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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

The shake of Sienna’s head is so violent that droplets of water fly from her hair, like a dog shaking itself after a bath. ‘Don’t!’ she screams. ‘Don’t you do that. Haven’t you already lied enough?’

‘Sienna, you’re not making any sense. Please, just come inside and tell me what’s going on.’ It’s worth trying to calm her down, even though Abby knows that this is the end of them, the end of everything. There is no way back.

Rob appears at Abby’s side – she hasn’t heard him come down – and places his hand on her shoulder as he squints into the night. ‘Sienna? What’s going on?’

She turns to him, and her ghost-like face softens a tiny fraction. Of course, it isn’t Rob her venom is aimed at.

‘Ask your wife,’ she says. ‘She knows exactly what’s going on. And soon the police will too.’

And then she’s gone, leaving the screech of her car tyres burning in Abby’s ears.

PART ONE

ONE

Abby

Late April

‘Are you happy here?’ Rob asks, handing her a glass of Prosecco.

They’ve been living in their house in Winchmore Hill for three weeks and four days now, and this is the first time he’s asked Abby anything like this. She takes her glass and places it on the carpet beside her. It’s an accident waiting to happen, but she keeps it there anyway. They’re sitting on the floor – the new sofa hasn’t yet arrived, and they sold the old one on eBay before leaving Ipswich. A tatty old thing, faded, colourless, yet now Abby misses it. It had been Rob’s when he’d lived with his old flatmate, and it reminds her of when they’d first met. What different people they were then, even though only a short time has passed between then and now.

‘Of course I’m happy,’ she says. ‘How could I not be? This is the dream, isn’t it? A four-bed house in London.’ She gestures around, still not quite able to believe they own this place. Do her words sound as hollow as they feel? She hopes not. She’s determined not to ruin this for Rob – he’s worked so hard for promotion at his law firm, and neither of them could have known it would entail a huge move to a city she’s only ever been to once, and that was as a child. They are closer to Rob’s parents in Reading now, though, and for him that is another bonus.

There is no way she can tell Rob about the crushing loneliness, how it has her in a vice grip from morning until night.

Rob leans across and kisses the top of her head. ‘I know you’re finding it hard not having a job here yet. A school will snap you up in no time, though.’