The answer machine clicked off and Lydia couldn’t look at Connor.
‘Care to tell me what that was all about?’
‘Not really.’ She sloped off into the kitchen and after emptying the contents, shoved the dustpan and brush beneath the sink and grabbed the second bottle of red and a corkscrew.
Connor stood up when she went back into the lounge and took the wine. They’d managed to pick one with a cork, not a screw top, and he could see Lydia was struggling.
She let him do the honours and glugged down at least half of her glass of wine. ‘Don’t,’ she told him. ‘Just don’t say anything.’
‘I think you know me well enough to know that’s not going to happen. What’s going on? Why does Theo’s mum think you’ve broken your arm?’ He picked up her hand that wasn’t holding her wine glass and pretended to inspect it. ‘Looks fine to me.’ He leaned over her. ‘And unless I’m mistaken, so does that one.’
‘I didn’t want to go up there, that’s all.’
‘And why not?’
‘Please, don’t make me tell you.’
‘Clearly you’ve got something you’re keeping from everyone else. I know you well enough to see that. Why don’t you want to see Theo’s family? Or is it Theo you don’t want to see? He couldn’t possibly have done anything, he’s not in any state to. Sorry, bad joke.’
‘No, you’re right. And it is a complete joke. The bastard is lying there unable to talk, eat, walk or do much at all, and yet he’s still been the biggest arse of a boyfriend.’
‘How?’
She put down her wine and rested her head in her hands. ‘He cheated on me! And I was too blind to see it. He was sleeping with a woman he worked with. It’s so clichéd, it’s embarrassing. All those times he’d been working late he’d been with her.’
‘How did you find out?’
She poured out the whole sorry story to Connor, leaving nothing out at all. She didn’t cry, she’d done enough of that for a lifetime. But she let her anger seep out, a blatant contrast to the joy in the room with the tree and its twinkly lights. And she made her way through enough red wine to supply an entire dinner party.
‘So what doyouwant for Christmas this year, Connor?’ She was slurring her words an hour later and ready to talk about anything but Theo.
‘I think we’d better stop drinking.’
‘Noooooooooooo!’ She swayed a little and then gasped. ‘There’s a bottle of Bombay Sapphire in the cupboard.’ She pushed her hands in the sofa to stand up but he stopped her.
‘I’ll get it.’ He left the room and was back in seconds, a long glass with liquid inside. ‘There you go, drink it all in one.’
‘Now we’re talking.’ But as she took her first gulp she pulled a face. ‘What is that?’
‘It’s water. And you’re not having anything else until you drink it.’
Lydia did as she was told and Connor went out to the kitchen again. When he returned he handed her a second glass of water. ‘You should’ve told me, you know.’
She put her glass on the coffee table and slumped back into the sofa. ‘I couldn’t bear the thought of anyone knowing anything else crappy in my life. I’ve had almost a year of dealing with Theo, his family, friends and well-meaning acquaintances, and I really thought I’d got to the point where I could be normal.’
‘You’re still normal. People cheat every day.’
‘See, that’s what I like about you, Connor. You tell it how it is. You’re honest.’
‘I’m not condoning what he did, not in any way, but remember Theo can’t have a say in this when he’s unconscious.’
‘He should be grateful he’s unconscious or I might knock him that way.’ Reluctantly, she drank some more of her water. ‘Do you know it’s been just over a year since the accident?’ she said sombrely.
‘I didn’t realise.’ Connor chose his words carefully. ‘Look, maybe he did change his mind, maybe this other woman was a mistake and he was full of regret.’
‘What, so you’re saying I should ignore it?’
‘No, not at all, but I don’t think you should hate him for it.’
