Maeve Binchy's Treasury by Maeve Binchy

Author:Maeve Binchy
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: FIC029000, book
ISBN: 9781743434000
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd
Published: 2013-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

Affair Before Christmas

JUDITH REALISED VERY SUDDENLY THAT HER HUSBAND WAS having an affair. And the knowledge came to her in a very public place. It was as she was bending over a cabinet of chilled foods in the supermarket three weeks before Christmas; she looked up to ask Ken whether he would prefer the lemon mousse or the raspberry flavour and she caught a look on his face that she had never seen before. He was biting his lip and looking at her as if he wished more than anything that things had not turned out like this. As if he was almost unbearably sorry.

She didn’t suspect, she just knew. Suddenly everything moved slightly as a jigsaw might if it had been juddered out of place, or as a camera focuses. Suddenly everything made sense.

She got such a shock that she dropped the package into the big food compartment and gave a little gasp. He looked at her with even greater concern.

‘What is it?’ His eyes were kind and worried.

‘It’s nothing, just a cramp.’ She straightened herself up and held her side as if she had a stitch. ‘Put that lemon mousse in the trolley for me like a love. I’ll just go and sit down for a moment. Can you finish the list?’

He helped her to a chair and all the time his hand on her arm felt like the painful grip of someone who was taking her into custody.

Judith told herself to stay calm. Calm, calm. Say nothing now, she must think. She would not burst into tears in the supermarket in front of people who knew her from every Wednesday evening. She would not accuse Ken of betraying her to the interested audience of a weary after-work crowd of shoppers. She would have to think it out carefully.

They were playing ‘Silent Night’ from the speakers around the store. There were holly and tinsel chains everywhere.

‘I won’t let it happen until after Christmas,’ Judith said to herself. She actually articulated the words. ‘It will not be said until Christmas is over. I deserve that and the children deserve it. He cannot break up our lives until we have had our Christmas.’

Every Wednesday they came to do their weekly shop. Judith had made it into a great outing for the family. First they led the trolley; she was in charge of expensive items like desserts as a treat, and all the cleaning materials, since nobody else knew what was running out. Tommy and Jane bought the fruit and vegetables. They weighed them out carefully. Judith felt that if they had the actual choosing of beans or sprouts or whatever, they might show more interest in eating them. Ken, the good model husband, bought the bread and the soft drinks and the couple of bottles of wine and the half-dozen beers. They met at the checkout, loaded up the little car and went bowling. Then they had a burger and chips and went home. They all looked forward to Wednesdays.

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