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My suspicions were correct. I knew something was up with him. “What truly happened between the two of you?”
She sighs and takes another sip of her drink. “He’s just someone who has been in and out of my life for years, and I always let him in, but now—things are different—I’m different, and when I saw him today, it felt different.”
Her confession is music to my ears. Maybe he’s leftalready, but no. She wouldn’t be sleeping down here if he had. “What did he do when you told him?”
She finally turns to face me as I continue to monitor my pan on the stove. “Well, I haven’t yet. I didn’t think it was appropriate to get into that in your home. I should have insisted we stay in London.” Lucy sighs. “Either way, it won’t be easy to convince him to leave so soon after he arrived. He is insistent that we spend the holiday together.”
As if I would allow such a display in my own home. “Is he truly so in love with you?” What else could cause a grown man to act that way?
“Shocking thought, I know.” She rolls her eyes.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I suppose he loves me in his own way, but he also loves the many other women in his life…according to our shared friends.” With a pause, she lets me connect the dots.
“Are you the other woman?” I couldn’t believe her capable of acting in such a way, but it would explain the secrecy.
She gives a low laugh, “I wouldn’t know who was the original woman in his life. He’s not known for being a one-woman man.”
“How do you know?”
“We share most of the same friends and live in a small town. He’s always denied it to me, but since we broke up, I’ve encouraged him to pursue other relationships. I remained single for a number of reasons—he liked me to believe that he did the same. I noticed his phone was particularly active this evening. Yet, he ishere, which only proves he only wants what he can’t have.”
I’m relieved to hear her regard herself as something he can’t have, but still curious how she got into such a situation. I would have never expected her to be the type of woman to get involved in something so…messy. “When did this start between you?”
“About twenty years ago. I was a teenager and foolishly in love.”
She was the original woman, the one who was cheated on.
“So what’s different?”Could it be me?No, I don’t want that to be the only reason. I want her to walk away from this guy for more than just me but for herself.
“When I saw him this morning outside my apartment—he didn’t seem real any longer. He felt like a memory, no longer a part of my life.”
I pour the hot chocolate into a mug for each of us and replace her mug with the one growing cold in her hands. Her eyebrows raise as she holds her stare at me. “My homemade hot chocolate.” She smiles and thanks me.
“I can tell him to leave,” I suggest.
“Thank you, but I’d rather handle this myself. He’s known to get…”
“Violent?”I’ll kill him.
“Oh no.” She laughs a little. “Dramatic…no theatrical is a better way to describe it. Over the years, when I’d attempt to completely cut ties, he would put on a grand show of emotion and declare his love.” She rolls her eyes. “I just don’t want to put everyone here through that. It’s the quickest way to ruin a holiday. I think it would be best for the two of us to go back to London, where I can book him a flight back to New York and get him home as soon as possible…with as little drama as possible.”
“And until then, you are going to let him believe everything is fine between you both?”
She sighs and drinks the hot chocolate. “This is delicious, thank you.” I nod, pleased by her compliment, and let her continue. “I’d planned to head back to London first thing tomorrow, but now I’m not sure what the driving conditions will be like.”
The snow is falling very quickly outside. I hadn’t bothered to watch the weather for after they arrived. “Until we can get back to the city, I plan to just keep a safe distance while reminding him that you and I are dating. Still in the early stages, but sticking to our story, nonetheless. He did think he had the victory in hand when you suggested he and I share a room, but I told him you were just dealing with a bit of jealousy.”Little does she know how correct she is.
“And you will continue to sleep on the couch?”
“Yes, if that’s all right with you?” She blinks up at me as her jaw tightens. Does she think I’m going to insist she return to her room and share a bed with him? Absolutely not.
“No, it’s not all right that you are spending nights on the couch.”I am elated that she would rather sleep down here than with him, but it’s still not right.“What if we continue to take our ruse a step further?”
“Oh, of course. I promise not to let this affect that. John is still trying to convince me that he and I are ‘meant to be together,’but I have been insistent that we are dating.”How brazen of this guy to come to my home and attempt to steal my girl from me.
“Well, perhaps we should put on a show for him.”
