She was just as stunning in real life as she was in the photos. Minimal photoshopping needed on such smooth, silky skin. Her lips were full and blood red, and her figure was perfection. She’d had two kids, but she looked better than me, with the kind of curves even Bree would have envied. Her blonde hair tumbled past her shoulders in soft curls, and even though she was only dressed in jeans and a low cut red top, she looked like a teenage boy’s fantasy come to life.
I tried not to glance down at my extremely casual appearance. My hair was scraped back in a messy ponytail and although I knew my make-up was still just fine, it looked amateurish and dull compared to Jen’s.
Her blowjob-friendly lips curved up into a smile. “Wow. So you’re the famous Leah. It’s good to meet you.”
I eyed her suspiciously. She sounded genuine, and a more naïve person would have been easily fooled by her pleasant tone. But I was looking into her eyes. They were blue - a deep, stunning blue - but she was obviously sizing me up too.
“I don’t mean to be rude but…” I trailed off. Because actually, if I’d finished the sentence, I’d have been just as disingenuous as her. I kind of did mean to be rude; she’d just materialised at my house without warning and I wanted her as far away as possible. Back to wherever the hell she’d come from. The shock of her arrival hadn’t left me yet. “I really don’t think we have anything to talk about.”
She smiled again, as if understanding my feelings, but again, her eyes didn’t quite match up to the image she was trying to portray. “So, Radleigh didn’t tell you I’m back.”
Back? A shudder ran through me. “Back? You mean… you live here now?”
A soft, girly laugh escaped her lips. “Well, almost. I’m going to be in town for a few weeks while I look for a place.”
“And you want to talk to me because…? I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I’m not an expert on local property.”
Her eyes glimmered, as if my snark was a challenge for her, but outwardly she chuckled. “That’s not what I need to talk to you about.” Jen sighed and her expression grew more serious. “Look, I don’t want to make trouble.”
This time it was me who giggled – but internally. Did she really think I’d believe that? A person who didn’t want to make trouble would have kept far away. This woman had trouble written all over her.
“What do you want?” I asked, bluntly.
“Can I come inside? I really don’t want to do this out here.”
“No. Either tell me now, or leave.”
“Leah, please. This is important. It’s obvious Radleigh hasn’t told you why I’m here, or that I’m here at all, and you need to know why. This is… it’s going to affect you.”
No shit. You being here is already affecting me. It’s been affecting me all week and has led to him hurting me and running out on me with our baby daughter.
Time was ticking away and he still wasn’t home yet. I could just picture the look on his face if he walked in and found Jen and me sitting on the sofa together. The bitchy side of me thought he deserved to be freaked out by that particular scenario after the strain he’d put us under, but when it came down to it, no matter what he’d
done, I’d still trust him more than her.
“If that’s the case,” I said, “maybe you should respect that he’ll talk to me when he’s ready.”
“Oh, please!” she snapped. “If you waited until he was ready nothing would ever get done.”
The slip of her oh-so-innocent mask made me stand straighter. She was talking about a man who no longer existed. Perhaps that was her experience, and maybe mine once, but not now. Not until she reappeared.
“You need to leave,” I told her. “Now.”
I started to push the door closed but she slipped her high-heeled foot in the way. I winced, not at the fact I might have hurt her, but at the small scuff mark on the side of her red Jimmy Choos. Not that she couldn’t afford to replace them, but still, if Bree had seen that she’d have held a funeral for them.
I glared at her through the gap in the door and her eyes widened, almost pleading with me. “Leah, you have to listen to me! Aren’t you even a little curious as to why I left New York to come all the way back here?”
Curious? No. Worried? Absolutely. I didn’t want the love of Radeigh’s young life anywhere near us and I certainly didn’t want to spend any more time talking to her. There was something about her that chipped away at my insecurities and awakened a part of me I thought I’d long since buried. Mostly, I could see right through her little act and I knew, whatever she said her reasons were, her intentions were anything but good.
“I don’t care why you’re here, I just want you away from my family.”
She smiled, her façade falling fully this time, her inner bitch beaming brightly. “Well that’s the thing, Leah. We’re gonna be family.”
Chapter Seven – Forty-Eight Hours
It was almost twelve a.m. when I barged through Deanna and Mitch’s front door, rage burning at my insides. The house was as silent as my own had been, and Radleigh sat in Mitch’s armchair with his head in his hands. Mitch stood rather awkwardly beside him and Deanna stopped behind me where I seethed in the doorway. Radleigh didn’t look up but I knew he knew I was there. He took deeper breaths but his eyes remained fixed on the floor.
Jen’s words bounced around my brain, threatening to shatter my skull with their severity. I needed to scream at him. I wanted to, but I couldn’t figure out where to begin. When Deanna had called me to tell me Radleigh was at her house, I’d barely managed to force out the word okay before hanging up the phone. I’d been rendered speechless over Jen’s revelation; the only thing inside me working overtime was fury. Fury that Radleigh had been keeping this huge, life-altering secret from me for two days.