A lump appeared in her throat again, and she swallowed hard before responding.

“Babe, I would do anything for you. Anything,” she said, glancing across at her beautiful wife again. “I love you.”

Tania smiled, but she also blinked back tears in the dim light of the car. The silence drew out between them, becoming more uncomfortable by the minute. Jacky was well aware of what she’d just said and how untrue it was.

Shit.

Without thinking, she put the indicator on and turned left at the next side road she saw. It led into a small industrial estate, and she pulled into one of the parking bays in front of a darkened warehouse.

“What—” began Tania as she turned in her seat, but Jacky raised a hand to cut her off. She switched off the ignition and took a deep breath as she sank back into her seat.

It was time.

They couldn’t share what they had tonight and then go back to normal life with this between them. She trusted Tania implicitly. She trusted her to take what Jacky was about to say and not laugh or belittle or push her into something she didn’t want to do.

“We both know what I just said is a lie, don’t we?” Jacky said quietly, not looking directly at Tania but somewhere off past her left shoulder. She would only be able to do this if she didn’t look directly at her. “That I would do anything for you? Or, at least, it has been until now.”

Jacky glanced at Tania, who nodded slowly. She looked nervous.

“I’ve realised a lot of things about me and about us these past couple of weeks,” continued Jacky, her voice only just above a whisper. “Ever since we came up with this plan, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about who we are and what we share. And tonight, after all that, I’ve realised I’m more ashamed to be hiding something from you than I am about what it actually is. Make sense?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Jacky saw Tania nod again, and then she slowly reached across to link her fingers gently with Jacky’s on the gear stick. Jacky welcomed the connection and held Tania’s hand tightly.

She closed her eyes briefly, then swallowed. “The only person to go down on me was my first girlfriend. Her name was Sandra. We met at college. She was a couple of years ahead of me, and she’d had a few girlfriends. I think she saw me as a bit of a challenge—nineteen, virgin territory and all that. I thought I was the luckiest woman on earth to score someone like her. We dated a few times and kissed and stuff, and then she seduced me one night after drinks in the student bar. Took me back to the flat she rented with two other girls.”

Jacky briefly looked at Tania again and blinked a couple of times before pushing on with her story.