Trust Me - Sheryl Browne Page 0,36

texting Millie now, and Ben too, suggesting they go out for a meal together this evening and have a talk. They were probably waiting for that, living in dread of the ‘your father and I love you both dearly, but …’ announcement. Her blood ran cold at the thought of what might be going through their minds.

‘Making a bit of an effort, are we?’ Fran went on.

Emily’s sympathy disappeared. She couldn’t believe the woman was oblivious to the fact that she was actually being insulting. Her gaze gliding in Nicky’s direction, Emily noted she was also boggling in disbelief.

‘Cow,’ Nicky mouthed.

Emily frowned, but said nothing. Nicky was right. Fran pretended concern while she was nattering on about people, but Emily was aware that she wallowed in their misfortunes. Sally said it was because she was full of resentment after the father of her child had decided not to step up to the task. Emily had thought she was being a bit hard on her, but now she was beginning to think Sally was right too.

‘Rum business, this Natasha Jameson thing.’ Fran sighed as she flicked her duster around. ‘I’ve no time for newcomers to the village, especially the sort that flaunt themselves, as you know,’ she continued, getting into her stride. She sounded more like an old fishwife than the forty-year-old woman she was. ‘But I can’t help feeling sorry for her. Who would have thought that Michael Jameson would have turned out to be a wife-beater? He’s always been such a kind, sensitive man. You can’t help wondering what it was she did that drove him to it, can you? Or rather who.’

Noting Fran’s eyes, which were stuffed full of innuendo, gliding in her direction, Emily felt her stomach turn over. She wasn’t sure how much of her argument with Jake people had overheard. She guessed they’d heard raised voices, but she’d hoped they hadn’t gathered what they’d been arguing about. They evidently had.

Jake emerged from his office, his face taut. He didn’t even glance in her direction as he headed towards the treatment room to confer with Sally, and she felt tears sting the back of her eyes. Their personal problems were out there for public consumption. With Fran beating the drum, the news would be all over the village in no time. Their children would be hurting because of it, and Emily had no idea what to do, how to make their world safe again. How to stop her own world from unravelling around her.

Twelve

Dean

Seeing Zoe manically cleaning the kitchen worktops again as he went in, Dean shook his head in despair. The kitchen wasn’t big enough to swing a cat in; it couldn’t be that dirty. She’d cleaned the entire flat scrupulously over the last week. He supposed it was her way of keeping her mind occupied since losing the baby. He wished there were something he could do to make her feel better. She didn’t seem to want to talk to him about it. That hurt.

He’d been absolutely gutted when she’d rung him, upset that she hadn’t told him before he’d set off on his road trip that she wasn’t feeling well. He got that she was concerned he might lose his job – the bastard he worked for had made it clear that if he didn’t take the long haulage jobs, he’d find another driver who would – but Dean would rather have told him where to stuff his job than for Zoe to have gone through this on her own.

What he didn’t get was why Jake hadn’t contacted him. She’d gone to see him at the surgery only days before. Dean understood that patient confidentiality would have prevented him saying too much, but he must have known something was wrong, surely? The last time they’d had a pint together at the pub, Dean had told Jake he had to work away sometimes, that he was worried about leaving Zoe on her own. Knowing that, the bloke could have texted him, couldn’t he? Alerted him to something being amiss, at least. Maybe not. It might not have been obvious there was a problem, he supposed. Still, Jake must have known when she was actually losing the baby, assuming Zoe had rung him before going to the hospital. Dean wanted to ask her about that, but didn’t want her to have to go over it if she found it too painful. The doctor at the hospital had reckoned it was something to do with abnormal