Interrupting these thoughts, Ivan pointed the remote at the flat-panel, large-screen TV and put an end to Sky Sports. Evidently, the conference was now in session.
Diane jumped in hard to put them off balance. ‘So how long have you known about Gareth finding his father and sister?’
Ivan, having opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and glanced at Melvyn. Diane recognised the look of the Jenner boys getting their stories straight.
But Melvyn wasn’t so easily steered off topic. ‘Gareth’s worried about you, Diane. Driving all that way every day.’
Diane began a snort of derision but, at the same time, she pushed back her hair and caught the unmistakable scent of sex on her hands and the snort emerged as more of an aghast sniff. After several horrified beats, she managed a squeaky, ‘Why?’
Melvyn waved an airy hand. ‘It’s a long way.’
‘There’s petrol,’ added Ivan.
‘And the mileage clocking up. And wear and tear on all your vehicle consumables.’
Diane shifted her mug to a raffia coaster on the coffee table. It was difficult to concentrate on deciphering the subtext of this interview when her heart had just performed a gallop and buck like a naughty pony. The enormity of what she’d done tonight socked her in the head.
After 25 years of – admittedly hillocky – marriage to Gareth, she’d been unfaithful.
And here she was sitting with his brothers ... A cold nausea rolled over her like flu.
She stared at Ivan and Melvyn, who were staring back at her. Discovery seemed imminent, inevitable. Panic grabbed her heart in both hands and tried to stuff it up her throat.
She’d just had sex in the back seat of a car in a public place.
What if she’d been seen? What if someone told Gareth? Or Ivan? Or Melvyn? She’d be –!
She’d be –?
Bearing in mind everything she’d recently discovered, what was the worst that could happen?
She swallowed.If you were discovered?If he divorced you?How would your life be worse?He can hardly prevent you having contact with Bryony – she’s not a child.
She picked up her mug to give her hands something to do. Separation and divorce.
Living without Gareth.
Being alone ... For an instant she knew a feeling of liberation so intense that it made her feel drunk.
In actual fact, discovery didn’t seem too awful a prospect.
For her.
Shit.She put her mug down again before she dropped it.
Two had tangoed. Gareth would be so furious he’d run to Valerie with his tales – OK, not literally, in view of his broken ribs, pelvis, tibia, fibular, etc, but figuratively. And James hadn’t shown any desire to be divorced. There were significant issues with Tamzin’s physical, mental and emotional health and Tamzin freaked out at the merest suggestion of acrimony between her parents. There might be money issues, too, for all she knew. Divorces tended to be expensive for those with money to lose.
He was probably standing under his shower at home right now, washing away the same secretions that she felt bathed in, thinking how much he enjoyed an occasional one-night stand. She doubted very much that he predicted major changes to his marital status.
She swallowed and tried to get a grip on the conversation. ‘What are consumables?’
Melvyn assumed the role of patient adviser. ‘Your tyres and brake pads, your exhaust, everything that wears out and needs replacing. The more miles you do, the sooner you have to replace them.’
‘And that’s what Gareth’s worried about? Me wearing the car out and spending lots of money on petrol? The same car he drove on an almost identical journey every working day?’
‘He’s worried about you wearing yourself out, too,’ Ivan added generously. ‘That’s why he suggested it.’
‘Suggested what?’
