“Eric …”
“I mean it, Sophie. It has to stay between you and me. At least until I’ve talked to Helena. Promise me.”
“Eric …”
“Promise me!” Eric’s tone was desperate.
“Eric, this is no one’s fault.”
Alex clenched a fist by his side. Is that seriously how his wife was justifying an affair with a married man.
“Alex would be furious. With both of us.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” She sighed again, but this time, it was loaded with angst. “I almost told him this morning, Eric.”
“You did what? Sophie, don’t be crazy! He’ll shoot the messenger. If anyone’s going to have this conversation with him, it’s me.”
“But I hate lying to him. I hate keeping it from him. Don’t you think he deserves to know?”
“I think it will make an enormous, dramatic mess if you get him involved.”
“He is involved! He’s my husband. And Helena’s brother.”
“Yes, and he is my friend.”
Sophie sobbed. “This is such a mess. We have to do what’s right, Eric.”
“Then just … don’t do or say anything yet. Not until I work out what to do about Helena.” Eric made a frustrated sound. “This would be so much easier if we could meet in the kitchen for one of our late night sessions, wouldn’t it?”
She smiled as she remembered their shared love of coffee and the midnight hours. “I’ll try to get over to see you all soon.” She thought of how lonely she’d been that day. “Perhaps next time Alex is travelling.” She would do anything to avoid being alone in the house without him, rattling around like a lovesick teenager.
Alex disconnected the call silently and stood, staring at the white wall opposite.
Everything he had thought to be true had just been confirmed, and in the most treacherous manner! To hear his wife and Eric casually discussing the hushing up of their affair – or worse, the continuation of it – was sickening.
He spun on his heel and walked back out the front door of his home. He needed to cool off before he saw her, or he wasn’t sure what he’d say. In that moment, he felt the angriest he’d ever been in his life.
“I’m sorry to bother you with this when you’re a loved up newlywed.”
She grimaced. “It’s fine. I know how worried you are. I just wish there was more I could do to help. The thing is, I know Alex would want to know. I know he would be able to help …”
“God, Soph. You’re his wife, but I’ve known him for years. When it comes to Helena, he is just totally controlling. If he thought her to be unhappy, he’d make it worse.”
“I just think you’re being unfair. He’s a great man. And he loves you both, not just Helena …”
Eric sighed. “I know. Just … let me try to get Helena on-board. Sometimes I think she realises how dire things are. Other times, she’s in complete denial.”
Sophie nodded. “Okay. I hear what you’re saying. But there has to be a time limit on it. I can’t keep this secret from the man I love for much longer.”
“It’s such a bloody mess. Helena just clams up whenever I mention it.”
“I know.” She nodded into her lonely bedroom. “We’ll work it out.”
She disconnected the call to Eric with no idea that her own life was the one in tatters; that Alex had overheard only part of the conversation and leaped to all the wrong conclusions.
Chapter 5
Three full days had passed with no word from Alex. Only a brief text message on his first night away to let her know he’d been held up. When she’d asked him when he expected to return to their home, he hadn’t responded. Nor had he responded to her call the next day. Nor her call the day after that.