Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
Sorrel’s eyes widened. In her half-awake state, she’d forgotten the night before. She and Tam had… made love.
Tam snored lightly. She felt a rush of affection for him; for his body, so familiar and yet different, grown, more a man than he had been. He was heavier, stronger, but in a good way.
Sorrel put her phone back on the bedside table, intending to snuggle up to Tam’s muscular back, when the phone screen flashed and showed a text message.
Hey. Can we talk? We need to discuss the business, and me and you. I miss you. Simon x
She sat up, her heart beating fast.
The text message incensed Sorrel. I miss you.
Yeah, I bet you do, she thought, furiously. You miss your conscientious general manager, unpaid therapist and all-round life assistant.
She swore under her breath.
Tam rolled over and rubbed his eyes, then looked blearily up at her.
‘Hey. Good morning,’ he murmured, stroking her leg with his warm hand.
‘Hey,’ she said, distractedly.
‘You okay?’ Tam rolled onto his side and blinked, unfocused.
‘I’m fine.’ She kissed him softly for a moment. ‘Excuse me. Morning breath.’ She got up, took her phone to the bathroom, and sat on the edge of the bath. She didn’t want to talk to Simon now. Why did he get to decide when they had a conversation? Why did it have to be on his terms?
I’ll talk to you when I’m good and ready, she thought. And that is not now.
Is it a good time to call?
Another message flashed up on the screen.
No, Sorrel replied, but as soon as she had pressed send, the phone rang.
For god’s sake.
‘I just said it wasn’t a good time,’ she answered the phone tersely. Thanks for respecting my wishes. Consent was just a vague concept to this man.
‘Hello, Sorrel.’ It was a shock to hear Simon’s voice. It was so familiar, but she hadn’t realised how much better she’d felt not having to hear it every day. It had been so healing, not having to see him or be immersed in his negative energy.
Despite the difficulty of being back home again and the emotional situation with her parents, Sorrel still felt a thousand per cent more herself just by having her feet grounded on the honest earth of Skye and being away from Simon’s energy.
‘Hello, Simon,’ she replied politely. Not because she felt like being polite, but out of habit. You had to be polite at all times to him, otherwise he would escalate quickly into a full-on mood.
‘Finally. You’ve been ignoring me for days. I thought I’d hear from you.’ He sounded petulant.
‘Did you?’ she asked, in a sweet and curious tone.
‘We need to talk,’ he said, self-importantly.
‘You should have heard from my solicitor regarding the business,’ Sorrel replied. ‘This is not a good time to talk for me.’
‘It’s about the solicitor, among other things. Your demands are unfair,’ he began. ‘And I miss you. I want to get back together. Phil’s company has offered us a big contract. I can’t do it without you.’
Ah, now we get to it, she thought.
‘My demands are not unfair. I requested what’s mine,’ she replied, coolly. ‘If you disagree, then you can submit a counter-offer. And I’m not interested in working with Phil. I’ve told you, either we dissolve the company or you buy me out.’
‘Well, I don’t want to dissolve it.’ Simon sounded like he was pouting. ‘I think we should go to counselling. Get back to where we were.’
‘I think Teresa would be a bit uncomfortable with that,’ Sorrel said, airily. ‘Don’t you?’
‘You’re wrong about Teresa,’ he said, brusquely.
‘Oh?’ Sorrel found herself tempted to laugh. ‘Am I wrong about the twenty thousand pounds you gave her out of the business, too?’
There was a silence at the end of the line.
‘You don’t understand,’ he said, in a small voice.
This time, Sorrel actually laughed out loud.
‘Oh, Simon. I do understand. It’s not hard,’ she said.
‘Sorrel. Please. I made a mistake. More than one. I’m so deeply sorry.
’ He changed tack so quickly that Sorrel looked at the phone in her hand in surprise.
‘Listen. I’m on my way to see you. I know you’re on Skye.
I’m going to be there in a couple of hours,’ he continued.
‘I’d really appreciate us thrashing all of this out.
I can’t deal with not seeing you. Not talking to you in person. ’
‘What? Simon. I didn’t ask you to come after me.
You don’t get to just turn up without permission.
’ Sorrel was furious, but also scared. Again, Simon had absolutely no consideration of her boundaries.
She didn’t want to see him. She didn’t want to see him so much that she’d travelled twelve hours away to be apart from him. How did he know where she was?
‘Well, I’m coming. So, you can see me, or I can just wait outside your parents’ house until they let me in,’ he said. He was so matter of fact that it took her breath away.
‘My parents don’t even know you,’ she said. ‘How did you know where I was?’
‘All the more reason to get to know them,’ he replied. Sorrel realised that she could hear interference in the background: the faint hum of Simon’s car engine. ‘And I can see on your phone where you are. Your tracker is switched on. Plus, Ava told me you were in Scotland.’
Sorrel swore under her breath. She kept her phone registered with an app that Simon could consult to see where she was, in the event that she was walking or driving home alone at night, or so that he could estimate what time she’d get home based on where she was.
It was a safety thing more than anything. She hadn’t even thought about it.
‘Are you actually serious?’ she asked.
‘Yes, Sorrel. I’m on my way. I’m coming to take back what’s mine. And that includes you,’ he said. ‘I should never have let you go. I see that now. I’m sorry for everything I did. Let me explain. I need us to forgive, forget and move on. I’ll see you in two hours at your parents’ house.’
He rang off, and Sorrel found herself gazing in disbelief at her phone screen.
What?
I need us to forgive, forget and move on.
Us.
What did Simon have to forgive and forget? The use of ‘us’ irritated her. As if she was complicit in what Simon had done. No. That wasn’t fair.
Tam knocked on the door. ‘Hey. Sorrel. Are you okay?’
‘I’m okay.’ She opened the door, frowning. ‘Listen. I know this sounds weird. But I have to get back to the Inn, like, now. Is that okay?’
‘Sure. Is everything all right?’ Tam looked concerned. ‘I wasn’t listening in, I promise. But I heard the tone of your voice. Didn’t sound that happy.’
‘No, I’m fine. It was my ex.’ Sorrel picked up a towel and wrapped it around herself self-consciously.
She’d been wearing a T-shirt and panties, and she felt exposed, being semi-naked in front of Tam.
Even though they’d been intimate the night before, even though Tam had seen her naked so many, many times in the past.
‘Simon?’ Tam’s tone stayed neutral, but Sorrel still detected some tension there.
‘Yeah. He’s on his way to the Inn, apparently.
Says he wants to give things another go.
I need to talk to him. He’s never met my parents, obviously.
’ Sorrel wanted to cry, distractedly gathering her clothes.
She wanted to hurl herself into Tam’s reassuring arms and never let go.
But she couldn’t do that. She had to go and meet Simon, and put up with his bullshit.
She flailed around, pulling her clothes on in a panic.
‘Sorrel. Slow down…’ Tam reached for her, awkwardly, but the huge bed was in the way.
‘No… I have to go… I don’t want him to get there without me… Oh, damn it,’ she swore, realising that she’d put her top on inside out. She knew she was rambling, but she couldn’t focus, right then and there. The panic was all-consuming.
If she gave in to her feelings of helplessness now and dissolved in Tam’s arms, she wouldn’t have the strength to face Simon and tell him that it was over.
Because it was. It had to be. She loved Tam, and she always had. Her relationship with Simon had been nice at first, but it had been loveless for a long time. With the distance of being away, Sorrel had realised that all of Simon’s behaviour was definitely not loving.
‘I have to go. He’s going to get there before me. I have to see him…’ she trailed off.
‘Um. Sure, okay. Of course, we can head off whenever you’re ready.’ Tam turned away, pulling on his clothes from the day before.
All Sorrel really wanted to do in that moment was get back in bed with Tam and snuggle up to his broad chest, where she felt safe. But she couldn’t. There wasn’t time.
I’ll tell him in the car, she thought, as she ran water into the bath. I’ll explain everything.
But as it turned out, she didn’t have the chance to tell Tam anything.