The Good, the Bad, and the Dumped by Jenny Colgan

Author:Jenny Colgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Published: 2020-12-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

There was no doubt about it, Shoreditch House was intimidatingly smart, and full of incredibly young, trendy, famous-looking people who had obviously never heard of the words “credit crunch” in their lives. There was even a swimming pool on the roof, surrounded by cool people smoking. There was nobody in it. Posy wondered how body-confident you would have to be to change into your swimming togs and go splashing about in front of everyone. Presumably people just fell in whenever they got drunk.

She wouldn’t have been surprised to find Adam with his usual entourage; she had hardly ever seen him not surrounded by thousands of friends. On his own he could withdraw, become less of himself, abandon the extrovert, cheeky, voluble character. But surrounded by his crowd, his gang, he could finally be himself. As if he felt his personality always needed backup before it could truly let rip. The few dinners out they’d had just the two of them had felt awkward, stilted. They usually had to get drunk instead, and just turn them into elaborate rituals of foreplay—having dinner as a couple was a joke, of course, and couldn’t possibly mean anything at all.

Otherwise it all took place in a gang; a gang to which she didn’t really belong, of shared (rubbish) jokes, shared outings, meals, experiences. Posy, brought up to believe that following the herd was essentially weak and an admission of failure, found it all inexplicable, but she couldn’t ignore the nagging voice that told her that Adam was happier in company because he didn’t want to be with just her. Ever. That, in fact, she was tolerated, certainly not cherished, and, even more certainly, not loved. And that was six months of her life, she reflected sadly, as the attractive waiter checked the name on the reservations sheet. A long time to hang around, not really being loved or really loving in return. The passion, the excitement, she had adored that. But the man, she supposed, she had barely known. No wonder Leah and Fleur didn’t want her to see him. She thought again about Fleur’s anxious face. It wasn’t like her to show so much concern for her big sis.

To her surprise, there was only one person on the shiny banquette inside, sipping a cocktail carefully. He hadn’t changed that much in nine years—the dark hair was shorter and flecked with gray, he had gained weight and his face looked a little weary, though that might just be the extremely low lighting. She was glad, as she caught sight of the intensely glamorous denizens of the club flit about the room, that she had bought the new dress. The floral pattern was definitely flattering, and the evening, while not warm, was mild.

“Adam?”

He leaped up nervously, as if he hadn’t been expecting her.

“Posy!” He shook his head. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Neither have you,” said Posy, lying slightly. Closer up, he did look more ravaged, a little craggy round the edges. Dark shadows under his eyes looked like late nights, long working hours, too much coffee.

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