Page 94 of A Fresh Start at Bramble Cottage
“Er... no.” She took another sip of her coffee and put down the mug. “You see, I came home earlier that day — it must have been around one o’clock. I let myself in, and, gosh, what a surprise! Jayde’s leather jacket, hanging in the hall. You know, the red one.”
“Well, I...” He couldn’t quite look her in the eye. “She must have left it there sometime when she came round.”
“I might have assumed that. But then I heard giggling from the bedroom.” She raised one hand to stop him speaking. “Please don’t try to tell me it was the radio. I know her voice, and yours, well enough. And just to clinch it, I stopped for a bite of lunch in the café downstairs — you know the one. And guess who I saw coming out of the block, and sharing a touching farewell at the bus stop?”
It was almost amusing to watch Jeremy slowly deflating. His only response was a weak, “Oh.” He dropped his head in his hands, twisting his fingers into his hair. “It was a mistake. She came on to me. I admit it — I was weak. I shouldn’t have done it. But she came up to the flat and... we had a couple of glasses of Prosecco...”
“In the middle of the day?”
“Yes... well... she’d brought it with her — she wanted to celebrate getting to a thousand followers on her TikTok. And, well, one thing led to another. It was only the once.”
“Once?” She arched one eyebrow in sardonic enquiry.
He hesitated. “Well . . . maybe a few times.”
She laughed. “Oh, you’re such a liar, Jeremy. I suppose that patter works well enough when you’re trying to convince some poor unsuspecting stooge to sign up to the insurance company that pays you the best commission. But I’m not impressed.”
His face darkened with annoyance. “You really have changed.”
She sighed, shaking her head. “Okay, maybe that was a bit mean. But you can’t say you didn’t deserve it.”
He managed a crooked smile. “Yes, well... I suppose I do.”
Vicky watched him, surprised at what was almost an apology.
“So, you’re really sure that’s what you want? An end to everything we had, to call off the wedding, to throw in your job?”
“That’s what I want.”
“I see.” His shoulders slumped. “But... look, can we at least still be friends?”
Vicky sighed. As infuriating as she found him, she couldn’t quite bring herself to knock him back — she had thought that she was in love with him, once.
“Okay, yes, we can be friends,” she conceded reluctantly. She glanced discreetly up at the clock again. It looked as if Tom wouldn’t be coming tonight. She hoped the calf would arrive safely.
Jeremy smiled, and sniffed the air. “Is that your lamb tagine I can smell cooking? That’s always been my favourite.”
“Have you eaten?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Damn her mother for bringing her up to always be so polite!
Jeremy looked delighted. “I had something in a service station on the way down, but I suspect it was made of cardboard.”
She laughed, in spite of herself. Well, if he was going to stay for dinner, at least he’d brought his sense of humour. She’d feed him, and then with luck he’d be gone.
* * *
“That was delicious.” Jeremy downed his second glass of wine and poured himself another. Vicky declined his offer of a refill. “This is nice. Like old times.”
“I suppose so.” As the evening wore on, she was beginning to ask herself why she had taken so long to break off their engagement — in fact why she had let herself get engaged to him in the first place.
“Vicky, I can’t tell you how sorry I am. Jayde... it didn’t mean anything. I still love you.”
“Jeremy, don’t—”
“No, hear me out,” he pleaded. “I’ve done a lot of thinking these past few weeks, and I realise I’d been letting things drift. I was taking you for granted. But it can be different now —Ican be different. I promise...”
“Jeremy—”
“Can’t we get back together again? We were good together — we had some good times, didn’t we? We’ve always said we’d go to Paris — we could do that. A long weekend — it’ll be great. What do you say?”
