Strictly Between Us by Jane Fallon

Author:Jane Fallon
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781405917681
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2015-12-31T05:00:00+00:00

38

Bea

Obviously I tried to phone Patrick the second I got out of there. Fuck the Ben Rules.

I had accepted Tamsin’s offer of a cab without argument. It was getting pretty late and I wasn’t really in the mood for pissed-up tube-goers making their way home from fun nights out. My night out could not have been described as fun. Revealing, yes. Shocking, yes. Fun, no. Not exactly.

It clicked straight to voicemail. He obviously had it turned off. Probably tucked up in bed with Michelle by now, hand curved tenderly around her waist. The loving, considerate husband. I didn’t leave a message. I’m not that stupid.

Five minutes later I was grateful he hadn’t answered. If I’d blurted out exactly what was bothering me, ignoring his protestations of ‘Can I call you back in a bit, mate?’ then I would probably never have heard from him again. I would have overstepped the mark from something that was unthreatening to something that was decidedly dangerous. I would have made myself a liability.

I’m going to have to play this carefully. I can’t storm in there all accusing and demanding. Mind you, I’m not going to let him get away with it either. At the very least I intend to tell him what I know. To see what he has to say for himself.

I tried not to think about them together. Tried to remind myself that he had only just met me when it happened. But the idea of it made me feel like throwing up.

Ali was up when I got in. She started in on some interminable story about how her ex had called her phone by mistake, but they’d ended up having a long and soul-searching conversation. Something like that. I struggled to even feign interest. I think she said they were meeting up next week. I have no doubt she’ll tell me the whole story again when I see her tonight. Ali has that tendency. If she has something to tell you, once is never enough. I’ll catch it on the replay.

I claimed tiredness and an early start and retreated to my room. The thought of sleep seemed like an impossibility, though, so I put in a DVD of The Princess Bride – a film I have watched at least seventeen times and slept through countless more, swallowed down two Nytol and somehow managed to pass out.

Tamsin has a slightly hysterical whiff about her this morning, like a kid the week before Christmas. She’s a woman on a mission. I know she’s gagging to talk to me about it. Now she’s opened up those floodgates nothing will close them again. I get the impression she’s looking forward to a brainstorming session because she’s already asked me what I’m doing at lunchtime. It’s laughable.

Of course I haven’t heard anything from Patrick. We don’t have the kind of arrangement that includes heart to hearts on the phone. All I can do is wait for him to text me about a meeting time – I’m always free, by the way.

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