handbag and coat.
Driving home, she’d been in such a state she’d had to pull over. Traffic had whizzed by, drivers oblivious to the distress of the young woman hyperventilating behind her steering wheel. Terrified of causing an accident, Jade had stayed put, losing track of time as she’d waited for her body to function adequately enough to continue the journey home. Tom had been two steps ahead of her, ensuring retribution was immediate.
Unbeknownst to Jade, there had been a keyholder to the Swanley Village love nest. Urgent instructions had been barked into a telephone. Jade had turned up to find a woman in the front garden tying up numerous black sacks full of her personal belongings. Appalled, Jade had hastened out of her car. Hugging her handbag like a security blanket, she’d demanded to know what was going on.
‘Just doing what Mr Harrison has asked,’ said the woman briskly. ‘I’ve folded your clothes as best I can. Everything is out here. Nothing has been left inside.’
‘Like hell!’ Jade raged.
Shoving the woman to one side, Jade had fished in her handbag for her housekey, only to find it no longer permitted entry.
‘Sorry, love,’ said the woman. ‘The locksmith has been. Mr Harrison’s orders.’
And then it had dawned on Jade that in one pivotal moment her whole life had not only changed, but crashed around her. She’d lost her man, her job, and now her home. And as that realisation had taken hold, she’d also felt like she’d lost her mind.
Chapter Four
The emotional agony was like nothing Jade had ever experienced. The word “heartache” didn’t come close to describing it. Nor “heartbreak”. This feeling went way beyond the organ under her ribcage hurting.
Her whole body had felt like it was crawling with pain. The essence of that emotion had seemed to circulate through her veins, flowing through her arms and legs, torching nerve endings. Even the nails on her fingers and toes had felt sore.
Every song Jade heard on the radio could have been written just for her, describing the sudden gaping hole in her life. She’d struggled to eat and sleep. The weight had dropped from her frame. Endless tears had turned her eyelids into two swollen slugs set in sunken sockets.
Then, one day, Jade had accidentally cut herself with the vegetable knife. It had stung like blazes. But in that moment, it had seemed to Jade that all the emotional pain in her body had united and zoomed off to that one injured place. Her finger.
The digit had throbbed away, blood dripping over the kitchen worktop. She’d watched in fascination. And then a thought had occurred. For just a few seconds, she’d enjoyed relief from her ongoing distress. As the pain from the cut had registered in her brain, the pain everywhere else had lessened.
A little while later, Jade had picked up the small paring knife. Tentatively, she’d scratched the underside of her forearm. The relief had been instantaneous. It had also been addictive.
In no time at all, Jade was regularly scraping away. And not just her arms. Her legs too. The tops of her thighs had eventually resembled mini railway tracks. Her skin had started to mirror her life. A mess.
She’d found it humiliating to be back home again with her parents. A twenty-eight-year-old kid living with Mummy and Daddy. After years of independence, it wasn’t an easy transition. However, abruptly finding herself homeless and out of work, there had been little choice. Jade had initially used her distress to gloss over the details. But, like a tumbling line of dominoes, eventually every untruth had been revealed. The reality about her relationship with Tom Harrison was the final confession.
‘Tom is married?’ gasped Ginnie Ferguson.
Jade’s mother hadn’t been able to get her head around it. She’d been making some sandwiches for lunch when the secret was revealed. Picking up the bread knife to cut the sandwiches in half, she’d abruptly put it down again and gaped at her daughter.
‘But he can’t be,’ Ginnie spluttered.
‘Well he is,’ said Jade dully.
‘But… but… he’s been here! To this house. He’s sat at our table.’ Ginnie was now shaking her head from side to side as she struggled to comprehend. ‘Dad and I welcomed him with open arms!’
‘And?’ Jade replied irritably. ‘Do you think he should have worn a badge on his lapel? Or maybe had a sign over his head that proclaimed “Married, Hands Off” while he tucked into your roast lamb and complimented you on your trifle?’
‘There’s no need for sarcasm,’ Ginnie