Conviction(23)

I wake to a cold empty space on my husband’s side of the bed. I wasn’t a particularly heavy sleeper, so it always amazed me how he was able to slip out of bed and get ready for golf without waking me.

I stare up at the white ceiling of my bedroom and let out a long breath while contemplating the day ahead. After spending so many years working Saturdays, Soph and I had decided that the business was doing well enough that we could now afford to take the weekends off. We would still go in if there was something big, like a wedding happening, but other than that we stayed away from the salons on Saturdays.

Despite me now being home, Marcus had never diverted from his usual plans and still spent most of his weekends on the golf course. This left me to my own devices most Saturdays and quite often on a Sunday too. I didn’t mind. It didn’t matter if my husband was home or not, I felt lonely regardless.

I look across at the clock and am surprised to see it’s already after nine. I sit up and prop my back against the pillows and check my phone. Scrolling through my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, I check my personal and business emails. There’s nothing very exciting happening in my online world, so I climb out of bed and head to the kitchen, almost falling over my dog Duchess as I step out of my bedroom door.

“What are you doing up here, Duch?” I bend down and scratch behind her ears. I love my dog, but I don’t love my house smelling of dog, so the rule is that she’s only allowed as far as the kitchen. She’s outside most of the day so this isn’t a problem, but she sleeps in the kitchen, dining area at night so the doors are always kept shut to stop her from wandering all over the house. Marcus obviously forgot to close the doors behind him this morning.

Duchess looks up at me with her big brown eyes. She’s a very intelligent dog, and I’m pretty sure she knows full well that she shouldn’t be up here.

“Come on then, let’s get you some breakfast.” She wags her tail and then follows me downstairs. I open the back doors to a bright sunny morning and fill her bowl with a couple of scoops of dry food. Shutting the door behind me, I head back to the kitchen and make a coffee.

After I’ve had my caffeine fix and a muesli bar, I throw on my workout gear and take Duchess with me for a brisk walk around the park. It’s after twelve once we get home. I shower, pull on a pair of shorts and a bikini top, pour myself a large glass of wine and lay out on a sun lounger in the garden. It’s late May and a beautiful, early summer’s day. I switch between reading a book on my Kindle, throwing the ball for Duchess to fetch and snoozing. Only getting up to top up my wine glass and to find a bag of crisps to munch on. I should really make myself something a little bit more substantial to eat, but I’m feeling lazy and my liquid lunch has made me feel sleepy. I start when my phone vibrates and chimes with a text message from Sophie.



Watcha doooooin????



I smile down at my phone as I read her message. Not that it’s funny, it’s just that it’s from Soph and I can’t help but smile when I think of her. She’s my best friend and business partner and I love the bones of the girl. She was spending the day shopping with her mum today. She’d invited me to join them, but the idea of trawling around a shopping centre on my day off held absolutely no appeal to me, so I declined. Enjoying a day to myself in the sunshine instead.



Me: Well, I was enjoying a snooze in the sunshine, but some inconsiderate arsehole sent me a text and woke me up :( Why what you doooooin???

Sophie: Well, that sucks sweaty balls, you shoulda gave them a bollocking!

Me: Pointless, they’re too ignorant to care!

Sophie: Oh, harsh.

Me: Yeah, but totally necessary.



I await her further response but get nothing for a few minutes so I close my eyes and nod back off to sleep. I almost take off, God only knows how much time later when my phone actually rings.

It’s Soph, but before I can complain about her waking me up again she simply says, “Babe, do you have the telly on?”

I sit up on my lounger, goose bumps breaking out on my skin despite the late afternoon sun still beating down on me.

“No, I’m still in the garden, I’ve not even had my music on today.”

She doesn’t reply and my stomach rolls over and in on itself. I’ve absolutely no idea why, but my heart starts to pound in my chest so hard that I can feel my blood pumping strongly through the veins in my neck.

“Soph?” If my screen wasn’t telling me that the call was still active, I would’ve thought she’d hung up.

“Babe, I’m on my way over. I’ll be there in literally five minutes. Just stay where you are. Stay in the garden.”

“Soph, you’re freaking me the f*ck out. What’s wrong?” I get up and head inside, going straight into the lounge and switching on the television. It turns on tuned to the weather channel. Typical Marcus, checking to see the forecast, making sure his day of golf won’t be spoilt by rain.

“I’ve put the telly on. What am I looking for?”

“Neen… please… turn it off and just wait for me to get there. Please Neen, I’m not f*cking about. Turn off the telly. I’m just rounding the corner into your street. I’m less than a minute away.”

I turn the telly off and go and open the front door, but head straight back to the lounge. As soon as I hear Sophie come through the door, I turn the television back on and switch it to a news channel. There’s a reporter talking into a camera from in front of a hotel. I’ve no idea where in the world it is as I look more at the picture than listening to what’s being reported.