Never Forget You by Fiona Lucas

Author:Fiona Lucas [Lucas, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2022-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Five

Six months before the wedding.

THE TEXTS FROM Justin didn’t stop completely, but they did slow to a trickle. I only replied to one, standing my ground about needing space, telling him I was going to stay at my parents’ another night. The following morning, a bouquet of red roses arrived. It was so huge I could hardly see the delivery guy struggling to hold them. I thanked him and took them through to the kitchen so I could read the card.

To my darling Angel – I love you more than I can express. Justin x.

I read it three times and then carefully tucked it into my jeans pocket, and later, when a text arrived asking if I’d received them, I almost called him back. But when I pictured myself standing on that stage, the silence cloying around me as I waited for the backing track to play, Justin silently begging me to help him from the front row, I put my phone down again.

Just as I’d been struggling to reconcile the two versions of Justin in my head, I now felt as if there were two versions of myself. One was Justin’s ‘Angel’, and the other was a suspicious, paranoid little devil. They were waging war against one another.

Lo disappeared off to Bluewater shopping centre and didn’t invite me to go with her, so while I tried to work it all out, I mooched around the house in joggers and an oversized T-shirt that Justin would have described as ‘hideous’.

Mum got fed up with me getting under her feet while she was trying to do her Saturday clean and suggested I go and have a bath to help me chill out.

I’d only been in the tub for about five minutes when the doorbell rang, followed by persistent knocking.

‘Hold your horses!’ I heard Dad yell, followed by Mum telling him to calm down and that she’d get it. I was just about to settle back down into the suds with my book when I heard a different voice in the mix. Justin’s.

What was he doing here?

I stayed there, frozen for a few seconds, and then I put my hands on the edge of the tub and pushed myself out of the water. Once I’d wrapped a towel around myself, I tiptoed along the landing and peered around the wall to look down the stairs. I was hidden from Justin’s view but Mum spotted me and shot me an enquiring look.

I shook my head. I didn’t know if I was ready to see him yet, especially not when he’d turned up out of the blue and I’d had no chance to prepare myself.

But instead of asking Justin to leave, Mum ushered him into the living room, where they started talking with Dad. The door was closed, so I couldn’t hear the exact words spoken, but it was clear Justin was talking passionately and emphatically. When the door finally opened again, I flattened myself against the wall so I couldn’t be seen from the bottom of the stairs and held my breath.

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