Page 78 of Promise Me Ever After
“No. Alex, you make her realise you were wrong to do what you did. Tell her you want to make a proper go of things,” said Mum. “Gifts aren’t going to work in this situation.”
“Think about the present you got Georgie for her birthday, something that had real thought behind it. Flowers or chocolates aren’t going to cut it,” added Amber.
If I hadn’t have asked what to do, I could have imagined turning up at Georgie’s door and having things thrown in my face. Even with words, that could still happen, but I was prepared to take that risk.
36
Georgie
Mumand I ended up talking for hours. We talked about Darcy and Fraser, about my plans to open a restaurant one day, even her and Dad’s ideas for their garden. We talked to each other as friends, rather than mother and daughter. It was so refreshing. Once she’d gone, I called Alex’s number to ask him over. Voicemail again. Restless, I tried watching some television but couldn’t settle on anything that held my attention long enough. One eye on the screen, I idly scrolled through some social media posts, seeing pictures of Darcy and Fraser arriving at their honeymoon destination. They lookedsohappy, so perfect together. A tear threatened the corner of my eye and I swiped it away before it developed into anything more.
A knock at the door broke into my concentration and my heart stilled.
I leaped up and dashed to the front door, almost pulling it off the hinges in my haste to see if it was Alex.
“Is now a good time?”
“Russ?”
The last person I expected to be standing on my front doorstep looked at me strangely.
“You were expecting someone else?”
“Sure as hell wasn’t expecting it to be you.” I wanted to slam the door in his face, tell him to fuck off, but curiosity got the better of me. “What are you doing here?” I peered around him. “Eliza with you?”
Russ shook his head. “She’s at the hotel, packing our stuff. As soon as I’m done here, we’re going back to Bristol.” He shifted from foot to foot. “Can I come in, Georgie? I don’t want to have this conversation here.”
“What do we even have to say to each other after yesterday?”
He sighed. “Just let me in.”
I stepped to one side and ushered him into the house. It felt strange having him here, when Alex had been the one who had spent more time in the place.
Russ surveyed the work we’d done, looking around the living room with an approving nod. “Looks good. Did you get someone in?”
“No. Me and Alex did it together.” Even though I didn’t know what the hell was going on between us at the moment, I didn’t want to deny the effort he’d put in.
“Right.” Russ turned to me. “I’ll get to the point. We’re pretty much on the home stretch with the sale of the apartment, so I wanted to tell you the money should be available by the end of next week.”
In all the lead up to the wedding, I hadn’t been checking emails as regularly as I should have. I’d obviously missed something important if Russ felt he had to come to the house to tell me.
“That’s good news. You didn’t have to come here though; I’d have found out through the solicitor.”
“It’s not the only reason I came though, Georgie.” He dropped his head and studied the floor. “I wanted to apologise.”
By my reckoning any apology had come several months too late, but I wasn’t a total bitch, I’d hear him out. “Go on.”
“I’m sorry for pushing you too hard in the early stages of our relationship. When I proposed, I don’t think either of us were really ready for it. We moved too quickly, rushed into things, the flat, the engagement. If we’d have taken our time…”
I’d spent the last few months telling myself it had been my fault for moving so fast in our relationship. I had been caught in up in the vision of what life should have been like by the time I was thirty. That vision was also driven by wanting what my sister had, even to the point of rushing to get married before she did. To hear Russ say it had been on him came as a revelation. “You wouldn’t have slept with Eliza?”
His head jerked up, eyes on mine. “Honestly, Georgie, I don’t know.”
That’s all I needed to hear. Even if we had slowed things down, he couldn’t say things still wouldn’t have turned out the same. “I think it’s time you went.” He needed to leave now before I said or did something I’d regret.
“I’ll be in touch about the money,” said Russ.
“Don’t bother. I’ll contact the solicitor myself.” I walked to the front door, Russ behind me, and opened it wide. The sooner he left, the sooner I could get on with my life.
