A/N Sorry for yet another delay, had a serious illness in the family - thankfully all ok now, will try and post a few quick chapters! Sorry again, xx

Chapter Thirty Eight

Lizzie smiled as pleasantly as she could, played the game, tried her best not to give in to the pain threatening to overwhelm her. She needed some space, Oscar was everywhere, and she needed to think. She wanted to see that this was just an oversight, but then she thought about their recent conversations, his insistence that she didn't go back to work. That just seemed to add to the hypothesis that he'd deliberately not told her that this time on Manchester was limited. That he had a plan for when that finished.

She felt heartbroken, then she'd think about the fun they'd had the previous evening, how attentive he was, how he complimented her, spoiled her. Was that all a lie too?

She hid her sadness, her tears by being busy. His parents stayed whilst she organised brunch for everyone, but Oscar and Nate didn't emerge for a while, when they did they were both grinning, up to no good. Normally that would please her, the two of them in cahoots, playing games together. But today it just grated on her. They all ate and she tried her best to smile, to be involved in the conversations, but her mind was still whirling.

Everyone had retired to the lounge, and Lizzie was hiding, clearing the plates when Oscar sidled up behind her, taking an opportune moment to kiss her ear. She fought the desire to shrug him off, push him away dramatically. Instead she turned, plastering on a fake smile. Kissing him softly on the cheek, she turned and moved back into the safety of the lounge and their visitors. But she should've known that he'd follow her, standing far too close.

"I'm going to the pool before lunch," she addressed Nate, glad that she hadn't eaten much of the brunch. A few laps of the pool would settle her head, she could calmly think this through before she said or did the wrong thing.

Oscar tried to protest, but she was able to brush that off. Ten minutes later she had her kit and bade farewell to their guests, hugged Nate, then again, chastely kissed Oscar's cheek.

Freedom. There was something so suffocating about living with him...when things were unsettled.

Oscar had watched Lizzie distance herself all morning, first he thought it was a hangover, but they hadn't drunk very much the previous night. But as the morning progressed, he knew that she was avoiding him. Glancing back at the message she'd just sent him, he wanted to throw the phone at the wall.

"Vicky has called; she needs me to help her with some work stuff. I'm going to take the train to Liverpool. I'll be gone most of the day. Will you be ok with Nate?"

Whilst it was a question, he knew that it didn't require an answer. Of course he could look after his son. But it was why and where she was running that was his concern.

"Of course. Will you be home tonight? Or are you running away for longer than that?"

Then he relented and deleted all but the 'Of course', then sent it.

"You want to go to the park, Champ?" He asked, calling out to Nate. His parents had left and since then, Nate had been building with Lego in the corner of the lounge.

He looked up and grinned, "Can I take my scooter?"

Oscar nodded, "of course, and a football."

They were out for a few hours, then they went back to an empty house and he couldn't help the anger that he knew was threatening to bubble over. He wasn't angry at Lizzie, but he was frustrated, at everything. He had no idea why she was backing off after such an amazing night, it seemed so pointless. The anger he felt was at her not speaking to him, they'd spoken, they were close, and she knew she could talk to him. But instead she'd fled, like a coward, and he hated it. Hated that at her first nervous moment, the first doubt she had in them...he presumed it was a doubt, that was the only explanation...and she'd bolted. She didn't trust him, and he didn't have the first idea how to make it good.

Lizzie lay on the sofa, a piece of cucumber over each eye, and a seaweed face mask covering her skin, her bare feet were being massaged by an expert beautician, before they were about to be painted coral pink.

"So what are you going to do?" Vicky's voice came over the pan pipe mood music that wafted around the room.

"Still don't know. But he's played me, so badly."

Vicky sighed, "he's not been entirely honest, that is true. But he did give you a handful of breathtaking O's! To quote you."

It was her turn to groan, glad that the dark mask hid her blushes, "so good sex is enough? Is that what we're saying? Better than integrity and trust?"

There was a long pause before Vicky answered, "you are right...he hadn't been honest with you, and with Nate in the mix, that's an essential."

Lizzie was glad that her friend agreed with her, because it probably wouldn't take much persuading to fall back into his bed and damage her heart even further.

"The truth of it is he's pacifying me by not telling me that this is a temporary thing, AND he's trying to stop me returning to work, so that we can pack up and follow him to wherever he needs to go. My career has no credit or respect, and how the hell can I believe a word he tells me now?"

Again she was glad of the mask so that her tears didn't fall, because in all honesty, the previous night he'd made her believe in the future, made things seem possible. Now...it was all in tatters.

Vicky verbally tried to digest that, before adding, "you need to talk to him. Tell him how you feel. It's the only way. You like him...a lot. You need to deal with this, not let it get out of hand."

She rolled her eyes, then realised no one could see that behind her cucumber discs. "I love Nate and myself more, Vic. And that's how it should be. I have a home, a life, a career here, I am not being dragged off on a whim without a second thought for what that means to ME."

Vicky had no answer to that, and the conversation ebbed until they were sat in the bar attached to the spa a little later. Prosecco and afternoon tea was apparently part of the deal, and with a view overlooking the water, it was a calming spot.

"So what are you going to do?"

Lizzie shrugged, "I haven't got much choice, I have to confront him, tell him that I won't put up with this, that I am not being railroaded by him. The problem is I was beginning to trust him, to believe him...that's all over now."

She sipped the sparkling wine for a moment, then offered, "there may be an explanation...maybe his mother got it wrong."

Sighing she leaned back in her chair, "maybe, but I knew this was too good to be true. I don't think things can ever be the same again."

She carried that thought all the way home on the train. And to a quiet house. It was almost nine pm, much later than she'd planned, but she had messaged Oscar and warned him.

Oscar was asleep on the sofa, she stood over him and knew she should wake him, talk things out, but she wasn't in the mood. She'd had a relaxing afternoon, and now she needed to sleep. Arguing with him wasn't a happy thought. Tomorrow would be another day.

Oscar woke unsure of where he was. Then he realised he'd fallen asleep flat out on the sofa. At over six foot it was far too small for him, so he was cramped and uncomfortable when he woke. Stretching, he eased out a few kinks then checked his watch, it was only just after ten pm, it wasn't like him to fall asleep so early, but then they'd barely slept the night before. Once again his mind drifted back to the night of passion, pleasure and the most powerful orgasms he could ever remember having.

The stark contrast to today, the distance and cold shoulder.

Sighing he walked into the hallway, and that was where he noticed Lizzie's coat and shoes. She'd got back and he'd made it easy for her to slip in, and avoid him. He wanted to punch the wall, but instead he took the stairs two at a time, and head first into her bedroom...to find it empty. His was the same. That confused him.

The only other option was exactly where he found her, curled up in the single bed next to Nate, their arms and bodies entwined as they slept.

"You bloody coward," he hissed under his breath, the only place she knew he wouldn't disturb her. With a grunt of dissatisfaction, he marched to his bedroom where he spent hours punching his pillow, sleep evading him.

Monday morning and Nate was excited over school as soon as he woke up, Lizzie was less enthusiastic. She hadn't slept well, and she could blame that on Nate wriggling, but in all honesty, it had been her mind. The questions kept circling, what was his agenda? Why was he lying to her? What was going to happen to her and Nate? There were, of course, no answers, and she knew that Vicky was right. She had to confront him. She just didn't know how. She couldn't bear to validate all that she was feeling and thinking, because if he confessed that he'd lied, that he had another agenda it would hurt...that would mean she'd have to acknowledge why it hurt and look at her own feelings. She couldn't do that. She wasn't ready.

Nate rolled in her arms and smiled at her, "you slept in my bed Aunty Lizzie!"

As he giggled, she nodded, "I did. You were wriggling around...and I missed you so much yesterday."

He laughed, "It's PE in school today, we are going on a trampoline!"

"Wow! That's so exciting."

He nodded. "Can I have breakfast now?"

Laughing she hugged him, "of course. Let 's go."

She felt him enter the room, for some reason she'd become almost telepathic in relation to Oscar Wicker. Her heart rate increased, her pulse racing, the heat rising in her face.

She looked up from her almost permanent position at the kitchen sink and offered a smile. Oscar had Nate wrapped around him kissing him with a million "good morning" kisses, but his eyes were on her, harsh, hard and questioning.

"I'm going into town," she offered as she poured a mug of coffee. "Business lunch thing."

He lifted an eyebrow at that, "I thought you were going to hold back on that decision."

She shook her head, "I need to work."

"But you don't like it!" He seemed earnest, "I told you, I can help you out, until you decide what you want to do."

She wanted to believe that he meant it, that he was thinking of her, but she knew that he was planning to fog back to the States, and had no idea what that meant for her.

Shrugging, she looked away, "it's my job, I can't just walk away, I have responsibilities...and it's my job!"

With a smile, but no eye contact, she tried to play down the anger she felt, as she left the room for a much needed shower.

When she emerged from her bedroom, power dressed; Oscar was stood across the hallway, dressed for work, but scowling.

"What's going on, Lizzie?"

She shrugged, not able to speak very easily. "Nothing, just getting ready for work."

He shook his head, "not that...though it is about that. Why are you avoiding me?"

She sighed, "I'm just trying to get my life back, Oscar."

"So you're not hiding from me? Not avoiding me?"

Biting her bottom lip, she shook her head, "Oscar, we had sex, let's get over it." Then with more strength than she felt, she flounced down the stairs to the safety net of Nate's presence.

Oscar was furious. More than that. She WAS avoiding him, and saying that what they had shared was 'just sex', well it was more than insulting. And a lie. He'd been there, she'd been as affected by it as him, she'd reacted as though it was the first time, shit, he had too. And now this.

Lizzie was getting ready to take Nate to school, he knew as soon as he entered the building, she couldn't avoid him. So when the two of them were almost ready, he grabbed his car keys.

"Hey Champ; I'm going to give you and Aunty Lizzie a ride to school."

His eyes widened, "in your new car?"

His hire car, a sleek black saloon was Nate's favourite, but then in comparison to Lizzie's compact car, it was a limousine, and Nate loved arriving in it to school. As he nodded, confirming that, he mouthed, "checkmate," to Lizzie.