Page 64 of All Summer Long

He looked offended, and she knew him well enough to know that the slur on his singing ability had cut deeper than the rest of her question.

‘I hoped it would help you see that I mean it,’ he said, petulance edging into his tone at her lack of appreciation.

‘You mean what, Brad? What is it that you’ve come here to say?’

He looked at her as if she’d asked a stupid question. ‘Isn’t it obvious? I’m coming home, baby.’ He smiled, and his eyes said you love me and you know it.

‘Am I supposed to tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree?’

He looked nonplussed. ‘Being sarcastic isn’t going to help anyone, is it?’ He glanced around. ‘Look. Let me take you for dinner tonight. Anywhere you fancy. You pick.’

‘You really think it’s going to be easier to talk in a crowded restaurant than an empty bar?’ He always did like an audience to play off.

‘Ali, I want to come home. I made a huge fucking mistake and I regret it more than you know,’ he said, suddenly reaching out across the table and gripping her hand as she went for her drink. ‘Felicity was a nightmare. Total and utter crazy shrew, all she cares about is how she looks in the newspaper, her reviews, and her next career move. She’s cold and so damn needy, she couldn’t care less about my career as long as hers is all right.’

Alice couldn’t help but see the irony. He’d managed to find someone more narcissistic than himself.

‘So it’s over between you two?’

He huffed. ‘She’s gone to the States for a job that by rights should have been mine. Couldn’t have us both on the show, they said, too much personal conflict. Load of bollocks, of course. She was obviously more obliging on the casting couch than I was.’

Listening to him reminded Alice all too starkly of many mornings spent poring over the morning papers for reviews, full of bile and bitterness for anyone who’d fared well with the critics. Pulling her hand out from under his, she played with the stem of her glass.

‘So because she’s left you and gone to America, you’ve decided to come back to me?’

He looked aghast. ‘That wasn’t what I said at all. It was over between us before that. I should never have left you for her.’

He stopped short of saying sorry. In fact he’d never said sorry at all.

‘I’m not saying we can just pick up where we left off, I know it’s not going to be as easy as all that, but we’re still married, Ali. Let’s move back into the manor and get our lives back on track.’

His mention of the manor had her heart beating harder.

‘What’s the big deal about the manor, Brad? You were never really fussed when you lived in it, but now you suddenly love it?’

Brad tried the puppy-dog eyes. ‘I miss it. I miss living there with my favourite girl.’

They were words clearly designed to soften her heart, yet strangely they had the opposite effect.

‘The manor’s rented out. You couldn’t move back in there even if you wanted to.’

Brad laughed. ‘I can get us out of that agreement early. I’ve already spoken to the leasing agency to get on it.’

‘You’ve asked them to speak to Robinson about leaving sooner than planned?’ The red mists were descending.

Brad nodded, staring at her through narrowed eyes. ‘Is that a problem?’

He was testing her, playing games she didn’t want to play. ‘Yes,’ she said, quiet and clear. ‘Yes, it’s a problem. That’s what this is really about, isn’t it? You were fine when I was heartbroken, but now that you can see me moving on you can’t stand it. You’ve come back here to throw your weight around, to prove to yourself that you can have me anytime you choose. Well, here’s the thing, Brad. You waited too long. You gave me enough time to see that there is actually such a thing as life without you, and what’s more it’s bloody good, too. I’ve got friends, and I’ve got plans, and I’ve got …’

Her voice grew slowly louder as she spoke, and Brad’s eyes grew slowly colder as he realised that his charms weren’t going to be enough to get his own way this time.

‘What? You’ve got what, Alice, or should I say you’ve got who? Because let’s face it, we both know you’re shagging our tenant. It’s a bit desperate, isn’t it? You love that fucking house so much that you’re prepared to sleep with any random yank who turns up, blows smoke up your ass and pays the rent?’ He half laughed and then put his hands up to stop her from interrupting him. ‘But you know what, it’s okay. I deserved you to do that to me. I deserved you to sleep with someone else. In a funny way it sort of makes us even, doesn’t it?’

It was difficult for Alice to know which bit of his speech pissed her off more. On reflection it was the fact that he’d called Robinson names, so she started there.

‘Some random yank? You really don’t know who he is?’ she raised her eyebrows. ‘You surprise me, what with him being a fellow celebrity and all. Only far more famous, of course.’

A slow red flush crept up from Brad’s neck, as if he were actually on fire on the inside. ‘Who is he?’ he ground out.

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