‘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 ofJenna’sfamily. It wasn’tright.
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.
20
Sam was all sympathy and understanding when Jenna turned up for work, but she quickly told him that was the last thing she needed.
‘I just want to get on with things,’ she explained. ‘Take my mind off it all. I’m hoping it’s really busy tonight.’
‘Well,’ he said, immediately taking his cue from her and becoming brisk and businesslike, ‘you’re in luck then, because Callum’s rung in sick so you’ll be waitressing. Is that all right?’
‘Perfect,’ she said. An evening rushing backwards and forwards between the bar and the kitchen would do the trick. With Kenny issuing demands and orders rolling in, there’d be no opportunity to wallow or wonder. It couldn’t have worked out better, although she hoped Callum was okay.
The pub was heaving. It was Friday night, and many of the people who owned caravans at Tide’s Reach had turned up in Kelsea Sands for the weekend. Although there was a clubhouse on the site, there had been general rumblings lately that the site’s owner, Gavin – Stella’s former husband – had let things go to pot. There’d been no entertainment in place this season, and a distinct lack of atmosphere had sent most of the caravan owners to The North Star in search of livelier surroundings and good food.
It was ironic, Sam told Jenna glumly, that Tide’s Reach was winding down just as the pub had gone up for sale.
‘We should be thinking about putting entertainment on here,’ he said, as they met briefly in the passage outside the kitchen. ‘This place used to have all sorts going on, and the caravan owners are crying out for it. If Dad had been staying…’
But he wasn’t, was he? Jenna gave Sam a sympathetic look and squeezed his arm, before hurrying off to deliver two bowls of strawberry trifle to table twelve.
‘Hiya, Jenna love,’ said a voice over her shoulder after she’d safely served the desserts to eager and thankful customers.
Jenna turned to see Stella standing behind her, smiling a little awkwardly. Jenna smiled back but wondered what Mac’s sister was doing in The North Star alone. Her mum had told her, in confidence, that Stella had developed a bit of a drinking problem, and had been attending AA meetings in town. Jenna hoped she wouldn’t have to police Stella’s actions that evening. She didn’t feel she had the right to tell a grown woman what she could and couldn’t drink and wondered briefly if she should call Mac to warn him.
