Page 53 of Commitment Issues
Chapter Twenty-Two
Elliot
The wedding breakfast, set up under a shady arbour on the patio, is beautiful, almost like the set from a film. All the elements are in place. The cloudless blue sky, the gentle breeze, the beautiful villa that looks out over the shimmering Mediterranean, and all of it in soft focus from the best champagne.
There’s no top table, instead the whole of the wedding party is seated around one huge round table.
“We’re over here.” I lead Freddie to where I saw our place settings earlier.
“Erm, I don’t think so. Look.”
Freddie picks up an embossed card and hands it over. Not Freddie Jacobs, but Gavin Childs.
“This has been swapped.” I want to throw the card away, and push Freddie down in the seat next to me, but the rest of the party are taking their places. It’s too late to do anything about it.
“It’s okay,” Freddie says under his breath. “You can send me lovelorn looks across the table. I’ll see you later.”
It’s not okay, but I have no choice. I take my seat, and seconds later Gavin takes his next to me.
“Was this your doing?”
“What are you talking about?” He sounds as smooth and reasoned as ever, and I grind my teeth.
“Oh, I see. You think I swapped the place settings? Do you really believe I’m that juvenile?”
I do, on both counts.
Gavin gives a weary sigh. “No, Elliot, I didn’t. I don’t know how it happened. Maybe it was an oversight. Or a sign.”
“A sign?” I splutter. The man on the other side of me gives me a curious glance. “A sign of what, exactly?” I angle myself towards Gavin and lower my voice.
“Well, we were originally coming here as a couple so—”
“You put paid to that.”By lying, cheating, fucking around with anything with a dick.
“And don’t you think I don’t regret every stupid thing I did?”
His head’s bowed, his shoulders slumped, a picture of perfect dejection. Does he? My stomach muscles tighten, and for a moment, for the smallest, tiniest moment…
No. He knew what he was doing, every time. He made a choice.
“We need to talk, Elliot, when we’re back in London. Not here, not with everybody hanging around. You know we do.”
Talk. No, I don’t want to talk to Gavin. I don’t want to talk about us because there is no us, not any more. Three months earlier, less probably, I’d have said yes. But now?
“There’s nothing to talk about.” I force my words to be quiet and calm. “Whether it’s here or back in London, there’s nothing to talk about. We tried that, remember?”
Gavin looks up, his eyes shining with unshed tears. Once I’d have believed the pain I see in them, but not anymore.
“That was a mistake, a stupid mistake. I felt sidelined and forgotten and unappreciated and—”
“Unappreciated? How the hell could you feel unappreciated? I gave you everything you asked for and willingly.”
“Materially, yes, you did. But you never gave me your time. I hardly saw you. You spent every minute of the day working. It was like your work was the other man in our life.”
His words hit me low in the stomach. My hands scrunch the napkin the waiter has laid across my lap.
Yes, I work hard. Yes, I put in just about every hour God gives me. I have to, I’m the CEO of my own thriving company and I’m determined to drive it from success to success, not just for me but for all the people who work for me and who rely on me for their livelihoods.
