Cowboys & Horses

Chapter 34

I slammed the door shut, muttering curses to myself. Zoe was knelt against the bed, her elbows on the duvet and her head in her hands.

"Well," she said, giggling. "Someone's a little touchy. Maybe it's past his bedtime."

I laughed but it wasn't a true laugh. The unexpected visit and resulting confrontation had left me somewhat sober. I wanted nothing more than to climb into bed and cuddle my pillow where I knew I could still catch the invigorating scent of his shampoo.

"I'm tired," I said, crawling under my duvet. "I'm going to sleep."

"Plan." The bedclothes lifted as she settled in next to me. "Night, Soph."

"Night."

***

I woke just as dawn broke. The morning sun was already warming the air to a barely tolerable temperature. I blamed that for the wave of sick currently pushing its way up my throat.

Making it to the toilet just in time, I heaved my guts up to the extent that my stomach felt as if I'd been through medieval torture. Looking at myself in the mirror, I pulled a face. My curly hair was unkempt, sticking out in all directions. Huge bags weighed down my eyes, and my normally fresh-looking skin was a sickly grey.

"Urgh," I said. I grabbed a hand towel and hung it over the mirror. "That's better."

I padded back out to the bed, rubbing at my pounding head. So convinced there was a tiny man playing bongos inside my head, I almost missed the thumping on the door. If it hadn't been for my dressing gown falling off the back of the door with the force of the impatient person's knocks, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

I expected it to be Brady so yanked the door open with an attitude ridden, "Yeah?"

Anna's pristine appearance greeted me. She cast a piercing gaze up and down the length of me, obvious disgust written all over her face.

"Here." She thrust a bunch of papers in my chest so hard, I stumbled back a few feet. "Looks like you win, although looking at the state of you, I've no idea why."

I frowned, trying to fight through the fog encasing my mind. "What? Win what? I don't understand."

She snorted with obvious disdain. "I have no use for all of it anyway. What use is it without him to enjoy it with?" Her eyes glazed over for a moment as she focused on something behind me. When she snapped her attention back to me, her voice was a little softer. "I don't like you. However, woman to woman, take my advice—don't let that man go. It'll be the biggest mistake you ever make."

With that, she walked off, the only sound in the morning quiet being the click-click of her high heels on the ground.

"S'going on?" Zoe asked, half asleep. "Who was that?"

"Brady's wife," I said, closing the door. I took the papers from my chest, trying to smooth out the crumples. "She gave me a load of paperwork and said something about I win."

Zoe sat up, yawning. She rubbed at her eyes and waved a hand in my direction. "I thought he'd already done that."

"What?"

"Divorced her."

My eyes widened. Scanning over the sheets of copy paper, I realised these were divorce papers. There, right at the bottom, was Brady's signature—dated yesterday. Did he do this after he'd left last night?

"You knew he was married?"

"Of course I did. Uncle John told me just after I'd met Taylor. I was besotted with him though so Brady playing husband just went to the back of my mind. He was just a silly crush at the end of the day."

"So what's the big deal? Why'd she feel the need to tell me I win?"

Zoe shrugged her shoulders. "Last I knew, he was refusing to divorce her. Don't know why. But then it all went quiet so I presumed he'd just done it."

Refusing to divorce her? Did he still love her? Had it been her wanting it? But then considering her final words to me, it couldn't have been her doing. Guilt began to prick at my conscience. Why hadn't I just let him explain everything? I'd been so concerned with him being another Ben, I hadn't even considered any other options.

"I need to go speak to him," I said, hobbling around to find some clothes.

"Soph, you look like shit so I'm sure you feel it. The pretentious bitch has gone so just leave it for a few days. I'm sure he'll be back here soon anyway. Seems like he can't stay from you."

I hoped she was right.