Free Let Love Win by Nicola May

and his favourite Athlete CD playing at full volume. They didn’t even notice him walk in.
    Michael wasn’t a violent man. Shaking with anger and emotion, instead of raising his fist, he pulled the plug from the Bose sound system he had bought for her birthday and just walked out of the door leaving it swinging open. His biggest regret was that Barney the dog was at her parents’ country retreat as they were supposed to be going away for the weekend the next day. Or he of course would have taken him there and then.
    He hadn’t spoken to or seen the pair again. There was no need for any explanation. Maybe he knew deep down she was wrong for him but it didn’t make the hurt any less - the complete betrayal by two people you thought you knew so well and loved very much. He managed to sneak back and get his photos, music and clothes but that was it, she could have the rest. Furniture, pictures, kitchen stuff could all be replaced. His heart would heal, he knew, but at that precise moment the two of them had broken it in two. They of course had both independently tried to contact him but he had ignored every call.
    I mean, with a betrayal of that magnitude, what could anyone say to make things better? ‘Sorry’ would never be enough. They were obviously so wrapped up in their own little world, that Michael wasn’t top of their agenda. I mean, why would they need to make him feel better when they were having such a good time?
    It still gave him a pain in his stomach when he thought about it and he actually had to mentally focus in order to stop the hurt from bubbling up and suffocating him.
    He didn’t even know if they were still seeing each other. He tried to believe he didn’t care any more. He didn’t want her back; they were welcome to each other. But he wished he knew why they had done it to him in the first place.
    He blew out a massive breath, rubbed his eyes and slammed the laptop shut. His life had been dark for a long time but now meeting dear, sweet Ruby had shone some light on it. Whatever the outcome, she had helped him to start writing the novel - something he had always wanted to do - and for this he would be eternally grateful.

– Chapter Twenty-Nine –
    ‘Fuck, shit, bollocks. Sexual problems? You can’t ask that.’ Jimmy twitched. His Tourettes always got worse when he was perturbed. He looked at Simon Dye with disdain.
    ‘It’s a free country, Jimmy, so I can ask that, but on this occasion I am actually joking.’
    The entire Bow Wow Club secretly breathed a collective sigh of relief.
    ‘Tosser, balls, wank,’ Jimmy added. The newbies smirked, they had never met anyone with Tourette’s before. The regulars carried on as normal.
    ‘Thank goodness for that, Simon, you smut monster,’ Cali said in her posh voice. ‘Mind you, a turkey farm on Boxing Day would have seen more action than my bedroom over Christmas.’
    ‘Why do you think that is?’ Simon enquired kindly.
    ‘Eric’s having a bit of a wobble, I think. I mean, it has only been seven months and he was with her for twenty-five years. And it was our first Christmas together.’
    ‘And you’ve been referring to his dead wife as her since you’ve been coming here, Cali. Maybe it’s time you started to let him in too?’
    ‘Well, I can’t cook roast potatoes like her, my washing powder doesn’t make the clothes soft enough and he is still wearing his bloody wedding ring! I even had all his bloody kids and their broods round for Christmas dinner.’
    Ruby began to spin her ring around her wedding finger. Since getting back into the swing of working again and feeling happier, she had begun to eat as normal, and had put on a much-needed few pounds in the past weeks. She was delighted when the ring that Michael had given to her fitted.
    At first she felt weird putting it on as it wasn’t the actual one George had gently placed on her finger on their perfect wedding day, but once it was there she felt whole again. And, although