She could see the panic in his eyes and it actually made her laugh.
‘Don’t worry, Elliot. I don’t want a ring on my finger. I just thought you cared. About me. About Ros and the story . . .’
‘Why does everything have to be about the bloody story?’ he said, throwing his hands up in frustration.
‘It’s about doing the right thing,’ she said, getting to her feet. ‘And right now, this doesn’t feel like it.’
‘So that’s it?’ His handsome face suddenly looked cold and aloof.
She’d been talking about the story, about Dominic and Ros, but she realised that Elliot had been asking about their affair. Suddenly she knew the answer to that question too.
‘I should go,’ she said softly.
Elliot sat there shaking his head.
‘After everything I’ve done for you.’ His mouth curled into a sneer. The smooth, charming Elliot gone, in his place the petulant rich boy who always got what he wanted. Rosamund had been right about that.
Abby knew how easy it would be to rise to his bait. For the evening to turn into a confrontation, an embarrassment. But she didn’t want to slink away. She was not that girl any more. She went round to his side of the table and kissed him courteously on the cheek.
‘Thank you, Elliot,’ she said as her last goodbye, as he looked at her with complete surprise.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
‘So what’s going on with your chap?’ asked Rosamund as they turned off the dual carriageway on to a country lane.
‘I don’t want to talk about Elliot Hall,’ said Abby, trying to follow the GPS in the car.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Rosamund raising an intrigued brow.
‘I was actually talking about your husband. You said you were separated.’
‘Ah,’ replied Abby, squirming in her seat. She felt herself fall under Ros’s penetrating stare. ‘Honestly, I don’t want to talk about him either.’
‘Why not?’ asked Rosamund.
‘It’s complicated,’ she said finally.
‘Relationships always are.’ She paused. ‘Are you getting divorced?’
‘I think so.’
‘So you’re not sure you want to.’
‘I’m sure I can’t pick up where we left off with our marriage. I’m not sure that I can ever trust Nick again.’
‘So I assume he – Nick – had an affair.’
‘A one-night stand.’
‘I see.’
Abby glanced across at her.
‘You don’t think that’s enough, do you? You don’t think that’s enough of an excuse to get divorced.’
‘You don’t have children?’
‘No, we don’t.’