Page 79 of A Summer of New Beginnings
‘I really don’t get why you’re being such a bitch. If it hadn’t been for me you wouldn’t evenbehere. I’m the one who helped you and now you’re going to be making it big you think you can just dump me and move on? I won’t let you, Zara. It’s not fair.’
She started to laugh. She wasn’t sure if it was genuine amusement at his naivety or if it was nerves, but she suddenly found him hilarious. ‘You have no clue, do you?’
‘No clue about what? One minute you were going to wait for me in bed and the next I go to answer a call aboutmy sonand you get all jealous and lock me out of the bloody room. Caleb wasill, Zara. His mother was frantic with worry.I had no idea you could be so heartless over a child’s illness just because his mother and I share history. It speaks volumes about the kind of person you are, that’s all I can say. I wonder if your agent knows what an ice queen you are.’
She snorted, unable to contain her incredulity. ‘Josh, Iheardyour conversation. Caleb wasn’t sick. Katie was jealous, that’s why she was calling. She wantedyou back as soon as she realised you and I were back together. A real case of wanting what you can’t have. Your plan worked. Oh, yes, I overheard you telling her about your plan too. You never loved me. Youusedme.’
His nostrils flared and his cheeks coloured. ‘But… the competition…Isent in your book. By rights I should be getting a cut of whatever you make. If it hadn’t been for me—’
‘Whataddress did you send the book to, Josh? Hmm?’
‘What? I don’t know why you’re asking me that. Just some address in Inverness, I can’t remember.’
‘Glasgow. The submissions were made to an address in Glasgow and then forwarded to the HQ in Inverness.’
He stepped back and scratched his head. ‘Yeah, I meant Glasgowobviously. I sent it to Glasgow and they told me they’d forward it.’ He scrunchedhis face and rolled his eyes, insinuating she was stupid.
‘Wrong again. ItwasInverness. You lied about submitting my… what did you call it? Oh, yeah, mystupid book. It was Lachy.Hesent the book andheput my agent in touch with me. So whatever claim you think you have it’s all bullshit. Now piss off back to whatever rock you crawled out from because, looking at you, that’s exactly what happened.Go back to your beloved Katie and see how long that lasts, eh? She can have you because I certainly don’t want you, you lying, cheating bastard.’ She slammed the door in his face, turned round and slid down the door until her bottom hit the floor.
Once she had calmed her racing heart and her breathing was back to normal, she checked her phone.
Still nothing.
A text came through from Shelley.
Down in reception. Coming for a drink? Just seen your ex!
Zara grabbed her cases and headed down to the reception area where Marco, Shelley, Jake and Toby were waiting.
‘Hey, honey. Are you okay?’ Marco asked when she arrived. ‘We’ve just seen Josh storming out of the hotel. He looked like shit. Still wearing last night’s clothes too. Has he been up to see you?’
‘He has. I gave him a very unpleasantpiece of my mind and now, hopefully, he’s skulking back to London.’
‘Brilliant, well done you! He deserved that,’ Marco said.
‘Hey, has Lachy replied to your message yet?’
‘No, Shells, he hasn’t. But I can’t just let things go. If something is worth having it’s worth going to the ends of the earth for, right? I need to look into his eyes and know that it’s over. I mean, I can’t be in Scotlandonly a couple of hours away from his home and not go to see him, can I? He may reject me and I may get hurt, but at least I’ll know for sure and won’t spend my life wonderingwhat if, will I?’
‘So you’re going to see him?’ Marco asked.
Zara nodded. ‘I’m going to hire a car and I’m going up there,’ she said decisively. ‘In Ruby Oates’ books it’s always the hero that goes to the heroine but I’ma modern woman. There’s no rule to say I can’t go to him and make things right, is there? I mean, men don’t always have to be the go-getters, do they?’ She looked to her friends for a response but they were both staring at her with a look of bewilderment. ‘Oh, shit. Am I bonkers? Is this a stupid idea?’ She slipped her hands into her hair and tugged at the strands.
Shelley huffed. ‘If you wantme to be honest – and I’m pretty sure you do – then, yes, I think you’re bonkers.’
‘Oh.’ Deflated, Zara sat on the chair by the fireplace.
‘But,’ Shelley continued, ‘people thought the bloke who invented the aeroplane was bonkers and the woman who discovered penicillin, people probably thoughtshewas bonkers—’
‘He.It was Alexander Fleming. He was aman,’ Marco interjected with a smug expression.
Shelley scowled at him. ‘I thought it was Marie Curie or someone.’
‘Nope. She was radioactivity. Fleming was penicillin.’ His grin got wider and Zara had to chew her lip so as not to laugh.
‘Well, whatever. As I was saying, people do things all the time that other people think are bonkers. Take those bright yellow boots that Marco bought. Actually, that’s a really bad example because absolutelynothinggood came from that purchase but, anyway, if it gets you some closure or, best-case scenario, you get the man of your dreams, who gives a shit if it’s bonkers? You get my point… hopefully.’
Zara widened her eyes. ‘So Ishouldgo?’
Marco and Shelley glanced at each other and then shouted in unison, ‘YOU SHOULD GO!’
