Page 48 of Sorry, Not Sorry
‘Don’t bother lying, I get the picture,’ Salome said grimly. ‘Delilah Braithwaite, what exactly are you playing at? You know the man’s got a girlfriend! I warned you not to get mixed up in his relationship issues, didn’t I? You had one job – apologise for what happened between the two of you and move on!’
This was no time for I-told-you-so’s, Delilah thought despondently. Anyone with half a brain could have predicted that nothing good could come of helping an ex-boyfriend rescue his current relationship.
‘Sal, no one planned for this to happen,’ she said with a defeated sigh. ‘I was upset, and Noah was trying to comfort me and… well, we – we just got carried away. But then he told me in no uncertain terms that it’s Zazie he loves, so that’s that!’
Salome was silent for a while, and then exhaled deeply, the sound coming clearly down the line. ‘I’m sorry, hon. I know this can’t be easy for you. I just don’t want to see you get hurt. You’ve said yourself that Zazie’s lovely and?—’
‘—and a lying bitch.’
‘Wait… what?’
Immediately wishing she had kept her mouth shut, Delilah said hastily, ‘Forget it. I’m just fed up with the whole thing, that’s all.’
‘Delilah! Why. Is. Zazie. A. Lying. Bitch?’
Salome was like a relentless terrier with a bone when she chose, and knowing from bitter experience that it was easier to give in rather than prolong the pain, Delilah reluctantly divulged Zazie’s confession at the fashion shoot.
‘What the hell?’ Salome exploded. ‘That girl isn’t a lying bitch, she’s pure evil! Who does that to someone they love? Del, this is awful! Noah absolutely adores kids – Maya’s all over him whenever we bump into him, and you know she hates most people.’
‘I know, I know!’ Delilah muttered under her breath. She didn’t need reminding her ex-boyfriend was a natural with children – especially when there was nothing she could do with the bombshell Zazie had dropped.
‘You are going to tell him, aren’t you?’ Salome demanded. ‘Noah can’t get into something as serious as marriage with a woman who’s lying to his face!’
‘Zazie says they haven’t really talked about having children, so I suppose technically she’s not lying…’ Delilah tailed off with a groan. ‘Sal, it’s none of my business. If I tell Noah, especially after what happened in the park, he’s just going to think I’m the bitch who’s trying to blow up his relationship.’
‘Maybe so, but how can you live with yourself if you don’t tell him, huh? No, Delilah! Noah’s a good guy and he doesn’t deserve this. You have to tell him!’
The testy exchange had left Delilah feeling more confused than ever, and she dragged herself off the couch, slipped on her trainers and reached for her hoodie. Too much thinking was giving her a headache, and two days moping in her flat and obsessing about her lost love was long enough. She needed to get out and clear her head.
She was almost at the door when her mobile buzzed. Praying it wasn’t Zazie calling, Delilah glanced at her phone and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Noah’s name flashing. She stared at the screen for a moment, wanting desperately to answer it and yet terrified of what he might say. She took a breath and then answered.
‘Noah?’ She felt her heart thudding painfully in her chest.
His voice sounded as crisp as if he was standing next to her. ‘Can I come over?’
32
Delilah ripped off the jumper in frustration and tossed it onto her bed to join the discarded pile of clothes. It had been almost an hour since Noah’s call and unless she planned to face her ex-boyfriend wearing nothing more than trousers and a bra, she didn’t have much time left to find something decent to wear.
What was even more frustrating was that she still had no clue why he was coming over. Get a move on, Del! She faced the full-length mirror, turning to the side to check the fit of the black jeans hugging her small waist and curvy bottom. If she didn’t want Noah turning up to find her half-naked… She hurriedly shut down her imagination before it went any further and opened her closet door to flip through the hangers again. Aiming for casual chic when your wardrobe was more like casual slob wasn’t easy. She pounced on a silky black t-shirt with an asymmetric neckline she had missed earlier and pulled it off the hanger, slipping it on while her mind continued its feverish speculation.
‘Can I come over?’ The four words weren’t much to go on, and Noah’s tone had given nothing away. While his parting words before he’d left her standing on the bridge had been brutal, what if the kiss they’d shared had changed his mind about his feelings for Zazie?
Delilah ran her fingers through her twists and carefully brushed back her edges. Smoothing her eyebrows with her finger, she picked up a tube of mascara and then paused to stare at her face in the mirror. You’re doing exactly what his bloody mother said you would! She bit her lip and tossed the tube, unused, back into her make-up bag.
‘Noah is with Zazie! Noah is with Zazie! Noah is with Zazie!’ She chanted the words aloud to block any rogue fantasies from slipping through and began to fold the clothes scattered across her bed. She was concentrating so hard on not thinking that it took a moment for the doorbell chime to register.
Adrenaline raced through her body, and she stood indecisively until the doorbell sounded again and jolted her into action. Dropping the jumper she’d been folding, she turned towards the door and promptly banged her toe against the corner of the bed. A stab of intense pain ran through her foot, and she hopped out of the room, cursing under her breath. By the time she reached her front door and pressed the Entryphone button to the building, the throbbing in her toe was agony.
She opened her door and heard Noah’s footsteps bounding up the stairs, and within seconds, he was inside the flat. She waved him through, hobbling slowly behind him and biting her lip to stifle the moans threatening to emerge.
He walked into the living room and turned to watch her slow progress. ‘What’s wrong with your foot?’
‘I just stubbed my toe on the bed,’ she replied, sinking into the nearest armchair and rubbing her toe gingerly, trying not to whimper from the pain.
‘Have you got any ice? Or frozen peas?’
‘Huh?’ Delilah looked at him blankly.
