Getting him Back (5 page)

He seemed
surprised. ‘Well he must have been a right idiot then that’s all I
can say!’

I
realized that he may actually be right. Perhaps my Mark was an
idiot. I knew I had to continue with my plan to find out more about
Monica, though, so I could let him know exactly what she was like.
There again, if he knew about her flirting and he did it too, then
perhaps I was better off forgetting all about him and concentrating
on the seriously sexy specimen of manhood sitting opposite
me.

Chapter
Nine

Two weeks
had flown by and I was pleased with the progress I’d made while Mia
was away. Not only had I finished off every project on her list,
I’d started several more which Steve had
happily signed off. He was particularly impressed
with my new ideas for promoting our pine collection. I’d used our
computer graphics programme to come up with some graphics depicting
gingham and sunflowers which produced the country cottage feel I
was after. It looked great, even if I said it myself. It was even
better when Steve came into my office to tell me that sales had
increased by 45% since the country cottage campaign was launched. I
was surprised then, when Mia verbally attacked everything I’d done.
I didn’t ask whether she’d sorted out her problems but she
certainly looked better than she did the last time I’d seen her.
Her hair was thick and shiny again, left loose to fall in waves
around her shoulders and her eyes and skin were back to their
sparkling best.

‘
Thank
you for holding it together while I’ve been away, Terri. You’ve
tried hard I can see that, but there are some things that need
changing now that I’m back and I’ll pass them to you once I’ve
sorted through my emails.’

I went back to
my desk and sunk into my chair. Doreen smiled and produced a bar of
chocolate from behind her back. ‘I thought you’d need this,’ she
said with a smile.

‘Oh, Dor,
you’re the best. I hoped she’d be a changed woman when she got back
but she’s still a cow.’

‘
Yeah,
once a cow always a cow, eh?’ Doreen laughed at her own joke and I
couldn’t help joining in.

‘I thought
she’d be pleased with my work,’ I said, taking a huge bite of
chocolate and feeling the sweet sensation as it melted in my
mouth.

‘She’s scared,
hon. If your work was as good as Steve said it was, then she’d be
worried you were going to take her job!’

‘Maybe you’re
right,’ I said.

‘You’re too
good for this place, Terri. Now you know you can do her job, then
go and do it somewhere else.’

I nudged her in
the ribs. ‘Are you trying to get rid of me?’

‘You know I
love you,’ she said giving my head a little rub, ‘but you’re
wasting your skills, sitting in here doing her dirty work for her.
You’ve got a degree so use it.’

Doreen was
probably right. I only stayed here because it was comfortable, not
when Mia was having a go, but when I was having cosy conversations
with Doreen and eating cakes and chocolate. It was only a short
walk from my house too so I didn’t have to catch buses or spend
money on petrol or parking. It meant I could have an extra half
hour in bed too. These were all things that were important to me,
but maybe I was wasting my life. I’d only stayed here because I had
my Mark and now I no longer had him maybe there was nothing keeping
me here. An image suddenly flashed into my head – it was freckly
Mark. He was staring intensely into my eyes and his lips were
curled into that sexy half smile of his. I felt my cheeks redden at
the thought.

‘
You’re
daydreaming again,’ Doreen said. ‘Are you thinking about your new
man?’ She gave a cheeky giggle before taking a bite out of her
chocolate bar.

‘I was
actually,’ I said, giggling too.

‘He sounds
nice. Maybe you should forget about your old one and concentrate
more on him, now. He seems good for you.’

‘Yeah, maybe
you’re right.’

As I checked
Danielle’s work from the past two weeks I kept seeing images of
freckly Mark in my head. When I tried to force them out and replace
them with images of my Mark I realized it was getting harder to
picture his face. I tried so hard to think about his blue eyes but
they kept changing into cute brown eyes…

***

Claire had
phoned me this afternoon and asked me to meet her at her apartment.
I didn’t really want to go. She’d not been that nice the last time
I’d gone round and I’d been spending so much time with freckly Mark
that I’d not had time to miss her. I felt it best to have a break
from him, though. We were starting to see too much of each other –
maybe that was why he wouldn’t get out of my head. I was starting
to fall for him. This wasn’t part of the plan and I didn’t know how
to deal with it.

I pressed
the buzzer and felt a dread in the pit of my stomach as I heard
Claire answer the door. As usual, she looked perfect. Her hair was
pulled into a side ponytail and she wore a long kaftan with golden
leaves printed on it. ‘Hi, babes,’ she said, ‘long time no see,
eh?’

‘Yeah, I’ve
been busy with work while Mia was away.’

‘Yeah? Well
I’ve got some news that may surprise you.’

I followed
Claire into her messy living room and sat down on the settee, which
was surprisingly clutter-free for once. ‘So, what’s this news
then?’

‘I think you’ll
need wine for this.’ She went into the kitchen and came back with a
bottle of wine and two clean wine glasses. ‘Well, you know when you
said you wanted to get back with Mark and I told you that you
shouldn’t.’

‘Yeah, I
remember.’

‘Well, maybe
you should.’

‘What are you
on about? I thought you said I should get over it? What’s changed
your mind?’

She
smiled and fiddled with her ponytail. ‘I’ve heard rumours, now I’m
not saying they’re true or anything but you know what a small world
it is.’

‘What
rumours?’

‘
There’s
a girl at work, Fiona, and I’ve just found out she’s friends with
your boss.’

‘Who, Mia?’

‘Your boss is
Mia Cowell isn’t it?’

‘Yeah. What’s
going on?’

‘
Well…
the thing is she dumped her husband because he went off with his
secretary and it turned out that he realized what a big mistake
he’d made but was too scared to come back and they ended up meeting
by accident one night and one thing led to another and now they’re
back together.’

‘So what’s that
got to do with me and Mark getting back together?’

‘
Don’t
you see? Her husband regretted what he did? He wanted to get back
with her all along and she was missing him too but she was too
scared to contact him, which was why she was probably a total cow
at work, but they’re happy now.’

‘So you think
that Mark maybe wants to get back with me but is too scared to
admit it.’

‘Possibly,
yeah. Don’t you see? All that stuff about you wanting to accidently
bump into him was probably the right thing to do after all!’

‘
He’s a
liar though, so I
wouldn’t believe a word he said anyway.’

‘Why’s he a
liar?

‘Because he
said that his girlfriend was his new PA but her brother told me
that she was a student. So why would he say that?’

‘
Well
maybe the girl in the Facebook photo isn’t his girlfriend. Maybe
it’s someone else. Anyway, since when do you know her
brother?’

I felt a
weird feeling in my stomach. I hadn’t thought of that. What if it
wasn’t Monica who was his girlfriend, after all? But it had to be.
Freckly Mark said his sister liked her new boyfriend but they both
didn’t want to get tied down. Maybe my Mark was with her because he
knew she wasn’t the serious type. Maybe he told me she was his PA
to make it easier on me. It sounded better than telling me she was
someone he picked up in a bar one night. And I now knew why Mia was
behaving so weirdly. She must have thought I was acting like a
silly schoolgirl, moaning about my fiancé leaving me, when all
along her husband was cheating on her with his secretary. It made
me feel so miserable to think that even women as beautiful as Mia
could also get cheated on. Beauty was no insurance
policy.

I gave my glass
to Claire and she topped it up with more wine. ‘So what if you’re
right? What if Monica isn’t Mark’s girlfriend? How do I find out
who she is then?’

‘Well, I would
contact his office and find out his PA’s name. Find out if he has a
new PA first and then you’ll know if he was telling the truth. Then
you can find out more about her and stalk her if you want to.’

‘I don’t want
to stalk her or anyone else! I’m not a stalker, but maybe you’re
right about me accidently bumping into Mark.’

‘Yeah. I think
you should go for it. Go onto Facebook and find out whether he’s
going out anywhere this weekend and make sure you go there too. I’m
free this weekend and I can go with you if you like.’

I sipped
some more wine. I felt butterflies in my stomach at the thought of
seeing my Mark again. ‘Ok, thanks,’ I said.

We spent the
rest of the evening catching up on other gossip and drinking more
and more wine. By the time I got home I was ready to get straight
into bed but when I unlocked the door my mum was waiting for me,
her face glum.

‘What’s the
matter with you?’ I asked.

‘I’ve been
waiting for you all night. Why did you have your mobile switched
off?’

‘I didn’t!’ I
took it out of my bag but she was right; it had managed to turn
itself off in my bag.

‘Mark’s
phoned!’

‘I told him I
couldn’t see him tonight because I was seeing Claire. What did he
want?’

She shook her
head. ‘Not that Mark.’

I felt those
butterflies again. ‘What?’

‘That cheating
pig Mark that’s who.’

I leant against
the wall for support and dropped my bag and coat onto the
floor.

‘What did he
want?’

‘
He
wouldn’t say would he? He just asked for you and I told him you
were out and then he phoned back again to say he’d tried your
mobile and it was switched off.’

‘And then
what?’

‘Nothing. I
asked him if he wanted to leave a message and he said no.’

Talk
about being woken up. I’d been looking forward to a nice relaxing
sleep but now I was all on edge. ‘Do you think I should call
him?’

‘
It’s up
to you. You know what I think about him. You’ve got a nice young
man now. You’re an idiot if you have anything to do with pig face.’
She walked upstairs and I heard her turn the tap on, ready to brush
her teeth.

I
switched on my mobile and my heart lurched when I saw the message
envelope flashing. I had a text. It was from my Mark. My hand was
shaking as I opened the message. It said,
Hi Terri. I just wanted to see if
you
wanted
to meet up. Let me know.
Love
Mark x.
My heart fluttered. It said “Love”. Claire was right. He
did miss me. He wanted me back. I tried to analyze my feelings; I
should have been jumping for joy. This was all I’d wanted since I’d
left his apartment on that Thursday night, yet now I felt numb. I
pressed the reply button and tried to think of my response. I was
obviously going to meet him but I didn’t want him to think that I
was eager, or anything. I typed,
Dear Mark
but then changed it to
Mark
but as I typed it the same image of freckly Mark
popped into my mind. He was smiling. I felt guilty as I continued
to type the rest of the message.
I would love to meet up. Let me know when
and where. Terri x

Chapter
Ten

I was in
two minds, whether or not to meet freckly Mark tonight. Initially I
was eager to because he was taking me to his parents’ house for
tea. His sister would be there and it was my chance to get to know
her better and find out more about her and my Mark. I had
butterflies though, because there was a chance that Monica would
invite my Mark and imagine how embarrassing it would be for freckly
Mark and Monica if they found out their partners had been engaged
to each other. I hadn’t mentioned it to freckly Mark because I
didn’t feel the need to discuss past lover
s; we were only having fun. I didn’t know whether
my Mark had told Monica about his past either – I doubted it
considering they were both in an open relationship. I was even less
sure about going now that I’d arranged to meet my Mark again. I
felt as though I were cheating on freckly Mark and it made me feel
like a total cow. I liked him. It wasn’t love; it definitely was
lust but it was mostly friendship. If it didn’t work out between us
I hoped we would stay friends- there was no chance of that if he
found out I was meeting my ex, though. Maybe it was best to cancel
the whole thing and break up with him. I couldn’t bring myself to
do it, though.

Catherine came
to my house late afternoon, as previously arranged and she spent
some time doing my hair and make-up. I had to make an effort,
seeing as I was meeting Mark’s parents. ‘Make me look like Nicole
Kidman again,’ I said as Catherine went to work on my frizzy
curls.

‘I’ll do my
best,’ she said.

‘Did Mum tell
you that Mark wants to meet me?’

Catherine
paused. ‘She did, yeah. I told her I thought you were an
idiot.’

‘Thanks!’