Chapter 33
“Babe?” repeated Cheryl, looking up at Kimberley. She saw the expression on Kimberley’s face and sat up, putting her hands on Kimberley’s knees and facing the table. She sighed before reaching over and grabbing the phone, then standing up and answering. “Hello?”
Ashley’s voice sounded back at her, the familiarity of it causing Cheryl to frown momentarily. “What the f*cking hell are you playing at?”
Cheryl laughed incredulously and sat down on the sofa. “Nice talking to you too after all this time”, she replied, sarcastically.
“Don’t be clever. You know what I mean – what’s with that interview you did?” He was trying to maintain a calm manner, not raising his voice, but he was already talking quite loud.
“Well,” started Cheryl, bringing her free hand up to her forehead. “I could ask you the same thing. I read your Hello! interview the other week. Shame I couldn’t find any truth in there anywhere”.
“Saying I had more than one affair? You can’t prove that. I’m getting my lawyers onto this. You can’t go round accusing me of stuff you can’t prove”. Despite not having had any contact with Ashley for months, she still knew him, and she could sense the tone in his voice, even though he was trying to disguise his anger.
“First of all, I didn’t say you’d had more than one - I simply said I didn’t fully believe that you hadn’t. Secondly, you accused meof cheating on you – falsely accused me. And thirdly, you’re not supposed to be calling me - shall I talk to my lawyers?” She sat down as she ended her rant, hugging a cushion at the end of the sofa, as Kimberley watched her, concerned, from the other sofa.
There was a pause as Ashley thought over what she’d said. “I’m trying to move on, Cheryl. If you make that difficult I’ll make you wish you’d never met me”.
Cheryl rested her head on the back of the sofa, shaking her head as she did so. “Too late, Ashley. I already wish I’d never clapped eyes on you. So go for your life”.
“You’re not getting away with this,” insisted Ashley.
“I told the truth,” replied Cheryl simply. “You should try it sometime”. She pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it, letting out a sarcastic laugh as she saw that Ashley had ended the call. She looked at Kimberley who was already on her feet and moving over to her. She sat down next to Cheryl, one leg folded underneath her on the sofa, and she rested both hands on Cheryl’s knee.
“He read the article,” guessed Kimberley, sighing as Cheryl nodded in confirmation. “Well, we knew he wasn’t gonna be happy about it. I wasn’t expecting a call though”.
“I should have guessed,” sighed Cheryl. “It’s like waging war on him, he was bound to react”.
“I’ll call Hillary,” decided Kimberley, standing up and picking her phone up from the coffee table. As the call was connecting she walked back to Cheryl who had closed her eyes. She bent down and kissed Cheryl lightly on the forehead before straightening up quickly as the call connected. “Hillary,” she started, walking into the kitchen.
The smile that had briefly adorned Cheryl’s face as she sensed Kimberley’s presence, slowly disappeared, and she brought her legs up on the sofa and snuggled into the cushion.
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“Evening!” whispered Kimberley, looking over at Cheryl as the other girl slowly lifted her head.
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