Chapters (60)
- Cover
- Books by Sheryl Browne
- Dedication
- KARLA
- 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
- Epilogue
- The Affair
- Hear more from Sheryl
- Books by Sheryl Browne
- A Letter from Sheryl
- The Babysitter
- The Second Wife
- Acknowledgements
Apprehension creeping through him, Jason narrowed his eyes. If he was aiming to put him on the back foot here, it was working.
‘I’m not asking you this time, Jason. I’m telling you,’ Fenton went on, his face holding a warning as he studied him carefully. ‘You have to get out of Karla’s life.’
‘Right.’ Shaking his head, Jason laughed scathingly and got to his feet.
He was halfway to the door when Fenton froze him to the spot. ‘You’re related,’ he said.
Fourteen
KARLA
Standing outside Jason’s office, I hesitate, wondering again what I’m doing here; what it is I hope to find. I felt shocked after my father’s phone call. John commented that I looked pale as I sat dumbfounded at my desk. I couldn’t quite believe it: that my father would stoop to this. The idea that Jason has been actively searching for women online is ludicrous.
Is it though, really? I know that Mark sent him that damn profile photograph. The question burning inside me, now, is why? Why were he and Jason discussing online dating sites and near naked women, Jason indicating he liked what he saw, unless they did it regularly? Why would they exchange messages about her? Is it likely it’s just a one-off? And why in God’s name had Jason asked if she had a sister? If it was joke, just ‘laddish banter’, it wasn’t a very funny one, was it, since I’d seen it.
My heart almost folds up inside me as I acknowledge that he might have been asking seriously. The cold reality is that we haven’t been intimate in weeks, if not months. And last night, Jason couldn’t. Gullible me put it down to stress. Could it be that he’s actually having sex elsewhere? Regularly. Meeting another woman – other women – he’s contacting online?
It’s preposterous. I know it is. Yet still, sick with nerves and uncertainty, I feel I have to go through with this. If I don’t see with my own eyes, won’t I always be wondering? Much as I’d like to think I could ignore it, I know that I can’t. This will be yet another thing that will haunt me at night.
Will Mark talk to me, I wonder? I toy with the idea of surreptitiously trying to extract information from him, or even openly asking him, and then abandon the idea. Jason and Mark go back years. Mark would never tell me anything that might betray their friendship.