‘Ollie, I can’t talk about the show.’ She knows it’s a bit of a copout, but she has no idea where to begin. Her feelings for Ty are irrelevant now. She knows she’s a bit of a hypocrite telling Ty he shouldn’t have been on the show because he was in love with his ex, when she’d committed to the show despite her feelings for Ollie. She wants to tell Oliver that for her The One is over. It’ll only be a night or two and something will be aired about her leaving. She’s pretty sure Darcy and the producers will do everything to get Ty to stay until the series finale. Bonnie can’t help but feel for the other three contestants who still think they have a future with him.

‘Sophie had a miscarriage.’

The words throw Bonnie. She feels winded as she watches him. He looks like he’s been punched in the face. ‘I’m so sorry.’ She knows how much he wants to be a dad.

‘It happened a couple of weeks ago now.’

‘How’s Sophie?’ Bonnie finds herself asking, quickly remembering Paige’s devastation after she miscarried.

‘She’s taking it pretty bad,’ Oliver says, looking up to meet her gaze.

‘I really am sorry, Ollie.’ She’s sympathetic. ‘I imagine it’s a horrible thing for any couple to have to go through.’

Oliver nods his thanks and they sit in silence for a moment. Bonnie wants to ask him why he’s here, but she’s scared. After today, does she want to hear the reason?

Until finally he says, ‘We called the wedding off.’

Chapter 38

38

Three months earlier

Penelope pauses before she reaches the cafe and the lady behind her is forced to sidestep at the last moment, her handbag banging against Penelope as she walks past.

‘Sorry,’ Penelope murmurs as the lady passes by, but her eyes have already found Ty. He’s sitting alone at their table. He’s staring down at his phone, but his leg is tapping up and down nervously, waiting for her to arrive.

This is a bad idea. She shouldn’t have come. But when her boss had emailed saying Ty wouldn’t stop harassing her, Penelope knew she had to put a stop to it. Well, she told herself that anyway. Really she’d wanted an excuse to see his face again. Just one more time.

She’d emailed back to Monique. Tell Ty I’ll meet him. Eleven o’clock, Monday at Berts. Now she realises she should have chosen somewhere else. Berts has too much history. It had been their favourite place to get coffee, their favourite place for weekend brunch, their favourite place to talk wedding plans.

It’s a stupid idea to see him again.