Where the Memories Lie
By: Sibel Hodge
‘You were right. Somehow he’d become confused about her.
Tate construction had done an extension for her years ago, so he’d obviously met her before and must’ve remembered her name for some reason.’
He pulled back. ‘Really? Odd that he’d remember a customer after all this time.’
‘Who knows? He remembers all sorts of strange things but fre-quently forgets important things or even how to do everyday tasks.’
‘Well, at least this means we can get back to normal now. It’s been a stressful week and a stressful weekend so far.’
I ran my hand through the hair at the nape of his neck. ‘And how might we fix that?’ I raised a seductive eyebrow.
‘Early night?’ He grinned.
‘Absolutely.’ I winked.
63
Chapter Seven
On Sunday morning Ethan and I took Poppy for a walk along Chesil Beach while Anna raided her cupboards for things to sell at the car boot sale with her friend Emma. We leisurely strolled along, hand in hand, laughing at Poppy chasing seagulls. The sex last night had been amazing!
Granted, sex was always going to be a little less adventurous now we had Anna, who was old enough to hear and understand everything. There was no doing it on the kitchen table or having a quickie while I was in the middle of washing up anymore, in case Anna came home unexpectedly, but we still hadn’t settled into that boring married routine of the missionary position on a Sunday night with the lights off. We were still adventurous, and it was still exciting and sexy and fulfilling. Probably better, even, over the years because we knew each other’s likes and dislikes so intimately.
I thought about Nadia and Lucas again. Maybe she’d made a mistake about the texts she’d seen. Lucas had been attentive and loving towards her on the beach, just like he always was. If she hadn’t told me, I would never have guessed something might be going on.
Where the Memories Lie
They had both acted so happy together. I suppose you can never be sure what really goes on behind closed doors, though, can you?
Even if you think you know people really well.
No, of course she hasn’t made a mistake, Olivia. Don’t be stupid.
It’s not like you can turn ‘I want to fuck you’ into ‘I want coffee before takeoff, please, not tea’. What if it was serious? What if he left Nadia and Charlotte for this woman? My heart ached for her.
I watched Ethan throwing a stone for Poppy and wondered how women could stay with their partners after they found out they’d cheated on them. I mean, I know there are a magnitude of reasons why you would stay, especially if you have children together. But surely the jealousy and uncertainty that he wasn’t out there doing it again would eat you up inside. I couldn’t live like that. Lucas was a pig if he was cheating on her. No, I didn’t know how Nadia could just pretend everything was normal and act fine.
‘Do you want to come with me when I go and see Dad later?’
Ethan’s voice knocked me out of my thoughts.
‘No, I’ll go in the week. At least that way he’s getting more visiting days, and I need to catch up on some ironing I’ve neglected.’
‘OK.’
‘Can you go through your wardrobe when we get back to see if there’s anything you want to throw out since you’ll be away again all week?’
‘For Anna’s car boot?’
‘Mmm.’
‘I think we’ve got some boxes of old junk in the garage that we’ve never got round to throwing away. She can go through that, too.’
As we headed home an hour later we drove past the pub and I spotted Chris in the beer garden with a woman who had chin-length wavy red hair.
‘Hey, that was Chris.’ I twisted in my seat to look back.
65
Sibel Hodge
‘So?’
‘He was with a woman.’