Page 83 of Spiralling Skywards
I didn’t tellSasha about Olivia’s visit when she got home from work that night. I was more than a little humiliated by the way I’d been suckered in by Liam and didn’t see why the rest of the world should get to hear about it, especially my brother.
Whatever had gone on between me and Liam, I didn’t want it to impact what my brother was trying to get off the ground, and I was worried that if he knew about the extent Liam had lied to me, it would. So, I simply chose not to mention Olivia’s visit to anyone.
I’d showered, washed and blow dried my hair, put on non-thirteen-year-old girl style clothes and even managed to make chicken fajitas for dinner by the time Sasha got home.
“So you’re doing okay? You’ve had today to get your head around it all and you’re absolutely sure you’re done, it’s over?” she asked while spreading my secret recipe guacamole over her wrap.
“He lied to me, Sash. If I had known from the very beginning that he had a wife, then I would never have gotten involved.”
I gulped down some wine, hoping it would relieve the pressure in my throat and chest.
“But he’s in love with you.”
“I don’t care. I don’t love him. We’ve had a great month together, but now we’re over. It’s time for him to face up to his responsibilities.”
“That baby’s not his.”
“And you know this how?”
She shoved a bite of her wrap, which was overfilled with chicken, cheese, guac, and sour cream, into her mouth, chewed a few times, and then spoke.
“Uhldee.”
“What? Swallow what you’re eating, you pig.”
She stopped chewing, tilted her head to the side, and opened her mouth wide so I got to view its contents.
“You’re an animal, you know that? A child. An animal child.”
She stuck her food loaded tongue out at me, and I laughed. She was disgusting, but I loved her.
She finally swallowed and said, “He told me. He told all of us here last night. The baby’s not his and he’s in love with you. I believe him, Sares.”
She was suddenly serious, but I’d take viewing a mouthful of her half chewed food over serious any day.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why’d you believe him? How can you be so sure?”
She was quiet for a long moment before puffing out her cheeks and blowing out a breath.
“He just doesn’t come across as a liar.”
Oh how little she knew. I raised my eyebrows at her. Neither Sash nor I were experts on men. Neither of us had ever been in a serious long-term relationship. Sash had dated a bit more than I had, and she had slept with a few more men, which wasn’t really hard to achieve, but at that stage of our lives, we were both a little naïve.
“Okay, he can’t know for sure about the baby. He did sleep with her after all, so there’s always a possibility, but he definitely loves you. I know that much.”
Well if that were the case, I would just have to convince him that I didn’t feel the same. He needed to go back to his wife and raise their child, together. I refused to be responsible for breaking up a marriage. My mother’s selfish actions had deprived four children of a father, one was too many for me.
“Perhaps he does, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s married. I don’t wanna be involved with a married man. It’s as simple as that.”
I pushed my plate away, my almost non-existent appetite now gone completely.
“You’re not her, you know that, right? These circumstances are entirely different to your parents’.”
“I know that.”
