The Secret Couple by J. S. Lark

Author:J. S. Lark [Lark, J. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008535254
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

When we’ve finished dinner, Elouise and Sasha stand and clear the plates from the table, leaving Mandy and me in the dining room, wine glasses in hand.

‘So today was another not guilty to your name.’ Mandy says. ‘You clever girl.’

My client was accused of stalking her ex-husband and his new girlfriend. She had been, but she was suffering with mental health issues. She had diminished responsibility, and on one occasion his new girlfriend slapped my client when she was attending the former marital home to collect the children. It was an ugly break-up, not a crime.

‘I expected you to be grinning from ear to ear tonight.’

I should be happier. I should feel elated. Her mother hugged me in the court room. My success is muted. I can’t even persuade my lips to form a smile. I have been ghosted. There has been media silence since Luke said, ‘Yes, it is funny,’ at 3.34 a day ago. It’s cruel. But I feel an absolute cow for being angry, because I was holding him at a distance. He has a right to do something else with his time.

I cradle the bowl of the glass in my palm, the stem hanging between my fingers. This is my third large glass, and my words are a little slurred.

‘You should start dating,’ she says to me.

‘Why? I don’t need a man to feel good about myself.’ I have been telling myself this for weeks. It doesn’t hold the ring of truth today. If I heard the voice of one man, it would make me a lot happier right now.

‘You need more than just work in your life.’

‘I run.’ I went to the gym on the way here and pounded the rubber belt on the running machine for an hour. I should run in the park tomorrow morning, to clear my head in the open air. ‘Can you imagine if I was internet dating? You’d have a heart attack every time I went out.’

‘I’d follow you and watch through the window,’ she laughs.

I look over my shoulder checking Sasha isn’t near the open door, then lean closer to her. ‘I’ve invested in a good vibrator. I’m fine.’

‘Too much information,’ she says, and laughs.

Elouise walks in with another bottle of wine in her hand. ‘I thought you two might want this.’

‘Thank you,’ I acknowledge, sending her a smile. ‘Aren’t you going to join us?’

‘No. I’m watching a Netflix series I want to get back to.’ She leans down, her braids swinging forward and screening the two of them as she presses a kiss on Mandy’s lips. Then she strokes Mandy’s hair and walks away.

I look at Mandy when Elouise leaves the room. ‘If I met someone like Elouise, I might date.’

‘She’s not perfect,’ she answers. ‘No one is. Her police antennae make her constantly suspicious.’

‘I heard that!’ she shouts from the hall.

‘Stop listening, then!’ Mandy yells.

Laughter returns from the hall.

It’s strange, but now Joseph and I are not together and I’ve spent more time with them, I see what he and I were missing.

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