Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
BETTSY
I’m exhausted. All I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep for days—weeks even. But I can’t. There’s too much going on and the desperation to hear from Ellie is intense.
Ever since she left the rink this morning, I’ve been checking my phone on the off-chance that I’ve missed a text or a call or something.
Has she spoken with Kathryn yet? What did she say? Did she get her money back? Because I swear to God, I’ll drive there tonight and have a word with her sister myself, if I have to.
But realistically, I can’t do that. Not if I want to keep my balls because Liam’s stag-do is a non-negotiable, even when it comes to errant sisters.
“Do you want another beer?” Hutch says from the sofa.
He’s lounging, nursing a beer while I iron both of our shirts; I’m leaning awkwardly over a far-too-low ironing board with a flowery cover—courtesy of my mother.
“Does a penalty box have walls?” I say before pressing my lips together as I hunch lower to attack a particularly stubborn crease .
Moments later, Hutch hands me a beer and I hand him his shirt, reaching for my own when there’s a knock at the door and since I’m busy, I don’t protest when Hutch disappears to answer it.
“It’s your sister,” he calls.
I wasn’t expecting Kelly.
I set the iron on its end and move away from the board as she comes into view. She’s wearing her work uniform, her name badge fastened to a fleece, which she takes off and drapes across the back of the sofa.
“Kel,” I say. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, Johnny said you wanted to see me?”
Fucking Johnny. This is his way of saying ‘tell her before I do’ and considering she looks indifferent; I figure he hasn’t uttered a word.
Part of me wonders if I can get away with playing dumb until Hutch saunters back into the room, clad in his freshly ironed shirt.
“How’s life, Kel? Fancy Bettsy’s news, huh?”
She pulls her brows together and gapes at me. “News? What news?”
“I—”
“I’m going to check in on Ffordey,” Hutch says, making a swift exit stage left, letting the apartment door slam behind him.
“What’s going on?” Kelly says. “Are you okay? Did something happen?”
I move back to the ironing board, straightening my shirt against the edge and getting to work on the sleeves.
“Mike?” she prompts. “You’re scaring me.”
I wince, then set the iron back on its heel, before I shift my focus to my sister.
“Do you want a drink or something?” I ask.
“I’ve got work.” She pauses, tilting her head to the side. “Do you … think I need a dr ink?”
I shake my head. Because if there’s anyone who will understand, it’s Kelly.
“Remember Ellie?” I say, breezily. “Who lived next door?”
“Yeah … what about her?” She pauses, blinking a few times. “Wait—did she get in touch about that silly pact you made? The marriage one?”
I titter. Because now Kelly’s said it out loud, I realise how silly this all is.
“Nah, but she did reach out.” I pick the iron back up and run it over the back of my shirt. “Turns out…” I cast Kelly a look, keeping my eyes settled on hers as she waits. Patient as ever. “Yeah, so … turns out we might’ve got married when we were eighteen.”
I expect questions. Gasps. Exclamations of horror. But she doesn’t blink. Doesn’t move. It’s like she’s buffering.
I look back down at my shirt, adjusting it while I wait.
Still buffering.
I finish ironing the shirt before I decide to prompt her.
“Kel? Are you going to say something?”
“You … you got married?”
“Well, we think so—” I fill in her in the on the details while I pull off my tee and slip my arms into my shirt.
The Germany trip. The ferry ride. The wedding experience…
I come to a natural pause, waiting for her to respond.
She blinks. Starts. Then purses her lips.
“Okay,” she says, eventually. “Couple of things.”
“Shoot.”
“Number one,” she holds a finger up. “How do you not remember getting married?”
“I remember the experience,” I say. “But we both thought it was just that. An experience. And then Ellie saw a video online and?—”
“Two,” she says, holding up a second finger, cutting me off. “I thought she was engaged—oh, my God, is that why she reached out? Because she’s due to get married and?—”
“No. I said she reached out because she saw a video online. And she’s not engaged.”
But Kelly’s clearly not paying my words much attention. She paces instead and because I’m lost for things to say, I watch her.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
Eventually, there’s a knock on the door and Kelly turns on the spot and strides towards it, pulling it open to find Johnny on the other side.
She says nothing to him. She simply resumes her pacing, letting him close the door as he lets himself inside.
“I take it you told her then?” he says, slipping onto one of the bar stools.
I offer him a ‘what do you think’ look.
“Right,” he mutters, and because I don’t know what else to do, I move to the fridge to grab Johnny a beer.
We both watch Kelly pace. Like she’s doing a sponsored walk or something. And I’m close to intervening for the sake of my floor when she comes to an abrupt stop. Pivoting on the spot to face me.
“What now, Mike?” she says. “Do Mam and Dad know?”
I open my mouth to speak, but she’s not done.
“Are you getting an annulment? Is it even real? Have you spoken to a solicitor? Because I assume she doesn’t want to stay married if she’s engaged.”
Johnny’s eyebrows shoot up.
“She’s not engaged,” I say. “I found the wrong profile before.”
Johnny sets his beer down. “Before? What do you mean, before?”
I blow out a breath before telling him about the pact and my Facebook stalking experience.
“Well, that’s a relief,” Kelly says. “But you can get an annulment, right? You can square this all away.”
But my non-answer is answer enough.
Kelly gapes at me .
“You’ve…” She swallows. “You’ve slept with her,” she says. “Oh, my God.” She covers her mouth with her hands, her eyebrows practically hitting the ceiling.
“In my defence, you can still get an annulment if you’ve consummated … on the grounds that the marriage was entered into without consent. And since neither Ellie nor I knew…”
“You’ve done your research,” Johnny says. “I assume this is to make things easier when you’re done doing what you’re doing?”
“But if you’ve slept with her…” Kelly says, still focused on her reveal. “You’re … not involved, are you? I mean, not realising you were married is … well… wow. But actually, getting close and?—”
But I’m fixed on what Johnny said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snap, putting my attention on Johnny.
“Well, it’s just a convenience thing, right? Once the season is over and the Team GB stuff dies down, you can go back to your lives.”
There’s a clench in my chest. What if I don’t want to ‘go back’ to my old life?
I look down at the floor.
“I knew it,” Johnny says, getting to his feet. “You’re catching feelings. Are you sure she’s not going to lead you along?”
Am I catching feelings? Well, I can’t deny it, that’s for sure. There’s something—an ache, perhaps—hung in my chest, but maybe it’s the anxiety of worrying if I’m enough.
My sister looks between us, head turning like she’s umpiring a tennis match.
“She’s not like that,” I say, turning to Kelly. “Kel, tell him she’s not like that.”
“Well, no,” she says. “I don’t think she is like that. But her sister’s a nasty piece of work, and?—”
“You were nice as pie to her earlier … even asked about setting up a double date,” I say.
“But Vicky?—”
“Oh, of course. I should have known. The pity party.”
“What happened with Vicky, Mike? Johnny, what happened with Vicky?” Kelly moves closer to Johnny, but his attention is on me.
“We just don’t want you to get hurt. We don’t want you to invest in something that isn’t long term. We just want to see you happy,” he says. “Remember when?—”
“Please don’t bring any of my exes into this,” I say. “Because this is different.”
“You said that about?—”
I flash Kelly a glare and she halts mid-sentence.
“I am happy. Why can’t you see that?” I look between my best friend and my sister, almost on the cusp of desperation.
Begging for them to understand. “And what’s more?
I could have kicked off when you told me you’d been sneaking around with my little sister, but no.
I didn’t. I let you make your own decisions and if those decisions turn into a mistake, then you know what?
It’d kill me but I’d be there. For both of you.
Because you’re my family. And I guess it was my mistake thinking the same of you. ”
I drain the rest of my beer and work the buttons on my shirt. Then I stomp over to the ironing board and pull the plug out of the wall.
“You’re right,” Johnny says. “Of course, you’re right. We just don’t want to see you getting hurt, but if you think this is something … then we’ll support you, right, Kel?”
I turn back to face them just as Kelly launches herself towards me, attacking me with the most huggiest of hugs.
“We love you, Mike. You know that. And yeah, we don’t want you to get hurt, but … we’re here for you,” she says.
Kelly steps back and smooths my collar, fussing over me like she’s the big sister.
“Thanks,” I say, batting her away. “Now are we going, Cap? Because there’s no way Liam’s getting away with not being strapped naked to a lamppost.”
Johnny stands, and I reach for my phone, frowning before slipping it into my pocket.