The Only Exception

Part One - Chapter Twenty-Five: The Ex-Girlfriend

“How long is she staying with us for?” Lucia asked cautiously as she peered up at Lionel as he made some breakfast for Antonella; the blonde swallowed nervously knowing that this wasn’t going to end well for her.

She’d had a horrible shock when she had come downstairs that morning to find Antonella and Lionel joking on the couch as they drank some coffee; Lucia hadn’t missed the smug look the other woman has shot her when Lionel’s back was turned.

“Just for a couple of weeks,” Lionel said with a shrug of his shoulders, there were things that he and Antonella needed to discuss; things that had been left unsaid when she had broken up with him.

Lucia blinked as she stared at Lionel, her heart aching as she realised that whatever progress had happened the night before between them had gone out of the window.

“Sure… it’s your house,” Lucia said softly as she glanced carefully over to Antonella who was sat at the dining table pretending not to listen to the couple talking.

Lucia took a deep breath knowing that she shouldn’t allow Antonella to annoy her, she was Lionel’s wife and even if he didn’t love her it wasn’t like he could just walk away.

Lionel smiled pleased that Lucia understood what was going on, he quickly hurried back over to Antonella knowing that he wanted to make up for lost time; he hadn’t seen or heard from her in a year since everything had fallen apart for them.

“I’ll go and get ready for work then,” Lucia murmured as she realised that he hadn’t even thought to make breakfast for her; she shook her head walking out of the kitchen knowing that she didn’t want to watch her husband fawning over Antonella anymore.

***

Lucia brushed some hair from her face as she sorted through some files, her fingers shaking a little as she tried to hold herself together.

Lucia couldn’t stop her traitorous thoughts as she worked knowing that her husband was at home with his ex-girlfriend; she hated to think what they could be doing.

“Hola Lucia,” Francis called as he approached Lucia, he had been spending her a lot of time with her since the incident with Lionel; the art collector was all too aware that Lionel didn’t like when he spent time with the blonde.

Lucia jumped not expecting to see Francis today, she had thought he would be too busy to come and see her; she offered him a weak smile as she tried to forget about her problems.

“What’s wrong?” Francis asked as he realised that Lucia was upset about something, he rested a hand on her arm as she sniffled; he hated that no one else had noticed that she was upset.

Lucia shook her head as she pulled herself together, there was no use for her getting upset about what she knew was going to happen.

In Lionel’s eyes it would always be Antonella for him and Lucia really didn’t want to admit that she would be devastated when her marriage to the footballer came to an end.

“Okay let’s go to lunch and you can tell what your husband has done,” Francis said wrapping his arms around Lucia, she had seemed so happy yesterday as she told him what she had planned for her husband’s birthday.

And now it was like something had sucked all that happiness out of her; he couldn’t help but think that Lionel was behind her sudden sadness.

***

“So he’s allowing his ex-girlfriend to stay with you?” Francis said looking at Lucia across from him, his blue eyes watching her sadly as he listened to Lucia tell him everything.

The art collector had listened patiently while Lucia had confessed everything to him about her odd marriage to Lionel and the sudden arrive of Antonella; he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

Lucia nodded her head while she wiped away her tears; she knew that she shouldn’t have told Francis anything but she just wanted someone to talk to and he was there for her.

Shakira was a great friend but she had enough on her plate without dealing with Lucia’s problems; she wanted a friend separate from her husband’s life and someone that she could just turn to right now.

“Can’t you ask her to leave?” Francis asked knowing that Lucia was going to be the one that got hurt with Antonella back in the picture; she was the one with so much to lose even if Lionel didn’t see it.

Lucia was completely in love with Lionel and he was going to lose a good thing if he didn’t look at what was right in front of him.

“No… he says that they have things that need to be discussed,” Lucia said looking down at her coffee, she knew that it was just a ploy for Antonella to worm her way back into Lionel’s life.

Lucia sighed wishing that she had never entered the contract with the footballer, she had known it wasn’t going to end well but she had naively thought she would be able to handle everything.

“What more can they talk about. Sure they lost a baby and their engagement fell apart but they ended things, there is nothing left to say for them,” Francis said Lionel was only clinging onto the past; he was holding onto what could have been with Antonella instead of what he could have Lucia.

Lucia nodded her head, she could understand where Francis was coming from but she wasn’t sure that it was that simple; she just wanted Lionel to be happy even if it meant putting up with Antonella.

“Listen… in two months’ time I am going to Italy for six months and you don’t have to answer right now but I would like you to come with me as a consultant,” Francis said knowing that everything would collapse around Lucia sooner or later and he wanted to offer her some way to escape.

Lucia blinked as she looked up at Francis, there was no way that the blonde could have imagined that he would offer her something like that; the only problem was she was married.

Lucia doubted that there was any way that she could leave Lionel, that she could risk walking away without knowing if there was no hope for them.

“I don’t think I can,” Lucia said with a shake of her head, she was under contract to support Lionel and even if his ex-girlfriend was hovering; she intended to show that she was a good wife.

Francis sighed and nodded his head, he had been expecting her to say that but he would keep the offer open for as long as he could.

“You have until the 12th of August to make a decision, but por favor consider it,” Francis said watching Lucia, he knew that when Lionel did finally hurt her then he would be more than willing to whisk her away so that she wouldn’t have to watch him play happy families with Antonella.

Lucia chewed on her lip as she thought about Francis had said, she was sure that she wouldn’t need to consider what he was offering; but there was always a chance that she would need it.

Lucia didn’t think that anything could go wrong in the next two months that would even make her think about leaving Lionel behind.

Lucia had always known that she loved the footballer and she was certain that whatever was going on with Antonella wasn’t as bad as her mind was making it out to be.