Read The Torn Up Marriage for Free Online Page B

gulping for air, the tears unrelenting, until her eyes felt sore and swollen. She’d better go to the loo, sort herself out. Blow her nose, splash water on her face. She shifted forwards on the sofa, uncurled her legs, about to get up.
    “Bringg…” THE PHONE. Oh, shit!
    She paused, afraid to go and pick it up.
Was it Michael? Had he made his decision? Did she really want to know?
    Then something inside her changed. She ran through and lunged for the handset, just before the answerphone kicked in.
    “Hel-lo?” Her voice seemed small, cautious.
    “Kate?”
    “Yeah, it’s me.”
    It wasn’t him. It was female.
    “Oh, sorry. You sounded different… It’s Mel. I just wondered if you wanted me to fetch Em from nursery. She can come back for the afternoon with us, have a bit of lunch and play with Jack.”
    “Umn, okay, maybe…” Kate’s voice trailed.
    “Kate, I’ve been a bit worried about you. You didn’t seem yourself this morning. Is everything alright?”
    “Yeah, yeah, fine,” she rallied.
    “Sure?”
    God! Was she that transparent?
    “Well, I had a pig of a headache last night. Still feel a bit jaded from it, that’s all.” And so she kept it all in.
    “Oh, you poor thing. Well, that settles it. I’ll definitely have Emily and you can get a few hours’ rest. Then I can pick up Charlotte from school for you when I go to fetch Rebecca and bring your two home.”
    “Are you sure? Well, that’d be great.” Though she’d now have an expanse of afternoon to fill. But she might get the chance to speak with Michael properly if he rang, maybe ask him to come home, talk things over.
    “It’s fine. It’ll keep Jack amused. You’d be doing me a favour, honest.”
    “Thanks, Mel.” Kate was lifted by a warm feeling inside. She pictured her friend’s face, her smile and those deep-brown eyes, the colour of kindness. “Okay, I’ll ring the nursery and the school. Just to let them know it’ll be you collecting them, not me. And thanks… thanks so much.” She tried to keep a grip on her faltering tone.
    “No worries. I’ll see you later.”
    “See you later.”
    So, she had hours to fill. Well, enough sitting about and moping! That wasn’t going to change anything, was it? She’d take the phone out to the back step, get her old wellies and gardening coat on and get outside. Prune some dead wood, tidy the borders. The wind whipped at her face, but the sun was warm, the colours of the garden bright, those rich trumpets of yellow daffodils and tulips in red and pink. She dug, trimmed and tidied. A blackbird eyed her with curiosity as she worked, then cheekily moved in to pick at worms from the turned earth. The grass would need cutting soon; Michael always did that.
    Michael. Their story. There was a faint smile on her face as she remembered meeting him that very first time. In that bar in Morpeth. She had heard him chatting. He was in with some work colleagues. She was back from university for the summer. And she knew straight away that this was someone special. That he was different. Significant, somehow. She kept stealing glances at him, couldn’t resist, nodding along yet totally zoned out to the conversation with her girlfriends, catching instead the warm lilting tones as he spoke. And then, amazingly, he was there beside her, offering to buy her a drink, with his broad grin aimed right at her, his smiling blue eyes taking her in. He had a gorgeous smile.
    “I haven’t seen you in here before, have I?”
    She shook her head, feeling strangely shy. She certainly wouldn’t have forgotten meeting someone like
him
before.
    “Hmm,” a cheeky glimmer of a grin played over his lips. “If I had seen you, I would have definitely remembered.”
    The spark was ignited. They chatted for ages – about uni, his work, favourite bands, their ambitions, backgrounds – they both lived nearby: Kate’s parents in Morpeth, his in Alnwick, though he was currently working in Newcastle. It was as if