“It has,” Noah agreed, and I felt the tension even from where I was sitting. Did those two have some sort of history? My stomach twisted at the idea of being a pawn in a game Noah was playing with some … what was she? An ex?
No. It wasn’t possible. Theresa Hawkins had to be almost sixty. Old enough to be Noah’s mother for sure.
“I’m having a little get together at the house tomorrow night,” Noah said. “All the old gang will be there. You’re both welcome to join us.”
“It’s a bit late notice,” Hawkins said stiffly at the same time his wife demurred, “We’d love to.”
A moment of awkwardness fell before a waitress approached to say their table was ready. Noah stepped out of the way. “Enjoy your meal,” he said. “I hope you can make it tomorrow.”
He returned to our table, his eyes miles away as I levelled him with cynical look. It took him a moment to realise I was eyeballing him.
“What?”
“I’m mad at you.”
He took a sip of water. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why are you mad at me?”
“Something happened with you and Hawkins’ wife, didn’t it?”
Noah appeared unfazed as he murmured to himself, “I was right. You are a little spy.”
“Don’t avoid the question,” I said, leaning closer across the table as I whispered, “You made me break into their house and wear her lipstick. You used me in whatever twisted game you have going on with your ex, and I deserve to know why.”
Now he laughed. It was the same weird, manic sort of laugh he’d had that time I’d asked if Vee bullied him as a kid. He was being way too loud, attracting the attention of nearby diners. When he wouldn’t shut up, I put my hand over his mouth to shush him.
“Will you be quiet? People are looking.”
The laughter ceased. His eyes heated, and I was suddenly aware of his lips against my palm. I dropped my hand and sat back, flustered.
“She’s not my ex,” Noah said. “Though she did…” he went silent, like he wasn’t sure if he should keep talking.
I arched an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.
Noah dragged a hand over his jaw and sat back, eyeing me pointedly. “Think about it, Estella. I haven’t lived in this town since I was fifteen years old.”
“Wait a second,” I said on a gasp as his meaning sank in. “Do you mean she … she …”
“No.” Noah interjected. “Nothing ever happened between us. Not for her want of trying though. Dirty auld bitch.”
I blinked at him in shock. Theresa Hawkins had tried coming onto Noah when he was a teenager, and she was in her what? Late forties? I shook my head, stunned. Hawkins and his wife were sitting on the other side of the restaurant, completely oblivious to the conversation going on across the room.
A brick settled in my gut. I reached out and gripped one of Noah’s hands in mine. “You’re serious?”
He nodded once as the waiter appeared and placed the pizza down in front of us, but I’d lost my appetite. The waiter left and I eyed Noah. “Exactly what age were you when this happened?”
He shrugged. “Fourteen.”
“Fourteen!” I whisper-hissed. “She should’ve been arrested.”
“Nothing happened. I might’ve been a kid, but I knew how to defend myself. Besides, I think she did it mostly to get back at Hawkins. He was having an affair with Sylvia at the time.”
“Hold up. What?”
Noah grinned and leaned forward. “You are so easily shocked.”
“I’m shocked because what you just said is pretty bloody shocking. Hawkins and Sylvia? Really?”
He nodded. “I used to see them sneaking off together every once in a while.”
I shook my head slowly back and forth, digesting the information. I just couldn’t imagine Sylvia cheating. Then again, I hadn’t known her before she became ill. I had no idea what she was like back then.
Noah sat back, eyes on mine as he blew out a breath. He stared at me for the longest time. Then, finally, he spoke. “Back before my mother was diagnosed, she and Theresa used to work together in the same legal firm. That’s how they became friends, and soon Hawkins and Theresa were regulars at my parents weekend soirees.”
His voice was sarcastic on the word “soiree”. I’d forgotten Sylvia was a solicitor before she got sick. Like I said, it was hard to imagine her as anything other than the quiet, frail woman I’d always known her to be.
“After a while, I noticed Sylvia going off to meet with Hawkins in secret. They must not have been very discreet because it was obvious Theresa noticed, too. I didn’t understand why she didn’t confront them. I sensed her anger over the whole thing, and that was when she began being extra nice to me. She clearly planned to seduce me as some kind of twisted revenge. One Saturday, when there was a party going on and all of my parents’ friends were drunk and oblivious, Theresa crept into my bedroom and tried it on with me.” A pause as he eyed me, a sardonic note to his voice. “I told her if she didn’t get the fuck out, I’d tell everyone in town she liked to have sex with kids. I never saw anyone do a 360 so fast.”