Page 85 of Love Me Till Wednesday

‘Because he’s realised the errors of his ways. He wants to get to know his son. And Jim won’t want anything to do with him if he thinks Nick abandoned you. If Nick plays the martyr, you’ll both take pity on him. Meanwhile, I get thrown under a bus. You’ve not fallen for it, have you?’

‘Yes, we both have actually. We believe him.’

‘Lisa, don’t be so naive. Nick’s a world-class actor. Of course he’s believable.’

Which would have been a compelling argument if it wasn’t for the other examples of Mel’s manipulative behaviour.

‘So you never made a pass at Pete either?’ Lisa asked.

‘I beg your pardon.’

Mel looked on edge now. Lisa guessed she’d expected to be quizzed about Nick but no one else. Her brain must be working overtime.

‘When Pete and I were together, I went home for the weekend, and you took him a takeout and threw yourself at him.’

‘Oh, that! He invited me round. He was all over me! I had to make a quick exit before anything happened.’

‘The men in my life seem to have terrible memories as far as you’re concerned. And then there’s Greg.’

‘I wanted to tell you about that, but he begged me not to.’

Lisa was intrigued where this was going. She’d been planning to challenge Mel about how she’d persuaded her to ignore her gut feeling that Greg could be a cheat, but it sounded like something more serious had happened. ‘What’s your version of events?’

‘You’d taken the kids to see your mum for her birthday, and Greg dropped off that dress you gave me for the staff Christmas party.’

Lisa remembered that. It was a red sequinned number she’d loved, but it was too tight after Elise’s birth. She’d been happy to let Mel put it to good use. Greg had reluctantly agreed to take it to Mel’s, so she’d got it in time to wear at the party.

Mel continued. ‘I offered him a drink. We sat and chatted, and then one thing led to another.’

Lisa couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Are you saying that you had sex with my husband?’

‘He said you and he hadn’t been intimate for a while. You’d gone off it after Elise was born.’

‘For a few weeks, maybe. But Elise was one when I gave you that dress. So you took pity on him? Is that what you’re telling me?’

‘I thought it was better he got what he needed from me than some other woman who might want to steal him from you. I was trying to be helpful.’

‘How very generous of you.’ Lisa sat back in the chair. It sounded like it wasn’t a one-off. ‘How many times did this happen?’

‘Only a few times a year.’

‘A few times a year?’ Lisa was astounded. ’For how long?’

‘Until he hooked up with Isabella.’

Lisa did the maths. It started when Elise was one, and she was fourteen when Greg walked out.

‘You were my husband’s mistress for nearly thirteen years?’

‘She was doing what?’ Nick asked. Lisa had FaceTimed him so she could see whether he was as flabbergasted by Mel’s revelation as she was.

‘Screwing my husband. Well, ex-husband now, obviously.’

‘And she justified it by saying it stopped him running off with someone else?’

‘Yes, though it wasn’t that effective a strategy as he ran off with Isabella eventually. It explains why she was so upset when he left me.’

‘What a shame. My heart bleeds for her. Hang on, didn’t you say she used to be married?’

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