Stay Close To Me by Helen Warner

Author:Helen Warner [Warner, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471127205
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Chapter 26

It wasn’t just lunch, they both knew that.

Kate knew that she had arranged to meet a man that she had spent a great deal of the past couple of months conducting an on-line affair with. But although she was going to see if she could persuade Jack to give Sarah another chance, Kate also knew that, deep down, she just wanted to see him. She couldn’t help it. Her head told her to send him an email cancelling their lunch date, yet her heart told her to go. She felt as if she was standing on the edge of a precipice and she could choose to stay where she was, or jump. In the end she chose to jump. And the vertiginous feeling was incredible.

They arranged to meet on Saturday afternoon in the centre of town. Kate knew that Miles would be at football and she could ask her mother to have the children; she could say she was going Christmas shopping without attracting suspicion. She prickled with guilt as she realised that already she was behaving in a deceitful way, exactly like someone who was having an affair.

‘What are you doing this weekend?’ Sarah asked her as they walked the children out of school on Friday afternoon. Kate reddened immediately and shrugged her shoulders. ‘I might do a bit of Christmas shopping,’ she said casually.

‘Ooh, maybe we could go together!’ Sarah cried delightedly. ‘I’ve got loads still to do. I could give you a lift.’

‘Erm, well, I don’t want to sound ungrateful,’ Kate stammered, her mind searching for a plausible excuse, ‘but I think I’d be better off on my own . only because I’ll be too easily distracted if you’re there too,’ she added, seeing Sarah’s crestfallen face. ‘The temptation to stop for skinny lattes every five minutes would be too great!’

‘Yeah, you’re probably right,’ Sarah agreed, to Kate’s relief. ‘I’m going to do most of mine online anyway. Why don’t you do the same?’

‘Oh, you know what I’m like – I’m such a technophobe.’ Kate realised she was almost babbling. ‘I’d end up ordering all the wrong things. No, I prefer to see what I’m buying for myself.’

Sarah nodded, apparently satisfied with Kate’s explanation. Kate breathed a sigh of relief, wondering yet again why she didn’t just put a stop to all this immediately.

Millie and Josh were delighted to be spending the afternoon with Jennifer. She opened the door to the cottage with a beaming smile, her arms held out in welcome to the three of them. ‘Hello, my darlings!’ she cried, as they hugged each other. ‘Josh, I see you’ve brought your DS – very wise. I’ve made some chocolate-chip cookies you can scoff while you play.’

‘Cool,’ said Josh, heading for Jennifer’s squashy cream sofa and diving onto it, after obediently kicking off his trainers first.

‘And Millie – how about you, my darling? Do you want to help me do some Christmas wrapping?’

Millie nodded. ‘Sure, Granny,’ she agreed, smiling easily. ‘And I’ve got some homework

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