Swallowing hard, Cassie held the bottle of bleach high, hesitated for a heartbeat, and then upended it. She couldn’t wash away the sins of her husband, but the mattress would be germ-free at least. She swiped at a tear from her cheek and turned to the wardrobe, where Adam’s shirts hung. Resisting the urge to press her face to them, breathe in the scent of crisp clean cotton suffused with his citrusy aftershave, she tugged them from the hangers. The majority of them had been selected by her, ironed by her.
His suits too? she wondered. Yes, she decided, piling as many as she could over her arms and making her way downstairs. If he was leaving, he could go with all that he’d left her: nothing.
Her step faltered, her heart stalling as she recognised Adam’s silhouette through the glass in the front door. ‘You’re home early,’ she commented, gliding her eyes over him as he let himself in, and then carrying on to the kitchen. He was looking very pale, she noticed. And just the tiniest bit nervous. Now why would that be?
‘Cassie? What are you doing?’ she heard him ask worriedly.
She ignored him. She really didn’t think it was he who should be asking the questions.
Heading into the garden to drop his clothes on the fire, she gathered he’d got the gist when she heard him gasp, ‘What in God’s name…?’
Still she ignored him, turning instead to go back to the house. His face was white almost to the point of grey as he stepped aside, allowing her into the kitchen – wisely.
‘Cassie, what are you doing?’ he repeated, plainly shaken.
‘Just obsessing,’ she answered him blithely, squeezing her tears back.
‘You’ve burned my clothes?’ he asked incredulously as he followed her.
‘And the duvet and the sheets,’ she confirmed, concentrating her attention on dragging the bin from under the work surface. Checking the contents, she pulled the inner bin out and carried it to the hall.
‘Why?’ he said, astounded.
‘Good question.’ Pausing, Cassie frowned. ‘To vent my emotions, I suppose,’ she said, wiping her perspiring brow as she climbed the stairs, dragging the bin behind her.
Once in the bedroom, she surveyed the bleached mattress with bittersweet regret, then picked the bin up and upended the contents onto the carpet.
‘Cassie! For fuck’s sake!’ Adam grabbed her arm as she plonked the bin back down. ‘What are youdoing?’
‘Currently?’ Her anger unfurling dangerously inside her, Cassie locked her eyes hard on his. ‘Contemplating sinking my teeth into your hand if you don’t let go of me.’
A slow swallow sliding down his throat, Adam hesitated for a second, then heeded her warning.
‘Thank you.’ She headed back to the door, the empty bin in tow.
It took Adam a moment to come after her. ‘What’s happened?’ he asked, his voice tight.
‘Apart from me coming home to find you’d fucked that manipulative little slut in our bed, nothing much,’ she said lightly, walking into the kitchen to reassemble the bin. Her heart was pounding, the tears brimming. Still she tried to hold on. ‘Oh, I got some shopping on the way back.’
Adam shook his head as she looked at him, his expression a mixture of bewilderment and fear. ‘I didwhat?’
‘I think you heard,’ Cassie said, her hands shaking as she pulled open the kitchen cupboards to survey the contents.
‘Jesus Christ, Cassie. Are you serious?’
‘Deadly,’ she assured him, dropping a plate on the floor, closely followed by another.
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ Adam shouted. ‘I haven’t evensleptin the bloody bed! I’ve been sleeping on the couch, for Christ’s sake.’
‘Unfortunately, I left it in the boot of the car.’ Contempt rising like bile in her throat, Cassie followed the plates with a tumbler, sending a thousand slivers of glass shooting across the floor. ‘The shopping,’ she clarified. ‘I do hope it’s not too warm for it in there. I got fish for dinner, by the way. Sea bass.’
Bending down, she examined a chip in one of the ceramic floor tiles, and then straightened up with an indifferent shrug and headed to the utility room, leaving Adam staring stupefied after her.
He approached her with caution as she retrieved the vacuum cleaner from the cupboard. ‘You’re scaring me, Cassie,’ he said, backing away again as she wheeled it towards him.
‘Really?’ She widened her eyes in mock surprise. ‘Good.’ She trundled it on, through the hall to the lounge. She’d almost added,Be scared. Be very scared, but fancied that might have been a touch overly dramatic.
‘I have no idea what’s going on, Cassie. None whatsoever,’ Adam said shakily as she extracted the dust chamber from the vacuum. ‘Please stop this. Just calm down and—’
