Chapter 26
26
T he rest of the day had gone by. Logan had been busy at the manor and Cally had worked a short shift on the chatbot and then for Birdie on a late order, so she’d not seen Logan and it hadn’t been an issue. Now, the next day, it was time for push to come to shove. Slipping her phone out of her pocket, her heart hammered in her chest. She made a determined tap on Logan’s number and sighed as she waited for him to pick up,
Logan answered cheerily. ‘Morning. I was just about to text you. How are you? I missed you.’
‘Morning. I’m fine.’ Cally's reply was short and clipped.
‘You okay?’
‘No, I’m not okay. Not at all. Everything's not alright. We need to talk. Can you come over, please? I think it's time we had a real, honest conversation about, well, about pretty much everything, really.’
There was a long pause. ‘What? What do you want to talk to me about? You sound weird. What’s happened?’
Cally felt tears at the corners of her eyes. ‘Can you just come over? I’ll tell you when you get here. It’s important. Really important.’
‘Alright, I’ll be there soon,’ Logan replied, his voice tinged with concern.
As she hung up, Cally felt a mixture of relief and dread at the same time. She’d kept silent long enough and had told herself once the races were over, she’d let Logan know exactly what she knew. She paced the room as she waited to hear his car at the back of the deli. About twenty minutes later, she listened to his footsteps on the stairs. Her heart skipped a beat as she heard his key to her flat go into the lock.
Logan stepped in, his expression a mix of concern and confusion. ‘Hey. You sounded awful on the phone. What’s going on?’
‘I sounded awful because I am awful.’
‘You’re worrying me. What’s happened? Let me make a cup of tea, and then you can tell me.’
‘No need for tea. Tea is the last thing I want.’
‘I’ll make you a blackcurrant.’
‘You’re not making me anything.’ Cally hissed.
‘What is it? It can’t be that bad. What's going on? What's wrong?'
Cally tutted. 'What's wrong? Why don't you tell me , Logan? Why don't you tell me about the little secret you've been keeping from me all this time?'
Logan narrowed his eyes. ‘What?’
Without a word, Cally scrolled to the picture of Logan’s marriage certificate on her phone and handed it to him. Logan’s expression changed as he registered the picture and what it meant. All the colour drained from his face.
‘Where did you find this?’
‘Amongst a load of old documents when I was working for Nina.’
Logan looked up and closed his eyes for a second. ‘I can explain.’
Cally shook her head. ‘I don’t see how you can explain that you didn’t tell me about this. It’s quite the detail that you forgot to tell me about.’
Logan’s eyes darted between Cally and the marriage certificate. He ran a hand through his hair. ‘This is not how I wanted you to find out. Not at all.’
‘Find out what? That you’re married? That you’ve been lying to me? Both of the above. What else don’t I know about?’
‘No, it’s not like that. I was married. To Cassia. But it was a long time ago. We’re not together anymore, obviously. Like it was years ago. It meant nothing. I was young and stupid. It was over right away after a few months and we split up. I did it on a whim. You can see that by the date on there. It was just us. No big celebration or anything.’
‘Then why didn’t you tell me? Why keep it a secret?’
Logan sighed, his shoulders slumping. ‘It’s complicated. It ended badly, and I just wanted to move on, to start fresh. When I met you, I didn’t tell you and the longer I left it, the worse it got, so I did nothing.’
Cally stared at him and shook her head. ‘You should have told me. I deserved to know.’ Cally's voice was cold, unforgiving.
‘I know. I was going to, but I kept putting it off. And then things got serious between us, and it just became harder to bring up. I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.’
Cally took a step back, trying to process his words. ‘Do you still have contact with her? With Cassia?’
‘No! We haven’t spoken in years. The divorce was finalised a long time ago. I’ve moved on, and so has she.’
Cally wasn’t so sure about that. ‘Why did you never mention her? Not even once! Like you were married, for heaven’s sake. It’s major!’
Logan shook his head. ‘At first, it wasn’t important because, well, you know, and then I thought you’d think less of me, that it would change how you felt about us. I know it was wrong to keep it from you, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. Plus, it means nothing.’
‘I need some time to think about this, Logan. This is a lot to take in. I don’t know if I can do this.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I’m just not sure I want to continue. I think you should go now. At least it’s out in the open.’
‘Please, let me talk about it.’
'I trusted you. I trusted you with, like, my whole life. And now I find out that you've been keeping this huge, secret from me all along. I stood at that stupid race event knowing that everyone knew, but they thought I didn’t. How am I supposed to believe anything you say, anything you promise, ever again?'
‘Don’t be ridiculous! No one even remembers it. You’re totally overreacting! It means nothing.’ Logan took a step forward. He reached out to grasp her arm, but Cally jerked away, her whole body recoiling from his touch as if it burned. 'Don't touch me. Don't try to explain, justify or make excuses. I can't bear it, actually.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘I can’t believe I actually trusted you. I feel like things are falling apart around me.'
Cally hated the weakness and abhorred feeling vulnerable. She’d spent so long, her whole life being strong, self-sufficient, and unbreakable. With Logan, she’d let her guard down. Now, it all felt like an illusion. She remembered how she’d felt as if being with Logan had clicked a missing piece of the puzzle, that was her heart, back into place. Now, she hated to admit that she felt as if, at least from her side, they would never fit together quite the same way as they had before.
‘I need time and space to process all this and figure out what it means for us. No, not for us, for me. You know what, Logan Henry-Hicks?' Cally yelled, like really yelled. No doubt the whole of the third smallest town in the country heard her. ‘I don’t care about you! All I care about is me!’
‘Well, that much is obvious.’ With that Henry-Hicks turned on his heels and left.