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Back The Marriage Trap: A completely addictive psychological thriller Save as PDF
Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. Books by Sheryl Browne
  3. Dedication
  4. KARLA
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Thirty-Four
  39. Thirty-Five
  40. Thirty-Six
  41. Thirty-Seven
  42. Thirty-Eight
  43. Thirty-Nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-One
  46. Forty-Two
  47. Forty-Three
  48. Forty-Four
  49. Forty-Five
  50. Forty-Six
  51. Forty-Seven
  52. Forty-Eight
  53. Epilogue
  54. The Affair
  55. Hear more from Sheryl
  56. Books by Sheryl Browne
  57. A Letter from Sheryl
  58. The Babysitter
  59. The Second Wife
  60. Acknowledgements

Glancing again towards the house, he debated, then typed. Can we talk later? I’m in the car. He pressed send.

Can do. Get back when you can. X

Will do, Jason replied. Would he? Again, he prevaricated, guilt doing battle with the aching loneliness he felt inside. He’d never imagined you could actually feel your heart breaking, but he felt it now. Did he really want to break Karla’s heart further by doing this?

Still undecided, wondering now whether he should send a message explaining instead, which would be crass and insensitive, he’d no doubt, Jason climbed out of his car and walked wearily to the front door. Josh was heading from the lounge to the stairs as he let himself in. He noted he was already in his pyjamas, which was unheard of for Josh, who liked to push bedtimes to the limit. ‘All right, tiger?’ he asked him. ‘Going up already?’

Josh shrugged and nodded unenthusiastically. ‘Mum’s going out,’ he said, his eyes downcast. ‘I can’t stand Megan. All she ever does is talk girl stuff with Holly.’

‘Right.’ Jason glanced warily up the stairs, to where he assumed Karla would be getting ready to go out for the third time that week – ‘With friends,’ she’d told him vaguely, when he’d asked. He dearly wished she wouldn’t do this, but he was in no position to try to appeal to her. He just prayed she was safe – she was clearly drinking to excess, coming home at all hours, and he was desperately worried that one night she might not.

He also had a problem with Megan, the babysitter, which is why he was making sure he was here. He and Karla had both been majorly unimpressed with her the last time she’d babysat. What would he do about her imminent arrival? Pay her, he supposed – something for her trouble, anyway – and tell her they didn’t need her tonight after all.

‘Do you need anything, Josh?’ he called as his son trudged up the stairs, looking as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his small shoulders. Jason felt something crack inside him as he thought of the angst Holly and Josh still had to come. ‘Hot chocolate? Warm milk?’

‘No.’ Josh shook his head. ‘Going to play Lego Star Wars for a bit, and then go to sleep.’

‘Not for too long, Josh,’ Jason reminded him. ‘Blue light before bed won’t help you sleep – you know that, right?’

‘Yeah, I know,’ Josh said, with an elongated sigh. ‘You tell me that about seven times a week.’