Page 37 of Happy Days Ahead in the Cornish Village

Megan inserted her credit card and watched as the card reader flashed up with the word ‘declined’ once again. She frowned.

‘I’m sorry, it looks as though that one’s been declined as well.’ Tracey tilted her head. ‘Do you have another you could try?’

‘I do.’ What was going on? ‘Ah, here we go. This one is with a different bank, so should work.’ Megan pushed a different credit card into the machine and picked up the discarded cards. ‘I’ll have to give the bank a call and see what’s going on.’

‘Good idea.’ Tracey smiled sympathetically before her shoulders drooped. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, that payment isn’t going through either.’

Taking the card back, Megan turned it over in her hand. ‘Could it be a problem with your card reader, or the signal or something?’

‘I’m afraid not, no. I’ve only just taken payment from someone else with this card reader.’

‘Oh, right.’ Megan slipped her cards back into her purse. ‘They’re with different banks though, they can’t all have something wrong with the magnetic strip or something.’

Tracey shrugged her shoulders. ‘It might be where you’ve been keeping them, maybe? They used to say not to keep your bank cards next to your mobile, didn’t they? I don’t know if that’s still the case, but…’

Megan nodded. She kept her cards in a separate purse, though, not in the back of her phone case or anything. Admittedly, she used to when she went on a run on a Sunday morning, but she hadn’t done that since she’d left Lyle, and her cards had been working perfectly fine up until today.

‘Before you start panicking, why don’t you give your banks a call? I’m sure there’s a logical explanation.’ Tracey stood up. ‘You can use the office. I need to pop and check something with Layla on the front desk, anyway.’

Megan gave her thanks and watched as Tracey left the room.

Yes, she’d ring the bank. Or banks. That was the thing though, if it had just been her debit and credit card with her high street bank then that would make sense but her other credit card was completely separate. Lyle had taken it out with a different bank entirely to take advantage of the better interest rate.

Megan leaned back in her chair, her shoulders slumping. It had just hit her. She knew why this was happening.

Of course, Lyle. This stunt had Lyle written all over it. He’d cut her off.

She swallowed as bile rose to her mouth. He couldn’t do that, though. Not legally. Surely? Taking her mobile from her handbag, she scrolled through to his name and stabbed the Call button, straightening her back, the fingers of her free hand tapping against the wooden desktop.

It rang once. It rang twice. She waited until it had rung ten times before pulling her phone away from her ear, ready to end the call.

‘Megan. What a surprise to hear from you.’

She cringed at Lyle’s voice, which sounded much smarmier than usual. ‘Lyle. Have you closed our bank accounts?’

‘Good morning to you too, Megan. I’m just fine, thank you. How are you?’

He had. She could hear the smugness in his voice. ‘Have you?’

‘Straight into the inquisition, I see. And to answer you bluntly, yes, I have. Although I’ve not exactly closed them, I’ve merely taken your name off of them.’

She breathed out forcefully, her nostrils flaring. ‘You can’t do that.’

‘Oh, but I can. And I have.’

‘Lyle, you can’t just cut me off like that. That money is mine too.’

‘Is it though? I think you’ll find I was the one with the business, I was the one who worked throughout our marriage, and I was the one who earned the money.’ His voice was clipped and short.

She gripped the phone tighter in her hand. ‘You didn’t want me to work. You wanted me at home, to look after the house. I quit work because of you.’

‘Umm, I wonder if that argument will stand up in a court of law?’

‘Of course it will. I looked after the house whilst you looked after the business. We were married, we’re still married, you can’t just cut me off like this, I legally own half of everything.’

How could he? How could he treat her with such disdain, such indifference? They’d been in love, they’d been happy, once.

‘I think, Megan, my dearest wife, if you cast your mind back, you might just recall signing a prenup.’

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