CHAPTER32
‘Did you have a nice drive?’ Tara asked as they got ready for lunch. She sat down at the dressing table and grabbed a hairbrush. ‘Not too boring, I hope. I should have come with you; I’ve never seen the Chaplin statue up close and—’
‘Tara, can we talk?’
She laughed. ‘Jeez, not a Chaplin fan then? I was never a fan of—’
‘Tara. I’m serious. We need to talk. Shit, I don’t even know how to say this.’
As she met Aiden’s eyes, she didn’t have to ask what he wanted to talk about. It was obvious.
‘Oh. I see.’ She paused brushing. ‘So, you’re done, right? Six months in and you’ve already had enough of me? Of us.’
Aiden’s gaze shifted towards the floor. ‘I’m sorry. You’re really important to me, but this… it isn’t working anymore.’
‘Why?’
His face looked visibly pained. ‘It isn’t any one thing and it’s not anything you’ve done, it’s—’
She began brushing her hair again, trying to keep calm. ‘Look, I know I kinda threw you in at the deep end here, with the reunion and all but surely we can—’
‘It’s not about that,’ he replied. ‘And I’m so sorry to do this now, the last thing I want to do is hurt you.’
‘But what’s changed? I thought we were having fun!’ she implored. ‘How long have you felt like this?’
‘I dunno,’ he replied. ‘I just know that I shouldn’t have agreed to come on this trip. It wasn’t fair.’
She spun around on her stool. ‘But you think it’s fair to do it now?’ she questioned, her voice almost a harsh whisper. ‘Am I so unbearable that you couldn’t have done this after we leave on Monday?’
‘Of course not,’ he insisted. ‘Tara, you’re an amazing woman, we’re just not right for each other. You deserve someone else. Someone better. I am truly sorry.’
She threw her hairbrush on to the dressing table. ‘So, what, we just ride out the rest of the weekend pretending everything’s fine? Making everyone else feel uncomfortable? I don’t think so. Pack your stuff. I need you to leave.’
Aiden rose to his feet, quietly accepting her request.
She felt her heart catch in her chest as he began gathering his clothes from the wardrobe. That dark blue shirt she liked so much, his movie T-shirts, his spare jogging trousers.
‘This is bullshit!’ she exclaimed. ‘Who does this? Who breaks up with someone for no good reason in the middle of a holiday?’
‘Tara, I’m so very—’
‘Sorry? Yeah, so you keep saying. Ugh, screw this, I can’t even look at you.’
Tara quickly made her way into the bathroom and locked the door, her mind spinning in disbelief. Worst of all she could hear her mother’s voice in the back of her head.
You should have never told him about rehab, darling. Who wants to make a life with someone who’s already ruined theirs. And that awful, garish red hair? Really, Tara, I thought I taught you better than that.
She took a deep breath and stood in front of the mirror.
I am good enough. I am smart enough. People like me for me.
She repeated it four times before she could finally feel her heart rate returning to normal.
The confusion was overwhelming. What the hell had changed for him? Yes, the relationship was somewhat unconventional but that’s what he said he wanted.Just two people, hanging out, seeing where it goes. He’d said that, in her bedroom, clear as… She paused as that memory suddenly became a little clearer. A little truer. He hadn’t said that at all. She had. She had been the driving force behind their laid-back relationship… but she never forced him to be there. Christ, he wasn’t even her type, but she liked him. He was a good man and she hadn’t known too many of them. As she sank down on to the bathroom floor, she heard Aiden’s footsteps walk across the hallway before disappearing down the stairs.
