Page 111 of The Wedding Engagement

That part of the scenario hit home, and he gritted his teeth. “No. She did not.”

Liv kind of deflated in her chair, as if a weight had been lifted from her, and she held on to his hand tightly, waiting for him to elaborate.

He took a deep breath. “She turned up pissed the night before. Said her and Rory had had a fight and she didn’t want to go to her mum’s because Jayce was staying over there and she didn’t want to upset him. I thought it was weird that she didn’t go to one of herfriends’ places, but then I felt bad when the waterworks started. So, I gave her a T-shirt and my bed, and I slept on the sofa.Nothinghappened.”

Liv nodded slowly. “But it sounds like she wanted something to happen.”

Arran hesitated, adding up a few points that he’d been trying not to think about. Firstly, Jess had told him the argument with Rory was about him. Secondly, Jess had given him the impression she was expecting him to share a bed with her. And thirdly, all the hanging around bare-legged in his T-shirt brushing against him the next morning. It had been obvious what she’d wanted.

But in the car on the way to her mum’s, he’d kept shutting her down every time she tried to talk to him about it. “Yeah.” He sighed. “I think she did.” A thought occurred to him, one that made his anger snowball. “So when you came over, she didn’t say anything to clarify the situation? Just that I wasn’t home?”

Liv shook her head. “She said you’d gone out. Then she seemed to take on board that I was kind of…shell-shocked.” He squeezed her hand, his pulse firing. “Then it seemed as if she was going to say something else, but she didn’t.”

“Fuck,” he said, for want of a better response.

They both sat in silence for a few seconds. Arran’s mind cycled quickly through all his questions. Had Jess deliberately made it look like they’d slept together, in order to push a wedge between him and Liv? Did Liv really believe that nothing happened? Did the fact that Liv had been upset about it mean she cared for him the way he did for her?

But the first question to come out of his mouth was, “How come you came over yesterday morning?”

She appeared caught off guard, squeezing his hand tightly and opening her mouth, but staying silent. His heart clenched.Please don’t tell me you were coming over to say you want to end this.

The doorbell rang, and Arran let out an expletive that would’ve made Fiona Adebayo slap him around the head.

Liv smiled weakly. “You can answer it.”

He looked at her for a moment, tempted to blurt out how he felt. But he just needed to send whatever tosser was on his doorstep packing first.

With a sigh, he reluctantly released Liv’s hand and made for the door.

When he opened it to reveal Jess on the other side, he briefly considered running out the door, down the street, and cross-country, Forrest Gump–style.

“For fuck’s sake,” he muttered.

Jess frowned. “Pardon?”

He stared at her. “Nothing.”

“Can I come in?”

He gritted his teeth. “Why?”

She stared at him as if he’d grown two heads. “Please, Arran.”

He stayed put, imagining that he possessed Superman laser vision that could zap his ex out of existence. “Liv’s here.”

She had the decency to appear guilty. “I know. I saw her car. But I want to speak to her too.”

Of course she knew what Liv’s fucking car looked like. She’d seen it the previous morning when she’d scared her off.

Liv appeared at the other end of the hallway and gave him a reassuring smile, gesturing for him to let Jess in. But her smile didn’t light up her eyes like usual.

Resigned to whatever fresh hell this was going to be, he shifted to the side, gesturing for Jess to come in.

He followed her into the kitchen, waiting for her to take a seat across from Liv. Then he sat right next to Liv, hauling his chair up close to hers and putting an arm around her shoulders.

Jess looked as though she wanted the ground to swallow her up.

Liv glanced at him, biting her lip. “Maybe I should leave you guys to it.”

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