Free The Teacher's Secret by Suzanne Leal

is: tall, blond, great abs, great shoulders—I thought I was hallucinating. But no. Turns out he’s hosting the party for a mate of his who works with Cheryl—that’s how I got the invite—so there I was, in his house.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘And what?’
    ‘What happened?’
    Marina takes a deep breath. ‘Well,’ she says, ‘there’s this spa in his backyard—no pool, just a spa—and a whole lot of people start stripping down to their undies and jumping in. Mr Shoulders gives me this look and says, So, you coming in? Apart from hello, that’s the first thing he’s said to me. Then, right in front of me, he whips off his T-shirt and his jeans and there he is, in his boxer shorts.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘And I’m only wearing a G-string under my dress, aren’t I?’ She says this loudly—too loudly—then lowers her voice to a whisper. ‘And I’m not going to be stripping down to my G-string at some party. So I say to him, I’ll come in if you get me a pair of boxer shorts like yours . He gives me a smile like that’s the weirdest thing he’s ever heard, but then he disappears upstairs somewhere and, sure enough, when he comes back, he’s got another pair of boxers in his hand.’
    Nina claps a hand over her mouth. ‘Tell me you didn’t.’
    But Marina’s eyes are dancing. ‘So, I go into the bathroom, strip down to my bra and undies, put his boxer shorts over my undies and off we go. Next thing, I’m sitting in his spa drinking champagne. After a bit he turns to me and says, straight up, You got a boyfriend, you got a husband? I’m not sure how to answer so I just say, No boyfriend; I used to have a husband . He clinks my glass and says, Cheers—I used to have a wife . And when I ask him how long it’s been, he says, The van just left . Which is witty, right? So I drink a bit more champagne and stay the night.’
    Nina laughs in disbelief. ‘With him?’
    Marina smiles. ‘Yep.’
    ‘The whole night?’
    ‘Yep. Breakfast and everything. I figured it was time to go when he told me his ex was about to come over to—get this—pick up the rest of her stuff.’
    But Nina doesn’t get it. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Just what I said: to pick up the rest of her stuff. Because it turns out he wasn’t being funny: the van really had just left, just before the party.’
    Nina wraps both hands around her coffee mug. ‘So he’d been separated for less than a day?’
    ‘Ten hours.’
    ‘No way.’
    ‘Yep. Ten hours.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘He gives me his card—a merchant banker, can you believe it?—puts me in a cab, gives me a kiss and says, I’ll call you .’
    ‘And?’
    Marina shakes her head. ‘Not so far.’
    ‘It’s only Wednesday.’
    ‘I know. Apparently the rule is if they haven’t rung by Thursday, they won’t be ringing.’
    ‘And then?’
    She gives a bit of a shrug. ‘You move on, baby, you move on.’
    ‘Just like that?’
    ‘Where’s the choice?’
    Nina’s eyes widen. ‘I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t. All that waiting for the call, wondering what’s going to happen. It’d kill me.’
    Marina gives her a lopsided smile. ‘Lucky you’ve got cranky Steve then, hey?’

Terry
    Wednesday morning is assembly time at Brindle Public and, as usual, the national anthem—both verses of it—kick off the proceedings. But even though the words are right in front of them—up on a board to the left of the stage—still only a quarter of the school gets them right, and by the end of the second verse just about everyone’s given up the ghost. It’s the highlight of Terry’s week to see just how wrong they can all get it.
    When that’s done, Laurie walks up to the lectern and waits for the post-anthem noise to die down. Terry can’t remember the last time the lectern was used. In fact, he can’t even remember having seen it for, what, ten years or more? He wonders where she could have found it. In the music room? The storeroom? God knows. Anyway, there it is, smack bang in the