The Partnership (Callaghan Green Series Book 10) Read online

  “I’ll walk you out.”

  I wasn’t messing. I knew I was behaving like an utter arsehole, but if I was in any way nice to Cassie, she’d take it as encouragement, and I didn’t want to encourage her.

  “It would be great to catch up sometime. It’s been years since we’ve talked.” She gave me another beaming smile when we got through the office doors into the reception area.

  I shook my head. “I really, really wish you all the best, but I don’t want to catch up or try to rehash anything from the past. I’ve moved on and I’ve no intention of moving back.” The words sounded bitter even to me.

  She shook her head, her hand coming out to touch my arm again. I pulled away and took a step back.

  “When we saw each other in chambers the other week, it felt like old times, only we’ve both grown up. Don’t you think it’s worth just a coffee? We were together so long, Seph…”

  I shook my head. “We were together too long. I’m seeing someone else and it’s serious.”

  “Oh.” Her face fell.

  I didn’t feel any guilt or sympathy.

  “Who?”

  “It doesn’t matter, Cassie.”

  She gave me a smile that was mainly sad.

  “Good luck with it then. And if you change your mind, you still have my number.” She touched my shoulder. I felt nothing. No twinge of guilt or even a wave of fondness given that we had some good times.

  I didn’t have her number. I deleted it about three days after Payton came back from Manchester, when I realised that when I next got drunk, I’d probably send her some ridiculous message. But I wasn’t going to tell her that; not to spare her feelings, but because I didn’t want to lengthen the conversation.

  “Good luck in the future, Cassie.” My smile was forced. I gave her a nod and headed back inside to the sanctuary of my office.

  “How do you feel about take-out tonight?” I put my pen down and looked across the office at Georgia. She’d twisted her hair up and put a pen in, and I couldn’t quite take my eyes off her long enough. I was desperate to take that pen out and watch her hair cascade down her back, and then maybe pull it around my hand.

  She didn’t look up. “I think I’m going to have an early night.”

  That sounded like a brush off. I’d heard Vic use that on Max once when he’d been a dick over something. She’d then locked him out of their bedroom, cue him panicking, then becoming stubborn and turning into a growling mess for two days.

  “I promised Rose I’d help her with her maths homework. Do you still want me to come round to do that?” Georgia could be in a mood with me as much as she wanted, but that didn’t mean I’d let Rose down if she was expecting me.

  Georgia looked up, her expression slightly softer. “Yeah, if you have time. I know she looks forward to you helping her do that.”

  As much as Rose liked reading, she hated maths. I’d been pretty good at maths in school, and I enjoyed talking her though the very basics of adding and subtracting, trying to introduce a few more difficult ideas too. We did it through games and real life concepts, which she enjoyed and stopped her getting too frustrated or bored.

  “I have time. I’ll come round and help her, then leave you to your early night. Unless you want to tell me what the matter is?”

  She looked a little taken back that I’d called her on it.

  “Nothing’s the matter.”

  “Really?”

  I thought back. We’d had a coffee together at about eleven, just before I’d gone into a meeting. When I came out of it, I’d seen Cassie.

  Cassie.

  That was why I was getting an extra chilled shoulder. She’d seen me talking to Cassie.

  I wanted to tell her off for being ridiculous, ask her if she thought I was deluded – because I’d have to be to give up Georgia for a girl who’d almost broken me. We’d almost broken each other.

  “You sure there’s nothing you want to ask me?”

  She shook her head.

  I stood up, stretched and clicked my fingers, which made her scowl.

  “So you’re not sulking about my ex turning up here?”

  Her cheeks went pink immediately.

  “Don’t lie, Georgia. Either you saw her talking to me, or the grapevine told you.”

  She looked back down and shook her head, like I was an irritating child.

  “I’m not bothered about Cassie. I just want an early night.”

  “Bullshit.” I folded my arms.

  She looked up and I saw the fire in her eyes that told me I was about get seriously scorched. Her temper was well-managed; I’d only seen it a couple of times and it hadn’t been directed at me.

  “You’re pissed because my ex was here.”

  “You were with her a long time.”

  “I was. On and off. But I haven’t had anything to do with her for three years and I’m not interested now. I’m especially not interested now because I’m with you.” My chest felt as if it was bursting with everything I was storing in there for her. “I’m not with her, I don’t want to be with her. I want you.” I bit my lips together before I could wax even more lyrical about how she’d hung the stars and the moon and created the goddamn sun to, because that was how I felt.

  She put her elbows on the desk and put her face in her hands.

  I strode towards her, unsure if I was going to get a hug or an elbow to the balls. Knowing Georgia, it could be both.

  I felt marginally better when I pulled her into my arms and didn’t receive an injury. Pressing my lips to her hair, I murmured to her, telling her she had nothing to worry about, that she was it for me. I wanted to tell her I loved her, but even I knew that now wasn’t the right time. Those words couldn’t be a sticking plaster to make her smile again.

  “I didn't know she was here until Beth from accounts came and told me. It was like it was the best thing she'd heard since she last got a pay rise, and she couldn't wait to tell me that your ex was in the office. I know that she just wanted to see my reaction because I saw exactly the same expression on the faces of some of the women I work with when they found out that I was pregnant and who the father was.” She was standing up now, allowing me to hold her.

  I wanted to take away the worry and the embarrassment that I knew she would have felt from being the source of gossip, I wasn't entirely sure how I did that. I was one of the owners of the firm and the stuff I'd gotten up to in the past made me something of a hot topic. Only time was going to change that, and that was one of the things that I'd wanted to do this year; change people's perception of me. Now I didn't just want to do that for myself, I wanted to do it for Georgia as well.

  “I'm sorry you felt that way. If I'd known Cassie was going to be in the office I'd have done what I could not to bump into her. I did try and get rid of her as soon as I could.” I swallowed, felt a sickening feeling fester in my stomach. I needed to tell her what Cassie had said because I wanted to be honest, but I also knew that telling her everything might make her feel insecure.

  “I heard you practically threw her out.” She rested her head against my chest.

  “Pretty much. She asked me to go for a coffee with her and said she wanted to catch up.”

  Georgia’s eyes blazed again, only this time I didn't think the fiery anger was directed at me.

  “I don't need to ask if you said no, do I?”

  I smiled at the question disguised in another question. “I said no. I told her I was seeing somebody else and that it was serious.”

  “Oh. How did she take it?”

  I wanted to joke, and say something the lines of that she was incredibly disappointed and absolutely heartbroken, because, hey, who wouldn't want to get back together with me? But I had enough sense to know it wasn't the right time for that. Maybe I had learned something from Maxwell.

  “I don't know. I hope she realised I was serious, and she leaves me alone. I was pretty blunt with her. But I also think that she made up a reason to have to come to the offi
ces today. I think she was trying to find an in with me.” It was strange that Cassie turned up there today after three years without having seen each other not even casually bumping into each other, she managed to make her way into my place of work. I figured that she had heard I was seeing someone else, and not just casually dating. There had been times in our relationship or rather not in our relationship when we weren't together because Cassie had broken up with me, but soon as she found out that I’d seen somebody else, she wanted me back.

  I sat down on Georgia’s desk chair, bringing her onto my knee and holding her while she curled up into me.

  “I'm sorry,” she said, her hand resting on my chest, a finger drawing a circle or a pattern. “I don't usually get jealous, but you were with her for so long and with her coming back in like that it did make me feel worried, I guess.”

  “I understand. I know how I would feel if Rose’s dad suddenly turned up.” This was something I'd already thought about quite a lot, and one of those nights when I was lying in bed by myself and couldn't get to sleep. What would happen if Rose’s dad came back into her life and wanted a relationship with her? What would happen if he realised he'd made a mistake leaving Georgia and wanted her back too? The thought of it made me want to whisk Georgia and Rose away and take them away somewhere he couldn't find them, but that wasn't my place. I was just the boyfriend and the man who helped Rose with her maths homework.

  Georgia laughed and her hold on me grew a little bit tighter. “Rose's dad isn't going to turn up out of the blue. He made that very clear when I had her, and he also signed a piece of paper relinquishing his parental rights. He might change his mind when she's older, but then it has to be her decision about whether she wants anything to do with him and that will only be up to her.”

  Relief started to trickle through me. “But what about you? Have you ever thought about getting back together with him?”

  “Why would I want to be with a man who cheated on his fiancée with me, and he's never wanted to anything to do with his child? I wouldn't change anything because then I wouldn't have Rose, but I am so glad he's not in our lives. You've really got nothing to worry about, Seph.”

  “And neither have you with Cassie.” I only had words right now to reassure her, I just wish they would fully carry how I felt right now.

  She nodded. “I'm sorry if I overreacted.”

  I shook my head. “I'm glad you did.”

  “What?”

  I grinned, unsure if what I was going to say was going to make her smile or smack me. “Because it shows me how much you like me.”

  “I do like you, Seph.”

  “How much?”

  She whacked me on my ass. “Enough to invite you to mine for an early night.”

  “I'm not sure. I might be washing my hair.”

  And for that, I got an elbow in my stomach.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Georgia

  London on a Friday afternoon was never the best time to travel out of the city. Having said that, there was never a particularly good time to travel in or out of London. On a good day the place was like a slow-moving car park, with most cars stationary at lights or just generally stuck, and on some days it was gridlocked. We got lucky and managed to leave the city just before the afternoon rush began. I’d packed the night before, throwing more stuff than I needed into the boot of Seph’s car. There were enough of Rose’s toys in there to keep a nursery full of children entertained for three weeks, and enough of her clothes that we were covered for every occasion including a Princess fancy dress party, a wedding and some form of muddy festival.

  It was nerves. Good, old fashioned, meet-the-parents, nerves. I had met a couple of boyfriends’ parents before, but it was more the whole bumping into them when he had to stop at their house to pick something up, or we happened to bump into them one afternoon. It hadn't been arranged, or a formal introduction, like this was. I'd met Marie a few times when she’d been in the office and for lunch; she'd seen Rose on a couple of occasions, and we'd both met Seph’s dad, but this was the first time it was just me, Rose and Seph going to see his parents as one unit and it definitely felt like a milestone.

  “Mummy, how long will it take to get there?”

  It was the dreaded words that no parent wanted to hear this early on in the journey. Rose was a little bit disappointed that she couldn't spend Friday night at Addy's. They had a set routine and they really did like to stick to it. The appeal of going to see Seph's parents wasn't quite there for her, so I had to invest in several new reading books as a basic form of bribery.

  Seph had found it very amusing, as had Ava when he’d told her. Ava had said that she would definitely prefer a girly sleepover than spending the weekend at home.

  I liked Marie. She was down to earth and practical, said what she thought and was straight forward. But that did make me worry about what she might say to me, or what she might say to Seph about me.

  “Mummy, are we going to be driving for hours?”

  I realised I hadn't answered my child, too busy being lost in thought.

  “It'll be just over an hour,” Seph said, turning on to one of the main roads to get us out of the city. “And when we get there, Callum has said we can take you over to see the horses.”

  This was a surprise for Rose. My daughter was still horse mad, although she would’ve preferred unicorns. It was hopefully also the sweetener for spending a weekend away from her best friend.

  “Really?”

  I could tell she was about to bounce off the seat with excitement.

  “Really. As soon as we get there we'll go and see the horses. Tomorrow you can learn to ride one.”

  I knew those words would probably make my daughter’s year. For the next half an hour at least, I knew she would be daydreaming about finding some magical horse that would turn into a Unicorn and carry her over a glittering rainbow.

  “You can stop worrying, you know. You've been twitchy since this morning.” Seph had become all too expert at reading my moods.

  “I'm not worrying.” It was a lie, and one he wasn't going to believe.

  “That's bull waste and you know it.” He'd managed to stop cursing in front of Rose, especially after she copied one of his choice words.

  I shook my head. “I've never done this before: met the parents so properly.”

  “If it's any consolation, I've never brought somebody back like this either. I've got no idea if we're going to have our own room, or if my mum’s going to try to piss me off and put us in separate rooms either side of the house.”

  “I suppose we'll see when we get there.”

  I couldn't work out if the journey took too long or wasn't long enough. By the time we got there my nerves were shot and I was ready for a stiff drink or several.

  Luckily, Marie offered me a glass of wine even before I’d taken my coat off, then proceeded to bollock Seph for something I was pretty sure Max had done and dropped Seph in it on purpose.

  Before anybody had any chance to argue with her, she’d managed to get Seph out of the way to take Rose over a couple of fields to where Callum lived, his father with him, leaving me and Marie on our own.

  I followed her into the kitchen, a big open plan space with gorgeous light coloured units, and a large family area with a sectional sofa and an oak coffee table that had enough stains on it to stop me from worrying about Rose creating havoc. The house was huge; it would have had to have been, given the number of children that had grown up here, but it felt homely as opposed to a show house.

  “I've put you in what used to be Claire's old room,” Marie said, picking up her own glass of wine that I noticed was half empty. “Before any of the kids had, well, kids of their own, they all had their own allocated rooms. Now it's more around what fits, and Claire's has got a small dressing room off it that we can fit a single bed in. Eliza uses it when they come to stay, so I thought it would do for Rose. She'll be close to you but at least you can have some privacy.”
r />   So Seph and I were allowed to share a room. I'd figured Max was joking when he said that Marie would keep us apart. Seph had half-thought he was being serious, which was Max's intention, of course.

  “Thank you,” I remembered my manners. “And thank you for having us. I think we needed a break away from London.”

  She smiled and nodded, eyeing me in a way that I knew she could see through the small talk.

  “And I wanted to get you here so I could get to know you better, away from work that is. How's my son treating you? If it's not like you're a queen let me know, and I'll give him a good backhander.”

  I laughed, knowing that she was only half joking. I'd heard the banter between her and Seph, and knew that all of her children adored her but were always still slightly scared of her temper as well.

  “He's great. I'm not entirely sure what I've done to deserve him.” Even after my slight meltdown over Cassie, he'd been patient and understanding. I still hadn't quite gotten over what he'd said about my ex, Rose’s dad. I hadn't realised that he would worry that deeply about it.

  “I must’ve trained him well. How was the trip over here? Was Rose okay?”

  We did make small talk, general chatter about the area where she lived, and the house and what they’d had done over the years. She told me more about Callum and Wren and how it was nice having them live so close, and how she wished that there were more times when she could have all her children together in the same place.

  The conversation made me miss my mother. It'd been months now since I’d last seen her in person. We video chatted every other day, mainly so she could see Rose, but it wasn't the same. At some point, I planned on going over to Spain, for a holiday and to spend some much needed time with her.

  An hour or so later, Seph turned back up with Rose and his dad, all three of them covered in mud and Rose with a beaming smile across her face. I sat back, and watched and listened as Marie chatted to Rose, talking about the horses and asking her about school and her friends. Seph and his dad discussed the upcoming rugby season, and I just sat there and listened.