Page 65 of Spiralling Skywards
She hung up before I could reply.
***
It was just before nine and I was a little bit drunk when the taxi pulled up outside Sarah’s. I paid the cab driver and kicked Will’s car as I passed it. Fucker, I knew he had a thing for her. She was the girl he’d been banging on about when he was over in Australia. All he used to say was that it was complicated, and he was waiting for the time to be right. Well, I’d give him fucking complicated, and I was about to tell him when the time would be right, fucking never, that was when.
I knocked on the front door and waited for someone to answer. I hoped it would be Sarah, and I’d have a chance to talk to her before we had an audience, but I was shit out of luck that night. Sasha swung the door open, her whole body recoiling as she took me in.
I was fucked. If the best friend was pissed off, then so must Sarah be.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“Don’t start, Sash. Is she here? I need to talk to her.”
“You’ve got a fucking cheek.”
“Yeah, I know I have, but I still need to talk to her. I need to explain a few things.”
“Like the fact you’ve got a wife that you forgot to mention?”
“No. Sarah knew about my wife. Ex-wife. I told her.”
I didn’t mentionwhenI’d told Sarah, but she didn’t ask.
Sasha’s head jerked back.
“She knew you were married?”
“I’m separated, Sasha, I have been for two years. I’ve served her with divorce papers. I’m just waiting for her to sign them and the lawyers to do what I pay them for.”
She let go of the door and folded her arms across her chest.
“Luke and Will are still here, I’m assuming you still haven’t told Luke what’s going on?”
I shook my head. “No, that’s what we went to do tonight. When we walked in Olivia was there.”
“So what’s the deal? You going back to her?”
“No, no fucking way. I was done with her two years ago. Longer if I’m honest, but catching her in bed, inourbed, with a bloke I’d been on a conference call with a few hours previously was the final nail in the coffin of our marriage as far as I’m concerned.”
“Yeah? So why’s she telling Luke that you were trying to work things out right before you left to come here.”
Fucking Olivia!
“Bullshit were we. Now can I come in or not?”
“Not. Sarah’s in bed with a migraine, and I think the last person she wants to see is you.”
“Sash, please. I need to see her. I need to explain a few things.”
I felt my bottom lip tremble, and for one horrible moment, I thought I was going to cry. If Sarah forgave me for this, I fucking would. I’d bow down and cry at her feet.
Sasha’s big brown eyes zeroed in on mine.
“I don’t know exactly what went on tonight, but she looked devastated when she came through that door earlier.”
I closed my eyes and allowed my gut to twist in acknowledgment of the pain I had caused Sarah earlier. I needed to see her, speak to her. I needed to set things straight and explain why I’d handled things the way I had.
“I fucked up, Sash. I really fucked up. I need to tell her I’m sorry, and I need to tell her that I love her. That I’m right here and going nowhere.”
