Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
This was surreal. She was in a pub. With Adam. On a Saturday night. How had this happened?
They were sequestered in the corner of the White Lion, just as he had promised. Felicity kept thinking how sneaky and cunning it was of him to suggest this place, which had been their favourite, back in the day, even though it had now gone all up-market and bistro-style.
Adam never does anything that isn’t calculated , thought Felicity. And then she chastised herself for being so cynical. Try and enjoy it , she told herself. Try and relax.
They were sitting in a small, dark oak booth. It smelled of stale beer and woodsmoke from the fire roaring away nearby, and the buzz of people chatting around them was just loud enough to make it feel like they had their own little bubble of privacy. It was only punctuated occasionally by the young, dark, and very attractive waitress who had clearly taken a liking to Adam and seemed to be coming to check on their table rather more often than was strictly necessary.
As they chatted, Felicity watched a bead of condensation making its way down her icy glass of sloe gin, served just as she liked it over plenty of ice. She was used to Adam being flirted with, and she was long past feeling jealous. It was more of an irritation really, which – she realised – must mean she wanted to hear what he had to say rather more than she had expected to. Weirdly, at the same time she also felt guilty about James. Nothing had been agreed, nothing had been discussed, they’d only ever managed one non-date and he had let her down badly today, but she still felt guilty for being out with Adam. Like she wanted to check for hidden cameras and was utterly convinced her phone microphone was going to switch itself on and somehow convey this whole conversation to him through the ether. Which was ridiculous on so many levels. Besides, it was James who had encouraged her to sort things out with him in the first place. Right?
The waitress finally moved off, but not before she’d touched Adam on the arm, Felicity noticed, with a hint of admiration. Classic technique that . Adam didn’t seem to notice. He took a sip of his gin and tonic and gave Felicity a long, meaningful look. He did look good. She’d give him that. Not as tired as the other day. And the firelight was doing wonders for his chestnut skin and chiselled features. Her cheeks grew warm as an unwanted and rather X-rated memory flashed into her mind.
‘So, you’ve opened the box, I take it?’ he said, breaking into that chain of thought.
‘Eventually,’ she said. ‘It’s really beautiful.’
She found herself digging it out of her bag and handing it over. Was that the thing to do? Clearly not.
He waved it back towards her. ‘It’s for you,’ he said. ‘Please, keep it.’
She stared down at the little blue box. ‘But, Adam, I… I just don’t get it. Why would you show up out of nowhere and give me a ring like this? I mean, you nearly gave Andrea a heart attack, she thought you were bloody proposing!’
He laughed then, a little too hard.
‘Well, even if that was my intention, you’ve put paid to that one, haven’t you!’
That doesn’t exactly answer my question .
‘I’ve put paid to it? You were the one who showed up at my work, with a ring. On New Year’s Eve. Talk about a weird vibe.’
Adam shrugged. ‘It was meant to be romantic.’
He took another sip of his drink and Felicity followed suit, mainly so she had something to do other than stare incredulously.
‘So,’ he continued, and she looked up sharply. ‘If I had proposed, what would you have said, exactly?’
Felicity’s chest tightened.
‘I would have said, “What the hell are you playing at?” I would have said, “You’ve got to be joking,” that’s what I would have said. Don’t you remember how we left things? What I said? How I behaved? You can’t just pretend that didn’t happen.’
Shame washed over her at the memory, and she held the cool drink against her cheek.
‘I can hardly blame you,’ he said. ‘I was bloody cheating on you, after all.’
The blood rushed to her ears in that moment as if she’d been ruthlessly hurled off the top diving board. Backwards.
‘Wait – what?’
Adam shifted in his seat. ‘I mean, I was cheating on you, Fliss. I deserved whatever I got back then. I can hardly blame you for reacting the way you did.’
Felicity’s mind was racing and for a moment she felt like she might faint.
‘What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean you were cheating? You’ve always denied it. You made me… you made me feel so terrible!’
Adam looked around furtively, his face panicked. Felicity, meanwhile, found she was halfway to standing up, fists clenched, adrenaline pumping.
‘Come on, Fliss, sit down. Let’s talk about this. We can talk about this.’
She dropped into her seat; fists still tight.
‘Don’t call me Fliss. You were cheating on me? You actually were cheating that whole time?’ Her voice rose as the emotion slammed over her like a wave.
‘I thought you knew that?’ he replied nervously. ‘Hell, I’ve been with her the whole time since. How could you not know that?’
‘You what?!’ It was out before she could stop herself. A couple on a nearby table gave her a sharp look and she waved her hand in apology.
‘Let me get this straight,’ she hissed across the table and Adam looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world. ‘You were cheating on me that Christmas and you’ve been with that person ever since? Have I got that right?’
Adam looked sheepish. ‘I honestly thought you knew.’
‘No. No, I did not know. Isn’t it obvious from my reaction that I didn’t know? Is this the face of a person who knew this information, Adam?’
‘But… surely you did? When you saw that text message and put two and two together, I knew the game was up. You always were so clever, Brooks.’
‘Don’t you bloody “Brooks” me either,’ she hissed. ‘Now is not the time. You let me feel bad all this time, like I’d treated you so unfairly. You let me believe it was me being the bastard, when you knew it was something I would never ever want to do to anyone. Oh, I’m so mad at you.’
She was. As she said it, half in jest, she realised how furious she really was. Her hands were shaking. And then something else dawned on her and a cold sensation prickled her spine.
‘When I saw you at the shelter the other day, you didn’t set me straight. Why not? Or when we went for coffee for that matter.’
‘I tried, honest. I was trying. And then your bloody designer-glasses-air-kissing friend turned up.’
‘That’s no excuse at all. You should have tried harder.’
And then as clear as if it had been whispered in her ear, an ominous thought arrived. Her palms were sweating. She virtually spat the words at him.
‘And this? What was this ring for? My birthday, I suppose. Or was it never meant for me at all?’
Adam went pale and looked down at the box. She could see his mind doing some very rapid panicky calculations . Let’s see you smooth talk your way out of this one.
‘Tell me…’ she said slowly, unable to look at him now, ‘…tell me you didn’t buy this ring for someone else.’
Adam actually squirmed in his seat like a small boy and Felicity’s stomach fell through the floor.
‘I didn’t… I mean, I did but not in the way you think. I made a mistake. I…’
Felicity felt more and more cross with every word. Beyond cross.
‘Adam, tell me the truth.’
‘I’m trying. Really, I am. I don’t know what you want me to say. Whatever I say is going to be wrong here, isn’t it?’
That old chestnut. Felicity was ready to throw something at him.
Instead, she drew breath into her lungs and then, very slowly and very clearly, enunciating every word, fingers and thumbs pressed together for extra emphasis like an Italian nonna, she said: ‘Just. Tell. Me. I’m. Not. Your. Back. Up. Plan.’
Adam looked pained but, unbelievably, he still didn’t seem to be able to find the words. She didn’t need him to. All the pieces were thudding into place, like iron weights. How could she have been so stupid? The girls were going to have a field day with this.
Felicity stood up sharply, so sharply that the table flipped upwards and what remained of their drinks ended up in Adam’s lap. He leapt up with a cry of indignation as the ice soaked his crotch, but she was already halfway out of the door.