‘Come inside,’ Justin said and, taking her left elbow, steered her quite forcibly into the apartment. Her hands remained clutched tightly in front of her and she looked as if she was going to burst into tears, or faint.
Once Justin had kicked the door shut behind them, he guided her over to the three-seater opposite the television and plonked her down into the middle cushion, then sat on the pine coffee-table, facing her.
‘Rachel,’ he said softly, taking her still clasped hands within his. ‘Tell me what happened?’
She gave a small laugh that held a decided edge of hysteria.
‘What happened?’ she repeated. ‘They didn’t recognise me, that’s what happened. He didn’t recognise me. Can you believe that?’
‘Who’s he?’
‘Eric.’
‘Who’s Eric?’
‘My fiancé,’ she choked out, ‘till I told him I was leaving my job to stay home and mind Lettie.’ She started shaking her head as though still not quite believing the situation she found herself in. ‘I thought I knew why he broke our engagement,’ she went on in shaken tones. ‘I thought he didn’t love me enough, or care enough to support my decision. It never crossed my mind that there might have been another woman in the wings all along, and that I’d given him the perfect excuse to call our wedding off.’
‘What makes you think there was another woman at the time?’
‘Because I’ve just seen the bitch,’ she said, surprising Justin with the unexpected flash of venom. ‘She was downstairs just now, checking in with him.’
‘And she is…?’ Justin probed, knowing it couldn’t be Rachel’s best friend, since she was overseas on her honeymoon. Thank God.
‘The real-estate agent who sold him the fancy unit which was supposed to be our marital home,’ she elaborated bitterly.
‘I see. And are they married now?’
‘No. Living together, I presume from the conversation I overheard at the desk. Either that or they just go away together on what he called weekend junkets associated with her job.’
‘I see,’ Justin said again, trying to think of something to say to pacify her. But he knew how hard that was, when your emotions were involved. ‘Look, you don’t really know he was carrying on with this woman before he left you, Rachel. You’re just jumping to conclusions.’
‘No, I’m not. I know I’m right. I had a feeling about them at the time but I ignored it. I told myself that I was imagining the intimate little looks which used to pass between them, and the many excuses he made to meet up with her at the unit when I was busy at work. Eric’s a top lawyer, you see, and can pretty well come and go as he pleases.’
‘OK. So he’s a two-timing rat as well as a shmuck. What does it matter now? You can’t possibly still be in love with him. Not after…how long ago was it?’
‘Four years, give or take a month.’
‘See? Now, if you’d said a year maybe, or eighteen months…’ like in his case with Mandy ‘…then I’d understand why you’re so upset.’
‘Love doesn’t stop simply because you want it to, Justin. Even if I didn’t love Eric any more, I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t hate seeing him with another woman like that. But I’m doubly upset because neither of them recognised me!’ she finished on a strangled sob.
Sympathy and empathy consumed Justin as he realised what she was saying. Her hurt was not solely because of this Eric’s former betrayal, but because he hadn’t recognised her physically.
Justin understood that type of humiliation well and his heart went out to her.
‘Maybe he wasn’t really looking at you,’ he tried excusing. ‘Maybe he was off in another world.’
‘I wish. But no. He bumped into me when he turned away from the check-in desk. Almost knocked me over. He actually grabbed my shoulders and looked right at me for a second or two. He saw me well enough and there was not a hint of recognition. She didn’t recognise me, either. Though I can’t really blame her. She didn’t know me all that well. We only met a couple of times. And I know I’ve changed a lot. But Eric should still have known me. We were lovers, for pity’s sake!’
‘Did you say something to him? Call him by name?’
‘Speak to him? No.’ She shuddered. ‘I bolted into the ladies’ room in the foyer and stayed there till I was sure they’d have left the area and gone up to whatever floor they’re staying on. That’s what took me so long.’
What probably took her so long, Justin believed, was the time she’d spent in there, weeping and looking in the mirror to see what it was this Eric had seen, and not seen.
‘Do you think he…um…might have been pretending not to know you?’
‘No. There was nothing like that in his eyes. Just blankness. He didn’t recognise me.’
‘Have you changed that much in four years, Rachel?’
Her shoulders sagged, her eyes clouding to an expression of utter misery. ‘I guess I must have.’
‘So what do you want to do?’ he asked, his own spirits sagging at the realisation that this weekend wasn’t going to be such a happy or relaxing getaway after all.
‘About what?’ she asked wearily.
‘Presumably this couple will be at the dinner tomorrow night. That must be the junket you heard mentioned.’
Horror filled her face at the prospect.
‘You don’t have to go,’ he said quickly.
‘Are you sure? I mean…I don’t like to let you down but I…I don’t think I could bear it. Eric might recognise me after I do myself up a bit. But, there again, he might not. Either way, I’m going to be terribly uptight, and very poor company with few powers of observation.’
‘It’s all right, Rachel. Truly. I’ll go by myself.’ He let her hands go and straightened.
She stared up at him, and he realised her hazel eyes were really quite lovely. How could that fool have not recognised her, if he’d been her lover? Eyes were the one thing which never changed. How many times would this Eric have stared down into Rachel’s eyes when they’d been in bed together?
Hell, Mandy’s beautiful blue eyes were imprinted on his brain!
His sigh carried a wealth of emotions of his own. ‘I’ll go finish making us that coffee.’ And he stood up.
‘You are such a nice man,’ she choked out, then burst into tears, burying her face in her hands.
Smothering a groan, Justin sat himself down next to her and took her into his arms, cradling her weeping face against his shirt front.
‘No decent human being,’ he said gently as he stroked her back, ‘could be anything but nice to you, Rachel. This Eric is scum. You’re better off without him.’
‘I know that,’ she sobbed. ‘But it still hurts to see him with another woman.’
‘I’m sure it does,’ Justin murmured soothingly. God knows how he’d react if he ever ran into Mandy with that swine who’d stolen her away from him, he thought. Murder was too good for the pair of them.
‘Maybe seeing him again like that is a good thing,’ he tried, though not quite believing it himself. ‘It should give you the motivation to forget him once and for all and get on with your own life. After all, life isn’t too bad for you now, is it? You have a job you like, with a considerate boss. Or so you said,’ he added