Perfect Wives by Emma Hannigan

Author:Emma Hannigan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2013-12-12T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

The bleak weather and dark evenings should have made Jodi feel depressed. Instead she was enjoying the cosiness of the cottage while immersing herself in Saul’s new world. Over the last while they’d had Max over to play, followed by Steven. Both were sweet and Saul had had a ball.

‘I like having friends over all the time,’ he said. ‘I love Bakers Valley and our cottage.’

‘I do too, dude,’ Jodi assured him. ‘Tomorrow is your last day of school before midterm break. You’ll have your first Bakers Valley Hallowe’en party. I think it’s going to be fantastic fun!’

‘I can’t wait,’ he said, as his bright eyes shone in the darkness of his bedroom.

‘Now, let me tuck you in and you listen to the raindrops tapping on your windows. It’s so good to feel safe and warm in here, isn’t it?’ she said, as she curled up beside him on the bed.

‘Did you love listening to the rain when you were a little girl in Ireland?’ Saul asked her sleepily.

‘I don’t remember being able to hear the rain from my bed,’ Jodi said. ‘I didn’t have a lovely cottage like ours.’

‘What was your house like?’

‘It was small and not so comfy,’ she said simply. She decided to omit the fact that the noises she had been most familiar with at his age were police sirens and the sound of her mother’s drunken giggling mixed with the animalistic grunts of visiting men. Sometimes she’d taken fright and crawled into the wardrobe in case any of them came looking for her.

She stroked Saul’s cheek as she said a silent prayer of thanks that her son knew nothing of the life she’d worked so hard to leave behind.

Once he was asleep she took a book into her own bed, feeling safe and happy.

Until swirling thoughts of Mac threatened to spike her calm. The situation with him was headed for closure. Of that she was certain. She just wasn’t sure how much damage he would cause. She took a deep breath and did what she was brilliant at: she blocked it out. It could wait until tomorrow at the least.

The next morning, Saul was awake and bouncing on Jodi’s bed before dawn.

‘Hey, dude, what’s the story?’ she asked, pulling the duvet up to her chin.

‘It’s the Hallowe’en party tonight. Get up quick – we need to get ready,’ he said.

‘Lie here with me for a minute – the heating hasn’t even come on yet and it’s freezing,’ she croaked. ‘Besides, you have school as usual. Then we have the whole afternoon to wait. So crawl in here and give me a hug.’

‘If we get dressed and go to school now, that part can be over. Then the dark will come quicker and the party can start.’

Jodi grabbed her son. He was so cute standing there in his Spiderman pyjamas with his hair all fluffy from sleep. If only the world could work the way he wanted, it would all be so easy, she mused.

‘What do you think everyone else is going to dress up as?’ Saul asked.

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