The Heartbreak Factor - Part Three

Chapter Ninety-Four.

Carrying Katy from the car up to the apartment seemed a lot easier when she was a few weeks old in comparison to now – nine months old and weighing the same weight as a baby elephant. “Aren’t you getting heavy?” I laughed as I reached the top floor.

Knocking on the apartment door, I stood grinning at Katy as she rested on my arms, looking at the door in excitement. She may have only been nine months old but she knew exactly where we were. I heard a key in the door and it slowly opened.

“Oh, you’re early,” a brown-haired female smiled to me as the door fully opened. She must have been Emma.

“Yeah, sorry,” I awkwardly said, unsure of how to act on my first encounter with George’s new girlfriend.

“Don’t worry,” she smiled, taking Katy from me.

I stood awkwardly in the hallway as Emma carried Katy into the lounge and sat down on the armchair with her, still in my sight. A huge lump appeared in my throat as I watched Katy’s reaction to Emma. The way Katy giggled as Emma bounced her on her knee; the look on Katy’s face as Emma talked to her; the way Katy responded to every word Emma said to her – it physically killed me.

“Oh, you’re early,” a voice said from down the hallway.

“Sorry,” I smiled, turning to see George stood in the kitchen doorway.

“Hey, don’t worry,” he grinned.

I was surprised to see him looking so happy to see me. Or was he just happy in general? He had Emma; he had Katy; he had the apartment; he had absolutely everything he used to have with me, apart from me.

“Oh, I found something of yours the other day,” he smiled, reaching into the pocket of his jeans and bringing out my locket necklace that he got me on the final date of the X Factor tour over three years ago. “I didn’t know if you’d still want it so I thought I’d give it to you so you could make the decision to keep it or not.”

I smiled at him as I shoved the locket into the pocket of my hoodie. “Thanks.”

He watched me shove it into my pocket and smiled to me.

“Are you okay then?” he asked as a huge cloud of awkwardness filled the room. “Tonight’s the first night of the tour, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Yeah,” I smiled. “London for two weeks straight and then onto the rest of the country.”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “I meant to talk to you about that. What are we doing about Katy while you’re away? Do you want me to look after her and bring her to you on certain nights or when you’ve got time off?”

“I don’t mind.”

“I honestly don’t mind,” he smiled a genuine smile to me. “She needs her mum.”

“I’ve got a week off after the London shows before we head off so we can talk about it then?” I asked, trying to end the conversation so I could rush off.

“That’s fine,” he smiled. “Whatever is fine with you is fine with me.”

“George,” Emma called him as she walked into the hallway.

“Yeah,” he grinned at her.

The way he grinned at her broke my heart as that was how he used to grin at me every time I walked into the room or said his name.

“I’d better get going,” I lied; I just wanted to get out of the apartment as soon as I could and even that wasn’t quick enough for my liking.

“Good luck tonight, Sammy,” George smiled to me, looking straight in my eyes.

I looked away instantly. I knew if I looked in his eyes too for even just a second, I’d probably break down right there and then in front of both George and Emma. “Mr Bunny is in the bag but if she can’t sleep, just sit with her for a while and if she still can’t sleep just sing some Westlife,” I said, backing away down the hallway towards the front door.