But now, I am fully healed, and I can’t wait to enter into married life with my high-school sweetheart.
Chapter Thirty
THREE MONTHS LATER
I am sat in Bar Twelve and it is my hen night. Tori and Maggie are the only ones with me as I didn’t want a big fuss. I am still tired from having a newborn, so all I wanted to do was celebrate with my two closest friends in a low-key setting. Tori is being my maid-of-honour, and I am so glad that she listened to my wishes. She took me for a spa day today, and then we met Maggie at Bar Twelve an hour ago. I am still not drinking a lot of alcohol, so I am only on my second beverage of the evening. I don’t want to get pissed, I am quite happy with just hitting the warm fuzzy feeling that accompanies alcohol and then calling it a night.
“I still can’t believe that you didn’t want more of a fuss than this,” Tori says, talking loudly over the background noise of the music.
“I’m quite happy celebrating with my two favourite ladies at my local bar,” I reply happily.
“Yes, but you’re only going to get married once,” Tori reiterates for what feels like the thousandth time.
“Give it up, Tor,” I reply.
“Fine.” Tori takes another sip of her drink as she looks around the bar. I see her eyes rove over a table of guys next to us. They have clearly had enough to drink already as they start trying to juggle with beer mats. You would expect this from young lads, but these guys look like they are closer to their thirties in age.
“Ugh, don’t you hate it when there are imbeciles that cause a scene,” Maggie says, her eyes looking to the same group of guys. I turn my back to them as I figure that if they notice us watching then they may just try to up their antics.
“Just ignore them,” I say as I pick my glass up. I am about to take a sip of wine when one of the men stumbles into the back of me. My reactions aren’t quick enough to stop me from dropping my glass and spilling wine everywhere.
“Oops, sorry, love,” he slurs at me as his eyes go to the spilt wine all over the table.
“Don’t worry about it,” I reply, desperate not to cause a scene. Maggie however has other ideas.
“You dickhead,” she says as she gets up and comes around to my side of the table.
“Leave it, Maggie,” I say, trying to calm her down. “It was an accident.”
The guy sheepishly smiles and starts to back away. The other guys at the table all look a little shocked, but they soon erupt into laughter, quickly forgetting that they have just interrupted our evening.
“Assholes,” Maggie mutters.
“You okay?” Tori asks me.
“I’m fine. I’m just going to go to the bathroom,” I say as I get up from the table. “Anyone want me to grab a drink on my way back?”
“Yes please,” Tori and Maggie answer in unison. I pick up my handbag and make my way to the toilets to freshen myself up. I enter the ladies’ loos and grab some tissue to wipe off the slight splatters of wine from my top. As I am putting the tissue into the bin, I feel eyes on me from behind. I look into the mirror, and stood behind me is Andi, Luke’s boss. I haven’t ever been formally introduced to her, so the fact that she is staring at me makes me feel a little uncomfortable.
“Hello, Charlie,” she says, coming to stand beside me. I continue to look at her in the mirror, unwilling to take my eyes off of her for a second. She is dressed in a smart, navy-blue pant suit, and her make-up is applied perfectly. Long lashes and big lips. A look most women would kill for.
“Hello,” I answer cautiously.
“We haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Andi,” she says as she turns and holds her hand out to me. I reluctantly reach my hand out and shake hers. “Well, isn’t this a coincidence.”
“What is?” I ask, keeping my answer short.
“Seeing you here, of course.” She lets out a cackle of laughter that sounds so fake it makes my ears hurt. “I was only talking to Luke about you the other day.” Her sweet smile instantly puts me on alert. Luke never mentioned speaking to Andi, but then why would he? He doesn’t relay information about his work to me unless it’s important. And by important, I mean when work requires him to be away from home for a few nights.
“Were you?” My tone sounds bored, but I don’t want to be rude. She is still Luke’s boss.
“Yes. I was asking how you were coping with being a new mum. Luke tells me that you are struggling.”
“Did he?” This is news to me. I am shocked that Luke has told this woman anything. And not only that, why the fuck has he told her that I am struggling? I feel anger course through me. I haven’t been struggling. Yes, I am tired, but apart from that, I have been doing good as a new mother.
“Yes,” she answers. Her eyes hold mine, but I can see a slight shift in her expression. She almost looks frustrated. I don’t know what she is expecting from me, so I wait for her to get to the point of this ‘coincidental’ meeting. “Having no children myself, I am afraid that I can’t relate, but I can imagine that it is hard. All that sleep deprivation and having to cater to someone else’s needs twenty-four seven.” She outwardly shivers at the thought, and I have to bite on the inside of my cheek to stop me from saying anything that might come back on Luke at work. “Anyway, I just thought that seeing as I have seen you that I would mention that there are no hard feelings over the fact that Luke won’t go away for a new work project for me.”
“New project?” I say before I can stop myself.
