‘Jack?’ she called out, although she already knew that he wasn’t home.

Rummaging in the bottom of her bag for her phone, she checked it to see if he’d called or texted but there were no notifications. She typed out a quick text to him and went into the bedroom to get changed into something more comfortable. Four hours and several unanswered calls later, Jack still wasn’t home and Angie had worked herself up into a frenzy. She messaged a couple of his friends to ask if he was with them, thinking that perhaps he went out for a quick drink after work and had one too many, but no one had seen him. Finally, she crawled into bed at midnight and waited, wide awake, for him to come home.

He eventually did, at 6am. Angie had barely slept a wink and was on the verge of calling the police and reporting him as a missing person when he walked into their bedroom looking dishevelled, disorientated and smelling like a brewery.

‘Jack, what the hell?’ Angie said, sitting up. ‘I’ve been out of my mind with worry!’

‘Sorry, I’m sorry,’ Jack said, sinking down onto the bed and peeling off his shoes and socks.

‘Where have you been?’

‘I went out with a client for a drink after work and it all got out of hand. I tried to text you but I left my phone at work.’ He leaned back against the pillow and closed his eyes, as if to him, the conversation was over.

‘Jack, this is not okay,’ Angie persisted. ‘You were supposed to be coming home last night. I had no idea where you were and I’ve barely slept a wink. You know I don’t care if you go out with friends, but you need to tell me. You can’t just not show up.’

‘I know, I’m sorry, Ange,’ he said, groaning as he shifted position. ‘It won’t happen again.’

Except that it did happen again. And again. It was as if Jack had grown tired of playing house and had decided to return to his old, single lifestyle. Angie was furious and terrified. Her deepest, darkest fear was that she loved Jack more than he loved her, and his behaviour was adding fuel to the monster of anxiety inside her. In all other areas of her life, she had always been cool, calm and in control, but Jack was her weakness.

The problem was that every time she confronted him, he looked at her like she was overreacting, throwing his hands up in protest. ‘Angie, I love you. It’s not like I’m cheating on you. I would never do that. I’m just blowing off a little steam, okay? We’re still young, let’s act like it.’

It went on for months, until Angie lost complete confidence in her own feelings. On one hand she was well within her rights to tell Jack his behaviour was not appropriate, that they were married and he had to act like it. But on the other hand, she wondered if Jack was right. They were young, independent people. They didn’t own each other, they didn’t have children, they could do what they liked. And after all, he was only going out to have a bit of fun with the boys, she told herself, he wasn’t having an affair. As time went on, she learned to turn a blind eye, convincing herself that he wasn’t doing anything wrong at all.