Page 10 of Fit for Love
Chapter Six
Cora
I had to hand it to her, Therese was amazing.
When Piper suggested Therese might be able to help me out, I was worried about telling someone else about the whole Orlando debacle. But Therese didn’t bat an eyelid and within minutes of her arriving, everything seemed calmer and more in control. She’d asked me for my appointments for the next month—even though I didn’t know when I’d go back to London—and cancelled or rescheduled all of them with the barest minimum explanation. It made me wonder how often she’d had to do something similar for Mal in the past.
“I don’t know why you don’t have a PA anyway,” said Therese, once we’d finished and were celebrating with cups of coffee.
“I guess I should, but up until now I’ve never had any kind of drama that I felt warranted one.” It was true, I preferred to handle everything myself, but if Orlando had taught me anything, then it might be that I didn’t need to do it all solo.
“Are you offering to help out?” asked Piper.
Therese laughed. “Honey, with you and Mal, I barely have time to eat or sleep, let alone take any new clients on.” She fixed me with a sympathetic look. “I can ask around if you like, see if I find someone?”
I shook my head. “Not right now. Maybe when I’ve had chance to decide what I’m going to do next.”
“Well, you only have to call if you need my help.”
Once I knew that all my appearances, dinners and events were cancelled, I uploaded an inspirational quote to all my social-media platforms and informed my followers that I wouldn’t be posting for a while. Then I deleted the apps off my phone. A total technology detox was probably necessary.
For a moment, I felt free. Then the panic started to set in. What would I do instead? I didn’t want to write or blog. I wouldn’t be getting any products to advertise. I couldn’t tell anyone where I was.
I called Louise. She would know what to do.
“I’ve just seen your posts,” she said, as soon as she answered. “You’re going to have the gossip websites in meltdown overyourapparent meltdown.”
“What?”
“There’s already speculation that you’re suicidal or dealing with significant mental health issues.”
“Seriously? I posted that less than ten minutes ago.”
“Ah, but you’re on their ‘most watched’ profiles or something, aren’t you? Anything you post will be analysed and scrutinised for deeper meaning.”
A thought struck me. “Did Orlando say something?” I reached for my phone, but then remembered I’d deleted everything social-media related.
“Hang on.” I heard Louise tapping on a keyboard in the background. “Nope, nothing…no wait.”
I held my breath, waiting for her reply. She sucked in air through her teeth before speaking.
“You’re not going to like this,” she said.
“Tell me.”
“‘It is with deep regret that Cora Appleby and I have decided to part ways; although no one is at fault, we have come to the conclusion that we would be better off apart, and we wish each other well for the future’.” Louise make a vomiting sound. “That’s on his Insta, with an old shot of the pair of you at some charity do.”
“No one is at fault? What the fuck? He clearly doesn’t remember sleeping with another man and lying about it!” I felt sick again. Howdarehe say that? I certainly didn’t wish him well for the future; I’d rather he fell off a cliff.
“I know. I’m sorry, Cora, I don’t know how you can respond to that without telling the whole world about his tendencies.”
Neither did I. I was thankful I had managed to at least put something out there before I’d seen his post. If I had, there was no telling what I might have said.
“Ugh, well, no wonder the other gossip sites are speculating about me if that’s what he’s said.” It seemed I might have made things worse for myself by not seeing Orlando’s words first. I should probably tell Therese what had happened. She might have some suggestions as to how to manage the situation going forward.
“Anyway, hon, I’ve got to go. Hot date tonight with Pablo.”
I could almost hear the swoon in Louise’s voice. The Spanish stallion was a recent addition to her date list, and was proving to be one of the most popular. I couldn’t deny that he was attractive. We’d double-dated a couple of times, although now I thought about it, Orlando had spent most of that date talking to Pablo. I desperately hoped that Louise wasn’t going to end up the same as me.
