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Back The Other Husband Save as PDF
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. PROLOGUE
  4. PART ONE
  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. PART TWO
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. TWENTY-NINE
  35. PART THREE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. THIRTY-FIVE
  42. THIRTY-SIX
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. THIRTY-NINE
  46. PART FOUR
  47. FORTY
  48. FORTY-ONE
  49. FORTY-TWO
  50. FORTY-THREE
  51. FORTY-FOUR
  52. FORTY-FIVE
  53. FORTY-SIX
  54. FORTY-SEVEN
  55. FORTY-EIGHT
  56. FORTY-NINE
  57. FIFTY
  58. FIFTY-ONE
  59. FIFTY-TWO
  60. FIFTY-THREE
  61. FIFTY-FOUR
  62. EPILOGUE
  63. Mailing list
  64. A Letter from Kathryn
  65. Acknowledgements
  66. About the Author
  67. Also by Kathryn Croft

‘I’m Sienna, by the way,’ she says, holding out her hand. The formality of it is both strange and comforting to Abby. ‘And if you’re actually going to give this another go, then you’ll definitely see me again.’

‘Abby. And yeah, I think I’ll be back next week.’

This is it. Abby’s first encounter with Sienna. Completely innocuous, just an ordinary crossing of paths for two strangers. No hint of the dreadful things to come.

‘So how was your day?’ Rob asks.

They’re lying in bed, Abby sitting propped up against her pillow reading. She hasn’t picked up a book since they moved, despite having so much more time on her hands, yet tonight she feels the urge to get lost in a story.

‘It’s been good,’ she tells Rob. It is true in a sense. Meeting Sienna, however briefly, has given her hope that she can make a go of things in London. Perhaps it will take time, but she can do it. There’s nothing in particular Sienna has said to inspire this positivity in her. It must have just been something about her. How she made Abby feel just being in her presence.

Rob reaches under the duvet and strokes her arm. ‘I’m glad to hear that,’ he whispers. He’s not being patronising – that just isn’t Rob. ‘I’m excited about the future,’ he continues. ‘Our future.’ And as Abby studies the smile on her husband’s face, the way his hazel eyes are alight, she vows to herself that this will be enough. That she will make sure it is.

FOUR

Sienna

A few weeks have passed since Sienna met Abby and, in that time, she hasn’t given her much thought. They smile or wave to one another at the fitness centre, but no more than that.

Sienna considers Abby to be nice enough, but she’s too consumed with her decaying marriage to have space in her head for a new friendship. Decaying. That’s how she’s come to feel about her marriage, and she’s fully aware that once decay sets in there’s little that can be done to stop it.

Pilates has come to be an effective distraction for her, a space she can be free of worry; after all, none of the other participants know a thing about her. She is who she appears to be: it’s as simple as that when no one knows otherwise. How things look on the outside does matter; sometimes it’s all there is.

Abby approaches Sienna this evening when everyone’s packing up to leave. ‘Can I pick your brain about something?’ she asks.