BooksBarbecue
Back When Life Gives You Lemons
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS
  3. Dedication
  4. Part One
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Part Two
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Part Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Part Four
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Acknowledgements
  51. Keep Reading …
  52. About the Author
  53. By the same author:
  54. About the Publisher

As for my ‘reasons not to split’ list, there are so many whirling around in my head – such as ‘Better for Izzy’, ‘Avoids upheaval’ and ‘Should try and rescue marriage rather than giving up’. But I don’t jot these down. Instead, I just write:

Because I still love him.

Friday, March 22

During our quiet, unremarkable evening it hits me that something significant has happened. Izzy is asleep, which means we could be going over the whole Estelle thing yet again. But we are not.

Instead, we are just catching up on each other’s days over dinner. Whilst Andy never goes into the ins and outs of his dealings with patients, he tells me about a woman who brought her three children along to her appointment today, and they all tucked into an extensive picnic of sandwiches, crisps and Mini Rolls on the waiting room floor. ‘No one had the heart to ask them to put it away,’ he says.

I realise it’s been a long time since he shared anything about his day, being generally ‘too tired’ to talk to me. As a result, I’d stopped asking. In turn, I tell him about the arrival of my boss’s Barbie pink ‘stability ball’, a kind of giant beach ball that Rose has taken to perching on, rather unstably, as an alternative to sitting on her chair (she hopes to strengthen her core whilst simultaneously dealing with China). Whilst it’s hardly scintillating as far as anecdotes go, at least we are communicating relatively normally, and are no longer so on edge with each other. Andy has finally stopped trying to stroke my hair when I’m stacking the dishwasher. I can now stand there folding up laundry without him lurking behind me, trying to kiss my neck. The mad flurry of affection was understandable. But the fact that it has eased off can only be a good thing, surely?

I am starting to think that we really can get over this, and that Andy’s affair was one of those ‘blips’ people talk about. After all, most marriages tend to hit a crisis at some point or other, and I’ve read many times that it can actually make a couple stronger together, in the long run.

So, this is where we are now; just a normal middle-aged couple hanging out together on a Friday night. It feels kind of right. Never mind Penny’s ‘tell him to sling his hook’ attitude. It’s my marriage, and my decision, and I can’t bear the thought of throwing it all away.

Sunday, March 24