Eva grabbed Simon’s shirt and tried to muffle her sobs in the soft fabric. It was so wrong to stand there with him like that, so very wrong to feel so safe in his arms, but heck!
Vance? Here?
Why?
She almost laughed at that. She knew exactly why. The man spent money like water running through his sticky fingers. He’d probably run out of cash and saw that she’d won the Vendeeras-Frank Prize and thought it equalled dollars.
It had. And it would.
She had a good job, with a good salary, and now they had all those new projects being signed she was well on her way to where she wanted her career to be. Winning the prize meant prestige for her and the firm, and now Isaac could charge accordingly, which meant higher commissions for her, too. It also meant she now had a substantial deposit to buy or build her own home, something she’d been saving toward for years.
But it wasn’t just about the money. She loved what she did. And would have continued to do so, whether she’d won the prize or not.
Simon’s warm hand went to her back and goosebumps erupted all over her body. She gasped in a deep breath and tensed to pull back.
“Evangeline? Are you all right?”
Eva glanced up to find three worried female faces staring at her as they reached her and Simon, then looked away just as fast. She swiped the telltale tears from her face, feeling it heat up to volcanic levels, and nodded. She was being so damned unprofessional.
“I’ll be okay.”
She gasped and jerked her attention back to the women as an arm encircled her waist.
“It’s pretty obvious you’re not okay. Come with us.”
The dark-haired woman who’d been carrying the small boy tugged gently but insistently at her waist. Simon’s sister?
Yes. Darby.
Eva looked at Simon, his hands having not left her arms. He was frowning at his sister.
“It’s all right, Si. We’ll take care of her.”
He abruptly let her go, his own face tingeing pink. Nodding as he stepped back, he said, “Of course. I’ll, ah …” He motioned behind him toward where Max stood talking with Isaac and a few people she didn’t recognise.
Eva sent him a tentative smile and let Darby lead her away toward the public toilets on the block next door. She kept her head down, not wanting undue attention or having to explain to random strangers why she’d been crying.
The blonde woman held the door open, and she dutifully filed in. The other brunette sat what looked like a nappy bag on the clean counter and pulled out some items.
Darby’s gentle voice interrupted her thoughts. “Wash your face. The toilets here have hot and cold water. If you need a quick rebuild, I’m sure one of us will have something to patch up your make-up.”
Eva stepped toward the basin and glanced at three concerned faces in the mirror as she turned on the tap. “Why are you doing this?”
The other brunette replied, “Because it’s the right thing to do. You’re obviously upset, and we couldn’t leave you there like that. I’m glad Simon was there, but, well, he’s a guy …”
Eva let out a strangled huff of a laugh. “He was surprisingly useful.”
That got a few laughs, but then Darby’s face sobered. “I understand if you don’t want to tell us what happened, but we saw that guy. The one who upset you. The way Simon burred up, it was obvious he told him to bugger off, but …” Darby held up a hand, palm up. “We’re here if you need to talk.”
Eva belatedly realised the water was gurgling down the drain as she stared in surprise. She didn’t have a lot of friends, just Sam, really. She was always too darned busy with either work or Matty to create those kinds of connections, even though it was something she really missed.
She cupped the cool water in her hands and splashed it over her face a few times, then took the offered paper towel before answering.
As she patted her face dry, she spoke around the wet paper. She may as well tell them the truth. It wasn’t exactly a secret.
“That was my ex-husband. I haven’t seen him in over three years and certainly didn’t expect him here today.” She turned and leaned against the counter, staring at her shoes, crumpling the paper in her hand. “He left me when I was six months pregnant with our son, Matty. Matthew,” she clarified. “I haven’t seen Vance since the divorce proceedings.”
Someone gasped. She looked up. The other brunette. Eva must have looked confused because she reintroduced herself, “Emma. I’m Emma. Married to this one’s twin,” she pointed at Darby. “He just … left? You and the baby?”
Eva nodded and bit her lip. She refused to cry over the bastard again, even though she could feel the stinging trying to make her do so.
“That’s despicable,” the blonde said. “Millie. Millie Stevens-Jameson.”
“Yeah. He wasn’t the nicest person,” Eva agreed. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She may as well tell them all of it. She could see they wanted to know, even if they were too polite to actually come out and ask, and she was fairly certain that she’d be seeing a lot of these women over the course of the build.
“He’s never even seen Matty. Never once visited. He decided halfway through the pregnancy that he didn’t want kids, after all. So, he left. He’d moved in with another woman within a few months. I tried to contact him, to see if he wanted to see Matty after he was born. I don’t know, I guess I thought he might take an interest once there was an actual child …” She trailed off, the looks of sheer horror and anger on the faces in front of her bolstering her courage and confidence. “He didn’t bother replying. I sent him some pictures and they came back a few weeks later.”
Darby let out a few choice words, Millie and Emma nodding in agreement.
“I know we’ve only just met, Eva, but please believe me when I say that if you need to talk—or even vent—I’m here. I’m happy to listen. Sometimes that’s all you need, right? Someone to listen. Even if it’s someone you don’t know all that well.”
The others murmured their agreement to that, too.
Eva looked at them all, not quite able to hide her surprise. Millie leaned her hip against the counter and stared at her, her assessing gaze sending prickles of heat all over Eva.
“I have a feeling we’re going to get to know each other very well, Evangeline. Besides the Cow rebuild, you’re a friend of Simon’s. That much is obvious. And any friend of one of the family usually gets absorbed into the whole family.”
Eva tried to ignore the blush she could feel flaring up her cheeks. Millie narrowed her eyes and looked closer. Too close.
“Eva. Call me Eva,” she said, trying to deflect the unusually observant woman. “And I don’t really know Simon all that well. We’ve only met a couple of times.”
That raised more eyebrows. She could have kicked herself. The last thing she needed was Simon’s family getting wind of the fact that she had a crush on the man—a totally one-sided and completely impossible one, at that.
Because no matter how attractive she found him, whatever his reasons, he didn’t like kids.
“Well, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve known him, he seems to be a little protective of you. Si’s a bit like that. He comes across all chill and laid-back, but if he sees someone being victimised or treated unfairly, it winds him right up,” Darby said, a contemplative look on her face. “And it certainly seems he thought you were in need of help.”
Eva nodded and blurted, “I’ve known him since February. Valentine’s Day. But we’ve only actually met twice.”
Millie gasped, shock washing over her face. Emma and Darby looked equally surprised.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Millie shook her head. “Ah, nothing. Nothing’s wrong.” She shrugged and turned to place her handbag on the counter so she could dig through it. “Valentine’s Day is Juliet’s birthday.”
Eva frowned. Why would her daughter’s birthday cause such a reaction? It didn’t add up.
“What aren’t you all telling me?”
Emma’s strained voice replied, “Valentine’s Day is Simon’s wedding anniversary.”
The bottom dropped out of Eva’s belly. Her hands started to shake, and she pressed a hand to her stomach, certain she was going to throw up.
He was married? Married and out tomcatting around on his anniversary?
Shit.
She’d thought he was actually one of the nice ones.
“I see,” she managed, before her throat closed up altogether.
“No. You don’t see. Not at all.” Darby moved to stand directly in front of her. “We know he went out in Bialga that night. We know where he was. I’m assuming that’s when you met?” Darby wrapped her arms around herself and waited for Eva’s slight nod before continuing. “Without going into too much detail, he needed to get out of the Crossing for a while. I don’t blame him. I probably would’ve done the same thing. He never mentioned meeting anyone, though.”
Eva blanched. She could actually feel the blood draining from her face. Darby reached out and rubbed her upper arm, a strange, pained smile trying to force itself onto her lips.
“That’s not surprising, Eva. It’s none of my business what happened—”
“Nothing happened!” Eva interrupted. “We talked and, and …” She bit her lip, looking around the small group. She certainly didn’t want them offside or thinking she was a home wrecker or something. It was the last thing she would ever knowingly do. Her gut churned at the thought that Simon would do such a thing, that he would take her back to his room like that on such an important day. “He looked so sad,” she whispered.
Tears brightened Darby’s eyes in the harsh, bright fluorescent lighting in the room. Her hand hadn’t left Eva’s upper arm. She squeezed gently for a brief moment, then let go, tucking her hand back across her chest under the other.
“Yes, Valentine’s Day is his wedding anniversary. This last Valentine’s Day was the first one without his wife, Amy. She died almost a year ago.” Darby breathed deeply and swallowed noticeably, then rubbed her forehead.
“Right in front of him.”