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Back The Lucky Escape Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. PRAISE FOR LAURA JANE WILLIAMS
  3. Dedication
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. Epilogue
  51. Acknowledgements
  52. Publishing Credits
  53. Keep Reading …
  54. About the Author
  55. Fiction by the same author
  56. About the Publisher

I almost sent her the same photo, just to wind her up, but knew it wasn’t worth the hassle.

I texted Freddie to ask if she’d heard anything about the dog, and to see if she was okay. I’d tried not to let my thoughts drift into catastrophizing, but without Patrick around to distract me I suddenly had room in my head for wondering. Please be okay, Carol. Please. Nobody had tried to call me, and the vet she was registered to hadn’t emailed. I told myself I’d give it twenty-four more hours. If we hadn’t heard anything by then, I’d allow myself to have a meltdown of worry.

Finally, I hit the email app to satisfy the blinking ‘1’ that sat in the corner of the logo, letting me know there was something waiting for me. Bile rose to my throat when I saw his name in bold at the top of my inbox, next to an empty subject line. Alexander. I opened the message before I could change my mind.

Annie, it said, and I noticed right away that it was a huge chunk of text – a big paragraph.

I dropped the iPad onto the sofa cushions. I didn’t want to know.

I did want to know.

I didn’t.

I did.

Annie. I need you to forgive me. Your mum has messaged me, and Jo wrote and said some pretty horrible things in several emails, but we both know I made the choice that was the best for you, and for me. As you probably saw from my out of office I’m in Singapore, working from the HQ here. I’ll stay out here until you call the dogs off – we can’t talk if everyone is just going to shout at me, and we do need to talk. I think you know we couldn’t get married. It would have been a tremendous mistake. We were university sweethearts but not life partners. We got carried away. The way I did everything wasn’t great, but I think I was waiting for you to be the one to finally say it, and then it was almost too late …

Dad said you went to Australia without me. I hope you find the courage to move on out there, to want something more for yourself. I want more for myself too. I think that’s okay to say. This is best for both of us.

A x

Everything that had begun to mend inside me came crashing down, all at once, every word unpicking my self-esteem. My stomach sank, my neck was red hot, I wanted to be sick. Where was his kindness, his softness? We were university sweethearts but not life partners, he’d said. What the hell!