He hadn’t realized when he married Emily quite how different things would be compared to his life with Caro – after all, marriage is marriage, right? Wrong. Emily is completely different to Caro, and that comes as something of a relief to him. He knows he didn’t react very well on Christmas Day to the photograph appearing again, and then when Emily showed him the text message on her phone. How can he tell her that the last thing he wants is to get the police involved? The stress he felt when they descended on him after Caro died, the way they looked at him, asking questions about the most intimate parts of his life with Caro. Rupert isn’t sure he could go through that again, and he’s pretty sure that his relationship with Emily would suffer if they had to deal with the police as well. Thankfully, Emily hasn’t mentioned it again, and he’s hoping now that she has the kitten to keep her occupied, it will be enough to shed this (irrational – there, he’s said it) fear that someone is out to get them.
Rupert had spent an hour looking over Caro’s old Facebook photos on their return home after Christmas, telling Emily that he’d had work to do. It’s been a long time since he’s allowed himself to look at Caro’s pictures, guilt punching him in the stomach every time he looks at her, the curve of her jaw, the way her hair falls over one eye. The way she looked the last time he ever set eyes on her. He needed to do it, though, to remind himself that the life he’s making with Emily is the right one. She is what he was looking for, his missing piece after Caro died.
Since they’ve been home from his parents’, the atmosphere has been strained, with both of them on their best behaviour, as if they are roommates, not a married couple. The breathing space that has been afforded to Rupert by his return to work has given him a chance to think about things, and he’s come to a decision. He can’t let things with Emily go the way they did with Caro. By the time Caro died things were far from perfect between them, and he knows that a lot of it was his fault. Emily is his second chance, his chance to put right all the things that went wrong before. Looking down at the notepad on the desk in front of him, he realizes he has doodled a picture in biro of two hands joined together. A sign, surely, that deep down he knows he must make things work with Emily.
Suddenly decisive, he snatches up the phone and dials the home telephone, drumming his fingers impatiently as he waits for Emily to answer. The voicemail kicks in and it gives him a jolt, even now, to hear Emily’s voice on the recorded message instead of Caro’s. ‘Darling, it’s me.’ He pauses a second, wondering what to say for the best. ‘Listen, I know things have been a bit… you know, but I wanted to tell you I am on your side. I’m sorry. I hate arguing with you. Let’s start again from the beginning and forget about all of this, the messages, and the photograph. I’ll come home early tonight, and we can get dinner or something. I love you.’
Rupert keeps his word and – fending off his colleague who wants to see him for ‘five minutes’ in his office before he goes – feigns an urgent appointment as he prepares to close down his computer, bang on five o’clock. He’s just about to leave when his phone buzzes and he scrambles in his pocket for it, thinking that perhaps it is a message from Emily. He hasn’t heard back from her, so he’s assuming she got his message, and all is OK. Either that, or she’s still furious with him and her bags are packed. It isn’t a message from Emily. It is a message request on his Facebook account. Curious, Rupert sinks back down into his office chair, with a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure his boss is nowhere in sight and opens the message.
Sorry for the intrusion. I understand you recently married Emily Beaumont. I would like to meet with you urgently to discuss a few things – it really is in your best interest. Regards, Henry Carpenter.
Henry Carpenter. Rupert isn’t one hundred per cent sure, but he thinks perhaps this might be Emily’s Harry – after all, Harry and Henry are interchangeable, aren’t they? But Emily Beaumont? Emily’s maiden name is Belrose. Rupert has seen her birth certificate, and it definitely doesn’t say Beaumont. He toys with replying for a moment, but he can’t think what to say. He gets up and pushes his office door shut, suddenly convinced that his boss or one of his colleagues will make an appearance and he just needs quiet for a moment so he can think about this. The message is intriguing, but only if it really is for him, and given that he doesn’t know Harry’s surname, and that Emily’s maiden name is wrong, he has to assume it isn’t for him. And, a voice whispers at the back of his mind, Emily is your second chance to get things right, remember? You’re building a new life together, moving on from what happened with Caro. You’re starting over. Be honest with yourself Rupert, you don’t want this message to be for you. Decision made, he brings up
