Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,175

out for her, he couldn’t watch her get hurt anymore and he said that he needed to distance himself.

Dale had been true to his word and had attended the counselling and rehabilitation courses and he was making an effort, although their relationship remained strained, it being blatantly evident to both of them that she didn’t want to be there. Dale realised that, and she often wondered at someone who wanted to keep a person trapped who clearly didn’t want to be there. It didn’t make any sense to her but if she ever raised the subject of divorce again, he just shut her down and renewed his threats. He never let her forget that she had cheated on him and Elise had just learned to accept the small improvements that he had made and the general unhappy state in which she lived her life.

His drinking was virtually non-existent now and there had been no violence at all since she had returned. He hadn’t touched her sexually either and she was immensely grateful for that. There was no way she wanted him to touch her ever again and she had begun to wonder why he wasn’t that bothered either. He seemed to have gone from being one of the most highly-sexed men she knew to someone who didn’t even appear to care anymore and that was definitely odd. She didn’t dare raise the subject in case it backfired, and she just thanked whoever it was in high heaven for the small mercy that meant his hands never strayed anywhere near her.

Her parents were still largely in the dark. Obviously they had been concerned when she had been hospitalised after the car accident but as she had not really sustained any injuries, neither of them had thought to question anything and once they had made sure that she was safe and well, they had gone back to their lives. For this, she was glad. She needed all of her energy to keep functioning on a daily basis and didn’t have anything left in reserve to deal with her parent’s worries and fears.

It was hard enough dealing with her own.

Chapter Forty

Elise walked into the office on a typically depressing Monday morning. Despite the fact that summer was just around the corner, it was raining and had been non-stop all night. The weather seemed to have been particularly bad just recently and she was desperate to see some sun soon in the hope that it might lift her spirits a little.

Stephen wasn’t there when she arrived which she thought was strange as he was usually one of the first to get in but perhaps he had had a heavy night the evening before. Thinking that maybe he was battling a bit of a hangover, she dismissed any other thoughts and set about tackling her in-tray.

An hour or so later, Elise realised that she was still alone in her section of the office - no Stephen yet but also no Olivia - very weird. Not that she was sad at the absence of the other girl, but she was beginning to worry that she would be expected to deal with the whole of her section by herself all day. If that was the case, she needed coffee so she headed to the kitchen, carefully avoiding the route which would take her past Vaughn’s old office. It was a store room now and had been ever since he had moved upstairs but considering all that had happened since that first day when she had stood in there and argued with him, she found it very difficult to see the visual reminder and she took care to avoid it whenever she could.

Once she had waited for the kettle to boil and made her coffee, she returned to her desk and realised that she was still alone. This was ridiculous; where on earth was Stephen? Getting slightly worried, she decided to give him a call and reached down to her bag by her feet to get her mobile. She and Stephen had become closer over the last few months and she was glad. Although they never talked about Vaughn, having Stephen in her life made her feel a little like she still had some connection to the man that she was still, and always would be, hopelessly in love with.

After searching through her bag fruitlessly, she belatedly realised that she had left her phone at home. She had plugged it into the kitchen socket to get a last