She was giving nothing away. Sometime in the past sixteen years she had found out that he wasn’t kosher, that he was a fucking liar and a fucking fraud. It had made him sad because he really did love her, but she hadn’t been the person he had expected. She always felt she had to be his moral compass. He wanted a wife, not a fucking judge. It had driven a wedge between them.

‘I have never been better, darling.’

With his eyes on her, she felt the pull of him, of his sexuality. No matter how bad she might feel, she would always want him like that. Even though he took his fliers she knew they meant nothing to him. Ray was a man who would never love lightly – and one thing she knew for sure was that he loved her with a vengeance. That was the most frightening thing as far as she was concerned.

‘Glad to hear it, darling.’

He could hear the sarcasm in her voice and he hated himself for making her feel so bad about herself. But she was no longer the girl he had met or married. She had aged. Women could never age like a man – he looked better as he had got older, whereas she was battered round the edges. She had lost that firmness he had so enjoyed, and when they made love, it wasn’t the same. He wanted a younger woman, but that did not mean he didn’t love her with all his heart – of course he did. He just didn’t want to fuck her any more.

Chrissie came into his mind. She was another one who thought that he would actually leave his Sharon, the mother of his child, to be with someone like her. It was laughable.

He pulled Sharon into his arms and tried to hold her to him but she wriggled away. Laughing, she said, ‘I’m not sure that Chrissie would like this. She is your latest, isn’t she? And from what I’ve heard you are leaving me for her. She is pregnant. Really, Ray, another child, at your fucking age? Congratulations.’

Ray felt the first tingle of fear. If Sharon knew then it must have been common knowledge. He could see the hurt and the anger in his wife’s face.

‘Please, Sharon, you have to believe me. There is no one in my life but you, darling.’

Sharon Donovan used all her strength to push her husband away from her as she bellowed, ‘Fuck you, Ray Donovan. Fuck you to hell! You have fucked everyone else and pretended that I didn’t know! Have you no fucking respect for me? Pregnant? Are you fucking sure?’

Ray had never loved her more than at this moment. She looked like an Amazon warrior. This was the woman he had fallen in love with.