Chapter Four

Panicking, Assumpta rapidly scanned the room for somewhere to hide, but it was too late. Leo was already pushing past Peter and into the room, chatting cheerfully.

'How are ya, Father? I've been sent to cover the bombings, but you've figured that out yourself, of course. Anyway, I was looking over the list of survivors, and I spotted a familiar name. I thought, "Who better to give me an honest account – "'

Leo utterly froze when he saw her, his face reflecting confusion at first.
'Assumpta?'
She felt like a schoolgirl who had been caught cheating on a math test... only, it wasn't math she'd been cheating. She merely gaped at him, struggling desperately to find some words to rescue herself, Leo, all of them, but none came.

Assumpta watched every muscle in Leo's body tense up with anger, as realisation dawned. In one swift movement, Leo had Peter slammed against the wall. He was holding his right arm firmly against Peter's neck, pinning him there, and his face, growing redder by the second, was poised ready to shout innumerable threats and obscenities.

'It's not what it looks like, Leo,' said Peter, who was making a visible effort to remain calm.
Leo pressed his arm further into Peter's neck, and moved closer, so that their faces were almost touching.
'It had bloody well better not be what it looks like!' he shouted, 'Because it looks like you've had my girl in your bed, Father Clifford!'
'Your girl?'
What did he mean, "his girl"? She hadn't been his girl since they were in college... Had she?
Confused, Peter looked questioningly past Leo to the beautiful woman, still in his bed, who had turned a sickly shade of grey.
'Assumpta?'

They were both looking expectantly at her, now... these two men – probably the two most significant men in her life. Their eyes conveyed equal hurt, equal confusion, though Leo looked considerably more like he might be about to do someone or something some serious damage. Assumpta knew that she could only come out of this with one of them, and she had only a split second to decide.

She allowed her eyes to linger on Peter's for just a moment longer, before turning them swiftly away.
'Leo, I can explain...'

In the park down the street, Assumpta stumbled as she tried to keep up with Leo. She had found him leaning dejectedly against the wall of the hotel lobby, when she had rushed down after changing. He had silently stalked off to the park, not protesting when Assumpta followed him. Now, after several minutes of seething, silent walking, Leo sank down at the base of a large tree, and looked wordlessly up at Assumpta.
Assumpta, who had had time to think over what she would say, sat tentatively down beside him.

'Leo, you have to understand -'
'I do not have to understand.'
'Just hear me out! It was a crazy night, last night. No one was in their right mind... Peter had seen a bunch of his friends brought near to death by that fire. He was in a bad way. He needed a friend.'
'And you just happened to be conveniently in Dublin?'
'No... I drove up when I heard what had happened.'
'Oh, well isn't that lovely? You were so worried about your charming local curate that you decide to drive into a disaster zone...'
'We were all worried, Leo.'
'I don't see you walking into any death traps for me,' he continued, sulkily.
'Leo, you know I would have come for you,' Assumpta said, softly.
At the warmth of her tone and the meaning of her words, Leo could feel his heart coming dangerously close to melting. How could she do that to him so easily?

Determined, he set his jaw.
'Fine, so, everyone was worried, you came, he was a bit sad, so you decided to sleep with him? Yeah, that's one way to fix it.'
Assumpta opened her mouth to speak, but then paused. She was going to say "nothing happened", but that wasn't strictly true, was it?
'I didn't have sex with him.'
It sounded so blunt and vulgar, out loud. She flushed with shame at landing herself in a situation which required her to defend herself with that sentence.
Leo looked down at the ground, and sighed. Assumpta reached out and took his hand.
'You do believe me, don't you?'
He gave a slight nod.

The pair sat a while in silence, still holding hands. Then, Leo spoke up.
'I quit my job, you know.'
'What?'
'This is my last story. I sold my apartment, too.'
He gazed into her eyes. She could still see traces of pain and uncertainty in his face.
'Why?' she whispered.
'So I could be with you.'

Well, that was it, then. She didn't have to choose; it was all decided for her. Even after finding her in another man's bed, Leo was there, loving her, giving up his whole life for her, asking to be hers. Peter was not. Peter never would be, never could be. It was as simple as that. She should feel relieved...

But, as Leo leaned in and kissed her, pressing his lips to where Peter's had been not an hour before, Assumpta couldn't quite convince her heart not to sink.