Free Twelve Days - The Beginning by Jade Reyner Page B

each other and the other decor. The warmth of this room shone out and Elise always felt comforted whenever she snuggled onto the sofas, particularly if she used one of the co-ordinating throws.
    Elise and Dale’s house was in the small town of Mertonville, a suburb of the main city of Eastwood. Eastwood itself was situated on the borders of Devon and Cornwall and was where both Elise and Dale worked. It was also where the hospital and all the amenities were situated with a brand new out-of-town shopping development as well as a traditional high-street precinct. Elise had been born and raised in Eastwood with all of her family still living locally; Dale, however, was from out of town but had attended the university, which is how they had met. Their house was situated on a relatively new suburban development and they had had the luxury of being able to buy the house from new when they had first got married ten years ago.
    At university, Elise had initially been studying Law and Dale, Advanced Accountancy. Their paths had crossed as both courses shared one of the core subjects and after spending a few weeks sitting next to each other, they’d gone on a date and had been pretty much inseparable ever since.
    Once they had graduated, Elise had decided not to pursue her chosen career, as she did not want to move to London or one of the bigger cities so far away from her family and Dale. At the time, all she really wanted for her future was the good old-fashioned marriage and children and so she hadn’t felt the need to carve out a dedicated career for herself.
    Initially, she had picked up temping work from various agencies until she had secured a receptionist role at a local hotel. She had loved that job - particularly the interaction with the guests - and had stayed there for a number of years. Once their marriage hit its seemingly endless ‘rocky’ patch however, Dale began to find fault with her shift patterns, complaining that she was never at home whenever he was and so she had eventually and reluctantly left, managing shortly afterwards, to secure her existing job at Andrews & Andrews. The working hours were more traditional and gave her and Dale something in common as they were both now working in the same industry. At the time, she had been hopeful that this fact alone would help to heal their rift and for a while it had - but it didn’t make any difference these days. They didn’t talk anymore so it really didn’t matter where Elise worked or what she had to say. Dale never listened anyway.
    Mentally shaking herself back to the present, Elise sipped on her tea and wondered how everything could have gone so wrong for her and Dale. They had been textbook lovers with a textbook marriage, so what had happened to them over the years?
    Despite his obvious flaws she still managed to love him on some level and she knew that he loved her too, but she was really starting to worry that they wouldn’t be able to get through this anymore. Today, when he had come to her office, it had shocked her and shaken her to the core. Up until now, all of their problems had been kept behind closed doors and, whilst there were only a handful of people who witnessed the events this morning, that didn’t mean that rumours wouldn’t spread around the office. It was bad enough having Cole on her back on a daily basis, without adding in Vaughn and anyone else who may feel they deserved to have an opinion.
    Vaughn – there he was again, popping into her head. He was a total mystery. She had no idea who he was, where he had come from or how he had come to have enough money to buy over fifty percent of a large, up and coming accountancy firm. His behaviour of the night before and his arrogant belief that she and he would become a ‘thing’ confused and rankled her. He seemed to have his mind set on pursuing her but she had absolutely no idea why. Perhaps this was just some kind of game to him?
    What did he do? Did he join a new company, scope