Free Got You Back by Jane Fallon

least Katie could do. She got up and wiped her eyes, then lit some candles — geranium to lift the spirits. She was strong, she would cope.
    ‘Bastard,’ she said out loud, to no one in particular.

12
    They had agreed to speak again the following morning. Meanwhile Stephanie called Natasha to fill her in on what had happened and to ask her what she thought they should do next.
    ‘You need to think it through carefully. Don't show your hand too early,’ Natasha said, when Stephanie had finished.
    ‘I know, I know. Haven't you got any new sayings?’
    ‘Funnily enough, I've never discovered that my best friend's husband is a bigamist before, or as good as, so forgive me if I don't immediately know what to say.’
    ‘But I need your advice, though,’ Stephanie pleaded. ‘I don't know what to do.’
    ‘Do nothing.’
    ‘You always say that.’
    ‘Well, this time I mean it. Do nothing and we'll try to come up with a plan. You think Katie will go along with whatever you suggest?’
    ‘I think so. Actually, she sounded nice.’
    ‘OK,’ Natasha said. ‘Now this is getting weird.’
    ‘She did, though. And I think she feels as bad for me as she does for herself.’
    ‘I'll see you in the café at Harvey Nichols at two,’ Natasha said, and rang off.
    Stephanie ran herself a bath, then lay in it, staring upat the ceiling, thinking over her conversation with Katie. She had meant it when she'd said Katie sounded nice. There had been genuine shock in her voice when she'd tried to take on board what Stephanie had been saying to her, but once she had absorbed it her concern had been all for Stephanie. From what she had said it was obvious that she loved James and had thought they had a future together, but Stephanie had no doubt that the relationship was over now — at least as far as Katie was concerned. She had said she wasn't the sort of woman to steal another woman's man and Stephanie believed her.
    James, meanwhile, pulled into the car park of a pub called the Jolly Boatman in a little village just outside Stevenage, got out and stretched exaggeratedly. It was a beautiful day and he fancied a half of bitter, sitting in the pub's spring-flower-filled garden. He would spend a blissful half-hour taking in the countryside, then get on his way again. He didn't want to be too late getting home, Finn had football club on a Wednesday afternoon and usually got in around five thirty. James liked to be there to meet him but he also wanted to avoid getting back too much before that. Sometimes he didn't know what to do with himself in his own house when his son wasn't there.
    The barmaid definitely twinkled at him as she pulled his drink, and ordinarily James would have responded, sitting up at the bar having a harmless flirtation, chatting about his job and the weather. Today, though, he didn't have the heart for it. It felt like an effort and he preferred to sit on his own, everything peaceful around him, just ‘experiencing the moment’, as Katie would have said. Hetook his beer out to the large garden at the back, which overlooked the river with its neat little families of ducks, and sat contentedly at a table away from anyone else.
    It was unexpectedly warm for March, so he took off his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves, basking in the sun like a lion smug in the knowledge that it's the undisputed king of the jungle. This is the life, he thought, swatting an insect away from his face. He really could have no complaints. In fact, he thought now, most men would envy him. What full-blooded male hadn't fantasized about having two women on the go? Of course, he couldn't imagine that many of those men were actually dreaming about having two full-time relationships. Two sets of responsibilities and double the squabbling over whether or not to buy a new ironing-board. Sometimes he wondered if, rather than living an enviable life, he was actually living a lot of men's twin-headed nightmare. It was hardly the carefree