I could hear raised voices as soon as my key was in the door, but pushing it open the shouting stopped.

“Hello?” Will called out.

“It’s me. Can you help with my cases? Oh…Terry, hello!”

Terry’s face was red and furious. I’d never seen him angry and it terrified me even though I was not on the receiving end of his anger.

Clearing his throat and forcing a smile, Terry attempted to greet me with his usual warmness,
“Hello my dear, did you have a good time away?”

He watched Will kiss my cheek as he walked past to help carry in my suitcases. “Your husband said you wouldn’t be back until later.”

“It was lovely, thank you, just what the doctor ordered! We were meant to but Rose has to work tonight so we got an earlier flight.” Turning to Will I felt guilt for interrupting whatever had been going on. “I tried to ring you, but there was no answer.”

“Yes, sorry,” Will stammered, not looking me in the eye. “My, uh, phone was off.”

“Is everything ok?” I looked to both of them but mainly at Terry, hoping he would be honest.

“Yes! Of course! Just some work problems but they’re all sorted.” Terry walked over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders, his smile genuine this time, and I felt the warmth and love emanate from him. “In fact! I was going to suggest that Will take you out for dinner, I’ll even book you a table at The Ivy.” He turned his head to Will. “You take your gorgeous wife out, spend some time with her!”

Will didn’t reply, but Terry’s satisfied smile was enough to inform me that he’d agreed.

“Excellent! In that case I’ll leave you two to catch up and I’ll see you both soon.” With a kiss on my cheek and a final glare in Will’s direction he left.

“What’s going on?” I asked, knowing full well I wouldn’t get an answer.

“It’s none of your business,” Will snapped angrily. “Just go get ready so we can go to dinner!”

He walked away, heading out to the garden and leaving me speechless and dreading the dinner I had no choice but to go to.

---

Will’s mood had improved dramatically by the time we got to the restaurant, asking me about my holiday and suggesting that next year we could get a group of our old friends to go. Like Rose, Will and I met during my time in Ibiza, but he had been a guest instead of a colleague.

As we took our seats I marvelled at the change in my husband as he reminisced about the summer we met. He spoke like it was the best time of his life.

“I remember the first time I saw you: you were with Rose and you were wearing that blue polo shirt and those tiny little white shorts and I knew I was going to have you,” he grinned. “I wanted Rose too but that went out of the window once I realised she played for the other team.”

I laughed but felt uncomfortable that he’d also wanted to sleep with my best friend, a fact he always brought up much to both mine and Rose’s mortification.

“I thought you were an idiot!”

Changing the subject I looked around eagerly for the waiter to return with the wine I’d ordered.

“You and your uni friends walking around the resort like you owned it, not realising that Henry’s uncle did indeed own it.”

“That’s why we were staying there. We’d originally planned to go to Zante until Henry casually mentioned his family owning a hotel in the hottest part of Ibiza.” Will rolled his eyes and snorted with laughter slightly. “He was ribbed for quite a while about that one.”

After ordering our food I excused myself to go to the bathroom – the place was warm and the skin on my back stung. There was one thing I had purposefully neglected to tell Will about, a souvenir from my holiday and Rose’s bright idea as a way to cheer me up: an anchor tattoo with flowers wrapped around it. I knew Will would be livid, and his mood was so good I didn’t want to spoil it but the ink had reached the uncomfortable stage of itchiness which was only remedied by rubbing more cream onto it.

I spotted him as soon as I walked out of the bathroom, dressed all in black, hair back and his face animated as he laughed with friends. Had it not been for the evening being set up by Terry and that Will was focused on his mobile, I would have thought the evening was a set up.

Sitting back down I decided to not mention that Harry was here until Will did. If we could enjoy our evening and our meal without running into him I would be glad and relieved; if Will knew Harry was here he would insist on going over and saying hello.

Will was silent for a few minutes while he continued to text then put his phone away and once again launched into more memories about us meeting and his time with his university friends.

“I think a reunion is definitely in order next year!” His smile was beaming as carved into his steak tartare. “You won’t be able to fit into those white shorts anymore, though!”

“Will!” I put my fork down, instantly losing my appetite.

“I’m joking, Lil!” Shaking his head, Will continued to eat while I stared at my plate, and I was worried it was me who would ruin the evening. “Are you going to sulk over a joke?”

Forcing myself to smile, I shook my head and took a bite of my salad and dressing free chicken. “Of course not.”

The night was tainted and ruined, and knowing that Harry was near was the cherry on top.

Notes