‘Charlotte, we should get this out in the open now. This . . . silence, it’s juvenile. We should address the situation at hand like adults.’
‘Address the situation at hand? What situation might you be referring to? It appears you’ve been “addressing situations” that are a little beyond your remit recently,’ I hissed. ‘Do you even have a big case on or was that a lie?’
He swallowed hard enough that I could see his Adam’s apple bob up and down, but he didn’t speak. I huffed. ‘You don’t even have an excuse!’ I shook my head. ‘That was Sam’s wife! He suspected she was having an affair – not with you, mind. The poor man has been out of his mind with worry.’
‘You’ve just caught me cheating and you’re bothered about Sam?’
I glared at him. ‘I’m not the type to wallow in self-pity. You know that. Sam will be distraught, but you don’t care about him, either of you – you’re just out for yourselves. No wonder you were too tired to try for a baby. You disgust me!’ I barricaded my tear ducts with a force I didn’t know I had. James would not see me cry.
‘There it is,’ he said, almost smugly, as though my anger would in some way be a step towards putting this little hiccup behind us.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure how to react. I’d seen movie reactions and I’d read books about scorned lovers, but my instinct wasn’t to throw plates or slap him across the face. I didn’t know how to react because I felt numb. Was it even real?
‘I can’t deal with you right now. Why don’t you go and call your mother back? Tell her what you’ve been up to,’ I said with a sideward glance, before heading up to the master suite and locking the door.
As I lay on the bed, my stomach was still knotted. Perhaps I’d known all along, subconsciously or something. Or perhaps it was the prospect of telling Sam about my discovery. I needed someone to talk to. Usually, that would be Kate or James, or more recently, Megan. Since Kate was still on her romantic break in Paris, I had no choice. I pressed Megan’s name on my phone’s screen and let it ring. With each ring that went unanswered, I thought about hanging up. Megan wouldn’t care about James’s cheating – she’d probably think I deserved it. But I convinced myself she’d want to know for Sam’s sake and that’s what stopped me cancelling the call.
‘What is it, Charlotte?’ she answered wearily, but at least she’d answered.
‘Megan, I don’t know where to start.’
‘How about starting with an explanation. Why did you lie to me?’
I didn’t even know. All I knew was that at the time, I’d genuinely thought it was the right thing to do. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I whispered, before managing to find some strength in my voice. ‘I thought it was better to find out for yourself because I thought it would save you the embarrassment of others knowing your business and give you the chance to process it all and tell people when you were ready.’
‘Or you could have saved me from seeing them together. You could have prevented that pain by letting me down gently.’
‘I know.’ My whisper of a voice faltered. She was right. There was no way I’d be able to shake the image of Samantha’s naked body from my mind for a while.
‘Charlotte? Is everything okay?’ Megan had softened her tone and her kindness was too much. I heaved out a huge sob. ‘Charlotte, talk to me.’
‘James,’ was all I could say past the lump in my throat. ‘And Samantha.’
Megan gasped. ‘What? What about James and Samantha?’
I drew a deep breath to avoid having another panic attack. ‘I saw them. In his office – she was naked. So yes, I know how you feel, and yes, I know it was wrong of me to set up the whole hotel thing.’
‘Oh my God, Charlotte, I’m so sorry. I’m coming over.’
‘No! He’s still here, downstairs, awaiting a conversation, so I’ve barricaded myself in the bedroom until I’ve decided what to do. I just can’t face him yet.’
‘Well just leave, sneak out if you have to?’ she said. ‘You can’t sit there on your own all upset. You need a friend,’ she sighed. A friend. I did need a friend. I’d always needed a friend.
‘And we need to tell Sam,’ she added. That wasn’t going to be easy and I couldn’t let her do it alone.
‘Well, I suppose I could, but it would be a bit ridiculous to sneak out, don’t you think?’
‘No more ridiculous than stalking Samantha, or setting up a fake charity raffle, or locking yourse—’
‘Okay, okay, I get the picture. I’m on my way.’
Spurred on by my new focus, I slipped on an old black, Juicy velour tracksuit that had somehow escaped the charity bags and auctions over the years and tied my hair back before walking over to the window. It was an easy climb – in fact, it was our planned fire-escape route for that very reason. The window opened wide enough to climb through legs first, which was a bonus, and a small drop from the outer windowsill would put me onto the heavy stone border of the glass orangery roof. It was about a foot wide and didn’t require any particular balancing finesse. From there, I’d be able to hop down onto the wooden patio table and voila – I’d be free, leaving James to stew.
Before slipping out, I tugged at the waistband of my jogging bottoms, which had become uncomfortably snug. I’d noticed that a few things had recently but I hadn’t
