‘I know. Look, I’ve really got to go. I’ll call you in a few weeks, a few months—whatever it takes.’
‘Please, Tab, wait. I’ll have a driver take you home. It’s started to storm outside—at least let me do that for you.’
She shook her head. ‘I’d really rather walk.’
‘But it’s pouring.’
‘Good, then no one will see me crying.’
He saw her into the lift, stood watching as the numbers carried her down before heading into Zavier’s office.
I told you so.
For Aiden there was no pleasure in being proved right.
None.
For a little while there he’d actually thought they might make it. His face darkening, he went into the office. Seeing Zavier sitting there, working at his desk for all the world acting as if nothing had happened, only angered him further.
Maybe he wasn’t acting, Aiden figured.
Maybe Zavier really didn’t care.
‘I just saw Tabitha leaving in tears.’ Aiden flicked on the television on the far side of Zavier’s office, changing the channel from the stock market show Zavier preferred to one of the commercial channels.
Zavier didn’t bother to look up, frowning at the noise from the television. ‘She just paid me back; it must have hurt.’ He expected a laugh, but when it didn’t come he finally looked up, watching as Aiden shook the rain off his jacket before carefully hanging it up on the hook. ‘Mind you, I’ll never work her out. What did she agree to do it for if she was intending to pay me back?’
‘You’re such a bloody fool sometimes.’
Zavier’s eyes narrowed. Aiden, who never got angry, who was always laughing, always joking, suddenly looked as if he might actually hit him. ‘What the hell’s your problem?’#p#分页标题#e#
‘I’m gay!’ Aiden shouted.
‘So what’s that got to do with it?’
‘I’m gay,’ Aiden repeated. ‘Yet even I managed to work it out.’
Zavier stared at his brother, utterly perplexed as Aiden waved his hands dramatically in the air.
‘What do you think Tabitha did it for? She loves you, you idiot. Though God knows why.’
‘It was business,’ Zavier said darkly. ‘She did it for the money.’
‘If that’s the case what’s this doing here?’ Aiden gestured to the notes on the desk. ‘And why was she crying in the hall, with unkempt hair and not a scrap of make-up.’
‘Her hair’s always unkempt.’
‘No, it isn’t—at least not in that way—and Tabitha always wears make-up. Always. I notice these things.’
‘Because you’re gay?’ Zavier asked, his voice bewildered.
Aiden rolled his eyes. ‘Because I’m not blind.’
‘So what you’re telling me,’ Zavier said slowly, standing up and walking the long length of his office before finishing his sentence, shaking his head as he did so, ‘is that she loves me? Tabitha really loves me?’
‘Finally.’ Aiden rolled his eyes and lowered himself into one of the sumptuous leather lounges, his calm demeanour exacerbating Zavier’s nervous pacing.
‘So what should I do?’
‘That I can’t help you with. But I think it would be much better if you go to her now.’
‘Because she’s upset?’ He was stalling, confused and unsure, wanting so much to believe what he was hearing, yet scared all the same.
‘Maybe.’ Aiden shrugged, pouring himself a large Scotch. ‘But, more to the point, my favourite soap starts in five and I want to concentrate.’
Listlessly she walked up the garden path. Her clothes were drenched, clinging to her body, and her hair dripped in coiled tendrils down her back, but she didn’t care. Sure, she wasn’t so pessimistic as not to realise this torturous melancholy would abate somewhat, given time, but Tabitha also knew that for as long as there was a breath still in her body she would love him.
The love she felt might rest for a while, might even fade to bearable proportions, but it would never relent.
The sun peeking out from behind a cloud did nothing to cheer her. What was the point of a silver lining when Zavier was gone? A bright glint in the grass caught her eye and with a start she realised it was the ring. Bending, she retrieved it, her eyes filling as she rubbed the soil from it. Painful memories were all she had now.
‘Tabitha.’
She froze, the sound of his voice so utterly unexpected, she literally froze—which, Tabitha realised quickly, wasn’t the best look when one was half bent over.
‘Zavier.’ She straightened up, taking the opportunity to force a calming breath into her burning lungs. ‘I’m just off to the pawn shop. What do you reckon I’ll get?’