Page 96 of The In-Laws

Holding her breath, she pushed open her bedroom door. Jamie was flat on his back, fast asleep. His ability to sleep deeply, which had annoyed her when the kids were babies and he never woke up to their cries, was now the biggest blessing ever. She snuck past him into the bathroom and locked the door.

Katie ripped off her clothes and stuffed them into the washing basket, then sat under the hot shower trying to scrub away her shame and her shocking behaviour.

33. Melanie

Melanie froze as Frank reached for her. She knew she should. She knew she needed to. She knew their relationship was on life-support, but she just couldn’t. He slowly rubbed her back as she tried not to squirm. As his hand moved lower, she leapt out of bed.

‘Come back here, you.’ Frank gave her a sexy smile.

How could it feel so awkward with someone you’ve been with for twenty years? Melanie kept her back to her husband and moved towards the bathroom door. Over her shoulder, she muttered, ‘Sorry, early meeting.’

‘Melanie, we have to make an effort. We need to reconnect on an intimate level,’ he reminded her.

She knew he was right, but the thought of having sex with him made her skin crawl. She thought about the tingling feeling she’d had when she was with Petrus. She wasn’t dead inside, just dead to Frank.

‘I’m sorry, Frank. I just can’t right now.’

She heard him sigh as she closed the bathroom door.

The twins were downstairs, which was a shock as it was only seven.

‘How come you’re up so early?’ she asked.

‘Guess, Mum,’ Janis told her, narrowing her eyes at her.

‘She’s forgotten,’ Joni said.

The musical! ‘No, I haven’t, it’s the musical tonight. You have early rehearsals, right?’

‘Yes, and Dad’s bringing us in because you have to prepare for a “very important meeting”.’ Janis rolled her eyes.

Melanie bristled. ‘I do actually. I’m meeting a young author. I think you may have heard of her.’

‘Stop!’ Joni raised her hand. ‘No offence, but we don’t have time to hear about your latest amazing new writer. We have to go over our lines.’

Melanie finished her coffee, wished them luck and left the room.

‘Do not be late,’ they shouted after her.

‘I won’t,’ she called back, as she closed the front door behind her.

Melanie, Ross and Jamie waited in the hotel suite.

‘I’m sorry, Xina is a little behind schedule,’ her PR person apologized and scurried out of the room.

Melanie looked at her watch. ‘We’ve already been waiting for half an hour. This is rude.’

Ross leant forward and picked up a glass of water. ‘If we can sign her for this book, it will be huge. She has two million followers on TikTok and it’s going up every day.’

‘I don’t get her,’ Melanie admitted.

‘Me neither, but the kids love her,’ Jamie said.

‘I watched hours of her videos and all she seems to do is sit in her bedroom and put make-up on, curl her hair and talk about her social anxiety. She doesn’t sing or dance, just talks and reviews make-up and hair products.’ Melanie had really tried to understand what all the fuss was about, but she didn’t get it. Still, two million followers and counting was a huge potential readership, and now that Xina wanted to write a book, publishers would jump on it.

Ross shrugged. ‘All Theo does is scroll on his phonewatching TikTok. It’s all teenagers do. This could be really lucrative for us.’

‘Is it the direction we want the agency to go in, though?’ Melanie asked.

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