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ELLEN WAS AT WORK THE following day, looking puffy and tired, but managing to function. Liv was pleased to have her back, and fussing over her was a welcome distraction to being paranoid about where Tony was the whole time.
Liv was excited to be seeing Michael again that evening. He was taking her to dinner in a restaurant off Covent Garden. She didn’t want to say anything to Ellen, hating that her new relationship was going so well when Ellen’s had taken a nosedive. She was angry at Ryan for just ending things, without giving Ellen a proper explanation. After years of being together, Ellen was owed more than that. Each time she glanced up and caught sight of her friend’s blotchy face and shadowed eyes, her anger towards Ryan built another notch. The two of them had been together for years, and it wasn’t right for him to up and leave without offering to try to work things out. Ellen deserved better.
She’d met Ryan a number of times at barbeques and during nights out, or when he’d been dropping Ellen off somewhere. He’d always seemed like a reasonable kind of guy, and, as Ellen appeared more and more miserable as the day went on, an idea started to form in her mind. She still had the use of the agency car, and she’d be able to leave early again, saying she needed some extra photographs of the Richmond property, should anyone question her, which she doubted they would.
“Hey, are you going to be okay if I sneak off early?” She posed the question to Ellen, rather than Tony.
Ellen gave a weak smile and nodded. “Yes, of course. Hot date?”
Her cheeks heated. “Michael is taking me for dinner.”
Ellen’s smile grew a little wider. “That’s great, Livvy. I’m really happy for you.”
She hesitated, chewing her lower lip. “I feel bad abandoning you, though. I could always cancel, and we could do something instead.”
Ellen shook her head, and Liv couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. She really hadn’t wanted to cancel plans with Michael. “Don’t be silly. I’m crap company right now, anyway. You go, have some fun for me.”
“Are you sure?”
She gave Liv’s arm a playful shove. “Of course. Now, get out of here.”
***
OLIVIA SAT ACROSS THE street in the company car, waiting for him to materialise. She knew from previous conversations that he normally finished around five thirty. Her heart pattered in her chest, her mouth running dry as she stared across to the office block on the other side of the road. She wasn’t one for confrontation, but she couldn’t stop herself from saying something. Her hands trembled in her lap, and she put them between her legs and squeezed her thighs shut to keep them still. Already, people were drifting out of the office block—some in twos and threes, others alone, normally with their heads down, looking at their phones. She tried to balance not being seen with being able to get a good view of everyone as they left. She didn’t want him to spot her first and leave through a different exit. They’d met a number of times at parties or on night’s out, so she knew he’d recognise her the moment he saw her, and he’d know exactly what she had planned.
He was one of the last to leave, and for a moment she was starting to think she’d missed him, but then she spotted him. Ryan was a little taller than she was, about five feet ten, with brown hair in a spiky cut, and a cheap suit. She’d never really understood what Ellen had seen in him, but they’d seemed happy, so she wasn’t going to interfere. Now, however, Ellen wasn’t happy, and Liv intended on finding out exactly what Ryan was playing at.
She swung open the car door and jumped out. “Ryan! Hey, Ryan!”
He glanced over at her, and she didn’t miss the eye roll he gave as he realised who’d been calling his name. He lifted a hand in a wave and kept going. “I’ve got somewhere I need to be, Olivia.”
She fell into pace beside him. “You’ve got five minutes to answer some questions.”
He sighed. “I don’t have to answer anything you ask me.”
“Maybe not, but you owe Ellen. She’s hurting right now, and she’s not even sure what’s happening between the two of you.”
“Then Ellen and I should be having this conversation.”
“Then why don’t you? She said you moved out already, and you won’t answer her calls and texts.”
“I don’t need to answer them. I know what she’s going to say, and I can’t say or do anything to make her feel better right now. She wants us to get back together, and I can’t do that.”
She reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him to a halt. “And why not? Did you meet someone else? Have you moved in with her, and that’s why you’re still able to pay rent on your old place?”
His gaze darted away, and he shuffled his feet.
Rage boiled up inside her as she realised that was exactly what had happened. Ellen had been right. “For fuck’s sake, Ryan. How could you do that to Ellen?”
“It wasn’t intentional,” he muttered. “It just happened.”
“You’re throwing away someone like Ellen for some fucking slut you’ve just met. You’re an idiot.” Her lip curled in disgust.
“I didn’t just meet Sierra. We work together. We have for the last six months.”
“Sierra?” she sneered. “Is that her name? What is she, like, eighteen?”
“She’s twenty-one, actually.”
She thought of something and looked around. “So, where is she now if you work together? Shouldn’t you be leaving together now you’re all snuggled up in a love nest?”
His gaze shifted away again, a muscle in his jaw twitching. “She had to leave early today. She had an appointment.”
“An appointment? What kind of appointment?”
“That’s none of your goddamned business.”
The penny dropped. “A doctor’s appointment? Is she pregnant? Is that why all of this happened so suddenly? You were seeing her behind Ellen’s back, and then she comes along one day and tells you she’s pregnant and that you have to make a choice, her or Ellen.” Certainty settled within her. “God, Ryan. You fucking bastard. Ellen always used to say how you were one of the good guys, and all this time you were screwing some girl.”
He didn’t even try to deny it. “This is none of your business,” he insisted.
“It is my business. I take care of my friends. I protect them. Don’t you ever forget that.”
His hazel gaze darted to her with sudden clarity. “What is this? Are you fucking threatening me?”
“Everything okay, Ryan?” One of the other men from his firm had seen what was going on and interrupted them. He was older than both of them—in his late forties, she guessed—and had the deep, stern voice of authority. She suddenly became aware that a number of people who’d also been leaving the office building had now come to a halt and were standing around, watching the spectacle. She bet they were just standing there, hoping for a fist fight so they could film it on their phones and post it to social media.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. Olivia is just leaving. Right, Liv?”
She scowled at him, but her face flushed hot, while the rest of her body felt drenched with ice water. “This isn’t over, Ryan. You can’t treat my friend like that and expect to get away with it.”
“Stay the hell away from me, and from Sierra, too. I mean it.”
She stood, glaring at him, as he shook his head at her and kept going in the direction he’d been heading. Her whole body trembled, and she felt violent with her fury. She wanted to lash out at him, but knew she couldn’t. Ellen wouldn’t thank her for it.
Fuck. Ellen.
Was she going to have to tell Ellen that Ryan’s new girlfriend was pregnant? Was it even her place to share that kind of information? She’d hate for something like that to come between their friendship. Ryan hadn’t actually confirmed that her guess was right, so maybe she just needed to keep her suspicions to herself.
All the bystanders were drifting away now the entertainment was over, so she put her head down and crossed back over the road to her car. Her stomach had twisted into a knot that was making her nauseated. She should never have confronted Ryan. What had she been thinking? She should have learnt from the last time that trying to interfere in someone else’s relationship never ended well.
She needed to get home and get changed before her date with Michael. She was upset and shaky, and a part of her wished she’d never come to speak to Ryan. Now she had information she didn’t know what to do with. Ryan meeting someone else was one thing, but a baby? How was Ellen supposed to get over that? She’d be heartbroken. Liv knew it was something Ellen and Ryan had often discussed, even mentioning baby names, and which room they’d use as a nursery, should it ever happen. Now that dream had been stolen by someone else, and Ellen was going to be even more devastated than she already was.