by Laura Ziepe
An hour later and the girls were sitting down eating.
‘This is delicious,’ Holly said, spooning some pasta into her mouth. ‘The food is here is so lovely. Every place we’ve eaten in has been amazing.’
‘It’s lovely, but I’m not sure I can eat much,’ Emma explained, pushing the food around her plate.
‘Are you okay, Emma?’ Kim asked, caringly.
Holly noticed that Emma still looked weak and despite having a tan, she looked pale.
‘You really don’t seem yourself,’ Kim continued.
Emma nodded. ‘Of course. I have no idea why that just happened. I’m not panicking about getting married or anything,’ she gave a nervous giggle. ‘It’s what I want.’
Holly eyed Kim, willing her to not ask anything else. It was obvious something was up with Emma, but she knew the more they pressed her about it, the more they were likely to push her away. Emma would tell them what she wanted to, and if she didn’t want to confess her true feelings, then that was her choice and they needed to respect that.
Emma took a sip of water and a tiny bite of her burger. ‘So Holly, how’s things with Max? Do you really like him?’ she asked, trying to change the subject.
Holly inhaled for a few seconds. ‘I do, but we’ve only just met. I’m feeling a little cautious around him, especially after he couldn’t wait to blab about last night to people,’ she threw her eyes upwards. ‘I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I’m not really sure about it all,’ she admitted, looking out of the window deep in thought.
Emma’s mouth was a straight line. ‘I think that’s wise. I don’t want to put you off him, he’s the loveliest guy at times and I’ve always got on with him, but he doesn’t seem to have the best track record with girlfriends. I just wanted to warn you. You never know though, perhaps he’ll change? I’m certain he likes you.’
Holly’s heart sank. She knew what Emma was saying was true. Holly had felt it from the start. She wasn’t stupid; she could tell the kind of man Max was. She knew she needed to keep her guard up to protect her feelings. But what were those feelings? He had been irresistible the previous evening, but waking up with a clear mind she was beginning to question things.
Kim remained silent, looking a little uncomfortable as she moved the food around on her plate. She cleared her throat. ‘I’m not sure he’s right for you,’ she stated, looking into the distance with a little shrug.
Holly was taken aback. This was certainly news. ‘Why are you saying that suddenly?’ she asked her. It was odd that Kim was making such a bold statement out of nowhere and she hadn’t said that hours before when they’d been discussing the fact that Holly had slept with him.
‘I just think you can do a lot better,’ Kim responded sweetly. She hesitated. ‘I don’t know. There’s something about Max that I’m not sure about. He just seems like a player, that’s all. He doesn’t seem like boyfriend material. I can’t imagine him wanting to play daddy anytime soon.’
Holly nodded, thinking the same thing. Still, she felt as though she owed him a chance at least.
‘What was it like when you first met Rob?’ Emma asked. ‘I can’t really remember ever discussing it with you before. When did you realize you were going to break up?’
‘Everything felt right when we first met,’ Holly told them, looking into the distance thoughtfully. ‘There was no guessing if he liked me. I just knew. Our relationship just seemed to work and we rarely argued when it was just the two of us. I guess it was when we became parents that things just changed. I don’t think being a parent is an easy job – it’s tiring and can be stressful. It’s like you’ve literally said goodbye to your old life as you once knew it. You have these little people relying on you for everything and we didn’t cope well under the pressure. We began to argue. We just stopped seeing eye to eye any more. I like to be organized and I’m pretty strict with Lottie and Jacob’s routine, whereas Rob was the opposite. We did try to make it work, for the children’s sake, but I think we both knew we were kidding ourselves. You know in your heart when something isn’t right,’ she said, looking at Emma who was biting her lip.
‘It’s hard when you have children, but it’s great that you both get on still,’ Kim put in.
‘Are things still good with you and Andy?’ Emma enquired, looking up at Kim.
‘Yes, perfect,’ Kim replied quickly, pushing the hair back from her brow. ‘Where did you say we were going tonight?’ she asked.
Emma began to tell them the plans, but the way Kim had changed the subject didn’t go unnoticed by Holly. She scrutinized her friend, trying to put her finger on what could be troubling her. In fact, Holly was sure that both Kim and Emma had things on their mind that they were keeping to themselves and she hoped if it was anything serious, rather than dealing with it alone, they knew they could confide in her.
Later that evening they were having drinks in the bar when Max bowled over to Holly, kissing her affectionately on the cheek.
‘Evening gorgeous,’ he said, ‘you’re looking stunning as always.’
Holly couldn’t help but beam at his handsome face. When she was away from him, she questioned whether spending time with him was a good idea. But the moment she saw him she couldn’t control the drumming of her heart just being near him. Every time she thought about the night before, she felt her heart flip over. It wasn’t often she felt such a physical connection to someone, even though she knew deep in her heart it probably wasn’t a good thing. Not with Max. That was the thing about meeting Rob that she’d told Emma and Kim earlier. Not only did she know he was keen on her and found her attractive, but straight away she could tell he was the type of man who wanted a relationship. She had felt safe from the very start. Rob had made his intentions clear. He wanted a girlfriend, someone who he would marry in future and have children with, and he wanted that girl to be Holly. It had been nice knowing where she stood. There hadn’t been any games and that had suited her. She didn’t want to be messed around – what girl did? With Max she didn’t feel safe at all. It was like jumping out of an aeroplane and not being entirely sure that your parachute would work.
Max slid his arm around her waist. ‘What can I get you to drink, girls?’ he asked them.
‘I’ll get this one,’ Callum said kindly, as they all requested a glass of wine.
‘So, Em. You have two more evenings before you’re married,’ Max reminded her. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Fine.’ Emma attempted a casual tone, but her voice quavered.
Charlie came over at that point and starting chatting to Emma while Kim began to chat to his cousin, Frankie.
‘So whereabouts do you live at home exactly?’ Max asked Holly. ‘You’re not too far from me, are you?’
Holly explained where she lived, secretly pleased he was talking about home and his plans with her afterwards.
‘I’ll have to take you to the most amazing Thai restaurant in the world near me. Have you ever been to Thai River?’
‘I haven’t, but I’ve heard of it,’ Holly answered.
‘You’ll love it if you like Thai food,’ he said confidently.
Holly began to relax, thinking that perhaps it hadn’t just been a one-night thing for him after all. He did want to meet up again after Vegas, but she still had a few doubts about him that she couldn’t shake off, no matter how hard she tried.
‘So,’ Max said, lifting Holly’s chin and kissing her on the lips, ‘you going to the club with the others afterwards?’ he asked interestedly.
Holly kissed him back, then shrugged her shoulders. ‘I guess so.’
Max started to talk about how he’d been to the gym that morning, despite feeling hungover, but Holly couldn’t help but hear the conversation going on behind her between Charlie and Emma. She didn’t turn round as she didn’t want to make it obvious she could hear.
‘Please Charlie, not now. It’s embarrassing,’ she heard Emma hiss at him.
Callum came back from the bar and han
ded them their drinks, distracting Max, so Holly continued to listen to what was happening behind her.
‘I have the right to check,’ he retorted haughtily. ‘I honestly don’t know what on earth has got into you.’
‘Just give it back,’ Emma muttered, sounding vexed. ‘I’ll talk to you about it later. Please.’
Holly couldn’t help but swivel round discreetly to see what was going on, just in time to see Emma prizing her mobile phone out of Charlie’s grasp. His eyes flashed with a wicked gleam and Holly had to prevent herself from gasping when he shot Emma a vicious, flinty glare before storming over to his friends.
Emma was looking in the direction that Charlie had gone and hadn’t seen Holly’s gaze fixed on her, so Holly quickly span back round to the others as though she hadn’t seen a thing.
Holly couldn’t concentrate after that. It didn’t matter where they were going or what they were doing that evening; that really was the least of her worries. She’d known that something wasn’t right with Emma and Charlie. It was a gut instinct. Somehow, she had to stop Emma from marrying that dreadful man. She couldn’t stand there and watch her friend make the biggest mistake of her life.
Chapter 18
Emma
Emma felt the familiar tingle in her nose and sniffed loudly. She would not cry in front of people. She wasn’t going to allow people to see that Charlie had upset her. Maybe she was embarrassed by the fact that she put up with him? He always acted as though she deserved the way he treated her. Most of the time he made her feel like it was her fault and she often wondered if that was true. She didn’t see other couples behaving the way that they did. He was much worse behind closed doors, but he seemed to care less and less about talking down to her in public. It was starting to unnerve her. She guessed he was feeling a lot safer to do as he pleased because she would soon be his wife. He nearly had her exactly where he wanted her. She remembered when she was younger watching a documentary about someone who had been abused for years by her husband, but kept going back to him. Emma just couldn’t understand why the woman didn’t just leave him. How could anyone put up with somebody treating them like that? She recalled the narrator on the programme saying that these situations were never as simple as they seemed; some of the women were afraid. Many had been controlled for years felt isolated because they didn’t feel they had much support elsewhere, and they still loved their husbands, despite everything they did.
Emma had thought it all seemed ludicrous. In her opinion, if someone treated you poorly, you just walked away, changed your number and ignored them. It was simple. You moved on. So how on earth was she now standing here in Vegas probably feeling exactly like those women on the documentary? Was she afraid of Charlie? She didn’t think so. It wasn’t as though he had ever actually hit her. He was cruel at times and toyed with her emotions, but she’d never voiced her concerns that it wasn’t right. He’d always convinced Emma to let him be some kind of manager to her, arranging her diary, negotiating deals with brands and answering her emails and she had always let him. It was the things he did behind her back that was starting to bother her. At first, she’d let it slide, but a few months back he’d organized a deal with a protein shake company for himself, all through her emails. The deal was that Emma had to be tagged in some of the images he posted as well as Emma posting a few from her account, which had more followers. Now she’d seen that that wasn’t the only one; Charlie was trying to get as much work and money as he could, all through her name, and without being honest and upfront with her what he was doing. It just didn’t sit right. When he finally told her about the protein shake deal, Emma had to explain that she couldn’t promote it as she already had a deal with another protein company and it would be breaching the terms of her contract. Charlie had been exasperated, and though he still got the deal for himself, his commission dropped from thirty-five per cent to ten per cent when the company was told Emma wouldn’t be involved too.
When she’d told Kim and Holly about Charlie managing her emails, they seemed to question why Charlie was involved any more, now it was Emma’s full-time job. It had made her start to question if she really did need Charlie like he constantly told her, at all? Seeing all the messages he had been sending earlier that day only told her, that actually, he needed her. So she had changed her Instagram password and as soon as Charlie had tried to log in from his phone and had been logged out, he’d felt as though he had the right to grab Emma’s phone and look on it anyway. She knew he would accuse her of all sorts of things if she didn’t eventually tell him the password; there was no way he would let her get away with not telling him and it was beginning to ring alarm bells. She had always made excuses for him, telling herself that he only did things because he cared so much.
After first meeting Charlie, Emma had only seen his caring, loving side for months. He’d been everything she had ever wanted and she couldn’t have been more elated that with every bit of weight she lost, her love for Charlie only grew. Emma couldn’t believe how supportive and helpful Charlie had been, and never having been in a serious relationship before, she had nothing else to compare it to anyway. She just knew he made her feel good about herself when she had suffered from such low self-esteem.
Things had started to change when she’d agreed to live with him. It had started off with just the odd little comment at first, but as time went on, Emma was seeing more and more of Charlie’s wicked side. The person he now was was almost unrecognizable from the man she’d fallen in love with.
Then today Emma had a panic attack. What was all that about? Was she panicking about the wedding more than she realized? When she’d told Charlie, he hadn’t seem remotely bothered about it.
‘Loads of people get them,’ he’d said with an insouciant shrug when she’d got back to their hotel room. He’d been playing cards with Frankie on the balcony. ‘They’re no big deal. You just learn how to cope with them.’ Frankie had seemed more concerned than him.
Emma didn’t want to learn how to cope with them. She didn’t want to ever experience one again, full stop. They were horrible and she felt hurt by his blasé attitude. There were no words of comfort or support like there would have been once upon a time. No attempts to reassure her that everything was okay. It was just brushed under the carpet as it was whenever she had a problem with anything. If it didn’t involve Charlie, he was rarely interested.
She wasn’t drinking alcohol tonight. Emma didn’t want to wake up the next morning unsure if she and Charlie had argued or what had happened. She wanted to be on the ball, in control of everything she was doing and saying. She was getting married soon and she didn’t want anything to jeopardize her big day, despite the fact the thought of getting married was now making her feel nauseous. She felt a huge responsibility to her guests; they had all flown out to Vegas to see her get married, so she would, no matter how scared she was beginning to feel. She had a gorgeous man who loved her and maybe he would change after the big day? That’s what Emma hoped more than anything. Maybe once Charlie knew Emma was his wife and wasn’t going anywhere he would relax a bit more. Loosen her reins a little.
Emma thought back to earlier that day and how stunned she’d been when Holly had asked why Charlie had been so cross with her. It had taken her by complete surprise. No-one had ever quizzed her before about anything, or had ever said anything other than positive things about their relationship. She was often told things such as how well they were suited, they would make beautiful babies and how nice Charlie was. She was constantly informed that she’d met ‘a real catch’. She believed them too. Charlie was handsome, successful and funny. A little immature at times, but she could see why everyone thought she’d hit the jackpot when she’d met him. No-one knew how small and ashamed he managed to make her feel. Nobody saw him having a tantrum and ignoring her over something pathetic. They didn’t hear the nasty names he called her. She recalled how she’d almost told Frankie once what Charlie was like. She had wanted to hear someone else’s take on
him. He’d popped over after work one evening and Charlie hadn’t yet arrived back.
‘Do you and your girlfriend ever argue?’ Emma had ventured. She knew Frankie hadn’t been with her for that long, but she was intrigued.
Frankie had narrowed his eyes a little, thinking. ‘We have disagreements, yes. Everybody does. Sometimes I don’t agree with things she does, but we always sort out our problems and talk them through in the end. Why do you ask?’
Emma was stirring the curry she’d made on the hob. ‘Oh, I don’t know. I just heard a couple rowing on the train the other day, that’s all,’ she lied. She stood there contemplating whether or not she should tell him. Would he tell her to leave Charlie? Would he end up disliking him? Emma didn’t want either of those things to happen, though she did wonder whether Frankie would always take Charlie’s side regardless. Emma wanted to be Charlie’s wife and settle down. She didn’t want to go back to square one and meet someone new all over again.
There was a pause before Frankie spoke again. ‘I think respect is a very important thing in a relationship. Once the respect has gone, it rarely ever comes back.’
Emma thought of Frankie’s wise words as she stood in the bar. Had the respect disappeared from their relationship as soon as they moved in together? But Charlie always apologized after he was nasty to her and Emma always made excuses for him. She always told herself she was partly to blame for his behaviour. He was constantly reminding her how much he had done for her and how appreciative she should be. It seemed that according to Charlie, Emma should forever be indebted to him.
Emma had a sudden urge to talk to someone before she committed the rest of her life to him. She longed for someone to tell her she was doing the right thing. She looked over at Holly who was busy chatting away to Max and made her way over.
‘Holly, can I speak to you a moment?’ she asked feebly.