaking the quiet that had settled around us. “I mean, come on, just look at you already. You’re young, beautiful, and you’ve got no ties to that loser anymore, thank god. Plus, we both know you’re miserable in your job. The firm has gone to shit ever since Rob retired in the summer. Maybe this is your chance to have a fresh start.”

A fresh start.

The words hang in the air like smoke.

“Hm,” I say - just so I can say something.

After all, I don’t really know how to respond .

“Want to watch something?” Laura asks, reaching for the remote and cutting off my thoughts. “Maybe it’ll help to take your mind off of everything.”

I chew on some more of my food as I nod my head. “Sure,” I say. “I’ll try anything once.”

Laura snickers as she flicks through Netflix, humming under her breath before landing on Emily in Paris .

“Have you ever watched this?” she asks.

“Never.”

“What?! You can’t be serious!”

I laugh. “Honestly, no.”

“Hmm. Well, it’s ridiculous and full of clichés, but you know what - I think you’ll love it. Plus, Emily makes everything worse for herself, so it’s a nice reminder that at least you’re not her.”

The opening scene rolls, and I sink further into Laura’s couch. About ten minutes in, my best friend glances over at me with a mischievous smile.

“You know,” she says, popping a piece of pork into her mouth, “you could do something like that.”

“Like what?”

“Move away. Start over somewhere new.”

Her words hit me like a slap and a hug all at once.

I mean… She’s not wrong.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say, laughing nervously. “I can’t just pack up my life and leave.”

“Why not?” she counters, her tone matter-of-fact. “You’re miserable at work. You only have a few weeks to find somewhere new to live before your lease ends, and you’re freshly single. There’s literally nothing tying you to Manchester anymore. So, what’s stopping you?”

I open my mouth to argue a point, but nothing comes out.

What is stopping me?

Laura grins triumphantly. “Exactly. Think about it, Liv. France, Spain, Italy… the possibilities are endless. Ideally somewhere sunny, though. Somewhere with great wine and no cheating ex-boyfriends.”

“Don’t be daft. That sounds like something from a movie,” I say, shaking my head.

But the idea plants itself in my mind, stubborn and unshakable.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Laura says, nudging me with her elbow. “It could be your life.”

We fall silent, the episode playing in the background as Emily fumbles her way through some disastrous situation. I can’t concentrate, though; not as Laura’s words loop in my head so much louder than the dialogue on the screen.

Nothing’s tying you to Manchester anymore.

∞∞∞

That night, I lie in bed staring at the cracks in the ceiling of my bedroom.

It’s late, and my apartment is incredibly quiet. The muffled hum of the fridge in the kitchen is the only sound, and though I’ve tried to distract myself with other things, Laura’s words still echo in my mind .

Nothing’s tying you to Manchester anymore.

I shift under the covers, turning the thought over and over.

She’s right, isn’t she?

There’s nothing here for me. My job as a legal assistant just about covers the bills, and I hate it anyway, especially since my old boss left a few months ago. Liam’s betrayal has obliterated any semblance of stability I thought I had, and since everything had been organised and agreed for a while now, my landlord has already found a new tenant to move into this apartment. That means I’ve got to find somewhere new to live - and pronto.

But there’s nothing necessarily keeping me living here.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I reach for my phone from the bedside table and open the browser. My fingers hover over the screen for a moment, then I type.

Flights to Spain .

The results flood the screen—Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia. Not really knowing where to begin, I scroll through the impossibly cheap one-way tickets.

Madrid catches my eye first. I’ve never been, although I vaguely remember a friend from university raving about how amazing the city is.

I start to do the mental math, then stop myself. I don’t need to. The savings from my dad’s estate are still sitting untouched in my account, waiting for me to figure out what to do with them.

He’d always said it was meant to give me options. I’m not quite sure that this exact scenario was what he had in mind, but…

“What are you doing, Olivia?” I whisper to myself, staring at the screen .

My thumb hovers over the book now button.

I think of Liam, and it’s all I can picture in my mind - the way his face twisted in guilt when I walked in on him.

I think of work, of gray walls, a freezing shared office space, of shitty coffee and the way every day feels like I’m just going through the motions.

And then I think of Laura’s laughter, of her grinning at me.

“It doesn’t have to be a movie. It could be your life.”

My chest tightens with fear and exhilaration.

What if she’s right? What if this could be my life?

Without letting myself hesitate any longer, I input my bank card details and tap “ book now .”

A confirmation screen appears.

I stare at it for a long moment, half expecting the world to tilt or time to stop. But everything stays the same, except now there’s a strange, unfamiliar lightness in my chest.

I’m really doing this.

I put my phone down and lie back against the pillows, my mind racing.

Spain .

A new country, a new start.

It feels reckless and terrifying - but it also feels good. And for the first time in weeks, I drift off to sleep with a faint smile on my lips.