As soon as I was home I went into my bedroom, drew the curtains shut, and lay on the bed with the quilt pulled up around me. So many bad emotions swirled around my head; I just needed to hide away.

I don’t think I’d seen Emma as a real person before. I’d shut out every thought of her, and Harry rarely mentioned her. It wasn’t one of those affairs I’d heard about where the wife was criticized nonstop by her own husband and his lover. I think we both preferred to pretend she and Tom didn’t exist. I don’t know which is worse, really.

After a while I grew sick of thinking about them. I got out of bed, determined to go for a walk before dinner, to get some fresh air and hopefully some positive thoughts. Before I set off, I went into the kitchen to get a bottle of water from the fridge to take with me and stopped dead.

There on the kitchen counter was a mug of coffee. It was my mug, my coffee. I stared at it. I was sure I hadn’t had it that morning. Warily I touched the mug. It was room temperature. I held it to my nose. Definitely coffee. The jar was on the counter and a spoon was in the sink. Inside the fridge was a plastic bottle of milk I’d bought the day before. I hadn’t opened that bottle. I knew I hadn’t opened it. I twisted off the green cap and saw the seal had been removed. I checked the bin. I’d taken the bin bag to the outside bins the day before and there in the fresh bin bag was the little foil seal. I frowned. Had I done that? I closed my eyes to concentrate. I could almost swear I hadn’t.

CHAPTER 52

Ruby