Broken Truth (13 page)

Her voice cracked on her final sentence and Charlie clasped her hand to her mouth choking back a sob. Needing to get out of the kitchen and away from him, she fled around the far side of the island and headed upstairs for the master en-suite.

“Charlie!” She heard Callum’s footsteps rushing up the stairs behind her.

“Just leave me alone,” she cried, slamming and locking the bathroom door behind her. She turned around to rest her weight against the wood before sliding into a crumpled pile on the floor.

“Baby, open up,” Callum shouted, smacking his fist repeatedly against the door. “Please... Just let me hold you.”

Charlie wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on top of her knees. She couldn’t believe the instant relief she was feeling after finally letting everything out. She was sure her words had hurt Callum, which was something she was going to have to face at some point today.

“What the hell did you do to her, Callum?” Charlie heard Amelia shriek from down the corridor.

She wasn’t wearing a watch, but she guessed she had been in the bathroom for more than an hour. Callum had tried tirelessly to get her to open the door, but she wouldn’t budge. She wasn’t ready to have that conversation with him yet about what happened in the kitchen earlier.

Clearly he had reached desperation by calling in one of her best friends as reinforcements. But little did he know that not even Amelia was going to be able to get her out of the bathroom she had confined herself in. She didn’t want to speak to anyone. All she wanted was some privacy to collect her thoughts for a little while.

A soft knock on the door caught her attention.

“Sweetie, it’s Mia,” she said softly. “I know you are feeling like shit at the moment, but we are all worried about you and want to make sure you’re ok. Can you let me in, please?”

Charlie stood from her spot beside the door and walked over to the vanity. She gasped at the sight of her face in the mirror. Although she had stopped crying a while ago, her eyes were still very puffy and swollen.

She pulled out the small chair from under the vanity and sat down. Resting her elbows on top of the unit, she placed her face in her hands and just stared at her reflection.

“Charlie, come on. Please let me in,” Amelia asked again about an hour later, knocking on the door a little louder this time. “Callum isn’t here, it’s just me.”

Her face blanched as she began to panic.

If Callum wasn’t there, then where had he gone off to?

She worried herself thinking about whether he had decided to leave and come back later this afternoon. The thought that he had just left her in this state hurt her more than their argument earlier today. 

The small chair scraped across the tiled floor as she stood and made her way over to the bathroom door. Releasing the lock, she slowly cracked open the door to find Amelia sitting on the floor in the same position she had been earlier.

“Thank God,” Amelia smiled, getting to her feet and opening her arms. “You had me worried for a minute there.”

Charlie shuffled out of the bathroom and straight into her best friend’s arms. “I told him, Mia,” she said quietly.

“I know...” Amelia replied, breaking back from their hug to look at her face. “God, you look like shit,” she laughed.

“Thanks.”

“Right,” Amelia started. “Callum has filled me on everything that happened earlier. You should know that he feels really shitty about what happened between you two. He told me honestly that he didn’t have any clue you felt that way and he takes full responsibility for everything because he knows he has been a dick. He wants to fix things with you, Charlie.”

“But how can he do that when he isn’t here? You said he wasn’t here,” she said, sitting on the edge of their bed.

“I’m right here, Baby,” Callum said, appearing in the doorway of the master suite.

She saw how red and puffy his eyes were and instantly felt guilty. She had put the man that she loved through hell for the past few hours while she was busy putting herself back together in the confines of a locked bathroom.

“I’m sorry,” she barely whispered.

“Shush, Baby,” Callum said, sitting on the bed and pulling her close.

Amelia coughed discreetly. “I’m gonna take off,” she said, hurrying out of the door to give them some privacy.

“I am so sorry,” Callum said softly into her hair. “I had no idea what you were holding in all this time. I would have tried to fix it if I’d known.”

“I just kept thinking that things would change,” she admitted.

“Well they are going to. We need to sort something out that works for both of us because right now it isn’t working for you. I’m going to speak to Jared when I get in the office tomorrow and see if we can sort something out about the phone calls at the weekend.”

“What about the whole weekday and weekend thing?” she asked him curiously. “Are we going to try and sort something out? I mean, I understand your job is in London and that there isn’t much we can do, but I don’t want to go all week without you.” Charlie started to finger the soft material of the pyjama top Callum was now wearing. “I just wish it was as simple as me quitting my job and moving to London to be near you, but it isn’t possible. I have worked so hard to get to this level that I can’t just up and leave. I will end up back at the bottom of the chain if I get a job anywhere else,” she explained with a sigh.

She felt Callum’s chest rise and fall rhythmically as she pressed her head against him. She knew that she needed to come up with some sort of solution to the problem.

“What if I came to London for one night during the week?” she suggested. “I could make that work with my boss. Plus, I haven’t even seen your apartment in Canary Wharf yet, have I?”

She felt Callum’s chest contract faster. “Let’s just take one step at a time first, hey? I can always try and phone you from the office before I leave to talk to you before you go to bed?” he said raising a questioning eyebrow. “Besides, you wouldn’t want to see my London penthouse anyway. It is a proper bachelor pad,” he chuckled.

Charlie heard the not so subtle signs of awkwardness in his laugh. Choosing to ignore it, she smiled happily into his chest. “I’d like that.”

She was pleased that they were finally making progress towards a resolution.

Twelve

“So… Amelia told me you went slightly cray-cray this weekend?” Xavier said, handing her a pile of folded jeans.

“Well, Amelia has a bloody big mouth,” she replied, taking the jeans from him and putting them on the empty shelf behind.

“Don’t be like that, Charlie. You know she is really worried about you and only wants me to keep an eye out to see how you get on.”

 “But I don’t need looking out for,” she mumbled, her shoulders sagging on a sigh. “It was a personal matter between the two of us.”

Charlie and Xavier continued with the mundane task of folding and stacking the many pairs of jeans that had just been delivered. Sitting in their own little bubble in the corner of the shop, they let their other colleagues handle the rush of customers continuously stampeding through the door.

For a Monday morning they were extremely busy. Their boss, Imogen, had asked some of the weekend staff to rally around and help out, which Charlie and Xavier were now working to their advantage. Only attending to their own appointments, they made sure to leave any off the street clients in the capable hands of their other colleagues, enabling them some free time to gossip for a while.

“I fancy going out tonight. Are you up for it?” Xavier asked, passing her another stack of jeans. “I just want to have some drinks and chill out a little.”

“Thanks,” she said, taking the pile of clothes from him. Placing them on an empty shelf behind, she turned back towards Xavier. “And I’m not sure about tonight,” she answered honestly. “I’m expecting a phone call from Callum, so I don’t want to be out and miss it.”

“You boring cow,” he whined, rolling up a nearby T-Shirt and throwing at her head. “You know you’ll have fun out on Canal Street,” he continued to pester.

“I know, but like I said... I need to be home for when Callum rings,” she said, throwing the crumpled T-Shirt off to the side.

“
If...
Callum rings.”

“He will.”

“Well, what’s stopped him from phoning you during the week for the past fifteen months, hey?” Xavier challenged, his eyes flashing wide.

Charlie’s jaw dropped and her nostrils suddenly flared as she stared at him.

“Why are you being such an arse?” she spat.

“Because I love you and I don’t want you to turn into a fucking hermit. I can just see it now, you’re going to rush home every night and sit by the phone waiting for lover boy to call. Newsflash, Charlie, it isn’t going to happen! He won’t call you!” Xavier shouted, drawing attention from various customers and staff members around the shop.

Not really caring whose attention they had caught, Charlie simply dropped the pair of jeans she was holding onto the large pile of crumpled clothes between them. “Thanks, Avi. Thanks for being such a shitty friend right now,” she muttered.

“Oh dear... Do we have trouble in paradise?” a voice spoke from behind.

Sucking in a large breath, Charlie visibly cringed.

“Not so much trouble in paradise,” Xavier corrected. “It sounds more like a sodding tsunami.”

“Xavier!” Charlie snapped. “Shut your mouth!”

He leaned forward until they were both nose to nose and she could feel his breath blowing against her face.

“Don’t talk to me like that in front of a client,” he hissed.

“Fucking shut it then,” she whispered.

“Ahem!”

Spinning around on the spot, Charlie forced a smile.

“Annabelle,” she greeted, leaning forward to kiss her on each cheek. “You’re here early aren’t you? I thought I only saw you two weeks ago?”

Placing her sunglasses on top of her head, Annabelle tossed her hair a little too dramatically for Charlie’s liking. “An old friend unexpectedly invited me to dinner tonight, so I need something fabulous to wear. I know I haven’t booked an appointment, but I assumed this wouldn’t be a problem,” she said, sweetly fluttering her eyelashes.

“Well, as I’m sure you can appreci-”

“After all,” Annabelle continued, cutting her off mid sentence. “I am one of the most prestigious clients on your books. So by default you have to ensure my needs are met. Yes?”

The more Annabelle talked, the more Charlie hated her. Her day was already going to shit following her conversation with Xavier and it now looked to be getting worse since Annabelle had just walked in.

“Right, let’s see what I can do,” Charlie said rubbing her hands together. “Are we after short and flirty or long and alluring?”

“I’m thinking short and flirty for a change,” Annabelle replied.

Nodding, Charlie led Annabelle towards the newest selection of cocktail dresses that they had put out earlier this morning. She hoped that she could pull another miracle out of the bag like last week.

“What about this?” Charlie asked, holding up a short red mini dress with a cut out back.

Annabelle grimaced and dismissed the dress with a simple shake of her head.

Hanging the dress back in place, Charlie continued to peruse the choices. After a few disappointing pulls, her eyes landed on a short, floaty ensemble in a deep purple colour. The fitted bustier top was adorned with small purple sequins that caught the light from each angle, before flowing stylishly into a short chiffon skirt of a lighter shade.  

“Annabelle?” Charlie called as she pulled the dress from the rack and held it up.

“That’s it!” Clapping her hands together excitedly, Annabelle gestured towards the fitting rooms. “I love it,” she squealed as she tried on the dress.

“That’s great,” Charlie replied, looking at her nails. She really couldn’t care less if the dress looked good on her or not. Either way, she was going to lie through her teeth, so that she could get Annabelle out of the door.

“So... I couldn’t help but overhear that you have got man trouble at the moment?”

Charlie rolled her eyes knowing that she was totally going to kill Xavier. Out of all the clients possible, he had to drop the biggest information bomb in front of Annabelle. The woman lived for hearing gossip and the sordid details from other people’s relationships.