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I put it on silent last night, and I think I left it in my handbag because I didn’t want to be distracted. I fell asleep before I could think about it. Oh God.

I feel faint. I can’t believe he’s here. “What do you want?” I whisper.

He doesn’t answer. “What are you doing at the shop? Your dad said I needed to talk to you about it. He wasn’t very forthcoming.” His lips twist. “I don’t think he ever liked me.”

I’m not going to get into a conversation like that with him. “I’m buying the shop. I stayed in the flat last night.”

His eyebrows rise. “Buying the shop? Jesus. Where did you get the money for that?”

“I’m getting a business loan.”

“So you haven’t bought it yet?” He looks puzzled. “How can you stay in the flat?”

I hesitate, because that means talking about Mitch, and suddenly I realise what a situation I’ve got myself into.

His gaze slides to the All Blacks top I’m wearing, and he frowns. I know it looks too big for me.

Then he looks past me, and I turn and see Mitch coming into the bookshop. He’s wearing shorts but no top, and he’s barefoot. It’s blindingly obvious that we were up there together.

Mitch stops halfway across the shop as he sees Jayden, and the two of them stare at each other.

I take a deep breath. “Come in,” I tell Jayden, because I don’t want anyone else overhearing our conversation.

He walks slowly into the shop, and I close the door behind him. The three of us stand there looking at each other. My face burns.

“I see,” he says eventually, confirming he’s put two and two together. “Would you jump in my grave that quick?” he asks Mitch.

“You’ve been gone six months,” Mitch says. He can’t be feeling as calm as he looks, surely.

Jayden stiffens and flicks a glance at me. “In case you didn’t realize, we’re still married.” I don’t know if he’s talking to Mitch or me. Maybe both of us.

Mitch glares at him. “Are you really going to lecture Vix on staying faithful?”

Jayden’s eyes widen, and then he gives a short, humourless laugh. “Bear, I’m guessing?”

Bear? What about Bear?

“Let’s just say I wasn’t shocked,” Mitch says.

Jayden looks at me then. “It didn’t mean anything. She was married, too.”

My heart bangs. “Who was?”

There’s a long, awkward silence.

Jayden closes his eyes for a moment. Then he gives Mitch a pained look. “You didn’t tell her?”

Mitch just shakes his head. “Not my place.” He glances at me, and his brows draw together.

I can barely breathe. It didn’t mean anything. I know what that means. Jayden had an affair while he was married to me, and Mitch knew about it.

Oddly, at that moment, I’m more hurt by the fact that he kept it to himself than I am about Jayden cheating on me. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I demand.

Mitch just says, “I’m sorry.”

I look back at Jayden. “When?”

He slides his hands back into his pockets and hunches his shoulders. “A few months before I left. She worked at the rugby club. We only met a few times.”