Saturday morning was pretty uneventful; I woke up around 9am, took a quick shower then went downstairs for breakfast. after that I went back to my tiny room and continued reading the book will gave me.
The book was very interesting I was almost done and I couldn't wait to call will and talk to him about it
Mom came upstairs at around 12pm to force me downstairs for some lunch and to talk about my 'new' job.
'come on lou, I hardly ever see you except for breakfast and dinner, you spend the whole day at work and when you are home you stay in your room all day, come downstairs and let's talk over some tea' she said pulling me from the bed, the room was already small with me in it, with her in it, it seemed as if we we would suffocate so I agreed to join her.
We had lunch at the kitchen counter just the two of us and afterwards mom placed two cups of at the kitchen counter
'tell me now' she said sitting down 'how big is their garden'
'mom….' I groaned 'we have been through this, I told you last week that the one Mrs traynor spends most of her time on is not very big but I suspect she has another one somewhere around or within the mansion…she might have a greenhouse for all we know or an indoor garden you never know with rich people'
'how do you not know lou, Do you not work there?' she said amused
'of course I work there mom but my job is to assist will not to go exploring the mansion, I come and go through the annex, in fact the only time I go into the main house is to get food in the kitchen and that's it honestly mom'
'okay then how is their kitchen?' she asked
I groaned loudly making sure she knew how annoying it is having to recount every detail of the mansion to her every time I came home
'it's beautiful mom, exquisite…the type of kitchen you never want to leave, there are about 3 cooks who come in daily to prepare dishes for the family and it's spotless not a speck of dirt within eye range'
'but is not 3 cooks a lot for such few people, excluding you and will of course because I remember you said the two of you eat at the annex' she asked surprised
'yeah we do but lately we have been eating the mansion food more, I suppose 3 cooks is a lot for only 2 people…
'oh I guess maybe the other people who work in the house eat there too maybe and I heard will say sometimes they have guests, maybe that's why and anyway that is not of my business mom and I don't intend to make it' I said simply
'oh fine then, let me tell you about the neighbours then if you don't want to talk about the traynors' she started
We spent the rest of the afternoon talking, mom filled me in on all the neighbourhood gossip which I didn't think would go on till late afternoon but I let her go on because it had been a while since we sat down just us two
At around 6 pm I excused myself and went to my room to get dressed, me and Patrick were finally going to see each other after nearly 3 weeks apart
I put on my beautiful bright yellow with blue polka dots dress which I paired with my black stockings and red flats, I left the house shortly after 7pm for Patrick's house.
Patrick was outside by the time I got there, he was standing with another woman who I recognised immediately…she was one of his gym mates; he had introduced me to her at a pub a few months back
She was tall and pretty with a much toned body that honestly made me feel a bit insecure, she was wearing leggings and a crop top and it seemed like she had just come from the gym and so did Patrick, as I got nearer to his front gate it seemed as if they were having an in-depth conversation; Patrick had narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips the way he did whenever we were discussing something serious or when he was trying to concentrate.
Patrick seemed a bit surprised when he saw me but he quickly recovered and moved forward to greet me.
'lou! So nice to see you'! he said loudly clearly over compensating for something 'I would hug you but am afraid I have just come from the gym' he said
'you remember Sylvia don't you?' he asked as she stretched out her hand to greet me
'yes…I do' I said shaking her hand
There was a few seconds of awkward silence before Sylvia announced that she had to go back home and do something that I wasn't interested enough to listen to'
My eyes were fixed on Patrick, I was a bit disappointed that he seemed to have forgotten we were going out…or maybe he was just running late I told myself, clearly I was the one who was early I will wait till he is dressed then we can go and have our night of fun I thought
As soon as she was out of earshot I turned to Patrick and before he could say anything…
'well hurry up then, we don't want to waste any more time here' I said faking a smile
'lou' he began but even before he could finish I knew what was coming; he had forgotten and made other arrangements that he didn't want to forsake for me
'lou I am so sorry, I forgot I am truly sorry…I promised mike and the boys I would join them for drinks and I can't cancel…I would ask you to come with me only I know how restless you get are around the boys and I don't want to stress you out' he said
'so am just supposed to go home' I said trying hard not to get angry
'no, I mean you can stay at my place if you want'
'patrick do you realise this is the first time we have seen each other in 3 weeks? And it's not like we live in different cities and now you are telling me you cannot cancel some drinks with you friends to spend some time with me?!' I shouted at him
'louisa stop shouting the neighbours are going to hear you and you know how they like to gossip' he said
'I don't care about the neighbours' I said seething as all the doubts I had been having came back in one swift motion
'look lou I think I need to be honest with you, there is something I have been wanting to tell you for a while now and I think the time has come' Patrick said, breathing in as if mastering up enough courage
'go on then'
'lou…I don…I think…lou I have been seeing someone else' he blurted out
'it started a few months back…we were just friends then I think we both started to like each other a bit more...but we haven't done anything I swear, not even kiss I swear….and this few weeks we have been away from each other has had me thinking that maybe we should see other people' patrick finished
Of all the things to feel on that night I certainly didn't expect to feel relief. It was more like a mixture of relief, disbelief and sadness. I
I took a step back and looked him, he seemed to deliberately avoiding my gaze
'okay' I simply said
Now it was his turn to be in disbelief and relief
'what? i…i..i mean are you serious?' he asked
'yes I will see you around patrick' I turned and left the premises
I heard him call me a few times but I did not dare look back.
I didn't want to go home so I decided to walk around for a bit to clear my head, but after walking for 3 hours it had done nothing for me…all I kept thinking was 7 years down the drain, don't get me wrong I never intended to marry Patrick, we actually never spoke about marriage and he always tried to get me to move in with him but I always came up with some excuse
even though some part of me knew this was bound to happen it still did nothing to cushion the blow, it still felt like I wasted 7 years of my life…I wanted to find out why I was sad and not devastated, 7 years seemed devastation worthy.
After a taking another round I decided maybe some sleep would make me feel better but I still wasn't ready to go home. Home was where my mother and sister would instantly know that something was wrong and would get It out of me and I was not ready to talk to them
So I took out my phone and dialled the one person who I knew would not ask anything of me tonight hoping he would pick up
'will?' I asked trying to steady my voice
'clark so you finished the book I suppose?' he chuckled
'no..not really…'
There was silence
'can I come to the house for a bit?' I asked very sure my voice was betraying me
'yeah of course' he said almost immediately, he has sensed something was amiss…God dammit I didn't want to worry him
'louisa? Are you okay' he asked
'yeah..of course' my voice broke
'okay, see you in a bit' I said hanging up