Far From Harm by Naomi Shippen

Author:Naomi Shippen [Shippen, Naomi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kingsley Publishers
Published: 2023-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

Theresa

Theresa walked up the driveway of the little weather board house and knocked on the door. It had taken her two hours to drive to the country town where Rick had grown up. His first wife, Fiona, still lived there, in the home that she had always lived in. Rick had lived there for a while, too, after her fathers and brothers had convinced him to marry her. A shotgun wedding he had been forced into as a young man.

Theresa had made the appointment on the pretext of being the new bookkeeper, which was sort of true. But now, with her heart thumping in her chest, she didn’t know how long she could keep up that ruse.

Footsteps sounded down the corridor from inside the house, and a young man opened the door wearing a high-vis shirt with an insignia on the left-hand side that read: AJ Plumbing.

With his deep brown eyes and mop of dark hair, the young man at the door looked exactly like Rick.

A woman appeared behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. “Best be getting on, Damien.” she told him. “Mack will be expecting you.”

“Right, Mum,” said the young man. He walked through the doorway, past Theresa, and got into his ute and drove away.

The woman stood in the doorway, holding the battered fly wire door open for Theresa to enter. Theresa knew how old Fiona was, but she looked much older. A desiccated little bird of a woman whose pale, brittle hair may once have been described as blonde.

“Thanks for coming,” said Fiona, “please come in.”

She led Theresa down the threadbare carpet of the little cottage to the kitchen at the back and gestured for her to sit at a mottled, laminated table. Complete with chrome and vinyl chairs, it was a relic from the 1950s.

The two women sat on opposite sides of the table.

“I must say,” Fiona began, “I was very surprised to get your call. We’ve had a few issues with the payments, so I’m glad you’ve come to sort it out.”

Theresa’s throat went dry. So he was still making payments to his ex-wife. That didn’t seem right after all these years, now that their son was an adult and quite capable of supporting himself. Theresa was about to say as much, but Fiona cut her off.

“I know who you are,” she said, looking steadily at Theresa. “You’re no bookkeeper, you’re Rick’s new wife. Not that it’s here nor there after all these years.”

Theresa felt her face grow hot at having been found out but was also relieved the truth was out and they could have an honest conversation. “Well, I’m sorry if I wasn’t completely honest, but I’ve taken over running the finances. I’m calling on all our clients, and you were just one of them.”

“Well, I don’t know that I’m a client as such, but I do need Rick to keep up with our arrangement.”

“You mean Rick’s still paying you maintenance?”

Fiona gave a shrug. “Call it what you like, but he needs to keep paying if he knows what’s good for him.

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