The Women Who Ran Away - Sheila O'Flanagan Page 0,74

office. She’d been sitting at her desk, staring at her computer screen without seeing the images of the vintage clothes that were to be a part of her next exhibition for the insurance company. Ireland – Fashion Through the Ages was the title, and she’d been thrilled by the response she was getting from the people she’d contacted to help. She’d shared her excitement every day with Gavin, who’d been enthusiastic too. And then he’d dropped his bombshell about Afton, and the bottom had fallen out of her world.

After that, she’d simply gone through the motions. Although Gavin had moved out, she knew that every single day he was sitting at his desk two floors above her. She sometimes saw him in the communal breakout areas, or at the coffee dock, laughing and talking with colleagues as though he hadn’t a care in the world. She couldn’t understand how he could be getting on with his life while her heart was broken. But not because he’d left her, she decided that day as she gazed blankly at the photo of a tartan miniskirt, circa 1967, which she was sure had scandalised rural Ireland; her heart was broken because he’d left her without giving her the chance to have what Afton was going to have.

A child of her own.

It had come to her then in a wave of grief and fury, and she’d hit the sleep button on the computer, grabbed a couple of files and got up from her desk. She’d walked the length of the open-plan office, ignoring the furtive glances of her colleagues. They all knew about her and Gavin. The entire company knew. And they felt sorry for her, because people always felt sorry for the woman when a relationship went sour. She was almost invariably seen as the loser. No matter how or why things ended.

People turned to look at her when she arrived at the quieter setting of the fourth floor. She could feel a ripple of tension follow her as she strode towards the corner office with the glass windows, where Gavin’s attention was focused on the screen in front of him.

She heard an intake of breath from his assistant, Kamala, as she pushed open the door and stepped inside.

‘What the hell do you want?’ demanded Gavin as he looked up from the report he’d been studying.

‘To talk to you.’ Deira pressed the button that turned the glass walls opaque. ‘In private. It’s urgent.’

‘We’ve nothing to talk about,’ said Gavin.

‘Yes, we do,’ she told him as she sat opposite him. She moved the tall glass trophy he’d received at the industry awards the previous year to one side so that there was nothing in their line of sight.

He exhaled slowly and pushed his chair back from the desk. But he didn’t get up. ‘I’m all ears,’ he said.

‘You slept with Afton even though you didn’t love her,’ said Deira.

‘Look—’

She held up her hand to stop him talking. ‘You can’t have been in love with her that first time. It was just a thing.’

‘I don’t know what it was,’ said Gavin.

‘A thing,’ Deira repeated. ‘Let’s face it, you were still coming home to me. And still sleeping with me too. So you were sleeping with her for the sex and yet you were telling me you loved me. You do remember saying that, don’t you?’

‘I don’t see—’

‘But maybe I’m wrong and you were in love with her even though you were sleeping with me. So maybe you were having sex with me and in love with her?’

‘We can’t help who we fall in love with,’ said Gavin. ‘And I don’t have time for this conversation.’

‘Yes, we can,’ said Deira. ‘And you do. It’s all about choices, Gavin. You chose to walk away from me. Same as you chose to walk away from Marilyn. Were you sleeping with her too, when you were telling me it was over?’

‘It’s completely different.’

‘It’s not. But what I’m getting at is that you’re perfectly capable of sleeping with someone you don’t love. You have form.’

‘Look, I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry it’s happened this way. But you’re embarrassing yourself here, Deira. You’ve got to get over it.’

‘Oh, I’m over you,’ she said. ‘I absolutely am. No need to worry at all about that. I was angry and, yes, embarrassed that I’d made such a stupid mistake, but I’m over you.’

‘So what’s all this about?’ He picked up his mobile from the desk and glanced at it. Deira sat silently