11 #4
Jerome climbed the stairs and walked past Liz’s room.
It had been their room but over the last six months, Jerome had slowly moved into the spare room.
At first it had been because of his unsociable hours.
He’d come in around two o’clock when he was at Sky and in the beginning, he’d come in as late as five.
This had disturbed Liz’s sleep. He also woke up early, which also bothered her.
So to avoid any arguments, he’d started to sleep in the spare room.
Now Jerome realised it was less to do with the hours he kept and more to do with the fact his marriage was falling apart.
Jerome headed to the end bedroom, which they had converted into an exercise studio.
It was a fully fitted gym, spacious enough for floor exercises.
Over the years, Liz had had various personal trainers who had come out to the house while the children were small.
She still used the studio even though Jerome had set up Level One for her.
He had hoped her obsession with her looks and fitness would have made her take an interest in the business, which would facilitate that.
But it seemed that her interests had lain elsewhere.
Jerome pushed open the door of the studio. The Pilates instructor on the DVD Liz was watching gave out the next instruction and Liz was about to settle into the position, when her eye caught Jerome in the large mirror.
“Hi, you’re home early.” She sat up and hugged her knees.
Jerome paced into the room. “Yes. I felt a little worn out. I’ll finish off the last of my paperwork at home.
” He didn’t want to make it obvious he was keeping tabs on her, but Liz was no fool and she’d purposely made sure she’d been home early today.
He only needed to ask Nina what time she’d come home.
Liz scowled at the thought. She sometimes felt that Nina was his personal spy and not just their babysitter.
“How was your day?” Jerome asked, narrowing his eyes. Liz averted her gaze and rose from where she was sitting.
“It was fun. I did a little shopping, had lunch with some friends, then came home.” She reached for the remote control and paused the DVD, still avoiding his eyes.
“Which friends?”
“Um Joanne. You don’t know her.” Liz fumbled with the towel she had next to her.
“You said friends. Who else?” His voice was deceptively soft.
“Did I? My mistake. No one else just Joanne.”
Jerome scowled, then determined not to argue he added. “What do you want to eat tonight? Shall I cook?”
Liz shrugged her slim shoulders, “I was going to just have a salad.” She seemed to compose herself and looked up at him. “But we can eat together, if you like.”
Jerome nodded. “I’ll poach some lemon sole for you, to go with your salad.”
Liz forced a smile and nodded. “Sounds great. Get Nina to bath the kids until I’m done here. I’ll be finished in about an hour.”
“Okay.” He smiled tightly and left the room, slowly closing the door behind him. He paused outside the door still feeling the tension. Something was amiss; he knew Liz too well.
Walking slowly towards the stairs, he hovered outside her room.
The door was slightly ajar and he pushed it open and walked in.
His eyes scanned the room that had once been familiar but now felt alien to him.
It was tidy, as usual, nothing untoward.
Jerome then walked over to her walk-in wardrobe and stepped inside.
It looked pretty much as it always did, apart from that Liz had managed to take over the section that used to house his clothes.
He shook his head and turned to walk out again, when he caught sight of a large bag with Harvey Nichols printed on the side.
He narrowed his eyes and crouched down to pull it out from under Liz’s collection of long coats.
He peered inside. The bag contained a black, grained leather Paul Smith holdall.
It had a brushed stainless steel J hanging from the handle.
It was a fine piece of craftsmanship and Jerome ran his fingers over the handle, then fingered the J.
He pushed it back under the coats and straightened.
Well, maybe she was trying after all, he thought.
She’d really gone all out for his birthday this time.
He stepped back into the bedroom and made his way back downstairs, feeling a little uneasy at his original ungracious thoughts.
Jerome set to work on dinner, deciding he would eat the same as Liz to show that he was being supportive.
He poured himself a second tequila and placed the bottle next to the wheatgrass in the fridge door.
He smirked to himself, knowing full well it would annoy Liz but he had to say he did much prefer it chilled.
He grinned to himself as the image of Dani smiling shyly at him came full force into his head, catching him unawares for a second.
He shook his head and scowled, then took a moment to process what he was feeling.
He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. In the ten years he’d been with Liz, he had never ever looked at another woman, never thought about another woman or ever wanted to be with any other woman, until now.
How much that was credited to the breakdown in his and Liz’s marriage, he still couldn’t assess.
All he knew was that he seemed to be thinking far too much about Dani, when he really had no place to.