Page 33 of In This Together

‘Withme, yes.’ He laughed at heragain.‘We could have gelato in St Mark’s Square, bratwurst in Berlin.’

‘That sounds…’ Scary? Odd? Unlikely?

He turned back to the counter and put another chunk of croissant in his mouth, then slurped coffee. With his mouth full, he said, ‘You can clear it at Stellar. Say you’re legitimately scouting for talent in Europe who could make it in the US.’

Andrea scoffed when confronted with her own stupidity. ‘More lies. More hiding. God, I’m such an idiot.’

She walked calmly to her bedroom. Then back to the kitchen, where she placed the black velvet box and its contents that he had given her last night on the counter in front of him. ‘You have no intention of ever telling her about us. You’ve no intention of us ever being together. Telling me you love me was the oldest trick in the book and I slept with you anyway.’

‘Now, hey, where has all this come from? We’ve got a good thing going here, kiddo. Why rock the boat?’

‘Hunter, you’re so full of shit. Take your jewellery and get out.’

‘You’re being irrational, Andrea. I have a life, a family. I can’t just throw that away. They depend on me. You… You’re independent. Fine on your own. This works for both of us.’

‘Hunter, I don’t want you to throw anyone away except me. Get out.’

‘Andi.’

‘Get out, Hunter.’

‘Kiddo.’

‘Get the fuck out!’ she screamed.

What in God’s name had she been thinking? To risk Rosalie over this? To risk Hannah and Sofia?

She threw the black box after him and as soon as her apartment door slammed shut, she broke. Her legs gave out and her tears fell. She knew, without doubt, that Hunter would forget about her long before she ever got over what she had done to the people she loved.

10

HANNAH

The thing about being a mom was, she constantly wanted a break from the crying, the feeding, the cleaning and the squabbles. But when she got a break, she felt guilty about it. The concert on Thursday had been fun. Hannah had been granted time to be an adult woman, dressed nicely, having drinks with her girlfriends. She had enjoyed herself but felt a low level of guilt in the back of her mind the entire evening. She had left all three children being ‘babysat’ by their father – she wouldn’t even get started on the fact Rod considered looking after his own kids as ‘helping her’.

She had endured Andrea at work on Friday – long in the face because, surprise surprise, the woman having an affair with her best friend’s married father was getting hurt. By the time she had taken the train back to New Jersey on Friday evening, she was desperate to see her kids.

Until… she had arrived home, pushing the door against her eldest’s school backpack that had been dumped in the porch. Four sets of shoes – including the baby’s – had been kicked off in all directions. As she bent to straighten the shoes, she heard an almighty scream. Running into the house, she found the middle kid crying and shouting at the older kid for God knows what and chasing him with slime. TJ was lying in his bouncer chair watching what looked likeJohn Wick 2in the lounge, where empty beer bottles and snack wrappers covered the coffee table.

‘Babysitting clearly involved Daddy’s friends last night,’ she muttered to no one.

‘All right, you two, calm it. Now! Jackson, put the slime away. If I have to wash that stuff off my walls again, there’ll be big trouble, mister. Luke, you’re supposed to be grown-up. Get over here and tell me what happened – no lies.’

‘He will lie. He always lies,’ Jackson shouted.

Hannah gave him stern eyes. ‘Young man, you’ll get your turn next. Go and put that slime away like I’ve told you.’

She headed into the lounge, unstrapping TJ from his bouncer and hooking his legs around her hip. ‘Go ahead, Luke.’

‘He was taking forever to eat his Shake Shack. I thought he’d finished, so I ate his last fries, then he started screaming like a little girl.’

‘I’m not a girl!’ Jackson said, coming into the loungesansslime. ‘He ate my fries ’cause he’s a big fat ass.’

‘Jackson! We don’t call each other fat asses. Luke, apologise to your brother for eating his fries. Jackson, apologise for calling your brother a fat ass.’

‘He is a fat—’ She silenced him with a look.

‘After three, you’ll each say sorry.’ She had learned not to ask one to go before the other and start anewfight. ‘One. Two. Three.’

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