Loneliness, misery, desolation and a vat of thick, stinking guilt in which to bathe – when I could be bothered. The sun never shone in my new world and days would pass when I wouldn’t speak to a single soul. Except Natasha’s soul, that is. I found myself offering her occasional words, like sorry ...
I’ll never stop wondering: had he planned it all along? It was a tempting diversion at the time, I admit, and Jonathon didn’t protest. We were all drunk; all looking for escape. We gathered up the champagne and glasses, clinking in our shaking hands, and Jonathon held the rowing boat steady as I ...
I coil my arm round her shoulders and guide her towards the fire. ‘Come and sit down. You’re freezing.’ Lexi lowers herself on to the chair. Her bones are thin under my hands, her skin papery and cool to touch. Adam takes off his jacket and drapes it around her shoulders. ‘She shouldn’t even be a...
She didn’t think, either, that she’d been born with an ambition to fix things – to fix the world. Nature or nurture? her mother used to ask when Carrie came home from university and sprayed their quiet semi with fury and outrage. ‘I don’t know where you get it from, Caroline Kent. Certainly not f...
At first, Robert didn’t hear her over the noise in the pub. He had gone to sit down on a leather banquette but wished he hadn’t because he was positioned beside a fruit machine that spewed out coins and jangled his thoughts. Then he glimpsed Cheryl’s face through the crowd, watched her mouth his ...