Page 5 of Textbook Romance

‘I can come home now if something is wrong.’ Lottie’s crying can be about a number of things, anything from a celebrity couple calling it quits to her fighting over bathroom space with her brother, but I can hear Dylan’s low monosyllables in the background. Something’s not right. ‘You’re both safe, yes? Tell me you’re safe. No one’s broken into the house or hurt you? You’re worrying me.’

My volume raises slightly, and Jack stands up, hearing my change in tone, concern etched in his face.

‘We’re both OK. No one’s broken in. It’s just…’ She breaks into a sob again. ‘You told us Dad was away.’

‘He’s at a conference in Glasgow. He’ll be back in two days. Is your dad OK? Did he call?’

‘Then why did Melissa from my class see him in a restaurant in Richmond?’ she blurts out.

‘Why are you telling her on the phone, Lottie?’ I hear Dylan tell her in the background.

‘Who’s Melissa? Maybe it was someone else. Your dad looks like a lot of people. People always says he looks like Gareth Southgate,’ I try and joke.

‘I HATE HIM!’ she screams down the phone.

‘Lottie, calm down! Is this Melissa trying to shit stir? Who is this girl? Your dad is in Glasgow, I spoke to him earlier today.’

‘He’s not in Glasgow,’ she whispers quietly.

And for a moment, I can’t quite breathe. Something in my chest just ceases to move, to work, to beat. ‘Lottie…’

‘She sent me a picture.’

‘A picture? Of your dad?’

‘Yes.’

‘Send me the picture,’ I say, my voice shaking, trying to remain calm. Brian is in Glasgow. I’m certain of it.

‘Lottie, you can’t send her that. Lottie, please…’ I hear Dylan crying. To hear him expressing that emotion kills me. And for a moment, I think about both my children, my babies at home, who’ve been fed some awful misinformation about the two people they’re supposed to love the most in the world and how they’re dealing with this together, on their own. My phone pings and I open the picture, staring at it for a moment.

‘Mum? MUM?’ Lottie shrieks down the phone. I don’t answer. I feel a hand prise the phone out of my hand and my arm falls numb to my side.

‘Hi, Lottie. My name is Jack and I was sitting with your mum at this wedding. I am going to grab an Uber and get her home to you, right away. Can you tell me your address?’

I hear Lottie’s distraught voice on the phone, Jack trying to calm her down, repeating the address back to her.

‘Yeah, leave it with me. You kids take care, OK? I’ve got her.’ He hangs up the phone and looks over at me, his brow furrowed, his blue eyes staring into mine, searching for signs of life. ‘Zoe? Are you OK?’

I can’t quite get the words out. They’re stuck deep inside, my face frozen in shock. There’s emotion that’s aching to come out, but… I can’t. I just can’t.

‘Was that your husband in the photo?’

I nod.

He looks down to the floor, as if he doesn’t quite know what to do. ‘Are you sure?’

I nod again. ‘I know because the woman he was with… I know her, too.’

ONE

Four Months Later

Zoe

‘I know someone who works in a sexual health testing laboratory. I could see if she could get us a vial of crabs and we could give them to him,’ Kate tells me, peering over her glass of wine as we sit in my garden, trying to absorb the last of the late summer’s rays. I would laugh but the thought of a vial full of pubic lice makes me grimace instead.

‘No, you could not. That is so grim. How would I give them to him? Here, Brian – pour these in your pants?’ I say in horror, half-laughing.

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