Donny looked serious now; the laughter seemed to have disappeared. He would never again risk losing his wife he thought. He’d been stupid in the past. Now everything he was doing wasn’t just for him – it was for them. He wished she knew how much he meant that. She was his rock, the person who fixed him when he needed fixing, he could never truly imagine his life with anybody else.

Susan reached over with her hand and stroked the side of his cheek gently. ‘I love you, baby. As long as you’re faithful to me then you have nothing to worry about.’ She still didn’t take her eyes off him. There it was, that was all he needed to hear, he was fine. He needed to lighten the mood.

‘Babe, I’ve left Tina in a meeting. I’ve not got long. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright after this morning. You’ve been a bit off with me lately and all I want you to know is I do love you. Oh, and I’ve got a little something for you …’

Susan stood up and beckoned for him to follow her. This was a private conversation and she didn’t want her staff listening in. She led Donny into her office and made sure the door was closed behind them. Donny reached inside his jacket and pulled out a white envelope.

‘I couldn’t give this to you at school. There’s two grand in there. Put it through your books like normal and get it in the bank, would you?’

Susan looked troubled. ‘Maybe you need to stop the gambling, Don. I love it when you win, but this streak won’t last forever, so lay off it while you’re ahead.’

He got it. ‘Stop worrying, will you? It’s just a bit of stress relief. You can’t do a job like mine and not need a way to let off steam. And this is win-win. I get to forget about school for a bit, and you get a nice little wedge of cash into the salon, and back into your purse. Nobody knows and that’s the way I want it to stay, that’s why I want you to put it through your books. I don’t want to ever have to explain to anyone where my little bit extra comes from – you and I deserve our little luxuries, and we sure as hell wouldn’t get them just on my headteacher’s pay.’

Sue edged closer to him and touched her soft red lips to his. ‘Can your lovely missus have some new shoes then? They’re three hundred and fifty pounds but they’re worth every penny – I love them. Please, pretty please?’