Free Deranged Marriage by Faith Bleasdale Page B

his marbles. We were meant to be together? I wasn’t yet enlightened? It was unimaginable. I knew that I didn’t want George, not in that way, not in any way now. I was more certain of that than of anything else. I just had to convince him.
    Over the next few days I sought advice. Despite my resolve not to take it seriously, I wanted to know the best way to deal with the situation. I could have left George alone with his delusions, but knowing him, that wouldn’t work. Then there was Joe. Should I tell him about his love rival or not? Freddie told me that I should explain the situation to Joe straight away, Lisa told me not to tell Joe because George was obviously mad and hopefully would soon go away. Imogen told me that I should write a letter to George asking him nicely to stay away from me, and only if he failed to do so should I tell Joe. My mother said that it would be lovely if we did get together.
    I was busy at work. We had some new business pitches coming up and the team were pushed to the limit. I needed to stay focused. I wasn’t going to let George ruin things.
    At this point I took a wrong turning because I decided to ignore him. The day after dinner, he bombarded me with e-mails. I deleted them, barely glancing at them. Actually, Dixie, who declared herself bored, read them all and gave me the edited highlights.
    ‘Well, Holly, he’s clearly quite disturbed, he says that you are definitely the only woman for him and he loves you more than life itself.’ Dixie had been spending too much time with Freddie.
    ‘Thanks, why does that make him disturbed?’
    ‘Because you don’t feel the same.’
    ‘Oh, yeah.’
    ‘Anyway, he wants to see you again, he’s sorry if he shocked you with his declaration, but it had to be said. He’s visiting his parents this weekend and he wants you to join him. Says you could talk about old times.’
    ‘Well I won’t.’
    ‘Shall I tell him that?’
    ‘No, leave it, he’ll get the message.’
    ‘But I thought you said that he was your oldest friend.’
    ‘He was.’
    ‘Is that wise then?’
    ‘Yes. Stop questioning me. Is there anything else I should know?’
    ‘Yes, you’ve got an away day with Zoom on Friday; you need to do a presentation. You’ve got lunch with Francesca tomorrow, to review your accounts, and you’re due at Candy Confectionery in one hour. Oh, and George says you have the sweetest lips.’
    ‘Thanks, Dixie.’ I gave her a peck on the cheek.
    I vowed to carry on with my life. The life that it had taken me most of my twenty-nine years to get right. The life I loved. George had become a little irritating niggle that was underlying my happiness. But that was all he was, a niggle.
    *
    George got the message that I wouldn’t be responding to his e-mails, because the following day I received a single red rose. Actually from ten o’clock in the morning I received a red rose every hour on the hour...from George. Francesca noticed and called me into her office to ask if Joe had popped the question. Francesca might be my boss, she was also a friend.
    ‘It isn’t Joe.’ I sighed in answer to her question.
    ‘Who is it then?’ She looked excited.
    ‘George.’ I barely had the energy to explain.
    ‘Who’s George, an ex?’
    ‘No Francesca, he’s a friend from way back. He’s been in New York for the past five years, and he’s come back because his girlfriend turned down his marriage proposal and now he says that he’s the man for me.’
    ‘Gosh, that sounds bizarre. What does Joe think?’ Francesca looked delighted with the developments.
    ‘Joe doesn’t know. Well he knows he came back but he doesn’t know anything bar the fact that George is my old friend.’
    ‘Oh dear, I think you should tell him.’
    ‘Funny. Lots of people think that.’
    ‘You have to. There is no way that you can have a relationship where there are secrets, no way. And I don’t wish to be pessimistic but I don’t think you can bury your head in the sand