Page 58 of A Very Happy Easter

“When he was sentenced, the judge said he wouldn’t be eligible for parole until next January. And I spoke with his sister earlier—she’s planning to leave the country before then.”

“You know his sister?”

“We’re friends. Always have been. And this evening…this evening, I found out he abused her too. Trust me when I say it’s been a wild night.”

“I guessed that from the pile of belongings on the pavement.”

“Do you think we went too far?”

“If the guy had bought the MacBook and the PlayStation himself, I’d say maybe, but it seems Annabel footed the bill, so she was entitled to dispose of them however she saw fit. A man can’t cheat without expecting consequences.”

“You were married once, weren’t you?” I blurted, then immediately regretted my words because they sounded more like an accusation than a question, and it was none of my business anyway.

“Are you asking if I cheated?”

“No,” I said in a small voice.

“I didn’t. We got married young, too young, and after I’d spent years not being there, we just grew apart.” Heath braked for a traffic light. “We’re still on each other’s Christmas card lists.”

“That’s good, I guess. Does she live around here?”

What if she saw Heath and me together?

“Nah, she’s back in Herefordshire. The property market’s shit, and she wanted to stay in the house.”

“There was no equity in it?”

“Not much, but some, and when she sells, I’ll get half of it. My life was a mess when the divorce went through, and I wasn’t going to force Cara out of her home and drag her down with me.”

“You’re a good man, Heath.”

He turned and flashed me a smile. “That’s debatable. She’s engaged to an accountant now. Man’s boring as fuck, but at least he doesn’t spend half the year in a sandpit.”

“I tried dating an accountant once.”

“I thought you didn’t date?”

“‘Tried’ being the operative word. He was a perfectly pleasant man, as far as I could tell, but there’s something…” A sob crept up and escaped before I could swallow it. “There’s something fundamentally broken in me.”

“Did you tell him about your past?”

“How could I? He’d think I was crazy. I mean, I know I’m crazy, but not all the time.” Great, now I was crying properly. “I’m going to be alone forever.”

“I’m sitting right here, Edie.”

“And I honestly don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t.”

“Drink bourbon from the bottle in your handbag?”

A hysterical giggle burst out of me. “It’s not mine, I swear. Well, it is, but I didn’t bring it. I confiscated it from Polly when she tried to burn Crawford’s lucky boxers in the sink.”

“Lucky boxers?”

“That’s what Annabel said. They had little pigs on them. You don’t have favourite boxers?”

“Didn’t have that luxury in the military. If I’d shown up with pig underpants, my mates would’ve laughed me out of the barracks. We just wore what they gave us.”

“Ugh. You couldn’t pick your own underwear?”