The Lonely Widow (Completed) (Editing)

Chapter 17

        Daisy looked for any sign of recognition on Jay’s face and came up trumps. He was a damn good actor and she knew it. When it came to keeping a straight face, he was King at it and to Daisy, that was no use. She wanted answers and she wanted them now. Jade was right, ‘Sophie’ sounded nothing like ‘Jade’, so there was definitely something suspicious going on.

        “I told you, I got the names mixed up. There is no Sophie.” He whispered harshly.

        “You know, those names sound nothing alike. You’re making it up. There’s something going on between you and Steve and I want to know now. Or do you want me to get his pregnant wife back in here so that she can hear everything you have to say too?”

        Jay sighed. As much as he hated Steve for what he’d done to both he and his own wife, he didn’t want Jade and the baby to be caught up in a situation that this ‘thing’ had caused. He knew he had made a mistake in mentioning Sophie at the table, but he hadn’t banked on Daisy figuring it out and going all liberal on him.

        “Well, what are you like at keeping secrets from your best friend?” he asked. He already knew the answer. From what he’d seen of Daisy, she wasn’t the type of person to keep secrets, and with something as big as this, she wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut for long.

        Daisy scoffed. “Are you serious? Since when have ‘secrets’ and ‘best friend’ ever been in the same sentence? I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but I’m not the type to keep secrets. Secrets always have a way of coming out in the end – like yours.”

        “Well that’s gonna be a problem, then isn’t it?”

        “Only if you make it one.” She retorted.

        “I’m not telling you if you’re just going to tell her. I haven’t put up with this and neither should she, but she’s pregnant. I don’t want her and the baby to suffer because of something he did.”

        “If he’s hurt her…” Daisy growled.

        Jay furrowed his brows and creased his forehead in confusion. “Are you listening to a word I’ve said? This is something she doesn’t know about.  Yes, this will probably kick her where it hurts and she can’t know. Not yet anyway.”

        “Oh. I’m not a complete blabber mouth, you know. But if this is something that she needs to know, she needs to know.”

        Jay huffed and leant against the counter and crossed his arms letting the little debate in his head run wild for a few moments. He knew that this would more than likely ruin Jade’s life and as much as he hated Steve, he couldn’t do that to Jade. He couldn’t destroy her. Stuff it. The other side of him said. Steve did this, not you.

        His fists clenched and unclenched as he came to his decision. “Fine. But you have to promise me that you won’t tell her until I’ve had chance to talk to him about this. This isn’t settled yet and until it is, I don’t want her to know. Give me twenty four hours.”

        “Twenty four hours?” She asked.

        “Twenty four hours.” He confirmed. “Then you can tell her.”

        “Go on, then.”

        Jay scratched his head and lightly tugged at his hair in frustration. Where was he going to start? Taking a deep breath, and leaning his head forward to make sure no-one was listening, he started from the beginning. “Sophie was my girlfriend. I met her about seven months ago. We had a great relationship, although Lee was never happy with her. She’s a proper girly girl and she grated on his nerves. Anyway, it was last week when idiot boy in there decided to be a twat to my brother.”