Page 49 of Wanting Mr Black

Her eyes travel from my red eyes to the holdall in my hand and then back again as she susses out something’s very wrong.

She gives me a thin smile. “Great then. I hope you’ve packed your passport.”

As the pilot announces we’re currently flying seventy thousand feet somewhere above France, I take a swig of cheap white wine from the plastic cup and wince as the dry alcohol hits the back of my throat.

“I didn’t think I’d be spending my honeymoon like this,” Lucy sighs from the seat beside me.

I didn’t think I’d be spending my evening like this either.

Loving Art is like riding a roller coaster. I never know when the next drop is coming, and I’m not sure I’ve got the stomach for it.

She nudges my elbow and laughs. “Cheer up, Sophie. It’s not that bad. At least you didn’t marry a guy you didn’t even love.”

I know her attempt at humour is masking her true feelings.

“It’s bound to feel strange. You and Mark had been together for years, you got married, and now, all of a sudden, you’re over. Everything’s happened so fast.”

She winds the end of her ponytail around her finger and stares out of the window into the darkness. “It’s sad but the right thing to do. We both agreed. It was all pretty civil, given that he acted like a twat at the wedding. We’ve grown apart. I think we got swept away with the whole wedding thing and didn’t really stop and ask if it was the right thing for us. I think we were scared too. To be with someone for so long and then to be suddenly onyour own again, it’s frightening and weird. It’s not been an easy decision.”

It all sounds very sensible and grown up.

“When are you going to break the news to your parents?”

She grimaces at the prospect, and I don’t envy her having to break the news, especially to Geraldine, who was in such a tizz yesterday.

“We’re going to tell them separately soon. I think I’m going to offer to pay Dad back some of the money he spent.” She takes a slug of wine. “I feel terrible.”

What a nightmare!

“So, are you actually filing for divorce, or will you just separate?”

“Mark’s contacting the solicitors this week. We’re going to look at getting the marriage annulled because we didn’t … well, you know, consummate it.”

From what I recall, the state Mark was in on his wedding night meant he couldn’t have even if he’d wanted to.

“It’s positive that you’ve parted on good terms.”

She casts me a sideways look and hesitates, as if she’s deciding whether to tell me something. “Listen … I’ve got a bit of a confession.”

I take another sip of cheap wine because I think I’m going to need it.

She twists the plastic cup around on the drop-down tray in front of her. “I didn’t say anything to you about this before because I didn’t want you getting the wrong idea and thinking this was the reason why I had second thoughts about the wedding.”

I don’t like the sound of this. “Okay, go on,” I say slowly.

“Before I tell you, I want to be clear, this didn’t have any bearing on my and Mark’s relationship whatsoever. We’d beenon a slippery slope for a long time, and this had only just happened. Well, nothing’s actually happened at all really.”

I briefly close my eyes as a horrid thought strikes me. “Please tell me there’s no one else.”

She wrinkles her nose and ponders my question. “Not really.”

Oh God.

“Either there is or there isn’t.”

“It’s not like that.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “You’ve met someone else.”

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