BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (84)
  1. Chapter one
  2. Chapter two
  3. Chapter three
  4. Chapter four
  5. Chapter five
  6. Chapter six
  7. Chapter seven
  8. Chapter eight
  9. Chapter nine
  10. Chapter ten
  11. Chapter eleven
  12. Chapter twelve
  13. Chapter thirteen
  14. Chapter fourteen
  15. Chapter fifteen
  16. Chapter sixteen
  17. Chapter seventeen
  18. Chapter eighteen
  19. Chapter nineteen
  20. Chapter twenty
  21. Chapter twenty-one
  22. Chapter twenty-two
  23. Chapter twenty-three
  24. Chapter twenty-four
  25. Chapter twenty-five
  26. Chapter twenty-six
  27. Chapter twenty-seven
  28. Chapter twenty-eight
  29. Chapter twenty-nine
  30. Chapter thirty
  31. Chapter thirty-one
  32. Chapter thirty-two
  33. Chapter thirty-three
  34. Chapter thirty-four
  35. Chapter thirty-five
  36. Chapter thirty-six
  37. Chapter thirty-seven
  38. Chapter thirty-eight
  39. Chapter thirty-nine
  40. Chapter forty
  41. Chapter forty-one
  42. Chapter forty-two
  43. Chapter forty-three
  44. Chapter forty-four
  45. Chapter forty-five
  46. Chapter forty-six
  47. Chapter forty-seven
  48. Chapter forty-eight
  49. Chapter forty-nine
  50. Chapter fifty
  51. Chapter fifty-one
  52. Chapter fifty-two
  53. Chapter fifty-three
  54. Chapter fifty-four
  55. Chapter fifty-five
  56. Chapter fifty-six
  57. Chapter fifty-seven
  58. Chapter fifty-eight
  59. Chapter fifty-nine
  60. Chapter sixty
  61. Chapter sixty-one
  62. Chapter sixty-two
  63. Chapter sixty-three
  64. Chapter sixty-four
  65. Chapter sixty-five
  66. Chapter sixty-six
  67. Chapter sixty-seven
  68. Chapter sixty-eight
  69. Chapter sixty-nine
  70. Chapter seventy
  71. Chapter seventy-one
  72. Chapter seventy-two
  73. Chapter seventy-three
  74. Chapter seventy-four
  75. Chapter seventy-five
  76. Chapter seventy-six
  77. Chapter seventy-seven
  78. Chapter seventy-eight
  79. Chapter seventy-nine
  80. Chapter eighty
  81. Chapter eighty-one
  82. Chapter eighty-two
  83. Chapter eighty-three
  84. Chapter eighty-four

Reaching out, I turn on the hot tap. I like the water to be scalding when it comes out and we have the boiler on all the time. I put my hand under the flow, but I can’t feel it burning me at all. The water level rises steadily. It’s almost at the top of the bath. I’ve never filled it this full before. I turn on the cold tap too. The bath fills more and more quickly. The layer of white, bubbly foam from the bath oil is higher than the rim of the bath. It looks like clouds suspended in space. The bubbles are tickling at my chin, like grandmas do to babies. The water eases itself, slowly, slowly, painfully slowly over the curved sides. It runs down the bath and onto the floor. If I don’t turn the taps off straight away, the water will run through the floorboards and into the kitchen ceiling below—and what will I do then? Perhaps when Jake knows that we have a domestic emergency, he’ll come rushing home. I know him. He won’t let me cope alone. I can’t cope alone. Jake will come straight home and sort it all out. He’s like that. He’s good in emergencies. He’ll sort it all out. And then we’ll be fine. We’ll be fine again. Everything will be fine again. I lie back in the bath and stare at the ceiling, listening to the lapping of the water.

Chapter six

Chapter six

‘Make yourself at home,’ Neve said as she shrugged out of her coat.

‘Thanks.’ For some reason, Jake felt very awkward. He’d been to Neve’s place loads of times over the past few months of their affair, but only for fleeting visits, a few snatched, illicit hours; never before with a view to becoming a permanent resident. This felt different and very, very weird.

‘Drink?’

‘Yeah.’ He put his bag down by the front door.

Neve carried the Chinese takeaway over to the kitchen area. ‘Sorry about the takeaway,’ she said over her shoulder. ‘I’ve never got any food in.’

He thought about the fridge in the kitchen in Roland Street and how it was always stuffed to the gills with his favourite treats. Some things were bound to be different now. Neve was a completely different type of woman to Lyssa. But that was good. Different was good. He could live with different. It was what he wanted.

‘I’ve always got plenty of this though!’ She waved a bottle of champagne at him and pouted. ‘Bubbly?’