Page 3 of Promise Me Ever After
Darcy’s excitement almost made me forget I should have been just as excited about my own wedding, which should have been in three weeks. Instead, I’d been coming to terms with Russ’s infidelity, and, thanks to my family’s intervention, things were certainly looking more positive than they had been.
“And you’re going to help me get this place looking less like an old lady’s house.” I gestured around the room.
She stopped spinning for a second and focused on me. “But youarean old lady. Or at least you will be soon. Shit, Georgie, thirty!”
I tossed a cushion at her which she ducked, and it tumbled harmlessly onto the carpet. “Thanks, Darcy, way to make me feel better about myself.” I stalked out of the living room through the kitchen, to the tiny courtyard at the back of the house. Fumbling with my lighter, I lit up a cigarette and leaned back against the wall, letting the early October sunshine warm my face.
After a beat, Darcy joined me. “Ugh. How come you’re smoking again?” She wrinkled her nose. “I thought you’d given up.”
“Coping mechanism.” I shrugged.
Darcy pursed her lips. “Promise me you’ll give up in time for the wedding.”
A noncommittal sound escaped me. I couldn’t promise her that right now.
“I still can’t believe you ended up with Gran’s house.” Darcy changed the subject, glancing up at the back of the two-storey terraced house.
“Not like you need it, sis.”
Darcy and Fraser, her fiancé, had a three-bedroomed house on one of Ealynn Sand’s newer estates. When Mum and Dad had offered me Gran’s house, grateful didn’t even begin to cover it. Massively out of pocket after buying the apartment with Russ-I-Can’t-Keep-My-Dick-In-My-Pants, being able to live somewhere rent free for a while couldn’t have come at a better time.
The alarm on my phone went off, signalling time for me to get ready to leave. I pulled it out of the back pocket of my black trousers and killed it. As I did so, I spotted a message.
Mum: Remember to smile, darling. I know it’s difficult, but it’s the fresh start you need.
I turned the phone towards Darcy. “Seen this? Has she been at the fortune cookies again?”
Darcy snorted. “You should see what she sends me about marriage.” She clapped a hand to her mouth. “Sorry, Georgie. I didn’t think.”
I sucked in the last drag on my cigarette then ground it out against the wall, dropping it into the jam jar I’d been using as an ashtray since I’d moved in.
Mum had been sending me encouraging, inspirational little quotes ever sincethat night.
Although people hadn’t said as much, I knew they thought itmayhave been karma for rushing into things. My whirlwind romance with Russ resulted in us buying a flat and moving in together after three months, followed by a proposal just a month later. Four weeks after that, I’d gone from planning an autumn wedding to planning the rest of my life without him.
The bitter taste in my mouth increased and I dashed back into the house and up to the bathroom to clean my teeth.
I had to stop thinking of him.
I had to stop thinking ofthem.
I spat toothpaste into the sink and watched it disappear down the plughole with the swirl of water from the tap. If only the memories of Russ could be erased as easily.
“Georgie, are you okay?” Darcy called up the stairs.
The reflection which stared back at me looked tired, even with the dark circles under my eyes partially hidden by an amazing concealer my sister had recommended.
I had to be okay. Today signalled a new start. A new job beckoned, and I needed a distraction, something to take my mind off unpacking and the mess my old life had become.
Straightening my shoulders, I stood tall.
I’d got this.
“I’m fine. Be down in a minute.”
Five minutes later, we left the house and started off into town.
“Thanks for walking me to work, Darce. I could probably have managed it on my own.” A wry grin crossed my face.
