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Back The Perfect Couple Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for Lisa Hall
  3. About the Author
  4. Also by Lisa Hall
  5. Note to Readers
  6. Dedication
  7. Prologue
  8. Chapter One
  9. Chapter Two
  10. Chapter Three
  11. Chapter Four
  12. Chapter Five
  13. Chapter Six
  14. Chapter Seven
  15. Chapter Eight
  16. Chapter Nine
  17. Chapter Ten
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. Chapter Twenty-Five
  33. Chapter Twenty-Six
  34. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Extract
  44. Chapter One
  45. Acknowledgements
  46. About the Publisher

‘Obviously.’ Rupert gives me a relieved smile. ‘I’ll do whatever you want to do. I’m just glad you’re OK. We’re OK.’ Checking his watch, he pulls a regretful face and slides out from where he’s sitting. ‘I’m sorry, Em, I have to go. I can’t miss this meeting. Are you sure you’ll be all right?’

I nod and let him kiss me, watching him walk the few feet back to the office before I turn and walk in the opposite direction, back towards the house, finally feeling for the first time in a long while as though I don’t need to dread going home.

It’s only much, much later, after Rupert has arrived home early with a bouquet of flowers, and we’ve been out to our favourite Italian for dinner and then made love, quietly and urgently as if that will patch up the last of the holes between us, that it comes to me and I realize exactly what it is that didn’t feel quite right, and my heart goes cold.

Chapter Thirty-One

Feigning sleep as I hear Rupert get up and get ready for work, I wait until I hear the front door slam closed before I open my eyes. I haven’t slept a wink, not since I realized what it was that didn’t fit, the thing that was making me feel off kilter. I lay there, rigid, all night, afraid to move a muscle in case I woke Rupert up and he asked me what the matter was, as I tried to fit all the pieces together and come up with something that added up.

Feeling stiff and sore, and almost foggy with tiredness, I slip out of bed and pull on some sweatpants and a jumper – cashmere, both of them, and both bought by Rupert – and tying my hair up into an untidy bun, I sit down at the dressing table and reach behind the mirror for Caro’s jewellery box. Remembering how everything had skittered out across the floor and table the last time I opened it, this time I gently lift the lid with care. The light catches the gold and silver trinkets as the sun streams in through the open blinds and I feel a sharp pang of envy that Caro had all of this, before I mentally slap myself – Caro might have had all of this but it doesn’t mean she was happy.