Claire didn’t know how she’d made it through the rest of the afternoon. She’d eventually received a message from Chris saying he’d landed safely, and he’d been busy with work and they’d talk when he got back. Ordinarily she would have been relieved but now she didn’t know what to think. Had it been a mistake on Linda’s part? Claire tried to reassure herself that it was – there were thousands of people in central Manchester. So why then, did she feel so uneasy?

With extreme effort, she’d managed to lose herself in the city for another hour and it was almost five when Claire decided to simply give up and go home. She knew she needed to sleep because her eyes were starting to blur on the drive home. She would try Chris again tonight.

July 2018

47

Claire looked at the man she had known for over twenty years. The mere sight of him caused a reaction in her so physical she had to swallow down the bile. He’d eventually confessed to what she’d suspected for a while – he was having an affair. The trial had started a couple of days before and it was the evening before Joshua’s appearance in court and although she didn’t know it at the time, she would look back on this night as an omen. She was never meant to find out that night – Chris was going to tell her about it after the trial was over and everything with Joshua was sorted.

It was the irritating ping of Chris’s mobile that had made her curious. Usually, he had it on silent and he always had it on him but that evening he’d left it on the kitchen counter. Months later, she would wonder if he’d wanted to be found out. She’d been making a cup of tea and his phone lit up and she saw the first line of the message. Seeing the words I miss you pierced a part of Claire’s being she didn’t even know existed. It could be from his mum, she thought, trying to open the message while dipping the tea bag again to make it stronger. But the number she typed in to unlock Chris’s phone didn’t work and then she started to laugh, a wild hysterical laugh that reminded her of a homeless woman she’d once seen in Manchester.

What was she doing? She didn’t need to open the message to know it wasn’t from his mum. And then she was crying and as Chris came rushing into the kitchen looking for his phone, Claire knew her marriage was over.

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