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Nothing compared to how you’ve pissed me off. Bastardo.
“Okay. Five minutes. Literally. That’s how long before my bus arrives.”
“Can’t you catch the next one?”
She sighed heavily. “No, I’m very tired. I didn’t sleep well.”
“Because of us?”
“No. Something else. Much, much more important.”
He looked felled.
They were at the bus stop now, and thankfully no-one else was waiting. Alice turned towards him, huddling her face into her scarf. Her mouth would not be available for any possible kiss-attack.
Aaron braced against the wind. It blew the blond hair off his forehead, making him look achingly young and suddenly lost. How she yearned to reach for him. She didn’t, of course.
“Lauren. The woman at the pub with me. She’s Archie’s P.A.”
“I know.”
“Right. Well, I was packing up to come and join you guys when she and Archie came into the office. The vibe was sort of weird andtoofriendly, but I tried to ignore it and finish off because, despite what you might think, I did want to join you at the quiz night.”
Alice jiggled on the spot. “Four minutes left.”
“Jesus, okay.” He sucked in some air. “Then I hear all this screaming. So I rush to where the commotion’s coming from to find Miranda Bendt hitting Archie over the head and Lauren splayed across him like a human shield—well, the long and short of it is he’s been having an affair with Lauren, probably since before I joined the company, his wife found out, the shit hit the fan, and Archie told me to get Lauren out of there before somebody got killed.”
Alice tried to hide her shock. Archie cheating on the impeccable Miranda? Impossible to fathom. “That still does not explain why you were cuddling her,” she grunted out from behind her scarf.
“I wasnotcuddling her. I took her to the pub because she needed to calm down; she told me all this shit about her life I really didn’t want to hear, and then she fell on me.”
Her chin jerked up. “Fell on you?”
“Well, her head did.”
“And you were conveniently close enough for her head to fall on you.”
“Not intentionally.”
Alice sniffed; it was getting colder and her nose was going to run any moment. She yanked at her scarf, ready to go back into hiding. “I guess that shoots the family values out of the water, doesn’t it?”
Aaron frowned. “Sorry?”
“With Trojan’s. The ‘Our reputation is built on family values’ rhetoric. All that’s been made a nonsense of now. Which means you really don’t need a fake girlfriend anymore.”
“W-what?”
“Well, they can’t exactly hold it against you for being a player when Archie is fraternising with his P.A., can they?”
Aaron chewed at his lower lip.
“Therefore,” Alice added with a brightness so sharp it made her teeth hurt, “we can call off the girlfriend thing. Guess we’re quits on the flirting too.”
“And the rest?” he asked softly, his eyes glinting in the evening light.
Tap-tappity tap. Her heart gave its irregular beat. She had to get out of here; she must not have a panic attack in front of Aaron. The new Alice didn’t succumb to anxiety.
She glanced up and saw the bus and suddenly it all felt too hard. The enormity of everything piling in on her like the sky caving in. “Look,” she gasped out, “something has happened in my life and—”
