Page 47 of One Day and Forever
Kara threw her hands up, aware that neither she nor Ollie had actually answered Drea’s question about getting together, but too incensed by the twist in the conversation to address it. Besides, all three of them knew that Drea’s happy picture of Kara and Ollie riding off into the sunset together was just the stuff of her sister’s imagination and too many romcoms. Back to the point.
‘Well, you don’t have to worry about Josh any more, because he’s gone. And for the record, I was in love with him for a long time.’ That was true. Although she just realised that she’d had that thought in the past tense. ‘And yes, he might be an arse, but I’m the only one who’s allowed to say that out loud.’
‘You still haven’t told me what he did,’ Ollie prompted her.
Kara groaned. ‘I much preferred the version where my head was in the sand. I don’t suppose we can just talk about Drea’s wedding instead?’
‘For once, I’m declining that offer,’ Drea countered, obviously not quite at the Prosecco level required to unleash her inner bridezilla.
Kara knew that there was no getting around this, so, after a deep breath, she turned the clock back to Hogmanay, which felt like three days and a lifetime ago. ‘It started with me dancing with Casey Lowden…’ she began, only to be immediately interrupted.
‘She’s joined your show? How did I not know that? I worked with her on that play Sienna and I did last year while my show was on summer hiatus. She came in for the last week, after Sienna got food poisoning, and she knocked it out of the park. She was great.’
‘Yeah, she’s lovely. Although we’re going to be here all night if you don’t let me get to what actually happened.’
Ollie put his hands up. ‘Sorry. Okay, so you were dancing with Casey…’
She took the prompt and rolled out the rest of the story. Corbin. Grabbing at Casey. Holding on to her. Kara going for a diversionary foot break with… with…
‘My black block heels,’ she finished, praying Drea wouldn’t put two and two together and solve the mystery of why her Louboutins had been moved.
‘That arrogant fucker,’ Ollie hissed, and Kara watched as his jaw clenched in fury and then he pulled out his phone.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Calling him. There’s no way he’s getting away with this.’
Kara’s first thought was that this was exactly how Josh should have reacted. This was all she’d needed from him. Some support. Maybe a little action. But as for Ollie phoning him right now? Too late and wrong guy. She reached over and took his phone from his hands. ‘Whoa there, Rocky. I appreciate the support, but I don’t need you to fight my battles. I did okay by myself.’ She didn’t add that by ‘okay’, she actually meant ‘my whole life has gone tits up’, but that became perfectly clear as she recounted the rest of the story, right up until the showdown with Josh at their flat earlier.
‘Kara, you don’t deserve any of this,’ he said softly when she was done. ‘What can I do? I can speak to the chiefs at The Clydeside, tell them they’re out of order and?—’
‘Ollie, no. Thank you so much and I love you for saying it, but I’ve got this. I really have. I’ve decided to view it as the universe pushing me in a new direction. I loved my job, but it wasn’t 100 per cent fulfilling. I loved my flat, but it never really felt like mine, because Josh owned it, and he was already living there when we met. And I loved Josh, but I don’t ever want to come second. And now I’m beginning to realise that maybe I didn’t love him enough.’
Drea leaned forward in her chair. ‘Is that why you ended up in the hotel across the road? Don’t think for a single second that I’ve forgotten about that.’
‘Forgotten about what? What hotel across the road?’ Ollie asked.
Drea slumped back in her chair, astonished. ‘Oh wow. I’ve finally found something that you two didn’t tell each other. Well, hallelujah!’
Kara felt her face burn, deeply aware that Ollie was looking at her quizzically.
‘I think you’re going to have to tell me about this now then…’ he said, and she could see he was intrigued and maybe having a little bit of fun with her discomfort. ‘Was there another guy involved?’
‘Okay, yes.’
Ollie’s gorgeous face was still concentrating intently.
She definitely wasn’t getting out of this. ‘Fine! Do you remember?—’
‘Well, here you all are!’ The voice was so loud and exuberant that there wasn’t a person in the lounge who’d been able to ignore it. All eyes were now on the little group in the corner, who’d been minding their own business until that instant.
Kara wanted to put her head in her hands, but instead, she looked up and greeted the new arrival. ‘Hello, Mum.’
Jacinta McIntyre stood there in all her chiffon, colourful glory, platinum locks flowing down her back, red ruby lips outlined to within an inch of their lives.
And beside her stood a bloke that Kara had never seen before in her life. ‘Everyone, I’d like you to meet my brand-new friend. This is Cillian.’
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