“Oh my God,” I muttered as I took off my soggy shoes and placed them on the shoe rack by the door to dry off. Instead of traipsing water through the whole house, I peeled off my sodden jeans and shirt while standing on the plush welcome mat, then, dressed only in my underwear, I ran up the stairs with my wet clothes in my hands, and dumped them in the wash basket. Shivering, I went to the closet to pull out some fresh clothes – another pair of jeans and a thin black jumper – then hopped into the shower to warm myself up and rid myself of that horrible damp feeling after being rain soaked.
When I was done, and feeling substantially less gross, I quickly reapplied some make-up, and threw my wet hair back into a ponytail; I could dry it properly when I got back to Deanna’s. As I padded down the hallway towards the stairs, I stopped dead when I heard the sound of a key in the lock. Aside from Radleigh, Mitch and Deanna were the only other people who had a key to the house, but Mitch and Deanna were at their house. I crouched down where the wall met the bannister along the hallway, and peered through the bars as Radleigh walked into the house.
My heart ceased to beat for a moment before it sank into my stomach. Why has he brought her here? Why isn’t he at work? Where are the kids?
Christ. Had he made a decision now? Was this it? Was he bringing her to the house for some privacy? Like a kid bunking off school so he could make out with his girlfriend? As my heart started up again, banging incessantly, I willed it to calm down so I could hear what they were saying.
“Radleigh, why did we have to come here now?” Jen whined. “Aren’t we supposed to be having a day of doing fun stuff?”
They stopped in the hallway, in almost the perfect position for me to see them. I had a side view of Jen and a little of Radleigh. If I peered out, I’d get the full view, but then I’d risk them seeing me so I remained where I was, completely still.
They must have missed the epic rain shower because they were both dry and looking great. Jen wore tight fitting jeans and a royal blue cowl neck top with a hint of cleavage showing. She looked as she always did, as if she’d stepped from the pages of a magazine, whereas I looked a tad unkempt with my freshly showered hair still wet.
They looked amazing together, and the twist of my heart almost made me gasp.
“I told you. I need to get some more clothes, and since Leah is out with my mom, now is a good time.”
Oh. So he doesn’t want to see me. And he’s taken the day off to be with her. Seemed like I was the one who’d be packing my clothes up soon, and I tried to keep a grip on my shaking body at the thought.
“Her car’s outside.”
“That’s because my mom picked her up.”
Yes. That had been the plan until she called me and asked if we could go in my car because hers wouldn’t start.
“Fine.” Jen sighed. “Can you just get this over with? We have better things to do than hanging around in here.”
“Jesus, Jen. We’ve only just got through the door. It’ll take me a little while to get what I need. Let’s make a drink and-”
“Radleigh, seriously. I don’t wanna be here.”
“This is my house.”
“It’s your house with her. It’s full of her tasteless decorations. And those paintings in the living room? Please. I don’t know how you can bear to look at those ugly things.”
My fists clenched. I knew she hated them the day she’d sat in my living room, glaring at them as if they’d stolen from her purse.
“They’re not ugly,” Radleigh said, and I noticed how weary his tone was. “They’re of Leah’s home. Maybe if you’d ever experienced being in a place like that, you’d appreciate them.”
Huh. He can still defend me. Where was that when she’d wrecked my damn wedding dress?
“Okay, I’m sorry.” Jen’s whiny voice faded and she switched back to sugary sweet as her hands slipped around his waist as easily as if she’d done it a million times. Which, I guessed she had in the past. But… recently? My heart sped up again because what I wanted to do was run down the stairs and pull her off my man by her bleached blonde hair. But I couldn’t. I had to hold my ground and wait. Because nothing would be a truer representation of how they were when they were alone than this.
A small flicker of hope lit inside me when he didn’t put his arms around her, but it was quickly snuffed out when she pressed herself into him, as close as she could possibly get, and ran a hand down his arm. “Since we’re here,” she said, her voice lowering. “And we have the whole place to ourselves, we could always…” she trailed off and whispered something in his ear.
As if she needed to whisper. It was all for effect, and I hated her for her exceptional seduction skills. What guy could resist her when she was making it so easy? She was beautiful and sexy and perfect.
When Radleigh didn’t move, she said, “Radleigh, come on.” Her hands snaked around him, and I could no longer see where they were, but I could take a pretty good guess. “We’ve waited long enough, haven’t we? Let me remind you how good it was between us.” She tilted her head up, waiting for him to kiss her, and I felt my throat begin to close over. I didn’t want to see this. I couldn’t handle seeing his lips on hers. The only good thing I clung to was that they hadn’t slept together… yet.
“You know what?” Radleigh said, and my heart jolted when he took a hold of her wrists and unwound them from him. “I don’t want to be reminded. I don’t want you.”
She stared up at him. “What?”
He stared back just as hard, and I recognised the coldness in his eyes. Seeing it directed at her would have made me smile if I hadn’t been holding my breath.
“I. Don’t. Want. You. I’m not sure I ever did.”
“But, Radleigh-”