Free His Other Lover by Lucy Dawson Page B

my hand, hauled himself up and trawled upstairs.
    Sitting frozen on the sofa listening intently, I heard the floorboards squeak. He wasn’t in our bedroom, he’d gone straight to the office to make sure nothing was lying around that shouldn’t have been, just as I knew he would. I walked quickly into the dining room, grabbed his phone from the table and slammed into the downstairs loo, locking the door sharply behind me. Moving fast, I located the inbox, clicked on it and there it was. Top of the list— Liz. The office my fucking arse. It read:
    Is all ok? Nothing too wrecked? Gloria all right? U ok? Xx
    I wanted to scream, punch the wall, kick the door and flush the phone down the loo all at the same time. What the fuck had it got to do with her? It was my house and my dog and MY boyfriend! How dare she? “U ok?” Fuck off! It’s not her that makes sure he’s okay, it’s me, ME ! I hurled the phone on to a towel on the floor in disgust.
    My blood pumped madly, making my scalp prickle. I was wired with hatred for her, a balled-up energy that had nowhere to go. In the tiny downstairs loo, still half tiled, I couldn’t even pace. I was boxed in totally. Looking at the phone screen, staring furiously at the words, I could have killed her, I swear to God. Instead I just thumped the wall with the flat of my fists and leaned my head against the spiky peaks of the chipped grout.
    I heard Pete shout, “You okay?”
    He must have heard the thump. I jerked my head up and listened carefully. Was he coming downstairs? He couldn’t catch me with his phone. I flushed the loo, picked up the mobile andcautiously opened the door. I heard the creak of the boards again as he moved from the office to our room. He must have heard the loo and was making his way back. It was like being stuck in a bad spy movie, only not funny at all, just utterly horrible.
    “Be right up!” I shouted and adjusted the phone so it was back to the screensaver. I put it back on the table and ran upstairs. Then I slowed down again as I remembered I was supposed to be ill.
    He was making the bed as I went into our room. I walked round to the other side and grabbed the opposite corners. In a practiced routine we smoothed the duvet together, then he plumped the pillows and I got the cushions from the floor. We moved in silence until I broke it.
    “Hadn’t you better call work?”
    He frowned and looked puzzled. “Why?”
    “You said you had a message that someone had called for you?”
    “And?”
    “Don’t you want to find out who?”
    He started to gather up underwear from the drawers that I had pulled it out of earlier. “No, the message told me who it was that called.”
    “Oh, I see—who was it then?”
    He straightened up and looked at me. “A bloke about his conversion. Why the questions?”
    Bloke about a conversion…bitch called Liz, more like. How dare she ask him if he was all right?
    “Just interested…making conversation.” As I spoke, I realized that in order for her to have been asking if he was all right, he must have already told her about the break-in. That’s how close they were…she was looking out for him…she knewwhat was going on in his life. It was definitely not just some one-off shag.
    “Hey! Sweetheart!” Pete snapped my attention back. “I said we’ve just got time to go and buy some new frames for the pictures, and I think all they really broke in the kitchen was some cups and plates. Thank God they didn’t do the TV, eh? You well enough to come into town or shall I go on my own?”
    What, and have you call Liz the second you leave? I thought quickly. No chance.
    “I’ll come. Maybe we could go to the cinema afterward, watch something fun. I’d like to get out of the house. I just don’t want to think about anything for a couple of hours.” There was no way he’d be able to get messages or anything in the cinema.
    He looked a little surprised but said okay, if that was what I wanted. I sorted Gloria out