Never Marry a Politician by Sarah Waights

Author:Sarah Waights [Waights, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Choc Lit
Published: 2016-01-23T05:00:00+00:00

By the time she finally made it home that evening, a family tea around the kitchen table was a lost opportunity for yet another day.

Nessa came out to greet her as she let herself in through the front door, slipping off her shoes with relief.

‘Hallo darling. Wine or tea?’

‘Cup of tea would be heaven, Nessa, I am sooo sorry,’ she said, giving the older woman a forlorn look. ‘I am hideously late.’

‘I’m sorry too,’ said Nessa patiently, but there was no criticism of Emily implied. ‘They own you,’ she added. ‘I get it.’

‘They want us all on the campaign bus tomorrow,’ she said, taking a cup of tea and cradling it in both hands with a sigh of gratitude.

‘Might as well,’ observed Nessa. ‘Not long now,’ she added comfortingly.

Not long until things get even worse, thought Emily. It was funny how the horror of a positive result on polling day was starting – after the last few nightmare weeks – to be a comfort. A bit like starting to look forward to a horrible exam or even an operation because then the worst would have arrived and needn’t be dreaded any longer.

‘How are they? Are they both asleep?’

‘I’m pretty sure Alfie is,’ said Nessa. ‘He was a bit tired, poor lamb. Barely managed his tea and pretty much fell asleep into his pudding.’

‘Not like him not to want to eat,’ commented Emily, concerned. ‘And Tash?’

‘Not talkative,’ admitted Nessa, ‘but I gather between the lines that she didn’t have the best time at her riding lesson.’ She paused. ‘From what I can gather, “things” were said.’

Emily raised an eyebrow. ‘About …?’ she prompted.

‘Oh, you know, silly nonsense about Ralph and this daft Sophie woman.’

‘Susie,’ corrected Emily automatically. ‘Anyway she’s just “the other woman”, they can’t know who…’ she added, jealous, again, that Susie was being spared vilification by her continuing anonymity. ‘Poor Tash,’ she went on. ‘She’ll be glad not to be going to school tomorrow then,’ she observed, thinking that perhaps there was an upside to the next day’s plan.

Come to think of it, with barely twenty-four hours until polling day, who was to say that Tash would ever go back to that particular school. Again, Emily’s stomach lurched. How could they possibly uproot their lives? It was just so drastic. So violent. As if her brain was simply unable to handle any more overload, she found herself staring mindlessly into space. Vaguely responding to Nessa’s goodbyes, she sat at the kitchen table to finish her tea.

When she finally looked at the clock, she was astonished to see it register nearly midnight. Clearly this was yet another evening when Ralph was not planning to make it home.

Earlier in their marriage, he had stayed over at the London flat rarely, making every effort he could to return home, even if, after late night voting, he only arrived in time for cocoa and bed. He delighted in the children running into their bedroom the following morning to say hello, jumping and rolling all over him like puppies.

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