Blackmail by Heather Burnside

Author:Heather Burnside [Burnside, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781801107921
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

30

Martin was glad to see Beth when she turned up for work three nights later. Despite his confrontation with Jodi, he had decided not to carry on avoiding the club. Now that the dreaded encounter had finally happened, he hoped things would calm down. Maybe Jodi would stop coming to Virtuoso now she had got things off her chest.

Currently his concerns had turned to Beth. As the night drew on, he noticed how upset she seemed. Where she would usually be cheerful and chatty with everyone, she had hardly said a word.

Martin waited till it was her break. He watched her go and sit alone at the other end of the bar, so he got up and went to join her. ‘Do you mind?’ he asked, pulling out a stool. When Beth shrugged, he said, ‘I couldn’t help but notice that you’re not your usual cheerful self today. Are things still bad between you and Sally?’

‘You could say that. We’re still hardly speaking and the least thing I say to her, she bites my head off. I can’t blame her in a way; I was a bit harsh with her, but it was all the sleepless nights making me moody. And as if all that’s not bad enough, I got my decree absolute today.’

As she said the words, he saw her eyes become misty, so he offered his sympathy. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

Martin wasn’t really sorry that she was now divorced. In his opinion, she was well shot of the guy. But it would have been insensitive of him to say so when he could see she was upset.

‘I bet you’re not really,’ she said. ‘He was an arse, wasn’t he? You saw it, and everybody else could see it, except me. And I know it’s for the best, but it still makes you wonder what if.’

‘I know,’ muttered Martin, placing his hand on her shoulder. ‘I’ve been there, don’t forget, although it was a long time ago. And you’re still young, y’know. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Things might be bad now, but they will get better. And as for Sally, why don’t you have a chat with her, maybe even apologise and see if you can work something out?’

She smiled and, as she did so, a tear slid from her eye and landed on her cheek. She wiped it with the back of her hand and then an uncomfortable silence descended on them until she said, ‘Thank you.’

‘For what?’

‘For being there. You always seem to say the right things to make me feel better. And I know things will improve in time, but it’s just that, well, at the moment I feel knackered all the time. It might be best to get a full-time PA role, but I haven’t filled in any applications for ages. I’m too bloody tired.’

‘I don’t suppose it helps sleeping on the sofa, does it?’

‘No, especially with Sally walking around all the time. It’s not easy when I’m trying to sleep.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.