Tammy’s head was tilted to the side as she watched me intently. “Sean’s going to meet me here. He shouldn’t be too far away, actually.”
“That’s awesome.” Ugh, I really needed to extend my vocabulary.
“He is so sweet.” She smiled to herself.
“Yeah, I know, you told me that already.” I sighed, turning my now-empty coffee cup with my fingers.
“Have you been to Sean’s house? It is amazing!” She straightened.
“Yeah, I bet,” I nodded, turning my cup on its saucer round and round.
“So let’s work this out …” She started to count on her fingers. “… Sean Murphy’s funny, sweet, gorgeous,” she emphasised. “He has a nice car, beautiful house …”
It was like I was being slowly tortured, as if I needed Tammy to reiterate all the wonderful things I knew about Sean. But she had only spoken to him in one night and she had already gathered all this from him.
I knew it all already, though, and more. He was generous, he constantly made smart-arse quips that I supposed would have been funny if they weren’t directed at me and he was gorgeous (I wasn’t blind to the fact that in any room your attention always turned to Sean). He wouldn’t have to say or do anything other than just stand there and exist, and he had that cute dimple that magically appeared with each boyish grin. The way he looked at me, his blue eyes watching and waiting for every infuriated reaction; they would then change into something completely different at the thrill of knowing he got under my skin. I knew all those things about Sean Murphy, I just didn’t bundle them with nice house, nice car, nice package. There was so much more to him than that.
“Yeah, he’s all those things,” I agreed.
Tammy sighed dreamily. “It’s hard to fathom that he could be all those things and,” she leaned forward, looking directly at me, “be so good in bed.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
My cup flew out of my hand and smashed into a thousand pieces against the concrete.
It was fitting, really, as it was exactly the same thing that had happened to my heart.
Tammy looked expectantly at the mess and back at me in horror. I wondered if it was the same horror I wore on my own face as I felt a raw, searing emotion rise up inside of me.
“Oh, my God, Amy, you do like him,” she said, astonished.
I rapidly blinked, praying that the tears would not come as I moved quickly to kneel down and pick up the pieces of porcelain. My hands were shaking and fumbling as I tried to grab the shards.
“Oh, my God, I am such a bitch,” Tammy cried out. She knelt down beside me, grabbed my hands and forced me to look at her.
“Amy, Amy, look at me! I was joking, I didn’t sleep with Sean.”
I froze and peered into her earnest eyes that were filled with mortified apologies.
“I’m sorry, I’m such an idiot. I only said it because … well, because I had a feeling but I wasn’t sure. I just wanted to see how you reacted.”
I pulled away from her. “Were you satisfied with my response, then?” I asked coolly.
Tammy touched my shoulder gently. “Does he know how you feel?”
Oh, fuck off!
I stood still, not wholly confident that I could stop myself from bursting into tears. My heart raced at a million miles an hour.
“Tammy, you’ve been around for all of five minutes, so thanks, but I really don’t need your advice.”
Tammy crossed her arms. “You may not want it, but you’re going to get it anyway.”
I gaped, stunned at Tammy’s sternness – this was a hard-arse Tammy.
“It may not be any of my business, but I’m not stupid or blind. I may only have been on the scene for five minutes but that’s all I needed to know that you two obviously have something going on. So you can go on sulking into your coffee cups in the beer garden or you can march up to him and tell him how you feel and bloody well just get on with it.”
“And what makes you so sure?”
“Because this whole love and hate thing you two have got going on, it ain’t fooling anyone.”
Tammy and I both flinched when Ellie’s head poked through the sliding door.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I just thought I would let you ladies know … The Onslow Boys have arrived.” Ellie winked and closed the door.
***
Tammy and I walked back towards the main bar when I paused.
“Hang on a sec, I’ll be back in a minute.”
“What?” Tammy said.
I pointed to my feet, and her eyes dropped to my fire engine red bunny slippers. She started to laugh.
“Fair enough.”
Before I realised what I was doing, I hugged Tammy. I don’t know why – maybe because beyond the physical changes she was still the girl I knew, the kind-hearted Tammy Maskala. The relief that swept over me that nothing had happened between her and Sean was overwhelming. She hugged me back.