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Chapters (45)
  1. Chapter One
  2. Chapter Two
  3. Chapter Three
  4. Chapter Four
  5. Chapter Five
  6. Chapter Six
  7. Chapter Seven
  8. Chapter Eight
  9. Chapter Nine
  10. Chapter Ten
  11. Chapter Eleven
  12. Chapter Twelve
  13. Chapter Thirteen
  14. Chapter Fourteen
  15. Chapter Fifteen
  16. Chapter Sixteen
  17. Chapter Seventeen
  18. Chapter Eighteen
  19. Chapter Nineteen
  20. Chapter Twenty
  21. Chapter Twenty-one
  22. Chapter Twenty-two
  23. Chapter Twenty-three
  24. Chapter Twenty-four
  25. Chapter Twenty-five
  26. Chapter Twenty-six
  27. Chapter Twenty-seven
  28. Chapter Twenty-eight
  29. Chapter Twenty-nine
  30. Chapter Thirty
  31. Chapter Thirty-one
  32. Chapter Thirty-two
  33. Chapter Thirty-three
  34. Chapter Thirty-four
  35. Chapter Thirty-five
  36. Chapter Thirty-six
  37. Chapter Thirty-seven
  38. Chapter Thirty-eight
  39. Chapter Thirty-nine
  40. Chapter Forty
  41. Chapter Forty-one
  42. Chapter Forty-two
  43. Chapter Forty-three
  44. Chapter Forty-four
  45. Acknowledgements

Fast forward a few years and Jack’s attraction to Paula became much more obvious. Karaoke night at the Red Lion consisted of him abandoning me for a sing-song with angel-voiced Paula, culminating in ‘Hey Paula’. It was a great laugh to everyone, very funny, but I could almost see the sparks flicker between him and her. Every time he saw her he’d break into, ‘Hey, hey Paula!’

I finally flipped one Christmas Eve when he danced with her almost all night. He told me I was paranoid. He told me that I was imagining it. She was my sister. What did I think he was?

Janine and Freddy’s wedding is a surprise, though. Either that or I’d given up by then. I’d been fitted for my bridesmaid dress pre-baby, and although I’d regained my figure soon after having Charlie, my boobs were enormous and heavy with milk. The dress wasn’t made for breastfeeding and in the end I gave up and decided to go home.

I fully expected Jack to stay. There was rarely any point in trying to get him to come home with me; on reflection it was always an opportunity for him to meet new women when I wasn’t there. This night he came home. I can see why now. The pictures of Paula with the pussycat look are outside the church from a distance. Round the back. In the background I can see my father’s grave and bile rises.

I upload the photographs of Paula as a new thread on Monica’s Facebook. Straight away people are liking them and tagging them and sharing them and there’s a direct message. It’s a journalist from the Sun asking to meet Monica. Offering a substantial sum of money for her story.

I delete it. Now I’ve posted these final pictures I feel like I really am at the end of it. I’ve shown the world just how low he can go. Paula, ever-simpering and saintly, will be shown as she really is. A man-stealing bitch. There’s still a slight niggle as to why she hasn’t admitted it. Not that I’ve seen her since that wedding. She’s disappeared off the face of the earth. Shame, probably. Can’t face me. But she’ll have to one day.

I Google her and there are no results. An old Facebook page with her smiling out, last updated five years ago. Where is she?