Chapters (64)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Prologue
- Five Years Later
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Fifty-two
- Fifty-three
- Fifty-four
- Fifty-five
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- Canelo Crime
- About the Author
- Also by Sheila Bugler
The others had all been in bed when she left. She’d sneaked out of the house, through the back gate to avoid the journalists, and walked into the village where she’d called a taxi to take her to the beach. She’d been here for two hours so far, putting off going home for as long as possible. Yesterday evening had been excruciating as Jake had got progressively drunker and more offensive. Clodagh didn’t particularly like Felicity, but she had no idea how the woman put up with such a boor of a man.
Eventually, when she couldn’t put it off any longer, she got dressed and ordered a taxi. Wanting to bypass the paparazzi again, she asked the driver to drop her in the village. From here, she followed the path through the woods to the gate at the back of the house.
‘Clodagh!’ Jake’s voice greeted her as she entered the garden. ‘We thought you’d done a runner.’
He was at the table in the garden with Felicity. A selection of mugs and yesterday’s newspapers lay scattered around them.
‘You missed my special scrambled eggs,’ Jake said, standing up and planting a wet kiss on her cheek before she could stop him. He reeked of last night’s booze, the stink lingering after he’d pulled away.
‘Adam’s in the kitchen tidying up,’ Jake said, pressing a glass of sparkling water into Clodagh’s hand. ‘Why don’t you go in and let him know you’re safe? He’s been worrying about you.’
He took her elbow and manoeuvred her through the open doorway into the kitchen, patting her arm before leaving her alone with Adam.
‘You’re back, then.’ Adam looked up from loading the dishwasher, his face pinched and white. ‘Where have you been?’
‘I went to the beach,’ Clodagh said, wondering why she felt the need to defend herself. ‘I felt like a swim and you were all still asleep.’
‘You could have sent me a text or something,’ Adam said. ‘I was worried about you.’
‘Sorry,’ she said, even though she wasn’t sure what she was apologising for. ‘You want a hand tidying up?’
‘It’s fine,’ Adam said. ‘You sit down and chill out.’
He crossed the kitchen and put his arms around her.
‘I know last night wasn’t easy for you. Thank you for putting up with us all. I owe you one.’