and he was in his house. How had this happened? Why had this happened after so long? He had no choice but to let Madeleine lead him to the table. He pulled up a seat opposite Gabriella and instinctively reached for the wine bottle.
‘How did the game go today, Guy? Win? Or not?’ Keith asked, offering a laugh at the women.
‘It is football… so boring,’ Madeleine said, waving a hand in dismissal.
‘You’re telling me! Luckily, Daniel realises it bores the pants off me now so he doesn’t talk details anymore,’ Gabriella responded.
‘We won,’ Guy answered, picking up a wine glass and starting to pour.
‘That’s fantastic. Well done you. Did you know this boy was a bleeding marvel at eighteen? Best thing I’ve ever seen,’ Keith continued.
Guy could feel he was starting to sweat and without looking he knew Keith’s eyes hadn’t left him. He almost spilt the wine and with haste, he put the bottle down and lifted the glass to his lips.
‘Oh, Guy. You didn’t say you knew Keith. It is so nice that you are old friends. We’re going to work so well together,’ Madeleine said, her excitement plain to see.
‘It will be just like old times,’ Keith said. ‘Won’t it, Guy?’
He sank the glass of wine in one gulp and replaced the glass quietly, unable to summon speech.
‘To old friends and new beginnings,’ Keith toasted, holding his glass aloft.
‘Old friends and new beginnings,’ the ladies chorused.
Chapter Forty-Two
He’d had to endure two hours of that man in his house. Two hours with the looks across the table, the stories about La Baume, the hidden meanings, the wrapped-up threats, with Madeleine and Gabriella giggling like schoolgirls. He’d drunk a bottle of wine on his own and now he was paying for it with another sore head. He didn’t suppose the slight concussion was helping either. But despite his hangover, when he woke up he made a decision. It was time to leave Madeleine. Her involvement with that man was the final nail in the coffin of their relationship with or without what was happening between him and Emma.
He dressed quickly, knowing Madeleine was out power-walking with the aerobics instructor that lived across the road. Elite people made friends quickly if there was networking to be done. Mutually appreciative blogging would take place soon after.
He opened the walk-in wardrobe and located his battered case from the top shelf. Madeleine hated his luggage. She said it was a disgrace. She did have a point. It was old and falling apart but it had belonged to his father. In fact, it was the only thing he had to remind him he’d once had a father. And he only had it because his mother threw it at him once.
He put the case on the bed and opened it. He’d just take clothes. Fripperies were Madeleine’s thing, not his.
*
She didn’t know what to do. When she’d woken up that morning everything had felt so different. The bed was big, but then Chris hadn’t stayed every night. The house was quiet, but that was nothing to do with Chris either. Despite Chris never living at the property, it was like something was missing. She’d actually felt bereft. As if someone had died. And, in a way, they had. The couple that was Emma and Chris had died, and it was never coming back.
‘I thought Chris was coming with us,’ Dominic remarked for the third time as they walked up the path of her family home.
She hadn’t been able to tell him. She attempted over breakfast but the words wouldn’t come. What was the matter with her lately? She hadn’t been able to tell Chris it was over and now she couldn’t tell Dominic it was over either. Weak and cowardly, that’s what she was.
‘He had to work,’ she answered. She rang the doorbell and took a deep breath. Here she was, standing on the front doorstep of her family home where Marilyn, the woman her dad had slipped so quickly into a relationship with, was cooking them Sunday dinner.
She remembered quite vividly the last words she had spoken to Marilyn and they hadn’t been nice. In fact, they’d been vile. But a lot of water had passed under the bridge. Both of them were older, wiser, moving on. Hopefully it would be forgotten. Perhaps if she apologised. As that thought rode through her mind she closed her eyes and shut it out. She wasn’t quite ready for that yet.