Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
WREN
Alex answered the door straight away, looking dishevelled and hollow-eyed. He didn’t look filled with panic though, so she assumed Laura wasn’t in the building.
‘Come in,’ he said, and she did.
The kitchen was less tidy than usual, which was odd considering how much of a neat freak Alex usually was – there were piles of papers and correspondence on the breakfast counter, and some half-eaten plates of food. Plates of healthy, plant-based food, of course, but half-eaten all the same.
She got straight to the point. ‘I want us to decide what we’re doing with the house,’ she said.
As soon as she’d left the hospital, she’d gone straight to a letting agency and furiously signed a contract for the first furnished flat they had available.
His face grew pained. ‘Wren, please, we haven’t even… we haven’t even spoken about us .’
‘What us ?’ she barked, incredulous. ‘There is no us. There’s you and Laura. And then me. Who now needs to pay for somewhere else to live, so we need to come to some arrangement.’
His tortured expression turned rapidly into a sneer. ‘Just you? What about that guy in the hospital: your friend from our holiday? Speaking of which, we need to talk about how you’re going to pay me back for my share.’
She gaped at him. ‘Your share? So much for saying I needn’t worry about it. Well, I suppose you can take it out of whatever you owe me to buy me out of the house. And as for Nick, I can’t believe you’ve got the nerve to say anything about him, considering you’ve already settled down with someone new.’
She flushed at even the mention of Nick's name. She still couldn’t believe he had been standing right there in the hospital lobby. Of all the times she’d wished to see him again, the fates had manifested him at the worst possible moment.
His nostrils flared. ‘I begged you to come back to me – you know I wanted to make us work.’
‘But why ? You’ve clearly got feelings for your new girlfriend. Why the hell would you try negotiating with me? I’d have thought us breaking up would be exactly what you wanted.’
He mashed his hands against his eyes. ‘It’s not that simple. Wren, we’ve been together for so long, we’ve got the house, friends, a life. We’re practically married in all but the paperwork. I couldn’t just…’ He ran out of steam and looked at her pleadingly.
What the hell was he trying to achieve with all this agonising? Which of his ‘girlfriends’ did he actually want? Not that it would have made any difference to her because, after all, she’d fallen for Nick. And now, standing here, she realised it was the first time she’d given her feelings a name. She’d fallen for Nick, and she’d lost him all over again when she’d walked out of the hospital. All because of this piece of work. Her heart was of two halves – aching for Nick and rock solid in the face of Alex.
‘It’s over, Alex. Get your head around it.’ She pushed her shoulders back and breathed deeply. ‘I just want us to agree how we’re going to deal with the house, then we can get on with our lives.’
‘I’m not selling,’ he said abruptly. ‘This is my home. I’m not moving out.’
‘Alex,’ she said, trying to keep her tone the gentle side of exasperated. ‘You can’t afford this house on your salary. Neither could I. It’s a joint income kind of figure. So I’m sorry, but unless you can buy me out and find a way to continue the monthly payments, then it’s our only option.’ And hopefully a quick one, she thought, knowing that the small amount of savings she’d put aside wouldn’t cover many months of rent on her new place.
He folded his arms over his chest and glared at the floor, jaw clenched. It irritated Wren to see how obstinate he was being, but then he’d always been like this – just now, she could look at him objectively and see how unreasonable and childish he could be.
The piles of papers caught her eye and she realised they were mortgage documents and letters. Despite his petty reluctance to talk to her about it, he’d clearly been thinking along the same lines.
She picked up a sheaf of paper. ‘Alex, please. I can see that you’ve thought about it, and you know the numbers don’t add up.’ She waved the papers then thumbed through them. Statements, circulars, all kinds of communication from the mortgage lender were in there. But one in particular caught her eye.
Dear Mr Black,
Further to your enquiry about the process for transfer of equity and the addition of a new borrower to your current mortgage product, please find attached…
The date was more than six weeks ago. When they’d still been together. Getting on and in love – or so she’d thought. The papers fell from her hands, and the one she’d read fluttered to Alex’s feet. His eyes widened.
She let out a harsh breath of laughter. ‘My God. I thought you were an arsehole this afternoon. But I was wrong. You’re the fucking Antichrist!’
He avoided her eyes, a flush spreading over his chiselled cheekbones.
‘You’ve been seeing her for ages, haven’t you? And you’ve been making your little plans to move her in, to make sure you covered yourself financially before you dared give me the boot. Got all your ducks in a row. I mean… how fucking cold-blooded is that?’
Edie had been right about trust. All the times Alex had questioned her faithfulness, he’d been applying his own shitty moral compass to her.
‘It was just for information,’ he blustered. ‘I could tell you were thinking of leaving, and I wanted to know all of my options. Just in case.’
‘Sure, Alex. Well, now I’m out of the picture, you can crack on.’
His mouth pinched. ‘She… she hasn’t agreed to move in. Yet.’
Wren picked up her bag and hooked it over her shoulder. ‘You’d best start working your charm then. I know now why you wanted me to stay so much. Not because you love me, but because I make the books balance if she won’t sign on the dotted line. Well, it’s time you got yourself a new investor.’
And with that, she walked out of Alex’s house and out of his life forever.
She’d barely reached the bus stop at the bottom of the road when she sat down heavily on a low garden wall. It was all too overwhelming. There was simply too much for her head to process. Libby and the baby. Poor Edie dying. Her mam and the truth she hadn’t had time to properly digest. Her fresh start away from Alex. And Nick. Lovely Nick, who’d come into her life like a dream, far away in another country, so that it seemed almost unreal. And then he’d been there, just today, as solid and real as any man, and she’d just walked away. The amount of things swirling around her mind almost made her dizzy. She didn’t think she could take any more. And then her phone rang.
‘Wren,’ came the soothing tones of Zara’s voice down the line. ‘I’m afraid I’ve got some more bad news.’