J & P Book 5 - Never Let Me Go

Chapter Ten

His journey home from work that evening wasn't really worthy of commenting on. It was a dark, wet and cold February afternoon, he'd had a bad day at work, finishing late, and he didn't feel like he had much to look forward to at the moment. He felt like he needed a drink. Perhaps it was the post-wedding blues; the build up to the wedding had been exciting for all of them, but now life was becoming mundane, in a way he couldn't remember following his first marriage.

He pulled up the car outside, and noticed a "For Sale" sign outside number seven. It would be interesting to see how much the adjacent property sold for. It might give him an idea of how far they could stretch themselves to get somewhere bigger. He knew Claire was keen to move sooner rather than later; but despite the fact that the house could not currently accommodate his visiting children at the weekend, and they had to rely on sofa-beds and pull-out beds which wasn't ideal, he was fond of his house, and would be sorry to leave it.

He'd bought it himself, and then there were the happy memories from his first marriage which he didn't really want to leave behind. Of course there were a few memories from this house that he would happily leave behind, particularly that night almost exactly three years ago when Jenny left forever, but it was a comforting place for him.

He got out of the car and walked through the gate, opening the front door.

"Hello?" he called. It was strangely quiet.

He put his head around the kitchen door, but nobody was in there. It didn't look or smell as if any dinner was being prepared, or had been recently. He continued to the lounge, where he found Dexter, watching his tablet quietly.

"Hi Pa-wick."

"Hello, have you had a good day?" Patrick asked, picking his step-son up and kissing him on the forehead.

"Mmm," said Dexter, and went back to his tablet.

"Where's Mum?"

"She's upstairs," Dexter said. "She told me to stay in here."

"Have you had your tea?"

Dexter shook his head.

"I might ring for a takeaway," Patrick said. "What would you like?"

"Pizza," said Dexter, not looking up at him.

Patrick made his way upstairs. There was no sign of Claire in their bedroom, or the bathroom. He opened Dexter's bedroom door curiously.

Claire was on her mobile phone, and she immediately dropped it when she saw him come in. "Oh. Hello."

"Hello," said Patrick, walking towards her suspiciously. Everything okay?"

"I was just on the phone to the estate agent," Claire said. "Asking them how much next door is on the market for. I'd been on hold for ages."

"You could look on Rightmove," Patrick suggested. "Are you sure you're okay? You look quite.. well.." He couldn't think of a word to use without accusing her of acting suspiciously.

"I'm fine," she said. "I'll put some tea on."

"I promised Dexter pizza takeaway," Patrick said with a smile.

"On a schoolnight?" Claire said, questioningly.

"Yes, on a schoolnight," Patrick said. He wasn't going to mention the fact that it was late and Claire appeared to have made no attempt to feed her son.

"You're not normally so spontaneous," Claire said, walking past him and out of the room, her phone tightly in her grasp.

He watched her as she left the room, sadly. It was just like Jenny in the log cabin all over again. He knew she was up to something. What was she hiding?