Always by Your Side by Julie Haworth

Author:Julie Haworth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2022-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

When Rose awoke the next morning, there was no sign of Ollie. She could hear someone banging around in the kitchen below her, however, so she rose from the bed, grabbed her cream dressing gown and padded down the stairs. Ollie was cooking breakfast: smoked salmon, eggs and bagels.

‘Peace offering?’ he said, offering her a coffee.

Rose sat down at the breakfast table and Ollie placed the coffee and a plate of food in front of her. She was not going to be won over by a few smoked salmon bagels. She was furious with the way Ollie had behaved last night. After he’d fallen asleep in the taxi on the way home from the restaurant, she’d lain awake in bed for hours – and it wasn’t just Ollie’s incessant snoring that had left her unable to sleep. Her mind kept going over and over the events of the evening. Why did Ollie always turn into such a different person when he was surrounded by his work cronies? She felt foolish when she thought of how excited she’d been as they walked through the cobbled streets yesterday on the way to the restaurant, how quickly the sense of anticipation and excitement she had felt had turned to disappointment and confusion.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, finally sensing her mood.

‘I thought you wanted to spend time with me, Ollie, but it’s blatantly obvious the whole reason you’re visiting this weekend is to go to Daniel’s God-awful shoot.’

‘Don’t be silly, darling,’ he laughed. ‘It’s just a happy coincidence, that’s all. I wish you would come with us today. You could even bring the dog along if you’d like? I bet she’d love it.’

‘Absolutely not. Even if I didn’t feel as though you’ve deceived me this weekend, I absolutely hate hunting. A bunch of grown men killing defenceless animals? What’s to enjoy about that? I think it’s disgusting,’ she said, pushing the plate of food away from her and taking a sip of her coffee. ‘I don’t know what it is when you’re surrounded by Daniel and his crowd, but I hate the way you behave around them.’

‘Well,’ he said, choosing to ignore her last comment, ‘you don’t have to actually hunt anything, do you, darling? You can just hang out with the girls and drink Prosecco. You and Camille were getting on like a house on fire last night, weren’t you?’

‘That shows how much you know. Are you really that oblivious? Camille’s an absolute viper. Did you know that she’s having an affair with her personal trainer and gloating about it to anyone who’ll listen?’

Ollie at least had the decency to look visibly shocked. ‘Is she really? That is a turn up for the books. Oh well, I suppose what Marcus doesn’t know won’t hurt him. And it isn’t as though he isn’t already having an affair with his secretary, so I guess that does sort of make them even.’

‘Oh, well, if they’re both being unfaithful, I guess that makes it all okay then,’ Rose said.

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