Chapter 19
All week, Jenna had been feeling sick at the thought of the twins going to stay with Joel.
At her lowest moments she tortured herself with pictures of him driving them into the car park of his new home.
She imagined Annette, the tall, blonde and willowy woman she’d seen in the background of his Instagram photos, rushing to greet them as they walked into the flat, a broad smile on her face, a plate of home-baked muffins or cupcakes in her perfectly manicured hand.
She’ll probably be wearing a bloody apron, too, she thought savagely. The ideal wife and stepmother.
Or maybe it wouldn’t be like that at all.
Maybe Annette would greet them sullenly, annoyed that Joel had foisted his offspring on her.
Furious that two boisterous eight-year-olds might mess up her perfect flat.
She might issue orders to them and treat them with contempt, while she sat applying lipstick and pouting into her hand mirror.
That, she thought dismally, would be even worse.
Whatever the rights and wrongs, she didn’t want the girls to feel unwanted or unwelcome.
She just hoped Annette wouldn’t turn out to be too wonderful.
And on the plus side, she’d get to know where Joel was living.
There was no way she was going to let the twins go to stay somewhere that she didn’t know the address of.
She just hoped Joel wouldn’t be too argumentative about that, but you just never knew with him.
I hope he hasn’t got a balcony, she thought, then marvelled at how mean-spirited and petty she’d become. It really wasn’t a good look.
On Friday at five thirty, Joel arrived, having travelled to Kelsea Sands straight from work. He looked tense and although he greeted his daughters with a smile, it wasn’t exactly brimming with warmth.
‘Are you sure this is okay?’ Jenna asked him as they fixed the twins’ high-backed booster seats into his car. ‘Not having second thoughts? Because if there’s a problem—’
‘Why would there be any problem?’ he said irritably. ‘I’ve just come straight from work, that’s all. Nettie’s gone home to get everything ready for movie night.’ As they finished connecting the seats and stood back from the car, he reached over and handed her a piece of paper.
‘What’s this?’
‘Our address. Nettie doesn’t think it right that the girls come to stay with us without you knowing where they’ll be.’
‘That’s… kind of her,’ Jenna mumbled, feeling guilty and rather ashamed that Joel’s girlfriend had been so thoughtful, when Jenna had fully expected to have to demand it from him. She glanced at the address and frowned. ‘Hull? This address is in Hull.’
‘Yes,’ he said impatiently. ‘That’s where we live.’
‘But…’ Jenna shook her head.
‘What? Go on, if you’ve got something to say, just say it.’
‘I thought – someone mentioned – it doesn’t matter. I thought you lived in a flat, that’s all. I heard she had a flat in Corlington.’
Joel gave her a suspicious look. ‘Someone mentioned? Like who?’
‘I-I can’t remember. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.’
She walked round to his side of the car and tucked the piece of paper in her jeans pocket. ‘Thanks. Tell her, thank you.’
Joel hesitated. ‘Look, I know this can’t be easy for you. We’re both very aware of how you must feel about it.’ He eyed her with some curiosity. ‘As a matter of fact, Nettie’s mum lives in a flat in Corlington. Your source must have got mixed up.’
‘Must have done.’ Jenna fought the jealousy that was ripping through her at the thought that Joel had clearly gone to visit Annette’s mother with her. He’d never wanted to visit her mum. She imagined them playing happy families and it made her feel nauseated.
‘Does she know?’ she asked, unable to keep the bitterness from her voice.
‘Does who know what?’ Joel asked, surprised.
‘Does Annette’s mother know that you’re married?
That you and her precious daughter have been having an affair behind my back?
That you walked out on your wife and kids to live with your secretary?
’ She hadn’t meant to say all that, but once she opened her mouth, she couldn’t control the anger. The jealousy.
Joel rolled his eyes. ‘Do you have to be such a bitch?’
‘How do you expect me to be, Joel? You’re my bloody husband! I know you’ve frequently forgotten that and it clearly means nothing to your new girlfriend, but it matters to me!’
‘We’re not going to get anywhere with that attitude,’ Joel said wearily. ‘Look, it’s happened and I’m sorry, but marriages end all the time. People fall for other people. It’s the way it is. Now, can I please collect the twins so we can get on with our lives?’
She could barely see for tears as they headed back into Watersmeet.
She pictured the flat in Corlington and imagined Annette’s mother making Joel welcome, giving him a cup of tea, fussing round him as if he were family.
And he wasn’t her family at all! He was part of Jenna’s family. It wasn’t right.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, all that time when she and Sam had been sitting outside in Sam’s car, they’d been staring at the wrong flat. They’d been miles away from Joel and his girlfriend. She was such an idiot.
The twins hugged her goodbye, clutching their rucksacks packed with clothes, swimming costumes, pyjamas, and all the things they’d need for their one-night stay.
‘I’ll see you tomorrow evening,’ she told them tearfully. ‘Be good girls. If you need me, you only have to call me.’ She glanced up at Joel. ‘You’ll let them call me, won’t you?’
‘Of course. They only have to ask.’ He sighed. ‘They’re only going a few miles up the road, Jenna. They’ll be fine. I’ll look after them.’
‘I’m sure you will.’ But would Annette?
As she waved them off at the gate, Jenna’s mum put her arm around her shoulders. ‘Chin up, love. Although I know this must be really hard for you.’
‘Horrible,’ Jenna admitted. She glanced across the road to The North Star on the corner. ‘Anyway, I’d better get ready for work. That’ll take my mind off things.’
‘And you’ve got lunch with Kendra tomorrow, remember? That’ll give you something to look forward to.’
Kendra had rung her up a couple of days ago to enquire if Jenna fancied meeting her at The Driftwood Hub’s cafe for lunch.
‘Poppy wants to spend the afternoon with Niall’s parents before she goes back to school,’ she’d explained. ‘I thought I could drop her there, then you and I could have a bit of a catch-up for a couple of hours.’
Jenna thought it rather a coincidence that Kendra should choose to have ‘a bit of a catch-up’ on the very day Hallie and Ada were with their father and his girlfriend but nevertheless accepted the invitation.
As her mother said, it gave her something to look forward to and would provide a distraction at a time when she suspected she’d badly need one.
Now she just had to get through tonight, and surely being hard at work at The North Star would stop her from thinking too much about what was happening at that address in Hull.
Her little girls watching a film and eating popcorn with their father and his new love. Some other woman taking her place with her husband and children, as if she’d never existed. Like they’d just lifted her out of the picture and replaced her with a new model.
As tears spilled down her cheeks at the thought of it, Jenna was pretty sure that no matter how busy the shift got tonight, she’d be able to think about nothing else.