Page 106 of The Rest is History
I look up as he marches towards me. The dogs can sense that the shit is about to hit the fan and are tearing around him in excited circles.
‘You are an idiotic fucking dickhead, you know that?’
Emmy’s behind him, trying to keep up with his long strides. I ignore Jack and his insults and slapped-arse face and dutifully stand to greet my sister-in-law.
‘I’m so sorry, Charlie,’ she whispers, pulling me in for a sincere hug.
‘Thanks.’ I pat her on her shoulder.
‘Sit,’ Jack orders. He’s in full-on big-brother mode and it’s already fucking irritating. At least he’s brought scotch. He slams a very nice bottle on the coffee table and points at me to stay where I am before striding into the kitchen, presumably for glasses.
Emmy sits beside me and puts her arm around me.
‘You okay?’
‘Very far from okay,’ I tell her, and her face falls.
Excellent. Another woman I’ve let down. I know she was over the moon about me and Elodie—I had a flurry of texts from her last night to that effect. But, unlike my brother, she won’t throw it in my face. She’s far too sweet for that.
Jack returns with glasses and a bottle of Pellegrino. He pours some of the latter for his wife and hands it to her before unscrewing the scotch and pouring us both a few fingers. He pushes one glass my way.
‘Em’s driving so I can knock some sense into your thick skull,’ he says conversationally. ‘I hear you’ve managed to sabotage the best thing that’s ever happened to you in record time.’
‘News travels fast.’
‘Yeah, well Em saw Elodie at pickup and she got it out of her.’
I glance up at Emmy, who’s looking uncomfortable. ‘You saw her? How was she?’
‘How the fuck do you think she was?’ Jack sneers. ‘You introduce her to your entire fucking family, and then you dump her the following day without even a proper explanation?’
‘I was asking your wife, dipshit.’ I turn back to Emmy and wait.
‘She was really upset, Charlie,’ she says, her brow creasing with concern. ‘I couldn’t exactly talk to her properly—not in the classroom—but she didn’t seem to understand why you did it. She’s guessing she freaked you out because you thought Aurelia was making her broody. And I suspect she’s right—just not in the way she thinks?’
‘Jesus.’ I lower my face, pushing the heels of my hands into my eye sockets as hard as I can.
Emmy sits and waits, one palm rubbing comforting circles on my hunched back.
‘Mate.’ Jack’s tone is a warning.
‘Stop.’
‘Fuck.’The sofa lifts as he gets up and paces. ‘Let me get this straight. She’s the one, and you haven’t told her you can’t have kids, and you’ve been hoping the whole issue would just miraculously disappear, but now you’ve had a massive fucking freak-out and dumped her without actually bothering to tell her why.’
‘It’s for the best,’ I tell the ground.
He slams his glass down on the table, making me jump.
‘It is not for the fucking best, dumbass. Because you’re both crazy about each other—anyone with eyes can see that—and you’ve gone and ruined it for absolutely no reason except that you’re too fucking cowardly to have it out with her.’
I look up. ‘That’s not it, you dick. It’d be a deal-breaker for her.’
‘Would it. Just like it was with Adeline, eh?’
I flinch.
Jack sits.
