Page 53 of Six Steps to Happiness
“He’s a policeman, which of course means he has principles.” Ronnie thought back to the man’s emptiness once she’d revealed to him what she’d been up to; how he went from hot to cold in an instant.
“I wouldn’t tell him,” Willow said, nonchalant. “I mean, he doesn’t have to know, does he?”
“I would,” Bea said. “Just not straight away. I’d wait until he was so enamoured by my presence, I could tell him I was Vlad the Impaler’s love child and he wouldn’t care.”
“Whereas I think there’s been enough game playing already,” Ronnie replied.
Willow and Bea narrowed their eyes.
“You’ve already said something, haven’t you?” her daughter asked.
Bea threw her head back in disbelief. “Why on earth would you do that?”
Despite a part of her wishing she hadn’t, Ronnie knew she was right to be honest with Jack, even if it hadn’t given her the result she’d hoped for. It would have been unfair to keepOperation Poltergeista secret and besides, it was bound to come out at some point. If Ronnie didn’t tell him, the odds were that Nick and Gaye would. “IfIdidn’t mention it, we all know there are others who’d more than happily do the honours.”
Willow and Bea sighed, unable to disagree.
“It’s my own fault for doing what I did in the first place,” Ronnie said, trying to be philosophical about it.
“Speaking of which,” Willow said. She reached into her handbag and pulled out an envelope. “Step five.”
Ronnie smiled, merely looking at it almost brought tears to her eyes. After step four, she was convinced her daughter and mother-in-law had discarded their plan. She thought it funny how in the beginning she’d been the one to doubt their six-step intervention, yet the nearer they got to the end, she was the one with the faith. “Thank you,” Ronnie said. “For not giving up on me.”
“Never,” Willow replied.
“Ever,” Bea said.
39
While Charlie slept at the foot of the bed, Ronnie sat on the edge, glancing around the room. As with the rest of her abode, she’d always considered it a comfortable homely space, a place to relax. She frowned; in reality it was tired and in need of an overhaul. With its pine wardrobes, plain walls and boring duvet set, the room certainly didn’t compare to the glamorous décor boudoir next door. Maybe when Ronnie had sorted out her finances, she’d think about redecorating.
She let out a laugh as she compared the inside of her house to Gaye’s. Each seemed to reflect their respective relationships with Nick – boring and jadedversusexciting and fresh.
She looked down at the envelope laid next to her.Exorcise Nick, the piece of paper inside it said. Something Ronnie knew she needed to do. Emotionally, she supposed she’d already begun that process; her trip to the viaduct had enabled her to offload at least some of her angst towards him. When it came to his physical presence, however, that was a different story. Six Holme Lea Avenue was still packed with her ex’s belongings. Be they his tools in the loft or his aftershave in the bathroom cupboard, in one form or another, he occupied every room in the house. So much so that Ronnie didn’t know where to begin.
She stared at Nick’s wardrobe. “What do you think, Charlie?”
The yellow Lab looked up from his resting place, wagging his tale at the sound of his name.
Ronnie smiled in response as she rose to her feet. “I guess it’s as good a place to start as any.”
Opening the wardrobe doors, she took in the line of clothing. A few shirts, a couple of suits, jeans and a handful of T-shirts. It was clear none of them would suit Nick’s new image. Ronnie smiled as she looked at them, her naughty side wanting to bag everything up and dump it all outside number eight. The amount of stuff Nick had left behind would certainly bring chaos to Gaye’s perfectly ordered surroundings. Ronnie told herself she wouldn’t, of course; that was her old way of thinking. The new Ronnie was done playing games. She’d give anything worth keeping to a local charity and take anything that wasn’t to the tip.
Ronnie worked quickly. Tackling the hangers and shelving space, there was no reminiscing about when something was bought and for what occasion. Staring at the two neat piles of clothing and stack of shoes, Ronnie felt nothing. Not that there was much as attire went, but she supposed Nick had never been a clothes horse. She frowned. At least, not until Gaye had gotten her hands on him.
Ronnie moved on to Nick’s bedside table where the book he’d been reading before he left still sat next to his lamp. She picked it up to look at the cover and glance at the blurb. Police procedurals weren’t exactly her own preferred bedtime read; in her mind, novels about serial killers weren’t conducive to a good night’s sleep. Thinking about it, Ronnie supposed she and Nick had different tastes when it came to lots of things. Books, films, music, they could never agree.
She opened the novel to its dog-ear, letting out a sarcastic laugh as she clocked the page number. Page twenty-five, she thought.How apt.Her brow knitted as she recalled her foray into Gaye’s bedroom, unable to remember seeing any reading material on either side of next door’s bed. She shuddered, refusing to let any unwanted images enter her head. The two of them probably had better things to do at bedtime.
She considered her own sex life with Nick. Like her surroundings, Ronnie had to confess that that had been passed its best too. In fact, after her kiss with Jack, Ronnie had to wonder if it had ever been up to much to begin with. She sighed, trying and failing to put all thoughts of Jack to the back of her mind, knowing Willow had been right to say she didn’t know what she’d been missing over the years.
With Nick being the only man she’d ever made love to, Ronnie had spent years telling herself that the earth only ever moved in the movies, that panting and moaning during intercourse only existed in the realms of fiction. Those things certainly didn’t happen in real life, at least not to her. Then a police officer came along and looked at her like no other man had before; a situation that sadly included her husband. One wink from Jack and her whole being tingled with possibility. She felt a chemistry when she was around him that she couldn’t explain; a sexual desire that she couldn’t deny. As for Jack’s kiss, it wasn’t only her lips that had wanted more, her whole body screamed for it too.
Ronnie wondered if Nick had the same physical responses to Gaye’s presence. Ronnie sighed, for his sake hoping so.
40
Ronnie stood on a dining chair, scrubbing the inside of an empty kitchen cupboard. “Almost done,” she said to Charlie, who’d taken up residence under the table. Dipping the sponge into a washing-up bowl filled with what had turned into cold soapy water, she gave the cupboard another quick wipe before whipping the tea towel off her shoulder and drying off the space. “There,” she said, feeling a sense of accomplishment. “Finished.”
