‘No, no, it wasn’t like that. I bumped into her when I was on my own. I’d gone off to have a cup of tea in peace and then it suddenly poured down with rain. The heavens opened. Long story short, we sheltered under a marquee together. She had no idea at that point that I knew who she was. She wasn’t part of the family group area.’
‘Right. I think I see what you mean.’
As Cally recounted the events of the day before more clearly, Eloise listened with her eyebrows raised in concern and her hands wrapped tightly around her coffee mug.
'So, there I was later, minding my own business and heading to the loo before we left, when suddenly Cassia tapped me on the shoulder. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I mean, what are the chances of bumping into your boyfriend's ex-wife not once but twice in the same day?'
Eloise’s expression was sympathetic. 'It's like something out of a soap opera, Cal. I can't even imagine how weird that must have been, especially after your little run-in earlier in the day.'
Cally sighed. 'It was beyond awkward from my side. It was like the universe was trying to tell me something, you know? Like it was throwing all these red flags in my face and daring me to ignore them. You couldn’t make it up.' Cally took a sip of her coffee. 'But the worst part was, Cassia had no idea who I was at first. She just assumed I was there with Alastair, Logan's cousin. And that's when she started spilling all these secrets, all these horrible things about the Henry-Hicks boys and their reputation with women.'
Eloise leaned forward with wide eyes. 'This is the gift that keeps on giving. She just told you all of that out of the blue? Without even knowing who you were or why you were there?'
'She said she felt like she had to warn me because she’d seen me with them. She had to let me know what I was getting myself into. Like she was doing me some kind of favour, looking out for a fellow woman or something.'
Eloise snorted. 'Right. Because I'm sure she had nothing but your best interests at heart, spilling all that dirt on her ex-husband and his family.'
Cally sighed. 'I don't know, Eloise. I mean, why would she lie? What would she have to gain from making all of that up, especially to a complete stranger?'
Eloise raised a sceptical eyebrow. 'Oh, I don't know. Maybe a little thing called revenge? A chance to get back at the man who broke her heart, to make him and his family look bad in front of his new and very attractive girlfriend? Thinking about it, there’s no way she didn’t know who you were! No way. I reckon she clocked it and put two and two together. You know what those sorts are like. They all went to the same schools, mix in the same circles, they’re all two degrees of separation. Then you turn up on the scene out of the blue. She knew who you were. Of course, she did.'
Cally sighed. ‘I hadn’t thought about that.’
‘Totally. One hundred per cent. It’swaytoo weird that she just happened to see you and then blurted all that out. Fair enough she didn’t know you when you were sheltering, but the second time. Nup. I'm not buying it.’
‘Okay, whatever. I have little to no interest in her, but what if she's right? What if Logan really is just using me, just biding his time until he gets bored and moves on to the next girl? I mean, he's already lied to me about his past, about his marriage. Who knows what else he's keeping from me?'
‘I know you feel betrayed, but I don’t like the sound of her. That’s a different issue from the marriage secret, though. You need to think about the relationship youdohave—what you’ve built. Just come clean and talk to him.’
Cally huffed. 'But that's just it. What have we built, really? A relationship based on lies, secrets, and things left unsaid? How can I trust anything he says or does, knowing that he's kept something this big from me?'
‘You have to remember, people change. They grow and learn and become better versions of themselves. Maybe the Logan that Cassia knew, the Logan from her past, isn't the same Logan.'
Cally nodded. Maybe Eloise was right. But one thing she did know was that the hurt she felt was very raw and very fresh. Throw angry in there, too. 'I don't know. I think I need to end things before I get in too deep and end up getting hurt even worse than I already am. I should have called it off in the first place when I thought we were from two different backgrounds. He wooed me then and it seems as if it might be a pattern of his. I shouldn’t have gone to the races, either.'
‘Don't make any rash decisions. You should have got this all out in the open before the races. I don’t know why you just didn’t tell him right away. Give him a chance to explain properly and tell his side of the story.'
‘Honestly, why should I? Why should I give him a chance to explain when he couldn't even be bothered to tell me the truth in the first place? When he let me fall in love with him, let me build a whole future in my head with him, without ever once mentioning that he had a whole marriage in his past? That’s not nice.'
Eloise sighed. ‘You have to give him the benefit of the doubt.’
‘Maybe I don’t want to.’ Cally had had enough of giving peopleanything. She’d had years of caring for other people, always giving, giving, giving. Time for our Cally to not do anything for anyone but herself. She didn’t care if she was being irrational, immature, or overly emotional. It was how she felt and she was, for once in her life, going to behave exactly asshewanted.
Eloise leaned forward. 'If he does turn out to be a lying, cheating scumbag, you'll let me have a go at him, yeah? I reckon I could do some serious damage.'
Cally let out a startled laugh. ‘Deal, but it won’t come to that. I can handle it. I just need to tell him that I’m done. We’re done.’
‘Well, at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.’
As they finished their coffees and Eloise went outside to take a phone call, Cally thought back to the moment in the marquee when Cassia had tapped her on the shoulder. Cassia had turned her world even more upside down with a few simple words. Perhaps Cassia's accusations and insinuations hadn’t been quite as innocent as they’d seemed but really Cally didn’t give a stuff about Cassia’s intentions: the results had done their job.
She nodded to herself. Shewouldgive Logan a chance to explain and defend himself. But her gut feelings about what was right and what was true were telling her none of it boded well. She couldn't shake the nagging feeling of doubt or the persistent voice in the back of her mind that whispered that Cassia was correct. If Cally had not been blindsided, she would have known that all along. She wouldn’t be in the mess in the first place.
26
The rest of the day had gone by. Logan had been busy at the manor and Cally had worked a short shift on the chatbot and then for Birdie on a late order, so she’d not seen Logan and it hadn’t been an issue. Now, the next day, it was time for push to come to shove. Slipping her phone out of her pocket, her heart hammered in her chest. She made a determined tap on Logan’s number and sighed as she waited for him to pick up,
Logan answered cheerily. ‘Morning. I was just about to text you. How are you? I missed you.’
