Ginny set to work. The machine buzzed as she pushed it up and down her face. She took a bath, washed her hair and curled her ponytail. She applied coatings of peachy gel under her eyes, and she still felt dreadful. She ordered herself not to chase Adrian again; he would have to call her.
When her phone eventually rang at lunchtime, Ginny snatched it up, only to see Phoebe’s name flash on the screen.
“Hey, Mum,” her daughter said. “How’s things? Got any anniversary plans yet?”
Ginny sat on her bed and hung her head. Phoebe sounded cheerful, so she probably didn’t know about the Miss Peach incident, or that her father had left last night. Ginny usually advocated honesty, but didn’t want to worry her daughter, especially during her wedding plans.
“Oh, hi, darling. All’s great, thanks. We’re thinking about escaping to Italy for a nice break, if your dad can get the time off work. The hotel is like a white castle,” she said. Before her daughter could ask anything, Ginny quickly swerved the conversation. “How are all your wedding plans going?”
Phoebe exaggerated a sigh. “Okay, Isuppose. Pete’s mum only wants to invite hisentirefamily to the wedding. It’ll be like Glastonbury! We need new carpets for our home, not buckets of champagne for his long-lost relatives. They’re also pushing us to honeymoon in Barbados, like they did. It all feels too much.”
Ginny could empathize. There was pressure these days for weddings to be nothing less than epic. Fortunately, Phoebe had inherited Adrian’s sensible, levelheaded genes alongside Ginny’s caring DNA. Phoebe’s job as an accountant for an animal rescue charity suited her.
Recalling Adrian’s mention of divorce, she swallowed away a lump in her throat. They were both supposed to be role models for their daughter. “Is it somewhere you’d like to go?” she asked.
“Yeah, who wouldn’t? We don’t have the cash though.”
Ginny chewed her lip when she thought about the holiday she’d booked. She supposed she had acted impulsively. The money could have helped Phoebe out instead.
“Anyway, Pete wants Dad’s advice on a car or something,” Phoebe said. “Is he there?”
“Oh, um, not at the moment.” Ginny’s voice cracked a little. “He’s gone out for a while...”
“What time will he be back? We’ll pop over.”
“I’m not exactly sure. He’s really busy at the moment.”
“Oh...right.”
Ginny heard the house phone ringing downstairs. Could Adrian be calling her? Perhaps they could sort things out before they saw their daughter. She ran downstairs with her mobile clamped to her ear. When she saw her husband’s number on the screen, her breath quickened.
“Are you out jogging or something?” Phoebe laughed.
Ginny hated to cut her off, but shehadto pick up Adrian’s call in case he vanished again. “I’m sorry, darling, I have to go. Love you lots, bye.” She hung up and snatched up the house phone. “Adrian. Where are you? I’ve been worried sick.”
“I’m fine, at Dave’s house,” he said glumly.
Ginny paced around, needing to keep moving. She circled the living room and then the kitchen. “I understand if you need some time out. It’s good you recognize that. Why not come home and let’s talk things through?” She didn’t want to use their daughter as a trump card, but it slipped out. “We don’t want to worry Phoebe.”
She added silently, in her head,Don’t you remember, how we both cried when we saw the two blue lines on the pregnancy strip and how you came with me for all the hospital scans?
“Ginny.” The tone of his voice saidstop. “I’ve been unhappy for some time and I think you have, too. We both need time to think about what we really want in life.”
She continued patrolling the house and found herself in his home office. Adrian had left his MacBook behind, a good sign. “I know what I want and it’s you,” she said. “Are you coming home?”
“Not yet.”
Yet. She clung onto the word like it was a rope ladder dangling from an air ambulance while she was drowning at sea. She hated feeling so helpless.
“I’mnotgoing on holiday with you,” he said firmly. “You have to cancel it. It must have cost a fortune. What’s the cancelation policy?”
She sank into his office chair. How could he sound so glacial? “I don’t know. There was no need to check at the time.”
“We need that money for other things. I can stay with Dave and Linda for a short time, then I’ll need to find somewhere to rent.”
Ginny felt like an earthquake was shaking her home and she screwed her eyes shut. With the threat of Adrian losing his job, canceling was the best option. She didn’t even want to think about him living elsewhere. “I’ll check it now. There might be a cancelation fee.”
She wondered if she could access the travel website on her phone without cutting him off the call.
