The man she thought was following her had simply removed his earphones and held out his hand. The jogger had then asked if she was okay but she’d stood and ran instead of replying. She grimaced. What must he have thought of her? No, she did the right thing. There was no such thing as being too careful. She was okay for now, but her time would come, she was sure of that.
‘Cherie?’
She glanced at Christian as he wiped his hands on her apron. Catching her breath, she opened her mouth to speak. ‘Yes, I ran from the woods. I heard something, it was probably just a bird but it made me jump.’
‘You’ve hurt yourself.’ He led her into the kitchen and helped her to sit at the table. His gaze felt interrogating as he focused on her hand.
‘It’s just a scratch.’ She unzipped her bag and threw it on the table. ‘Go on, I know you want to check. I haven’t been drinking if that’s what you think.’ Be sober-minded, that was her aim from now on. To be sober-minded, she had to be sober. It was harder than it sounded when her body craved a drink.
There was no hope of him saying no to a search of her bag and simply trusting her. Her face flushed a little. She had already breached his trust when she took a sip from the miniature but that wasn’t going to happen again. He reached into her bag and probed the items, pushing them around with his index finger. ‘Come here.’ He leaned over and hugged her. ‘I just want to help you. We’ve got through so much as a family so I know whatever it is, we can get through anything.’
‘I just fell over, that’s all that happened. And no, I didn’t get the oregano. They didn’t have any.’
The sound of feet thundering down the stairs alerted Cherie to the fact that their children were about to enter.
‘Mum, Oliver won’t get out of my room and he keeps trying to take my iPad because he broke his. You’re not having it, loser.’ Bella burst in, her long black plaits dangling over each shoulder.
‘No, it’s not like that. Don’t lie. You’re just trying to get me in trouble.’ Oliver stared at his mother. ‘Is that blood?’
Cherie gave her children a reassuring smile. ‘I just fell over on the way back from the shop but I’m alright. Oliver, if you broke your iPad, you can’t expect your sister to let you use hers. We’ll talk about this later.’
‘But, I didn’t mean—’
‘Your mother said we’ll talk about this later, now go upstairs and pack your overnight bag. Nan and Gramps are waiting for you both.’
Oliver made a loud huff noise as he left.
Bella shrugged her shoulders and followed. ‘Loser.’
Christian took the first aid box from under the sink and opened it on the table. ‘Hand.’
She placed it open and winced. The cut was deeper than she thought. He took a bit of kitchen roll and wet it before wiping the grit away and cleaning the wound. She flinched.
Her husband looked away. ‘Yuck, I’d never make a nurse. Right, this might sting so brace yourself.’ He squeezed the antiseptic liquid into the cut and put a plaster over it. ‘Now, no ifs, no buts, I want to know what’s going on. You’ve been acting weird all week but since yesterday, you’ve taken weird to a whole new level.’ He paused. ‘I can’t help if I don’t know what’s wrong.’
She rolled her eyes and stared at him. There were things she couldn’t talk to him about, elements of her secret outings that would end their marriage. It was already fragile and one more deception could shatter everything, especially one so big. Her stomach knotted as a flashback to the past filled her mind. All she could hear were taunts and sinister laughter.
‘Cherie, out with it.’
‘I… I lost my job.’
‘You what? Why? How?’
‘I just can’t cope with the workload.’ Another lie. ‘I’m falling behind all the time. With the constant understaffing there’s always so much pressure and I haven’t been coping. It’s my fault. I’ll look for something else, first thing Monday. I’ll do agency work, anything. I just haven’t been coping. There, I’ve told you now.’
‘You should have said something and maybe you could have taken some holiday or unpaid leave instead of working yourself up.’ He closed the first aid box and threw it back under the sink amongst the cleaning products. ‘I wish you’d