Chapter 27
27
She shouldn’t have been surprised that he let her walk out like that. That was Drew to a tee. Backed into a corner, and somehow, he turned it around so that she was the unreasonable one. Well, screw that. She was right in this situation. 100 per cent right.
Considering the watermelon-sized protrusion from her belly and the fact that she was ravenous with hunger, she was walking at an impressive pace towards the Tube station. A clearness to the air hinted at an icy night to come. This was the moment she wished she had brought a coat. Or a jumper. Damned Drew. Why the hell would he let his pregnant wife storm off into the middle of London mid-winter with no coat? No doubt, he would go upstairs and have a good old giggle with Polly and Barry and polish off whatever free booze was left. Well, good luck on buying a round once it was all gone. She smiled inwardly as she headed towards the Underground. His wallet was still in her handbag, as was his phone. Maybe she could see if his credit card could stretch to a first-class train ticket home.
Drew had no desire to go back into the party, but that didn’t change that he needed a drink. As such, he followed the signs to the main hotel bar and pulled out a stool. When he finally got the barman’s attention, he ordered himself a large whisky. He would put it on the room. Just another massive waste of money when they barely had enough to get through Christmas as it was. He should have known Sarah wasn’t really on board with the project. Not like she said she was. Even now, even after all the time they had invested in the book, she still didn’t think it would work. Not that she’d ever say that, of course, but actions spoke louder than words and, right now, her actions were singing from the rooftops.
He took a sip of the drink and let the heat burn the back of his throat. Talk about an over-reaction. Anyone in their right mind would have seen that he did what he did to save her some embarrassment. That was all. Okay, in the long run, it hadn’t worked out quite the way he had hoped, but really.
‘I’ve been looking for you.’
Drew didn’t bother turning his head as Polly slipped onto the bar stool next to him.
‘Is everything okay? Where’s Sarah?’
‘Somewhere on the Underground by now, I expect.’ Drew took another mouthful of drink.
‘I’ll have the same as him,’ Polly said when the barman appeared in front of them. Drew snorted into his glass. Of course, he would appear to serve her a drink without her so much as nodding in his direction. Drew had needed to wave his hand and bob up and down on his stool for the best part of five minutes before anyone took his order.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Polly rested her hand on Drew’s knee. ‘I had no idea she didn’t know. Honestly. The way you talked about it. About her. I assumed you didn’t have any secrets like that.’
‘Well, you assumed wrong,’ Drew said, still not moving his gaze from the rust-coloured liquid at the bottom of his glass. His heavy sigh dissipated into the air around him. What was he even doing here? he thought to himself. He should at least head upstairs to the party and commiserate with the free booze. The thing was, he didn’t feel much in the party spirit now.
With a broad smile that was entirely different from the nonchalant apathy with which he had looked at Drew, the barman placed Polly’s drink down in front of her, along with the black, folded wallet containing the bill.
‘I’ll get it,’ Drew said, sliding it back to him.
‘You don’t have to do that.’ Polly placed her hand on top of his. ‘I feel terrible enough as it is.’
Drew snorted. ‘It’s not your fault. Trust me, this whole disaster is of my own making. Well, mine and Barry’s. I owe you a drink. It was my wife who swore at you in front of the entire company.’
‘To be fair, I did already know she had a way with words.’ Polly gave a short chuckle that Drew just couldn’t find it in himself to reciprocate.
He slipped his hand out from under hers and moved his attention across to the barman.
‘Just put her drinks on my room bill,’ he said.
The barman smiled. It wasn’t exactly genuine, with his pulled tight lips and smarmy glint in his eyes. If anything, it was more of a sneer than a smile. But what did Drew care about a barman? He didn’t. He didn’t care about anything right now.
‘You got a room?’ Polly said, bringing Drew’s thoughts out of his pit of misery before they could slump down any lower. ‘Fancy.’
‘A waste of money more like.’
‘You planned a romantic night?’
‘And look how well that turned out.’
‘Look,’ she said, pushing at his knee and causing the stool to swivel around so that Drew was now looking her square in the face. ‘Maybe it isn’t a bad thing that everything came out like this,’ she said. ‘For Sarah, that is.’
‘Really?’ Drew took another mouthful of his drink. He’d be needing another one in a minute. ‘How do you figure that?’
‘Well… think of it this way. Why did you lie to her in the first place?’
‘I didn’t lie.’ Drew was staunchly defensive on the matter.
‘You didn’t tell her that everyone had read her email. It’s lying by omission, Drew, but it is still lying.’
‘I only did that so she wouldn’t be hurt.’
‘Really?’
‘Why else?’
A pause lingered and expanded as Polly held the question without an answer. Slowly, she ran her tongue around her lips before opening her mouth to speak.
‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but the way I see it, and I could be wrong and everything… I just think not telling her about the email was a pretty big thing to hide from her. I mean, you could have got fired. You nearly did get fired. I’m guessing you didn’t tell her that part either?’
Drew pressed his lips together, giving Polly the answer she already knew was coming.
‘Exactly. You see?—’
‘You’ve got to understand?—’
‘Oh, I do. I understand.’ Polly’s hand landed back on his leg, an inch or two above his knee. ‘I completely understand. I do. And I think you’re amazing. The way you tried to protect her from all that. It’s what a great husband does.’
A guttural grunt spluttered in Drew’s throat. He was pretty certain that wasn’t how Sarah was seeing it right now.
With a squeeze on his thigh, Polly brought him back to the moment. ‘Sometimes, you need to step back from it all. Drew. You need to take time away. You need a chance to be yourself.’
‘You think I’m not myself?’
‘To be honest, sometimes I even wonder if you know who you truly are any more.’
There was something about the way she looked at him as she spoke that prickled the hairs on the back of his neck. Her words, soft and languid, just like that was how words were supposed to be spoken. And she was right. For all Sarah complained about not knowing who she was any more, it wasn’t like this was exactly the life he would have mapped out for himself either.
‘With all the children and everything at work, when was the last time you actually got to cut loose?’ Polly questioned. ‘Really enjoyed yourself?’
‘Cutting loose isn’t really my thing.’
‘Cutting loose is everyone’s thing. You have to. At least once in a while. Go on, think about it. When did you last have fun?’
Drew thought it over. He had gone for a steak with one of his old friends at the beginning of the year. It was a great steak, and the ales were good too, even if they were extortionate, but that probably wasn’t what Polly meant by cutting loose. The problem was that the next day, he had needed to look after George while Sarah ran Eva over to some club or another, so a wild night just wasn’t on the cards. He was pretty sure wild nights were never on the cards any more.
‘Exactly.’ Polly spoke as if she had somehow managed to read his thoughts. Another shift in her fingers meant that her hand was now definitely resting above his knee. If anything, it was encroaching on his groin region. A lump formed in Drew’s throat. Anyone’s hand that high on his leg was a little uncomfortable, let alone a work colleague’s. She probably hadn’t noticed, though, he thought. Maybe she had had a few too many, although she was perfectly articulate. Some people were just like that, though. Drunk yet articulate. What he needed to do was find a way to make her notice where her hand was without making her feel awkward about the situation. Swallowing profusely, he shuffled slightly in the hope of loosening her grasp. To his surprise, her gripped tightened, moving up again. She squeezed gently into the top of his leg.
‘You still have the room booked, don’t you?’ she said, leaning in and whispering in his ear. ‘How about I show you what it really feels like to cut loose?’
A cooling sensation prickled across Drew’s skin. It turned out she knew exactly where her hand was after all.