A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson Read Free Book Online Page A

scrubbed-pine table in John’s loch-side house. Our children would be naughty, clever and beautiful and would speak at least
five languages by the age of ten. They’d be skilled at sports and music, and the most popular kids in school by some margin.
    Stop it
, I told myself.
Don’t do this.
    For once, I obeyed. I didn’t remotely wish to believe that a long-term future with John was now impossible.
It was impossible in the first place
,
you moron
, my head snapped.
Why would he want a gigantic weird-looking fool like you?
    Hailey removed the chocolates from Sam and handed one to me but I felt so engulfed by sadness that I was unable to do much more than roll it around in the palm of my hand. ‘Where’s Ness?’ I asked eventually. When I was feeling vulnerable I felt a visceral longing for Ness who, born a mere twenty-six minutes before me, was pretty much part of me. Our younger sister Katy, who had followed nearly ten years later (the result of one of Mum and Dad’s pseudo-spiritual holidays to Asia), often grumbled about being the Lambert family wallflower, what with Ness and I ‘living up each other’s arses’. We were the exact opposite; in my eyes I was a big, tall, corporate beast while Ness was a little, soft, chilled-out flower fairy. I imagined her kind blue eyes set in her delicate face, framed by her dark pixie-cut hair, and struggled not to weep.
    ‘She’ll be here any minute,’ Hailey replied. ‘She sat up with you all night; your parents sent her home to sleep.’
    ‘Wow,’ I mumbled, moved and grateful. I had a feeling I’d really need Ness in the coming weeks.
    There was a pause.
    ‘Sorry I ruined your party, Sam,’ I said eventually.
    He chuckled, shaking his head. ‘Chas, you fucking
rocked that party, brother,’ he said. ‘How often does an out-of-work actor get to fly across Edinburgh in an air ambulance? It was AWESOME!’
    ‘Oh, Samuel Bowes. You really are an insufferable penis.’ Hailey sighed.
    ‘Takes one to know one, Hai–’
    I interrupted. ‘Er,
what
? I came here in a helicopter?’
    Sam got a can of beer out of his satchel. ‘Course you did. What sort of an ambulance gets up the Salisbury Crags?’
    I stared at him, shocked. ‘And you came with me?’
    Sam nodded enthusiastically. ‘Fuck, yeah! I got shotgun what with it being my party and all. I wasn’t going to miss out on that!’
    Hailey tried to look disapproving but couldn’t help laughing. ‘I did try to come with you, Chas,’ she said. ‘And Ness really wanted to but, of course, she’s terrified of flying. Sam just basically shoved his way in shouting, “SHOTGUN.” ’ Matty nodded confirmation, looking green with envy. An emergency helicopter ride would be just up his street.
    I smiled. ‘And how was the flight, Bowes?’
    ‘Wicked! A bit too short, plus there was this bird making horrible noises, but the paramedics pumped her full of tranquillizers and she shut up.’ He looked up at me sharply to check I was still amused. I was, just. His face softened. ‘Chas, it was pretty horrible. We’re all really glad you’re OK.’
    I realized I still had the chocolate in my hand and popped it into my mouth. My wholesome home-cooked diet could go and fuck itself. What good had it done me?
I had never been attractive enough for John. Six a.m. runs, endless trips to Beetroot Deli, the farmers’ market, Crombies. Everything organic, fair-trade, high-quality, sodding expensive.
What a pitiful waste of time
, my head mocked. It would be all about chocolate from now on.
    A second later I spat out a mouthful of Turkish Delight. ‘Hailey!’ I cried, appalled yet unsurprised. Hailey did not take chocolate-sharing lightly. ‘I’ve broken my leg! Give me a good one, you horrible girl!’ She handed me a caramel.
    ‘And you’re calling me an insufferable penis?’ Sam asked her mildly. He scratched his testicles and, watching him with the usual horrified fascination, I felt a renewed sense of shock at his