History

Chapter 23 - Take A Picture

The next few days passed by in a bit of a blur for Lydia as she went through the motions of her daily life,  kept busy by the boutique and taking her daughter to and from school.

The night Sam had walked out, he had stayed out till almost 2 AM, come home and gone straight to bed then woke up early and left for work before Lydia had even got out of bed and she'd barely seen him since, they had become like ships passing in the night.

Lydia was aware of the time he had come home that night as she'd been awake in bed and heard his car coming up the gravel driveway, when he'd come into the bedroom she had pretended to be asleep incase he decided to continue their argument from earlier that evening. They hadnt talked much since then except for the usual pleasantries in front of Gabriella, Lydia was determined that the teenager would never know when her parents were having problems, she didnt want the young girl to worry. Especially since she knew that sooner or later Sam would come around and they would be ok again, so long as she could keep her night of passion with Cristiano a secret, and so far so good. 

She hadn't heard or seen the footballer since that afternoon in her office, she had taken it as a sign that he had chosen to move on and leave her to her life with Sam.

Feeling a little more relieved about the situation she'd thrown herself into work and building a happier home life, preparing for the holiday she was sure Sam would change his mind about. Lydia still felt guilty about what she'd done but as the days went by the guilt eased just a tad but every now and then a flashback of her night with Cristiano would flit through her mind as a little reminder of what she'd done. She just had to stop thinking about the footballer and keep herself busy instead.

A huge delivery had arrived at the store for Lydia and she was busy in the office unboxing it all as Dani looked on in suspense. "Geez Lyd, what did you buy?" asked the blonde as she perched on the edge of the sofa watching her friend tear open the boxes. 
Lydia smiled as she pulled a huge pink suitcase from one of the boxes, "Just a few bits for the holiday" she replied getting to her feet and pulling the suitcase along behind her as she modelled it for her friend, "It's a luxury holiday so I want to look the part when I step off that plane. How do I look?" she asked as she sauntered across the room doing her best model walk.

Dani laughed, "You look amazing Lydia but its not because of the suitcase, that's just an added extra". Lydia smiled at her best friend, "Thanks Dani, you always know how to make me feel good".
Dani shrugged, "Just speaking the truth". Lydia leaned over and hugged the blonde and for a second they were still until Dani broke the silence, "Ok, enough of this show of emotion or you'll have me crying in a minute, then my make-up will be smudged over my face and that's just a mess that no one needs to be seeing".
Lydia laughed as she released her friend from the hug.
"So?" continued Dani, "What else did you buy because from the looks of it you must have cleaned out the store this is from" she said as she pointed around the room at the boxes that surrounded them.
Lydia smiled as the pair set about tearing through the rest of the packages, "Wait till you see the bikini's I bought, there's this pink one that is covered in jewels and...", Just then Selena, the young assistant at the boutique burst into the office, "I think you guys should come out front and see this" she exclaimed.

Lydia looked at Dani then back at Selena "What's going on?" she asked getting to her feet.  The young girl shook her head, "It's madness, there's paparazzi everywhere and the phone hasn't stopped ringing with magazines wanting an interview with Ronaldo's new girl".
Lydia's heart stopped or at least that's what it felt like as it thudded in her chest as they raced along the small corridor leading from the office to the main store, as soon as Selena opened the door onto the shop floor the flashbulbs and clicking began as the pap's who were now pressed up against the window, vied for the perfect shot.

Blinded by the flashing, Lydia put a hand up to shield her eyes as Dani pulled her back into the corridor, "You can't go out there" she whispered, "You don't want them to get your picture. Let me deal with this". Lydia looked worryingly at her friend, "What about Sam and Gabriella, what am I going to tell them?, I never thought Cris would do this".
"Calm down" replied Dani, "We don't know what's happened, someone could have seen you two together the other night, why don't you go back into the office and call him to find out what's going on and I'll handle these guys" she said gesturing towards the crowd of preying paparazzi.
Lydia nodded feeling lost for words as a wave of nausea hit her at the thought of what was about to happen. Suddenly she was alone in the corridor as she listened to her friend shouting at the pap's, she could feel her heart racing, her mouth was dry and her fingers began to tingle, realising she was experiencing the beginning of a panic attack she stretched out her fingers and took a few deep breaths, this was no time to be having a meltdown this was time for damage control.

Within seconds she was running along the corridor into the office, grabbing her phone from the desk she quickly dialled Cristiano's number, something she never thought she would be doing since she'd vowed to stay away from him. Seconds later he picked up, "Well hello there, I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away".
"Did you tell anyone about us...I mean about what we did?" she asked cutting him off,
 "So there's an us?" he asked and she could tell form his tone that he was smirking, "What?... No Cris there's not an us and you can wipe that smile off your face this is serious" she replied.
"How did you know I was smiling?" he asked, "Ronaldo this is serious so can you just answer the damn question" she pleaded.
"I only told your friend but you already knew that, why what's wrong Lydia?" he replied, this time his tone had changed to one of concern.
"There's a crowd of paparazzi outside the store desperate to get a picture of Ronaldo's new girl, plus the phone hasn't stopped ringing with magazines trying to get an interview with me, how did they find out?" she said rubbing her forehead, she could feel her head begin to throb with stress.

"I swear I haven't told anyone else but someone could have saw you leave my hotel room, were you careful?" he asked.
"No Ronaldo I wasn't careful because you see I'm not accustomed to cheating and sneaking out of hotel rooms in the early hours of the morning like some cheap whore, this is all new to me" she snapped at him.
"Ok, Ok, calm down" he replied, "I can't calm down, my life is about to implode" she said, her voice shaking with every word.
"Let me make some calls and find out what's going on, I can sort this Lydia you just have to trust me, can you do that?"
There was silence until Cristiano spoke, "Lydia can you do that?" he repeated, "I'm nodding" she answered.
"I'll call you soon, try not to worry" he said and she nodded once more before hanging up the phone.

Lydia placed the phone back on the desk and put her head in her hands as her breathing hitched, the panic was returning as her stomach churned. This was it, her life was over. Everyone was going to find out what she'd done, that she was a cheater and they would all be judging her, and why not, damn she was even judging herself so how could she expect anyone else not to. What she had done was wrong there was no doubt about it but she never expected that the world would know.

She began to think about everything she was losing, her family, her reputation that could also affect her business, never mind what her daughter would have to read about her, all her school friends would know that her mother was a cheater.

It was too much for Lydia to take, reaching over she grabbed the plastic bin and threw up in it.