Page 2 of Spiralling Skywards
I shook my head. I felt my jaw tense. This wasn’t my favourite subject.
“Why the fuck not? It’s been what, two years now?”
I finished my drink and recalled the night my marriage had finally ended.
I considered myself a fairly successful bloke. I was lucky enough to have been born into a family that were pretty well off, I was well-educated, well-travelled, and good at most things I turned my hand too.
Except for marriage.
Olivia.
The only thing I’ve ever really fucked up in my life.
I let out a long breath before I answered him.
“I had divorce papers drawn up, I just never got around to doing anything with them. It’s all in hand now though. I left instructions with my lawyer before I left.” I shrugged my shoulders as I spoke, really not wanting to think about my lying, cheating, whore of a wife, or the fact that I was a lying, cheating, whore of a husband and the mess I’d probably left behind in Sydney
“What about you? You finally confessed all to the secret love of your life and told her how you feel yet?” I deflected.
Will’s eyes went from mine to the barmaid’s as he gestured for two more drinks.
“Fuck you, arsehole,” he said while passing me my vodka tonic.
“I’ll take that as a no then?”
“It’s . . . I’ve . . . I’ve not really seen much of her until recently to be honest, but I plan on making a move tonight.”
“She’s gonna be here?”
“She is.”
Our conversation was interrupted by a bloke slapping his hand across Will’s back.
“Evening. Not too lively in here just yet. How many you expecting?” He eyed me as he spoke to Will.
He was a little shorter than me but still around six feet tall. Well-built and a little too tanned . . . almost to the point of being orange, a colour that I’d noticed quite a few of the women in England also favoured. His hair was short and spiked with way too much product.
“We invited about two hundred. Only about fifteen said they couldn’t make it, but I’m sure there’ll be a few more no shows. Hopefully a good crowd’ll turn up for him, though.”
Orange tan man looked past Will to me for a few seconds before holding his hand out.
“Declan Fox,” he stated with raised eyebrows. I think maybe he was expecting me to respond to his introduction as if I knew the name, but I had no clue who he was.
“Sorry, Deck, this is Liam Delaney—”
“Ah, Luke’s boss,” he interrupted.
“Erm, business partner actually,” I corrected.
“Yeah, but it’s your business, right? Luke’s just bought into it?”
“No actually, the UK is a whole new venture for me, and something that Luke and I have set up on our own. Totally separate from what we were doing together in Australia. So, like I said, business partner.”
Fucker. You ever been introduced to someone and you just don’t like them from the get go and then everything about them just pisses you off? From the way they stand, to the way they sip their beer or crunch the ice from their drink? Yeah, that was how I already felt about this bloke.
“Well lucky Luke fell right on his feet when he met you.”
And comments like that justified my opinion.
