Page 12 of The Runaway Wives

Dee suggested that they unpack, freshen up and then go for dinner, so they took their suitcases upstairs and both disappeared into their respective bedrooms. Dee walked over to the window and gazed out. She loved the sea, it always made her feel more relaxed and her problems never seemed so important. When you looked out at the wide ocean you realised that you were just an insignificant part of the whole universe and that everything passes eventually. She was going to enjoy this time away.

8

BABS

Port Telwyn was a pretty place, Babs thought as she unpacked. She was going to make the most of their week here. She and Geoff had often taken a trip to the coast for the weekend before they’d had the kids and when Molly and Lennon were little. Sometimes they’d just driven there for the day. A paddle in the sea, and ice cream, inhaling the salty sea air. Taking in the atmosphere refreshed them so much and left them feeling relaxed and ready to cope with the coming week. Geoff often said that a day at the sea was all he needed to recharge his batteries. And she’d felt the same. Maybe if Geoff was planning to live in a little Spanish village near the coast instead of in the middle of nowhere up a flipping mountain, she might feel more like going with him.

She shook her head. No, she still wouldn’t. She didn’t want to live abroad. She enjoyed a bit of sun, but too much of it made her feel uncomfortable, and she didn’t want to up sticks and go somewhere completely alien. She’d never fancied living in another country. She’d loved their holidays in Spain but had always been happy to return home, to a familiar language, food, and sights. She couldn’t understand why Geoff suddenly wanted to move there. She’d have thought he’d prefer living in Devon or Cornwall. They had talked about doing that once, years ago when the kids were little, and she’d quite fancied the idea of retiring to the coast back then. They’d never talked about living abroad though. She’d been stunned when Geoff had mentioned it a few months ago. She’d said no straight away, knowing it wasn’t for her, but Geoff hadn’t listened and here they were, with the house for sale and still arguing about it.

The tring of an incoming call startled her. Geoff’s name popped up on the screen. Maybe he had missed her and realised how stupid he was being.

‘Babs,’ Geoff said as soon as she pressed answer. ‘You’ve got to come home immediately.’

She felt a warmth of affection flood through her. He had missed her.

‘The estate agent is coming back today, and I can’t find the spare house keys. I need them.’

Babs knew exactly where they were but wasn’t about to tell him, he obviously wanted to give them to the estate agent so they could go ahead with viewings when he was out – or away. Well she wasn’t going to make selling the house easy for him! And he hadn’t asked her how she was or where she was. What a cheek for him to phone up and expect her to help him sell their home when he knew she didn’t want to move.

‘Can you hear me, Babs? When are you coming home? Stop being a drama queen and come back. We’ve got things to sort out.’

‘A drama queen—?’ she repeated, enraged. ‘What about you being a selfish prick! I’m not coming back! Not until you take the house off the market.’

There was a pause and his tone softened. ‘Look, I’ll compromise. We don’t have to live up a mountain, if that’s what you’re upset about. There’s somecasas hermosas– that means lovely houses – with lots of land on flat ground.’

Here he goes again with his bloomin’ Spanish! ‘Geoff, I am not moving to Spain. I don’t care if it’s a penthouse on the coast!’ She paused as she thought that one over fleetingly. Would a penthouse on the coast be quite nice? Could she imagine waking up every morning and going for a dip in the sea, walking along the beach feeling the sand between her toes…?

‘The trouble with you, Babs, is that you’ve got stuck in a rut. You want to do the same old boring things every day. Well, I don’t. I want to live my life while I can. I want new horizons. Adventures.’

Live his life while he could! Anyone would think they had one foot in the grave! ‘And the trouble with you is that you’re making stupid decisions that affect my life too!’

‘Forget it, I’ll find the bloody keys myself! You’ll soon get fed up of staying at Dee’s and come back. Then we can have a sensible conversation.’

‘I’m not at Dee’s…’

She heard Geoff catch his breath. ‘Then where are you? Don’t tell me you’ve booked into a hotel for a couple of nights?’

‘Nope. I’ve gone away with Dee. And if you don’t change your attitude, I won’t be coming back!’

She ended the call and threw the phone down onto the duvet. That told him, she thought, as she went into the bathroom for a shower. She was surprised that Molly hadn’t told Geoff that Babs had gone to Cornwall, maybe she was trying to keep out of it. Well, she going to enjoy this little holiday and let Geoff stew for a bit. She almost wished that she hadn’t unblocked Geoff’s number from her phone now. She immediately blocked him again. That would give him something else to think about.

Half an hour later, showered and changed into a bright yellow maxi dress, she went downstairs to join Dee who looked gorgeous in a pale blue floaty dress and strappy blue sandals. She looked lighter, happier, as if she wasn’t at all bothered that her selfish husband had gone off on a golf trip abroad with his mates and left her alone on her sixtieth birthday. But then Dee was used to Nigel acting like this, wasn’t she? Whereas Babs and Geoff had been a team and this wasn’t like Geoff at all.

‘You look stunning,’ Babs told Dee, honestly. Dee always did dress so elegantly.

‘Thanks. So do you,’ Dee told her.

‘All ready for your birthday dinner?’

‘I certainly am.’ Dee picked up her blue handbag. ‘Let’s go.’

As they walked down the hill to the harbour for the second time that day, and the beach came into sight again, the sea now having gone out enough to leave the boats resting on the sand, Babs felt a mix of exhilaration and sadness. She hadn’t been away without Geoff in all the years they’d been married and whilst she missed him she couldn’t help feeling a little excited at the thought of the carefree days ahead. For the first time in thirty-seven years she was free to do whatever she wanted with her time. She could be herself. Not Geoff’s wife or Molly and Lennon’s mum. She was simply Babs.

9

DEE

Thank goodness they’d reserved a table, Dee thought, as they walked into the packed restaurant. It was obviously a popular venue, even though it was still early in the holiday season. She glanced around, taking in the white-washed walls, the arched windows that looked out onto the harbour, the polished wooden tables, white serviettes, blue and white bud vases with white roses in them, and the pictures on the wall – one of a magnificent old ship bobbing on a stormy sea, another of some houses dotted about on a cliff overlooking a rugged sea, and one she recognised as St Michael’s Mount. Several couples and a few families were sitting at the tables chatting and laughing, with soothing music playing in the background. She felt her spirits rise at the lively atmosphere. It wasn’t the sort of restaurant Nigel would have taken her to. He preferred crystal glasses, red tablecloths, an expensive décor. Nigel always wanted to go to the best restaurants and part of her – a very big part of her – was sure it was because he wanted to give the impression he was a person of taste, someone important. More important than Dee that was, for sure. She’d always felt second best to Nigel, always been in his shadow, the last in the line, behind Annabel and Hugh.

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