The Single Wife : 'Liane Moriarty meets Elin Hilderbrand in an addictive summer read'

by Ella Grey

  Olivia was due in at twelve and usually dropped Ellie off beforehand. “Um, no thanks, we’ve loads of time,” she said, keenly aware of Leah’s driving limitations.

  “Grand – so I suppose the next time I see you will be at the launch party?”

  “Try to take it easy in the meantime, won’t you? I’m sure it’s tough for Josh too.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” Leah assured her.

  As she closed the door behind her friend, Olivia really hoped that they would be.

  Then again, she thought, going upstairs to get Ellie ready to go to her granny’s, she was probably just being silly worrying.

  Leah and Josh had been through tougher times and hadn’t they come out of it all just fine?

  24

  Across the green, through her front window, Catherine watched that woman bundle her child into the car.

  So pathetic the way she kept making big eyes at Matt, fawning all over him whenever they happened to bump into one another.

  Which Catherine mused rather worriedly, seemed to be happening a lot lately. Only the other day when Matt should have been tucking into the gorgeous beef stew she had spent all afternoon preparing, she had again caught the two chatting easily at the woman’s front gate.

  She’d have to put a stop to that – and quickly. She didn’t want Matt getting too friendly with the neighbours, especially unattached female neighbours.

  They’d had that issue before and if it weren’t for darling little Adam she would have been none the wiser. No, there was no letting him out of her sight this time. She and Matt had been through far too much together to have it all ruined by some slattern living across the way.

  Didn’t the woman have any shame? Catherine shook her head in disgust as she watched her drive away.

  Laughing and flirting with him in full view of the green and all the while knowing that he had a family – a young son! Catherine had a very good mind to go over there and give the silly cow a piece of her mind. But Matt would go mad if she did that. He flew off the handle altogether the last time. No, she would simply bide her time and if Matt showed any sign of slipping well then she would have to do something.

  Her hands shook as she went into the kitchen and opened the cupboard. Why did he do this, she thought, taking out the ironing board. Why was she not enough for him?

  Did she not look as good, if not better than that witch from across the road?

  Catherine had got one really good look one day passing in the car. She and her little girl were out in their front garden and yes, her eyes were a wide, deep blue and she was very striking.

  But there was no glamour, no character – and she was a couple of stone overweight too.

  Catherine ran a self-conscious hand over her own flat stomach and tiny waist. Surely all those hours at the gym, not to mention the hours at the hairdresser touching up her highlights counted for something?

  But a lot of the time, Matt didn’t even notice her hair or her slim figure or her salon tan. No, he was too busy organising his next business venture or fussing over Adam. If it weren’t for Adam, Catherine wondered if he would bother with her at all. If it weren’t for Adam, he might be long gone - off into the arms of some plump, dullard.

  She wrinkled up her nose. Her name was Olivia, apparently. Matt had mentioned that one day after Catherine had once again interrupted one of their little ‘chats’.

  “She’s lovely,” he’d said. “Very friendly but a little bit shy too, I think. And her little daughter is just so cute – the resemblance is amazing actually.”

  Every word had cut Catherine to the quick and immediately she hated Olivia – Olivia with her cute daughter and her big blue eyes and her bright smile. Olivia, who was obviously single and desperate for a man – any man, to brighten up her boring domestic routine.

  Catherine knew all about boring and domestic routines – sometimes she wondered why on earth she’d ever given up her full-time job and agreed to spend all day doing housework and looking after Adam.

  But she didn’t have to think too long about the answer. She did it to support Matt since they both knew it wouldn’t do for Adam to be looked after by a stranger, or fed yellow-pack fish fingers for dinner.

  So, despite how bored she sometimes felt, Catherine was still glad she decided to do it. Though at times like this, she wondered if Matt really appreciated the sacrifice she’d made. He’d given her a lot of support certainly, and the move away from Dublin had been his suggestion – and mostly paid for by his wages – but still, it was hard not to feel frustrated.

  She sighed. At times she wondered why on earth she bothered. It wasn’t as though she had any shortage of attention – she was always getting wolf-whistles and admiring glances when she was out and about.

  She knew she was attractive; had worked hard to ensure she stayed attractive, and was satisfying to find that she still had the power to make men go weak at the knees. She smiled as a thought entered her mind. Like that very attractive guy she’d noticed checking her out the week before at the café. A sexy George Clooney lookalike - Conor was his name - they had got chatting and apparently he owned a graphic design company based in the village.

  Well she decided, thoughts of Matt’s ‘friendship’ with their unglamorous neighbour propelling her into action, maybe she might just take a trip down to the Heartbreak Café and do some more flirting.

  What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, she decided going upstairs to choose an eye-catching and suitably flirtatious outfit, something that would make Mr Graphic Design pay even closer attention.

  Twenty minutes later, Catherine stood in front of the mirror and assessed her over-the-top but unmistakably sexy appearance. Matt was away this weekend, so this was the ideal opportunity to put her plan into action.

  She smiled. By the time she was finished, neighbourly relations would be last thing on Matt Sheridan’s mind.

  25

  The following morning, Olivia was sitting in her kitchen nursing a mug of hot coffee and wishing that the caffeine-jolt would hurry up and do its job.

  She hated early mornings, and there was nothing she’d like more than to go back to bed and curl up under the warm duvet.

  But there was little chance of that today. She’d brought home a few hours’ worth of paperwork from the centre yesterday, and although the work wasn’t terribly urgent, she wanted to get a good head start on it before Ellie got up. It wasn’t practical to be going through patient files when her daughter was around – dangerous because her attention needed to be elsewhere, and difficult because Ellie in true toddler fashion made the very most of it. Olivia had learned in the early days that when Ellie was quiet, it was usually because she was up to no good.

  She went into the living-room, sat down by the window at the sideboard that doubled as a desk and switched on her laptop, wishing that she had done the sensible thing and let it warm up while she was getting breakfast.

  The computer, which Olivia was convinced was running on the crudest operating system imaginable – probably based on Bill Gates original Windows doodlings – took absolutely forever to get going. She gazed unseeingly out the window while she waited, her eyes tired and watering.

  She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there when a small movement across the green caught her eye. Oh, it was someone coming out of the Sheridan house again, she thought, guiltily averting her eyes.

  Anyone would think it was her intention to spy on the new family, and what if Matt himself noticed her light on across the way and Olivia sitting at the window gawping? She went to move out of sight, giving a quick glance to ensure that she hadn’t been seen.

  Olivia’s mouth opened wide. This time she didn’t – couldn’t – look away. There was Matt’s wife, barely dressed in a satin bustier affair that wouldn’t look out of place in an issue of FHM. Wrapped around some guy – a tall, blonde, younger guy that definitely wasn’t Matt! What was she up to?

  Well, it was pretty ob
vious what she was up to, Olivia thought, seeing the woman pull her beau closer for another kiss.

  But why? Why would any woman who was lucky enough to have a loving, devoted husband and gorgeous child – the perfect family – recklessly put it all in jeopardy for a fling?

  Then Olivia berated herself. Who was she to judge? What did she know about that woman and her family? Who knows what goes on behind closed doors – isn’t that what her mother always said?

  She was a fool to presume; for all she knew Matt and his wife might have a terrible relationship and lover-boy, whoever he was, was her only means of happiness.

  But still, what would he think when he realised she was having an affair – and worse, flaunting herself and her fancyman all around the neighbourhood?

  Although it was hardly flaunting, Olivia mused, trying to calm herself. It wasn’t as though the woman expected the elderly neighbours of Cherrytree Green to be spying on her at that hour of the morning. Still, it was brazen enough all the same.

  She heard a car drive away, and when she looked back at the house the wife had gone back inside.

  Where was Matt? His car was in the driveway – surely she wouldn’t have been carrying on while he was asleep in another room, would she?

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake, it’s none of your bloody business either way,” Olivia muttered out loud, striding purposefully towards the kitchen for a fresh caffeine fix. But this time it wasn’t to wake her up; this time it was to calm her down.

  What should she do? She and Matt were neighbours after all – friends to some degree – should she say something?

  Of course not - it wasn’t her place, she didn’t know him that well, and she couldn’t exactly admit that she had been spying on his house and knew all about his wife and their son and so-called perfect life.

  She couldn’t do it, she wouldn’t do it, and it was absolutely none of her business. She would not be the one to tell Matt anything about his family that he might not know.

  Olivia would not be the one responsible for breaking up a family because of her own selfishness.

  Not this time.

  26

  A few days later, Matt walked towards Olivia’s, little Adam by his side. “Hello there.”

  She was outside, pulling weeds and vainly trying to make the garden look at least half as presentable as that of the green-fingered couple next door.

  “Hello, yourself. Doing a bit in the garden, I see?”

  “For my sins,” Olivia groaned, removing her gloves and throwing a sideways glance at the garden next door. “Just trying to keep the place up to standard.”

  “Good for you – I’ve always hated gardening and luckily my place doesn’t need it.” She didn’t have a chance to examine the state of his own garden across the way before he came through the gate and introduced his son. “This is Adam, by the way. Adam, say hello to Olivia.”

  The little boy looked up at her with watchful eyes but said nothing.

  “Hi, Adam, nice to meet you,” she said offering her hand, remembering how Ellie had responded to Matt when he introduced himself properly to her like that. Obviously, little Adam didn’t feel the same way.

  “Want Mummy.” Adam squealed, turning away and ignoring her.

  “Sorry about that. He can be a little bit wary of strangers.”

  “That’s OK – Ellie can be the same,” she said hoping to make him feel better and trying to ignore the fact that the boy didn’t look remotely like his dad. Matt had dark hair and was lightly tanned whereas Adam was very fair, a smattering of freckles across his cheeks, and his not-so-friendly manner suggesting to Olivia that his mum’s genes were the dominant ones.

  Then horrified, a thought came unbidden into her mind. Maybe Adam wasn’t even Matt’s child. Maybe the wife had been carrying on behind his back for years and poor Matt knew nothing about it. She put her gloves back on and tried to shake the horrible thought from her mind, then got down on her knees and quickly resumed her weeding.

  “Er … do you have something against those kind of flowers?” Matt asked, looking curiously at her.

  Following his gaze, Olivia looked down and realised she had been taking her frustrations with Matt’s errant wife out on her poor Busy Lizzies, the one flower that returned year after year, despite her failings as a gardener.

  “I can’t believe I just did that. Sorry, I was miles away.”

  “Well, maybe we can still save them,” he said, in the manner of one of those hunky doctors on ER and inwardly, she swooned. “Adam, stay there, while Daddy helps Olivia, OK?”

  With that he got down on his knees alongside her, and began replanting what was left, the hint of an amused smile crossing his lips.

  Just then, Olivia realised that Matt must think her an awful ditz. First time, there was that confusion at the bar, the next she was having problems reversing her car out of the driveway, then ran out of the shop that time without her change. And now for no apparent reason, she was merrily pulling up perfectly decent flowers in her front garden.

  “It’s fine, really,” she protested, cheeks red with mortification at the fact that once again, the mere presence of this man had turned her into a demented idiot. Wait until she told Leah about this – she would kill herself laughing.

  At the thought of her friend’s reaction, and the ludicrous situation in which she once again found herself, Olivia too couldn’t help but giggle.

  “What? What’s so funny?”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to stifle a laugh. “I know you already think I’m an idiot, and I’m certainly living up to it now.”

  “An idiot? How so?” Now Matt was smiling too.

  “It’s just –” She didn’t care how it sounded, she just knew she had to come clean, otherwise every time she saw him, things would just keep getting worse. “It’s just every time we meet, I seem to end up doing something stupid. I’m not sure why that is, but I can assure you that I’m not like this all the time. I’m not really any good around men … since my husband …” Then she floundered, horrified. “Not that I consider you a man in that sense, I mean, I know you’re married and everything, so please don’t think that … it’s just …” Oh she was really making a mess of this, she thought, heart pounding. So much for coming clean and trying to save face.

  “I’m sorry,” she said eventually. “It’s just, I suspect you think that I’m a complete ditz and really I’m not, but for some reason you seem to have that effect on me … I mean ... ” She trailed off then, realising that she was just digging herself in deeper with every word. She was never going to able to explain it properly, and especially not now, not when Matt’s truly mesmerising grey eyes were that close, his gaze steadily fixed on her face. Obviously trying to decide whether or not she should be committed, Olivia thought, deflated.

  “I’m really sorry if you thought that, but –”

  “Matt!” Thrilled to see him, Ellie bounded out the front door, cutting off whatever he was about to say and, thankfully, sparing Olivia’s embarrassment too.

  What had he been about to say? She didn’t know but, by the apologetic look on his face, it could only have been some kind of brush-off. Perhaps he thought she was coming on to him.

  “Hey, Ellie.” Matt stood up and seeing her daughter race into his outstretched arms, Olivia’s embarrassment was swiftly replaced by panic. This was crazy. Her daughter had clearly fallen for him as much as she had. And he was married, for goodness’ sake.

  “Hey, Adam, come say hello to Ellie,” Now Matt was introducing the two children and the earlier sullen Adam seemed much more receptive.

  Great, that was the last thing she needed, Ellie becoming friendly with Matt’s young son and having to be brought to his house for playdates and birthday parties and the like.

  Much better to just cut all contact now, for her own, and indeed Ellie’s sake. But to think that his brazen wife across the road was quite happy to carry on with one of the locals, and here was Matt resisting Olivia’s
stupid attempt at explaining her feelings, putting his wife and child first without a moment’s hesitation.

  Yet that was why she liked him so much, wasn’t it? He was such a warm charming guy – a little like Peter used to be.

  “Matt.” Hearing a voice from across the green, they all turned around to see Matt’s wife standing in the doorway, waving in his direction.

  “Better go,” he said.

  “Aw can’t Adam stay and play?” Ellie asked, looking almost as disappointed as Olivia felt. Adam looked hopefully up at his dad.

  “Some other time, sorry.” He smiled warmly at Ellie before hoisting Adam up onto his shoulders. “Adam, say goodbye to Ellie and Olivia, OK?”

  “Bye, Ellie, bye ‘Liva,” This time he gave a broad smile, and only then could Olivia see the resemblance, right down to the tiny gap between his two front teeth.

  “Bye Adam, see you soon,” she said, still mortified about her earlier ramblings, and unable to look in Matt’s direction, let alone look him in the eye.

  “See you soon.” This time his tone was devoid of its characteristic warmth and, with Adam hoisted high on his shoulders, he went back across the green; Olivia and Ellie staring silently at his retreat.

  27

  “Careful what you wish for - you just might get it,” Leah’s grandmother used to say. Well, Leah did get it: she had a growing business, her first retail outlet – and Amanda bloody Clarke.

  Stupidly, she hadn’t seen that coming. She was just so thrilled at the scope Andrew’s investment would give that she hadn’t even considered that Amanda might be interested too.

  As the opening of the store drew nearer, Amanda had been spending lots and lots of time there, and had begun to get on Leah’s nerves.

  Only last week she had ‘popped in for a look’ but by the end of the visit had tried to commandeer control of the shop’s layout. At the time, Leah had been so preoccupied with getting things ready that she had just assumed Amanda was showing a friendly interest.