Page 51 of Fool Me Twice

“I know,” Evie conceded reluctantly. “And I will.”

“When?”

“When I’m ready.”

Chapter twenty-seven

“What kind of woman pretends to be pregnant?” Peter asked incredulously as he sat across the desk from Leland. “Did she think I’d never find out? What was she going to do when the nine months were up? Steal someone else’s kid?”

“I don’t know what to say.” Leland was clearly as bewildered by Shari’s behaviour as Peter was. “I think she must be one very disturbed woman, but at least she’s in the best place now, and I’m sure she’ll get all the help she needs. God knows that place is costing you enough,” he said, his voice thick with disgust.

“The money’s not important, Leland, as long as she gets better.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leland said. “You’re way too generous, after what that witch did to you. If it had been up to me, I’d have—“

“I was tempted, believe me, but I just want to end this whole thing as quickly as possible. I’m done with it all, Leland, all her shit, her lies. I just want out.”

“About that,” Leland said. Peter’s head shot up. “I think we should wait until she’s completed her stint at the treatment facility before filing the papers.”

“What? Why?” Leland’s words were like a dousing of ice water.

“Knowing what that lawyer of hers is like, I’m pretty sure he’s going to use this to his advantage. He’ll probably say you drove her to it with your infatuation with Evie or whatever else BS he can get away with, in an attempt to discredit you and increase her settlement. So, my advice would be to hold off on the divorce until she’s back home and then we’ll get things moving again,” he said hopefully. “What difference will it make if we postpone filing for a few months?”

“A big difference.” Peter got up and walked across the room, staring down at the city below through the glass panels lining one wall of Leland’s office. From this height, the people milling around on the street below looked like tiny bugs. “All my life, I’ve done the right thing, done what was expected of me, regardless of what I wanted. But from now on, I’m going to do what I want.” He spun round on his heels to look at Leland, his smile almost splitting his face in two. “Let’s face it, I’m no spring chicken anymore, and from now on, I’m going to do what makes me happy, and that’s spending my time with the people I love.” He turned and stared out of the window again, watching all the people going about their business below. Were they happy? Did they have family and loved ones waiting for them at home? People to share their lives with?

“I’m moving to Cornwall,” he announced. “Permanently.” He paused to let the enormity of his decision sink in. “I’m going to be a grandad soon, and I want to spend as much time as I can with my son and grandchild.”

“Are you sure that’s the only reason?” Leland eyed him quizzically over the top of his gold-rimmed spectacles.

“How do you mean?”

“Well, I remember one evening, a few months after you came back from Oz. We were sharing a couple of glasses of that single malt you’re so fond of and you let slip that you’d fallen for someone when you were over there, and if things had been different, maybe it could have gone somewhere.”

“I said that?” Peter was a little surprised Leland still remembered after all this time, and considering the amount of whisky they’d put away that night. Peter couldn’t remember exactly what he’d said, but it had obviously been enough to make an impression on Leland.

Leland nodded slowly, a big grin spreading across his face.

“Okay,” he confessed. “Evie might have something to do with it, but she’d never have me now, not after the way I’ve treated her. She thinks I came back here because of Shari, and I guess I did in a way, but not in the way she thinks.” He pushed his hands deep into his trouser pockets. “I only did it to make sure I had an iron-clad custody agreement in place for the child. I know what Shari’s like and the kind of games she plays, so I couldn’t risk leaving it to someone else, not even you. Not that it matters now.”

Leland sat back in his chair and looked at Peter, “I’ve been your lawyer for over twenty years and your friend for longer than that, and what I’m about to tell you is the best piece of free advice I have ever given you.” He chuckled.

“I think you’ll find it’s the only free advice you’ve ever given me.”

“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to,” he said. “You need to get yourself on a plane back to Cornwall right now, and beg, bribe or do whatever the hell else it takes to get Evie to give your sorry ass another chance.”

Peter’s smile was so big, it was probably visible from space. “Thanks, mate,” he said, striding across the room. “But what if she tells me to get lost again?” He hesitated in the doorway, turning back to look at Leland.

“She won’t,” he replied confidently.

Peter looked questioningly at his friend.

“Because according to my wife, who, as we both know, is a very wise woman, women never really get over their first love. Hers was Donny Osmond, but she made do with me when he never answered any of her fan letters. And as Barbara never tires of telling me, she is always right.”

Chuckling, Peter left Leland’s office. As he pulled the door closed behind him, his mind raced. Was it true? Did women never really get over their first love? Even though she thought he’d abandoned her? Cathy might have been his first love, and he’d never forget her, but that didn’t mean the feeling he’d had for Evie all those years ago hadn’t been real.

“You look happy,” Regan said as he passed her desk. “I would be too if I’d managed to finally get rid of that psycho.”

“Regan,” Leland said, appearing in the doorway. “Have you couriered that contract to Mr Van Heuson yet?”

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