Caught in the Act. Gemma Fox

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ stared up at him in astonishment, she felt her heart dropping like a stone. ‘Sorry?’ she began, but George wasn’t ready to be halted.

      ‘Please, Callista, hear me out. Every single day since you left Belvedere I have thought what a bloody fool I was to have ever let you go. I’m so sorry, so very sorry, Callista; can you ever forgive me?’

      She looked up into his eyes to see if there was some hint of jest, some cruel joke, and found none; instead she saw the bright promise of tears. Callista’s expression softened. ‘Oh, George…’ she whispered.

      But he was in full swing now. ‘I felt so bad about everything, for betraying you like that, for abandoning you.’ He shook his head in total despair.

      Despite his obvious distress Callista couldn’t help laughing. ‘Oh, come on. George, stop it, people are looking at us, for God’s sake. What on earth makes you think that you abandoned me?’

      He was surprised. ‘Well, all those times I told you that I was going to leave my wife for you.’ He sounded slightly indignant. ‘All those times I promised you that we would have a life together—a little house, a fresh start, a cocker spaniel, be a real family.’

      ‘All those false promises and false hopes you trotted out to keep me hanging on?’ she said.

      He visibly bristled. ‘I’m sorry?’

      ‘Oh, don’t be so silly, George. I’m not totally stupid. I always knew that you would never leave Judy for me.’

      He looked at her in astonishment. ‘re ally?’ he said. He sounded genuinely amazed.

      She laughed. ‘Of course. Don’t sound so surprised. Hopeless, impossible, doomed love is a wonderfully dramatic thing—at least for a while. I was young and it all seemed terribly romantic.’

      ‘So what happened?’

      Callista took a long pull on her drink. ‘Honestly?’

      He nodded.

      ‘I grew up.’

      ‘Good God. How terribly pragmatic of you,’ he said.

      Callista stroked his hand. ‘Yes, that’s right. Now eat your pie; you’ll feel a lot better.’

      ‘But I’ve pined for you for…’ George said. ‘If I’m honest I have pined for you for the last twenty years.’ He looked pained and sounded quite cross now.

      ‘You silly man,’ Callista said kindly, pulling the knife and fork from his pocket and shaking out his napkin.

      ‘I’ve always suspected that Judy knew my heart wasn’t altogether in it. All those years—’ he shook his head—‘all those dreams wasted.’

      Callista topped up her gin with the last of the tonic, and when it was obvious that she didn’t plan to comment, George continued, ‘And how about you? How has life been with you?’

      Callista smiled. ‘Me? Oh, I’m fine. We’ve been doing a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream this year and our school has been selected for funding from Europe to improve the drama facilities, which is re ally exciting. We’ve put a bid in for a drama studio and—’

      ‘That isn’t what I meant and you know it,’ he said, cutting her short. ‘Didn’t you ever miss me?’ It was obvious from the tone he was hoping that she had pined for him just a little.

      Callista stared at him. How could she possibly tell him that she hadn’t thought about him for years? ‘You re ally did love me, didn’t you?’ she said in a low, even voice.

      George nodded.

      Callista set her hand down over his, wondering what on earth she could say. ‘George, I am re ally sorry. If I’d known I might have been more determined to get you, made more of a fuss, fought a little harder, but I thought that you were just toying with me, that I was just a game. I thought maybe—maybe it was something you made a habit of. You know, new female teacher, straight out of college. Easy pickings.’

      He winced.

      Callista sighed. ‘Then again, if I’d known how you felt it would have been far more painful for both of us, wouldn’t it? After I left Belvedere I went up to North Yorkshire, to a lovely school. I married a solicitor called Laurence—I was made head of department five years ago. We’ve got two daughters, Emma and Charlotte, they’re fifteen and seventeen. We’ve got a nice house, a dog—a little summer place in France. We’re very happy. I’m very happy.’ She paused, seeing the pain on George’s face. ‘Oh, George, I thought that it was just an affair.’

      He pursed his lips, quite obviously struggling to keep his emotions under control. ‘You were the love of my life, Callista,’ he murmured. ‘I have never forgotten you. Never a day goes past when I don’t think about you and how it might have been if I had been brave enough, strong enough, to walk away from my marriage, from Judy.’ His bottom lip had started to tremble furiously. ‘Oh, Callista, I’m so terribly sorry,’ he sniffled.

      ‘George, please don’t. How is Judy?’

      ‘Oh, she’s well. Well, I assume she is well; we barely speak at all these days. She has her friends, her interests, the choir and the reading group, and I have mine.’ He paused. ‘It’s been a lot trickier since I retired.’

      The former Miss Callista Haze stared at George Bearman and wondered what on earth life might have been like if they had ended up together. How odd it was that she had had no idea how George felt about her, or was it that over the years she had become a fantasy that he had clung to, to keep him going inside a failing marriage? A magic might-have-been that had only just slipped through his fingers and helped him to sleep at nights.

      ‘So,’ he said with forced joviality, ‘as you say, all water under the bridge now. Why don’t you tell me all about this Laurence chap and your girls?’

      Callista took a deep breath wondering how much she could tell George without breaking his already battered heart, when a woman walking past the table caught her eye and as recognition dawned she stopped and turned.

      ‘Miss Haze?’

      ‘Yes,’ said Callista, grateful for the interruption.

      Carol grinned as she realised that Mr Bearman was there too, tucked up alongside Miss Haze, cradling a pint of bitter and the remains of a late lunch.

      The two of them were sitting at a quiet table at the back of the Master’s Arms, apparently deep in conversation. Miss Haze had a copy of Macbeth open in front of her. Even from where she was standing, Carol could see that the margins and every available glimmer of white space had been filled with tiny pencilled annotations around the main script; some appeared to have been overwritten.

      ‘How very nice to see you,’ said Miss Haze, sounding very slightly uncertain who she was talking to.

      ‘Carol Hastings—well, at least I used to be Carol Hastings.’ Carol held out a hand in greeting. ‘I’m here for the reunion as well.’

      ‘Oh, of course,’ said Miss Haze. ‘It wasn’t that I didn’t recognise you, Carol, but sometimes these days the names СКАЧАТЬ