Page 58 of Barging In
Wandering over to the bar, she felt in need of something only Clem could give her, not that she knew what that something was. When she noticed she wasn’t there, her heart began to pulse.
“Where’s Clem?” she called over to Max, who was filling two glasses with red wine.
“She left.”
Victoria felt her heart sink in her chest as Jasper appeared by her side. “Already?”
“She was pretty done in. Early start and all,” Max replied as he turned his attention back to a guest.
“Drew didn’t hang around either,” Jasper said, leading Victoria away from the bar.
“No, he just left,” she said, her eyes scanning the room in case Clem was still milling about.
“I know. I saw him getting into his car. A woman was waiting in it.”
Seriously?He couldn’t even make the effort to even pretend for one day. And he’d likely made Clem so uncomfortable that she’d left. Victoria had been hoping to pull her away from the bar and spend some time getting toknow her better. Now, all she wanted to do was climb into bed and hide under her duvet.
She sensed Jasper eyeing her.
“I’ll fetch you another drink… and some cake.”
With a nod of agreement from Victoria, he scurried off. She was grateful he didn’t push for information. He must have worked it out by now or at least sensed something was off with their relationship. As she watched Jasper laughing with Max as he poured their drinks, a sense of utter loneliness gripped her. Even though Drew had managed to turn up, his presence was more business motivated than through any duty as a husband. Her best friend had a new love interest, and her new friend had abandoned her.
Her younger self would have expected her to be raising teenage children right about now — to be attending graduations, paying for driving lessons, meeting girlfriends or boyfriends. Instead, here she was, all alone.
CHAPTER 15
Clem topped up her glass of wine and stifled a yawn. Leaning back, she propped her feet up on the gunwale. It felt like the longest day of her life. Her body begged for sleep, but her mind wouldn’t let her rest, racing with thoughts she couldn’t outrun: what Drew had said to her, the way he had paraded Victoria around like she was his property, and worse, how Victoria had let him. She was his abandoned goods, dragged out from the attic once a year like an old suitcase.
Clem hadn’t been able to watch one more second of that insufferable charade. It was too painful. Drew didn’t deserve a woman like Victoria, and the thought of their situation made Clem’s blood boil. With the bar quiet and Max more than happy to carry on alone, she’d made her escape.
As she crossed the moonlit courtyard, she spotted Drew climbing into his car, where the woman with the sharp pixie cut sat waiting in the passenger seat. The sight of her being there, today of all days, sent more anger surging through her, propelling her forward. Although theurge to return to Victoria had tugged at her now that her odious husband had left, she didn’t want to add her bitter mood to Victoria’s evening.
Earlier in the day, when she’d tried to raise the subject of Drew, Victoria had been quick to change it, only remarking that their marriage wasn’t conventional. Did she know about the other woman — or women? Allow it, even? It was beginning to feel that way. But why? Why would she put up with that? Clem intended to get to the bottom of it.
Gazing up at the stars as they began to vanish behind thickening clouds, her mind drifted back to their time together in the kitchen. How fun it had been, the ease between them, how good Victoria felt against her when they hugged. The thought made her stomach flip. She pressed her hand to it with a smile. She missed Victoria’s presence when she wasn’t around and found herself thinking about her all the time. A groan escaped before she could stop it. She was falling for Victoria. The unobtainable. Typical.
The woman seemed to have an uncanny knack for reading her. Whenever Clem struggled to say something awkward, Victoria somehow sensed it and gently coaxed the words from her. What did that mean? Was it that Victoria noticed things about her, or was she good at reading people in general —husbands and catering managers not included?
Clem found hollow victory in the fact that Victoria’s loss on the catering front was her win. She’d be baking for the wharf now, and that came with a ready-made excuse to drop by more often andbumpinto her. If only her heart could stand it. Seeing someone regularly whom you admired — or, more truthfully, who you thought was anactual goddess — was bound to hurt. Still, the extra income would help.
The thought of her unpredictable future stole Clem’s breath away. It reminded her that she hadn’t baked this evening; she’d just accepted the invitation without thinking. That would mean an extra-early start tomorrow. The relentlessness of it all, she was sure, was fuelling her underlying anxiety. She kept telling herself that this was the price to pay for a different lifestyle, but then again, what was the point of freedom if all it did was leave you feeling overwhelmed? Were humans just programmed to worry about something and find fault with even their most recent dreams?
Clem rolled her shoulders back and tried to think practically. She’d work hard over the summer and save as much as she could. Worst case, she’d have to leave Florence tied to the jetty and move in with her parents over the winter, something that would feel like failure in her eyes. If she could make enough to get her through the colder months, she’d only have to work half the year. But to what end? To wind up bored, like her mum was likely to.
She could keep working through the colder months, hoping to break even while likely wondering if it was a total waste of time. Clem needed to be busy. Serving a handful of customers a few cups of coffee each day wasn’t going to satisfy her. Maybe she should have thought about that before diving in. Had she been so swept up in the idea that she hadn’t fully thought it through?
As she took a sip of wine, she spotted a figure crossing the bridge from the wharf. In the low glow of the hanging bulbs, she recognised Victoria. She must be walking home. Clem waited until she drew level with Florence’s bow, then called out, “Victoria!”
She stopped in her tracks. Even in the dim light, Clem could see a wide smile lifting her cheeks.
“Can I get you a drink?” she added.
“Please,” Victoria said, a hint of exasperation in her voice as she stepped onto the gunwale.
Clem offered her hand.
Victoria took it, leaning her weight into Clem as she stepped down with a sigh.
