Chapter 1
ONE
KARA
Engaged in conversation with one of the other guests, I don’t realise Mark is standing behind me until he speaks. ‘Sorry to interrupt. Do you think I could have a moment of my wife’s time… if it’s not too inconvenient?’ he asks.
I note the sarcasm in his tone and feel immediately embarrassed for Jack, the builder we’d employed to do some work for us. ‘I should get back to my wife,’ he says awkwardly. ‘She’s probably wondering where I’ve got to.’
‘Undoubtedly,’ Mark retorts flatly.
As Jack heads off, giving Mark a smile, which goes unreciprocated, I turn to my husband. ‘That was a bit rude, wasn’t it?’ I ask, wondering what’s got into him.
‘Sorry, I’m sure,’ he responds moodily. ‘It’s just that Kai’s awake. You do remember him, don’t you? Our son?’
I look at him in bemusement as he points a finger towards the ceiling, going slightly cross-eyed as he does.
I gather he’s had more to drink than he should, but really?
Sighing, I head across the lounge, indicating to Jemma – whose house party my husband might just be in danger of ruining – then hurry up the stairs to her spare room.
Finding Kai has indeed woken up and is looking a little fretful, I ease back the duvet and lift him off the bed. ‘Come on, little man.’ Setting him on his feet, I take hold of his hand. ‘Let’s go home and tuck you up in your own bed, shall we?’
Kai nods sleepily. ‘Want Louie,’ he murmurs. He’s missing his Jellycat cuddle toy, I realise, quietly reprimanding myself for not remembering to bring it with us.
After helping him down the stairs, I meet Jemma in the hall. ‘You’re leaving already?’ she asks, looking disappointed.
‘My husband’s a little the worse for wear.’ I nod towards where he’s collecting the wrong jacket from the coat pegs and then widen my eyes in Jemma’s direction as a woman’s shrill and rather over-boisterous laughter erupts from the kitchen.
‘Jack’s wife,’ Jemma provides, raising her eyebrows as we walk to the door. ‘The life and soul of the party.’
Not pining too badly for Jack then, I surmise.
From Jemma’s comment, and also aware that the woman has been flitting about chatting animatedly for most of the evening, I assume she’s a bit of a party animal.
Jack didn’t seem to mind, though. He’d smiled and rolled his eyes in faux despair when she’d spilled her drink – white wine, fortunately – but he certainly hadn’t appeared jealous.
Leaving my own husband to his missing jacket conundrum, I head on out.
‘Are you sure you’re okay to drive?’ Jemma asks, joining me as I wait for Mark on the front path.
‘I’m fine,’ I assure her. ‘I’ve only had one glass of wine and that was ages ago.’
‘Can we go home now, Mummy?’ Kai asks, tugging on my hand. I really shouldn’t have brought him tonight, but the babysitter had let me down and I’d promised Jemma faithfully I would be at her housewarming party.
Having finally located his jacket, my husband steps out, almost stumbling down the step as he does. ‘Kara’s the sensible one. Watches her alcohol intake,’ he imparts, righting himself on the path.
‘Good job someone does,’ Jemma says as he weaves his way onwards to the car. ‘Call me tomorrow,’ she adds, attempting to give Kai a kiss on the cheek, but he only turns away to burrow his face tiredly into me.
‘I will,’ I promise. ‘Good luck with everything.’
‘You too.’ She threads an arm around me and gives my shoulders a squeeze. ‘And don’t forget to let me know as soon as you sell the barn conversion.’ She nods in the direction of the barn Mark and I have renovated for sale just down the lane. ‘I’ll need the lowdown on our new neighbours.’
‘I’ll make sure to,’ I assure her, and turn to follow Mark, who’s pointing the key fob at the wrong car.
‘Mark, ours is two behind.’ I sigh again, and bend to pick Kai up.
‘Here, let me.’ I hear a voice behind me. Jack, I realise.
‘Thanks.’ I give him a smile as he relieves me of Kai and heads towards my car, which, thankfully, my husband has found his way to.
Mark’s gaze is frosty, I notice, as Jack reaches him. ‘Cheers. I’ll take it from here,’ he says, holding out his arms for Kai.
‘I’ve got him.’ Jack exchanges a concerned glance with me. ‘Why don’t you open the door and I’ll strap the little guy in.’
Mark obliges – reluctantly, judging by his grumpy expression.
Once Kai is safely strapped into his seat, I give Jack another grateful smile. ‘Thanks, Jack. That’s really kind of you.’
‘Any time,’ he assures me, his eyes lingering on me for a moment before heading back towards Jemma’s house.
‘Regular white knight, isn’t he?’ Mark mutters as I climb in the driver’s side.
‘Could you close your door, Mark, please?’ I nod towards it and reach to help him with the seat belt he’s fumbling to fasten.
Looking as if he’d forgotten there was a door, he obliges, and I start the car, trying not to mind that he’s over-imbibed.
With the barn conversion finally completed, we’re supposed to be celebrating too.
We’d hit a few snags along the way, but with Jack’s help, we got there.
It’s a stunning property now, a real roses-around-the-door rural retreat.
Originally an eighteenth-century building, purchased for a snip of its current valuation, it’s going to make us a fair profit.
I almost wish we didn’t have to sell it, though, and that we could move into it ourselves, especially now that Jemma and I have become friends.
As I drive towards the motorway back to Worcester, I contemplate the feasibility of moving here – having been buying and selling on for a while, we’re not exactly strapped for cash.
It would mean taking a loss, but it would be worth it, I think.
Our forever home, I muse, wondering whether to mention it to Mark in the morning.
‘Are we nearly there, Mummy?’ Kai asks, now sounding miserable. He’s overtired, poor mite, rubbing his eyes, I note in the rear-view mirror. ‘We’ll be home soon, sweetheart,’ I tell him. ‘Louie will be tucked up all warm in your bed waiting for you, don’t worry.’
‘We should have organised a babysitter,’ Mark says, as if this thought hadn’t occurred to me.
‘I tried. She had a family emergency,’ I remind him. ‘He’s just fractious because he’s tired.’
‘He’s probably picking up on the vibes.’ Mark sighs.
I frown in confusion. ‘What vibes?’
He answers with a shrug, and I don’t push it. If there’s one lesson I learned in childhood, thanks to my father’s propensity to imbibe too much, it’s never to get into an argument with someone who’s been drinking.
I’m turning onto the motorway when he asks, ‘Are we good, Kara?’
Taken aback, I glance at him curiously. ‘Of course. Why?’ It’s true I’ve been exhausted since we started our business renovating properties – flipping properties, I suppose, which some people might frown on.
Old properties are Mark’s passion, though.
He’s always adamant about not over-modernising and ripping the heart out of a house.
And with my background in interior design, it makes sense.
It’s a risky business, with high rewards and high risks financially, but we’ve been successful.
It’s also damn hard work. Throw parenthood into the mix and I wonder how I stay sane sometimes.
I’ve probably been a bit snappish while performing juggling acts lately, but we are good together.
Still in love with each other. At least I am with him, very much.
So what’s this all about? His moodiness and his drinking, something he doesn’t do often but which he knows, because of my childhood, greatly concerns me.
‘So you’re not going to run off with the good-looking builder then?’ he asks.
I baulk. ‘Mark, what on earth are you talking about?’
He shrugs. ‘Well, you did spend all night talking to the bloke. And he is good-looking, as far as I can judge good looks in a man.’
I laugh in astonishment. ‘I did not.’
‘That’s not how it seemed from where I was standing… on the sidelines. I might as well have not been in the room,’ he replies despondently.
I flick my gaze towards him, noting how he’s slumped in his seat. He’s serious, isn’t he? He’s actually jealous. ‘Oh for goodness’ sake, Mark, we were just talking.’
‘Scintillating conversationalist as well, is he?’ Mark mumbles sullenly.
I emit another heavy sigh. I’m beginning to feel a bit peeved now. Also guilty. Was I really paying the man too much attention?
‘It looked to me like you were enraptured by his obvious charms,’ Mark goes on.
‘Enraptured?’ I glance at him in bemusement. We were talking about the work Jack has done on the barn conversion. About his daughter, and the cruise he and his wife are about to go on.
‘As if you had eyes only for him,’ Mark adds. ‘You didn’t notice me, at any rate.’
I shake my head wearily. This is obviously the alcohol talking.
Mark isn’t the world’s greatest conversationalist, because he’s inherently shy – which is actually quite endearing – so I get why his feathers are ruffled, but I could do without this while on a stretch of the motorway with no overhead lights.
‘Could we not do this now, Mark?’ I ask. ‘I need to concentrate.’
‘Do what?’ he asks, now sounding hurt.
‘You’ve drunk way too much,’ I point out. ‘You’re getting this totally out of proportion.’
‘Right. His wife was too, I suppose,’ Mark responds, seeming to be spoiling for a fight. ‘I don’t think she was overly impressed with you flirting with her husband.’
‘What?’ Staggered by that comment, I shoot him a worried glance. ‘Why would she think that? Did she say something?’ I’m horrified at the thought that she might really have imagined I was flirting with Jack.
He shrugs again. ‘Just that all the bored wives make a beeline for him at social events.’
‘What?’ I stare at him, both flabbergasted and furious. ‘I did nothing of the sort. We talked, that was all. In fact, it sounds to me like it was you and his wife who were having the cosy tête-à-tête.’ I glance from him to the rear-view mirror, where Kai is beginning to look utterly miserable.
‘No we weren’t,’ Mark denies. ‘She just pointed out that— For Christ’s sake, Kara! Watch out!’
There’s nothing to see but the blinding high beams of headlights stabbing the mist as the truck hurtles towards us. No time to scream. No time to react as it hits us.