was bound to be, he realised looking back, when it had been so one-sided.
‘You’re looking good,’ she said now, her eyes – meticulously made up as always – roving leisurely over him.
‘You too,’ he responded with a short smile. She usually did, he reminded himself, dressing in the tightest of clothes to show off her figure. She was showing it off now, wearing slim-cut jeans and a skin-hugging top. Courtney always knew how to turn heads.
‘So how are you?’ she asked, stepping towards him.
‘Fine,’ he said. Better for not constantly doubting myself, he didn’t add. ‘You?’
‘Okay. You know …’ She shrugged, her gaze flitting down and back. ‘Are you with someone?’ She glanced curiously around.
Joe considered. ‘A friend,’ he said eventually, not wanting to bring Sarah, who was everything Courtney wasn’t – natural and caring – into the conversation.
‘Ah.’ She nodded knowingly, a flicker of regret in her eyes.
‘What brings you to this neck of the woods?’ he asked, assuming she and the hotshot were slumming it, since they usually met in more salubrious places than a local pub with a beer garden. He hoped he didn’t run into the bastard. He still felt sorely tempted to deck him.
‘Girls’ night,’ she said, waving over her shoulder.
‘Oh, right.’ Joe was surprised. Courtney didn’t generally do girls’ nights. Not her type of thing, she’d said. Far too rowdy.
‘We should meet up sometime,’ she suggested. ‘Have a chat.’
A chat? Right. Joe smiled cynically. ‘I’m not sure we have anything to chat about, Courtney. Do we?’
She glanced down again. He supposed she had the good grace to look contrite, even if she wasn’t. Admitting she was wrong wasn’t generally Courtney’s thing either.
‘There’s the apartment,’ she reminded him. ‘We should probably put it on the market at some point, assuming you don’t want to—’
‘I think we can pretty much sort that out on the phone,’ Joe cut in. ‘I’d better go.’ He nodded towards the rear exit. ‘I have someone waiting.’
‘Your friend,’ she said with an enigmatic smile.
‘That’s right.’ Giving her another short smile back, he turned away.
‘I’ll ring you,’ she called after him.
‘Do that,’ he said. He didn’t look back. He had no intention of making small talk with the woman who’d ripped his heart from inside him. He wanted to move on.
He was leading Ollie away from the bench ready to play football when he noticed Courtney coming out of the pub, also via the rear entrance. She stopped, looking actually sad as she glanced from Sarah to Ollie, whose hand Joe had firmly in his, and then back to him. Was that what the flash of regret he’d seen was all about, he wondered; the fact that she’d realised she might have wanted kids after all, a family? Wasn’t likely to have them with the hotshot, was she? Might cramp his style.
‘Who was that?’ Sarah asked, noticing him watching her as she headed off.
‘No one,’ Joe said, turning his attention back to Ollie. ‘Just someone I thought I knew. Turns out I didn’t.’
Three
Sarah
She actually had managed to embarrass him. Joe had looked taken aback when, once Ollie was tucked safely in bed with his snuggle bunny, she’d slipped between him and the coffee maker and pressed her mouth over his. He’d soon reciprocated, his tongue finding hers, his hands tracing the contours of her body. When they’d paused for breath, though, the look in his eyes had been troubled. ‘Are you sure about this?’ he’d asked worriedly.
‘Yes. Why? Aren’t you?’ Thinking he might not fancy her any more, that he was just trying to be a friend to her when she needed one, Sarah had felt her self-esteem plummet.
‘Of course I am,’ he’d said softly, undeniable heat now in his eyes. ‘It’s just … Don’t you think it might be a little too soon, for you, I mean?’
‘No, absolutely not,’ she’d assured him, her mouth drawn greedily back to his, her hands finding his buttons, the firm flesh under his shirt. She’d practically undressed him.
And now here she was in her kitchen in the cold light of the morning after, wondering what on earth she’d been thinking. Turning on the kitchen tap, she filled a glass with water and glugged it down. She liked Joe, a lot. So why the bloody hell had she compromised him?
The sex had been amazing, for her anyway, no-holds-barred passionate. She hadn’t seen exploding white lights in a long time. Tracing her spine softly with his thumb as he’d held her afterwards, he’d said he’d often thought