‘What just happened?’
‘I was so caught up in myself and living what I thought was my dream that without me noticing she fell out of love with me and in love with my so-called best mate, Darian. It fell to me to cancel all the wedding arrangements. And when I stopped being angry enough to want to see them both to get some sort of explanation as to how it happened, I couldn’t find them. They’d deliberately disappeared. Then one of our friends let slip that they thought perhaps this crazy out of character behaviour of hers was down to her hormones. When I pressed, her she told me Sal was pregnant when she left.’
‘Oh God, Rhodri! That’s awful.’ Isabel reached over and placed her hand on top of his. She’d struggled with what Ashley and Connor had done to her, but this was worse. He’d almost made it to the altar. She could only imagine what it would have been like having to cancel all those arrangements and explain to everyone that the wedding wasn’t going ahead. ‘Did you try and find them?’
‘Yeah, it wasn’t hard. We had the same social circle remember although when you split with somebody, you soon find out where people’s loyalties lie.’
‘I know,’ Isabel breathed. That had been the worst of it when she and Connor had broken up, realising people you’d counted on weren’t there anymore. You didn’t just lose your partner you lost your way of life too. It explained Rhodri’s casualness where Nico was concerned too, she realised. He would be wary about diving in again after what he’d been through. It was the same for her. She hadn’t been interested in taking anything further than a bit of a snog on the dancefloor while she’d been in Australia.
‘Yes, you do.’ Their gazes locked. Rhodri was the first to look away. ‘They’re living in Manchester, and that’s as far as I took it. I didn’t want to go any further. They wanted a new life, that much was obvious and it made me stop and take stock of my own. It was a pretty empty existence and,’ he shrugged, ‘you know the rest.’
‘Oh, Rhodri I’m so sorry that’s—’ Isabel couldn’t find the right words— awful or terrible didn’t quite cut it.
‘History, that’s what it is, and I think a lucky escape too.’
‘What about the baby though, I mean, what if it was yours?’
‘You just summed it up. The baby might be Darian’s, it might be mine, but either way Darian is his or her father and my busting in on their suburban existence demanding a paternity test, I just don’t see what it would achieve.’
‘Relationships and friends can be total shit.’
‘Yes, they can.’
They drifted into silence, and the only sound in the near empty pub was the low murmur of a private conversation broken by Brenda’s throaty laugh at the other end of the bar.
‘I think we’d better be on our way,’ Rhodri said, scraping his stool back.
Isabel wondered if he regretted having told her what he had. She swung her bag onto her shoulder. ‘Goodnight Brenda, and er—’
‘Al.’ Rod filled in the blanks for her.
‘Al. Thanks for the drinks, Brenda.’
Rhodri repeated her sentiment, and the two of them stepped out into the cool night air.
Chapter 37
It was a quiet walk home for Rhodri and Isabel if you didn’t count the chap on the corner of Union and Castle Streets. He was leaning against the wall his hands clutching onto a grease-soaked bag of chips for grim life. He recognised the duo walking toward him from the Rum Den and decided to burst into song with “Delilah.” His plaintiff, ‘Why, Why, Why’, breaking the silence of night as he tried to engage them in the song.
Isabel half expected a head to pop out the window of one of the flats above the row of shops to tell him to shut up. They’d be well within their rights to do so, she thought coming over all holier than thou. He was silenced when he dropped his chips; she paused to help him. He needed them to soak up all the booze. Rhodri, however, was in no mood to hang about. He kept walking and she scurried to catch him up.
‘Chips with curry sauce. I’m sorry to say they couldn’t be saved.’
‘Well, I pity the poor sod who stands in that treat tomorrow morning on their way to work.’ He growled as they rounded the corner onto the Esplanade. They reached Pier View a few short steps later. Isabel stood alongside Rhodri in the doorway waiting for him to unlock it. Her key would be buried at the bottom of her bag somewhere, and she couldn’t be bothered rummaging for it in the dark.
‘Rhodri,’ she said tentatively. ‘Our conversation tonight won’t go any further.’
He turned toward her his dark eyes searching her face for a second before he turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. He felt around on the side of the wall for the switch and flicked the lights on. Isabel followed him inside eager to be out of the cold.
‘I know it won’t.’ He headed over to where the canvas he was working on was covered with a sheet. ‘I might sit up for a bit and work on this.’ He hovered by the sheet waiting for her to pass by before taking it off. She took the hint.
‘Well, goodnight then and thanks again for this evening.’ Isabel disappeared out the back to take the steps two at a time up to her room.
͠
Isabel was tired but not sleepy. She could
