Page 91 of Plot Twist

He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for me.

Breathe, Becca.

‘Don’t get too cosy there,’ I called. ‘You’re not staying in here tonight.’

I opened the bottle and retrieved two glasses from the cupboard in the kitchen area. He came to the door and took the glass that I offered. I turned my attention to the matter in hand. If I were even to think about Drew with anything other than contempt, I had to know the full story.

I let out a long sigh.

‘I’m tempted to ask how and when the two of you got together. I presume she’ll tell me that in the letter. But I’d like to hear your version first.’

I wanted to see if it would match up. Rae’s version versus Drew’s. Who had betrayed me more, my best friend or my ex-boyfriend? I guessed Drew didn’t have as much to lose. But I couldn’t stand the thought of Rae lying to me. I eyed up the letter, which he was still holding.

‘You want to know everything?’ he asked.

I nodded.

43

Drew cleared his throat.

‘OK, well, she moved to Edinburgh with Mickey. I eventually broke things off with Leila, too. I did end up seeing her, Becca. I’m not going to lie about that. But it didn’t last.’

I knew it. I knew as soon as we split up that Leila would get her claws into him. The thought didn’t make me as annoyed as it once would have. In fact, it all seemed a bit stupid now.

‘Well, I could have told you that.’ I shrugged.

‘Anyway, I bumped into Rae a couple of years ago. She was pretty wasted. Crying outside the men’s toilets. Mascara everywhere. I took her home and slept on the floor in her bedroom. She and Mickey had been together on and off for ages, but she said it was over for good this time. Nothing happened that night between us, obviously.’

My hand shook as I took another gulp of wine, totally immersed in the story.

‘She’d lost so much confidence at this point, Becca. She was a shell of herself. At first, I guess I just wanted to protect her.’

I shivered. I should have been the one in Edinburgh, picking up the pieces, not Drew.

‘So, we started hanging out. Just friends, at first. It turned out she didn’t live too far away from the hotel where I was working. So, she would come in sometimes and just hang around there. I’d walk her home when it got late. I liked having her around. At first, she reminded me of you.’

‘Don’t say that.’ I shook my head as if that could erase his words.

‘It’s true.’ He shrugged. ‘But the more I saw her, I couldn’t shake the feelings. I wanted to be with her all the time. It took a long time for us to get together. She was devastated about it. Kept wondering how she was ever going to tell you. The longer it went on, the harder it was. But our relationship. . . it was amazing. She was free and funny and beautiful, you know. Just so Rae. She turned heads in every room. I was so proud to have her on my arm.’

I knew he’d felt like that about Rae. I always knew he wanted her instead of me. Mickey had even predicted it. No offence, Becca, he’d said.

‘She got to know the hotel staff and we all hung out together. We were so good together, Becca. I’m sorry, but we were. She said she’d never been so happy. The only thing she hated was the fact that she was lying to you. She beat herself up about that every day. I didn’t want to see her upset, so I was annoyed that she was worried. . . I told her that you should just get over it. We’d been over for ages by that point.

‘We talked about getting married. She was scared of your reaction. When she was coming to meet you that night, she was coming to tell you. But she wasn’t planning to tell you face to face. She thought a letter would be better, so she didn’t have to say the words. She couldn’t seem to get the words out, she said.

‘And this is the letter.’

We both stared down at it.

My eyes brimmed with tears. I wasn’t upset because of Drew and Rae. It had never been about that. Not really. I just wished that there hadn’t been a huge secret between us before she’d died. And I missed her so badly that it physically hurt.

I drained my glass and poured another large one. I reached over and topped Drew’s glass up, too.

‘I don’t know if I can read it,’ I whispered to him. ‘It’s easier to not know.’

‘OK,’ he replied. ‘There’s no rush.’