‘How many times can I say I’m sorry?’
‘Forget it. Not interested.’ There was that muscle again, twitching away in his jaw as he hauled out two boxes of books. ‘Just so long as you aren’t still harbouring some kind of plan to persuade me to change my mind about you, because that’s not going to happen.’
‘I know. You told me that last week.’ Honestly, whatever happened to forgive and forget?
then we went back to my flat and tore each other’s clothes off. We had wild sex all night long and it was ... ooh, fabulous!’
‘Nice try, Pinocchio.’ Cheryl carried on stacking books on a table in readiness for an author to come in and do a stock-signing. ‘So what really happened?’
What had really happened was far less encouraging. Lola pulled a face and said, ‘He emptied the car, dumped Sally’s things in her flat and drove off.’
‘Oh dear. So you won’t be bringing him along to Bernini’s tomorrow night. I was looking forward to meeting him.’
Tomorrow night was their works Christmas party. This year for some reason someone had suggested it should be fancy dressand in a moment of madness Lola had agreed. ‘I wouldn’t inflict that on Dougie. I’m not sure he’s the dressing-up-like-an-idiot kind.’
‘Plus,’ Cheryl helpfully pointed out, ‘he’s not exactly your number one fan at the moment.’
‘I know, I know’ Lola began folding the books’ jacket flaps to the title pages to make signing speedier. Too ashamed to reveal the whole truth, she had left out the money aspect; as far as Cheryl was concerned, all that had happened was that Dougie had reacted badly to being chucked.
‘Oh, cheer up,’ said Cheryl. ‘If anyone can win him round, you can. Think about it, meeting up with your first love again is fate! It’s romantic! You made a mistake before, but there’s no reason why you can’t give things another whirl, especially if he’s as gorgeous as you say he — oh, hello!’
Looking up, Lola saw that the man who wasn’t a private detective was on the other side of the table.
‘Hi.’ He greeted them both with a friendly smile.
‘How did you get on with ... ?’ Bugger, out of the books she’d recommended, Lola couldn’t remember which one he’d ended up buying.
‘It was great. I’m going to try the other author you mentioned. It’s just that he’s written a whole lot of them and I wasn’t sure if I should start with the first in the—’
‘Lola, there’s a drunk guy trying to steal books.’ Tim rushed up, his face puce with indignation.
‘He’s over in Mysteries, trying to stuff a load of Agatha Christies down his trousers. Quick!’
Euww. Dropping the book in her hand, Lola raced across the shop floor in Tim’s slipstream, dodging customers and cursing shoplifters. Poor Agatha, what a grim thing to happen. She definitely didn’t deserve this.
Chapter 15
‘Where to, mate?’
‘Airport,’ said Gabe.
He sat back in the air-conditioned cab and didn’t glance up at the window of Jaydena’s apartment as the driver pulled away from the kerb.
That was it then. So much for happy ever after. Happy ever after, in fact, had disappeared right down the toilet.
How had he, of all people, managed to get it so wrong?
‘It’s not your fault.’ Tears had been streaming down Jaydena’s face last night as she finally came clean. ‘You’re a fantastic guy, really you are.’
I know, thought Gabe.
‘And I’m so sorry, it’s just that it never occurred to me that Paul would change his mind and want me back. But he’s, like, the big love of my life, the one I could never forget. Oh Gabe, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Can you understand that? I don’t want to hurt you, but there’s no other way.’
It was almost a relief, on one level, figuring out at last why Jaydena had been as jumpy as a cat on a hotplate ever since he’d arrived last night.
On the other hand, discovering the truth still hurt like hell. ‘You slept with me.’ Gabe frowned.
‘We had sex. If you and this guy are back together, why would you do that?’
‘Oh God, because I felt so terrible,’ Jaydena wailed. ‘You flew all this way.’
He looked at her. ‘And that was my consolation prize? Thanks a lot.’
‘I already said I’m sorry!’
‘Fine’ Gabe turned away; the last thing he was going to do was beg. ‘I’m just saying you could have told me before I left London.’
‘I know, but I couldn’t, I had to wait for Paul to make up his mind and by the time he did, you were already on the plane.’
‘Thoughtful of him.’ In return, Gabe imagined taking Paul along for a day trip to a crocodile farm. Preferably bound and gagged.
‘Look, I know it’s not ideal,’ Jaydena pleaded. ‘But it’s better that we do this now than next week or the week after.’
She’d sobbed some more after that, and apologised some more, and even ended up offering to sleep with Gabe one last time by way of making things up to him. ‘So you have some kind of, like, closure, y’know?’
‘No thanks.’ He marvelled at his own idiocy; this was the girl for whom he’d given up his home, his job, his London life. And here she was, offering him a pity shag.
‘Sure? I don’t mind. Paul wouldn’t either: said Jaydena. ‘I already asked and he said it’s fine by him.’
What a hero. Gabe envisaged the feeding frenzy when he dropped Paul head first into the pool of crocodiles. ‘That’s very generous of him, but it’s still a no. I’ll use your computer, if that’s OK, and get onto the airline.’
‘Absolutely. Help yourself.’ Nodding vigorously Jaydena said, ‘Feel free.’
He’d managed to book a flight, then checked his emails. There was one from Lola saying, ‘Hey, how’s it going? Why haven’t you been in touch yet? OK, maybe I can guess why — too busy doing other stuff with Jaydena. Text me when you have a few seconds to spare, you big tart. And remember, there’s more to life than sex!’
Gabe paused. If only she knew There was no point emailing Lola now; he didn’t have the words.
Anyhow, she’d find out soon enough.
It hadn’t been the easiest of nights. Gabe had slept fitfully on the sofa in Jaydena’s living room and been up by six. The sensible part of him felt that after coming all this way he should stay on in Australia, for a while at least, to experience the lifestyle and the weather, see the sights and generally make the trip worthwhile.
The other pissed-off part of him just wanted to get the hell out of the damn place, put some serious distance between himself and Jaydena and head back home.
As the taxi made its way across Sydney towards the airport, he gazed out at the glittering ocean, the paintbox-blue sky and the scantily clad blondes on their way to the beach. Keen though he was to escape the country, it occurred to Gabe that when he reached London he’d barely have any proof that he’d even been here. Reaching over and unzipping the front compartment of his rucksack, he pulled out his digital camera and began taking photographs out of the window.
‘Good holiday, mate?’
It wasn’t the taxi guy’s fault that his life had just taken a nosedive. Snapping a picture of a girl in a raspberry-pink bikinicycling along with a terrier on a lead in tow, Gabe said, ‘Great, thanks.’
‘Ah, it’s a beautiful place, mate. Nowhere else like it. Bin here long?’
‘Not too long. But you’re right, it’s a beautiful country.’
‘The best.’ The driver nodded with pride then pointed to the service station up ahead. ‘OK if I pull in for a couple of minutes or are you in a rush to get there?’
‘No rush at all.’ Gabe’s flight wasn’t leaving for another five hours; he’d just been keen to get out of the flat. ‘Do what you want.’ Everyone else does.
The man drove into the service station, parked up next to the car wash and disappeared inside the shop. Gabe, in the back of the cab, scrolled through the half-dozen or so photos he’d taken and deleted one that was blurred because they’d been driving over a bump at the time. He glanced up as a slender brunette emerged from another parked car and made her way around the corner of the building. For a split second Gabe thought she seemed familiar, before remembering he was in Sydney, Australia. It wasn’t like bumping into someone you knew in the supermarket back home.