Page 10 of The Runaway Wives

Dee felt her spirits lift as they walked down the hill to the letting agents. It was so wonderful to be here by the sea, and with Babs too.

‘Thank goodness it’s downhill,’ Babs puffed as they turned the corner into the next street. ‘Mind I don’t fancy the walk back up again. I’m not as fit as I used to be.’

‘Not much further now,’ Dee said, glancing at the shops they passed. Davis & Co, the letting agents, was halfway down the street. What a gorgeous place to work, she thought. A few minutes down the hill and you were at the harbour.

When they walked in a tall, thin woman with a mop of dark hair looked up and smiled. ‘You must be Dee and Babs? Did you get held up in the traffic?’ She held out her hand. ‘I’m Sylvia Davis,’ she announced in an upmarket accent.

Babs caught Dee’s gaze, her eyes twinkling. The woman even sounded a bit like Babs’ satnav, Dee thought, suppressing a smile. ‘Yes. Sorry we’re late, our satnav sent us the wrong way a couple of times. We were also hoping to set out earlier but we kept being distracted.’

‘It’s Dee’s birthday so she had lots of phone calls and messages,’ Babs added.

‘Ah, I thought it must be your birthday. The courier tried to deliver some flowers to the cottage but no one was there so he brought them to us. I’ve taken them to the cottage and stood them in water. I hope that’s all right?’

‘Perfect, thank you.’ Could they be from Nigel, Dee wondered. He might have got the address off Annabel and sent her flowers to make up for going away.

‘Well happy birthday!’ Sylvia smiled. ‘Now, we have some paperwork for you to sign. You’re lucky, we had a last-minute cancellation on this one and it’s a lovely cottage.’ She indicated for them to sit at the two seats by the desk and then took a piece of paper out of the in-tray. Placing it on the desk in front of Dee she pointed to the printed page. ‘If you could sign by the crosses, please.’

Dee picked up the pen offered to her and signed where Sylvia had indicated.

Sylvia handed her the keys and a business card. ‘Any problems, either phone this number or come and see me. I need the keys back by noon next Saturday.’

‘Thank you.’ Dee put the keys in her pocket. She still couldn’t believe she’d done this, and without telling Nigel either. She bet Annabel had told him though. And given him an ear bashing for going away on her birthday. That’s probably why he’d sent her the flowers. If they were from him. Maybe Annabel had sent them, although she had said she’d give Dee her presents when she returned home.

Her birthday. She was sixty today.

‘Enjoy your visit, and happy birthday again,’ Sylvia said. ‘I think you’ll love the cottage, it’s aptly named Sunset View because of the beautiful sunsets you can see from it.’

‘It sounds perfect!’ Babs said. She’d been sitting quietly up until now. ‘First though, we’re going down to the harbour and finding a café to have a nice cup of tea.’

‘There’s one right on the harbour front. It’s called Moira’s Café and has a delicious selection of home-made cakes and sandwiches as well as hot drinks.’

‘Fab!’ Babs said.

They both set off down the hill to the sea, coming out right in front of the picturesque harbour. Half a dozen fishing boats were moored, bobbing up and down on the calm sea, and out in the middle of the ocean, a jet ski zoomed past leaving a white foamy trail in its wake.

Dee drew in a deep breath. She could taste the sea air. It was so beautiful and invigorating she already didn’t want to go home.

Her phone trilled in her pocket to announce an incoming call. She took it out and looked at the screen and was surprised to see that it was Nigel. He never called when he was away, he always said he didn’t have time. All she got was the occasional text message. He was probably still feeling guilty about forgetting her birthday. Well, so he should. She was about to answer when the call stopped. A couple of minutes later a text pinged in.

Annabel said you’ve gone away for a bit. I’m having an important document delivered to the house on Monday afternoon. Can you make sure you’re back to collect it? It has to be signed for.

‘Is that from Nige?’ Babs asked.

Dee nodded and told her what was in the text. ‘I wish he’d have told me sooner, I could have gone away Monday once the document had been delivered.’

‘Don’t you go feeling guilty! Nigel takes you for granted far too much. He’ll have to arrange for the document to be delivered to his office. It’s not your problem.’

No, it wasn’t, Dee agreed. She guessed Nigel had arranged for the document to be delivered to the house because it had sensitive information in it. He did that sometimes if he was working on something confidential and wasn’t in the office. She quickly messaged back that she’d gone away for a few days, and couldn’t possibly drive back in time so he would have to make alternative arrangements. She’d pressed send before she realised that this was the first time she had ever refused to do anything that Nigel had asked. She had built her life around him, seeing it as her job to keep him happy. He’d be shocked at her reply.

‘Well done, you’re finally standing up to him,’ Babs said approvingly. ‘How appalling of him to expect you to drop everything for him when he can’t even be bothered to remember your big birthday.’

A text came whizzing back from Nigel.

How inconsiderate! You could have let me know you were going away. I hope you’re home for when I return early on Saturday morning.

‘He wants to make sure you’ll be there to do his cooking, cleaning and washing,’ Babs said, reading the text over Dee’s shoulder. ‘Don’t you dare go home early to wait on him. Let’s stay all day Saturday! That’ll teach him.’

Dee gazed out at the ocean. Babs was right. Nigel hadn’t asked where she was, how long she was intending to stay away, told her to enjoy herself, or showed any concern at all. He merely wanted to make sure was there to do what he needed and that he wasn’t coming home to an empty house. Nigel hated having to fend for himself, although he was always leavingherto fend for herself.

---