After Rob leaves for work, Abby makes the drive to Reading. She needs to get it over with, so she can focus on dealing with the mess she’s created. This is how she’s begun to look at it; she could have been the one to put a stop to it. She should never have gone along with Sienna’s idea that night, and then she would never have been alone with Greg.

‘Oh,’ Lillian says as she opens the door. She lifts her glasses and peers past her. ‘Where’s Rob?’

Despite the weight on her mind, Abby can’t resist sarcasm. ‘Well, it’s a Monday morning so my guess is… work?’

Lillian rolls her eyes before glancing at the plastic bag Abby holds. ‘He said he’d bring that himself.’

This woman won’t get to her today, no matter how hard she tries; there is far worse for Abby to contend with. She should hand Lillian the bag and leave, offer some excuse, but she can’t pull herself away. She is drawn inside by the promise of finally having it out with Lillian and unleashing everything she’s kept bottled up for years. This is what gives her the confidence to walk straight past her, into the house as if it were her own.

‘Oh, it’s no trouble.’ Abby smiles. ‘How’s Eric?’

‘He’s not here.’

Eric is nothing like Lillian; he’s a calm and peaceful man who’s not interested in getting involved in anyone else’s business. It’s unfathomable that he ended up married to a controlling woman like Lillian, and years of knowing them both has left no clues. Abby has often joked to Mel that maybe she’d used a mind control tactic to lure him.

‘Oh, I was hoping he’d be here. I’m sorry to have missed him,’ Abby says, knowing it will rile Lillian. She feels out of control, unable to stop provoking her. It’s payback for the years of snide comments.

Lillian’s lipsticked mouth is a straight line, her thin lips barely visible. She would have been an attractive woman when she was younger, but now any hint of beauty she possessed is masked by a permanent frown or scowl. Unless, of course, Rob is around.

‘Well, don’t let me keep you,’ she says. She hasn’t moved from the front door and is holding it open. ‘I’m sure you have a million things to do. Found a job yet, have you?’ She smiles as she asks this.

‘Soon enough,’ Abby says.

Lillian snorts. ‘It’s lucky Rob works so hard and got his promotion then, isn’t it? And how is it that you’re doing up the house? How can you afford that when you’re not working at the moment?’ The battle has begun.