“Hello, Peter.” Was that really Shirley standing before him? What on earth was she doing in Torquay of all places? Peter looked around quickly, half expecting his two daughters to be making their way towards them as well.

“Shirley! What a surprise! I wasn’t expecting you here.” He was flustered and buying time.

“Well, I can see that you weren’t expecting me.” Shirley pointedly looked at Sue, “and this is?”

“Oh. You haven’t met my colleague, Sue Beresford, have you love? Sue this is my wife Shirley, Shirley this is Sue. Training is over for the day and we were just discussing public liability, weren’t we Sue?”

Sue just looked embarrassed at Peter’s feeble attempts to cover himself.

Shirley stared at him with poorly disguised contempt. “I see.” She gave up trying to talk to Peter and turned her interrogation to Sue. “So, how long have you been seeing my husband?”

Sue met her gaze and replied, “about six months, give or take. Since a company party in May.”

Shirley nodded. “Thank you. Well, I think that’s all I needed to know. I’ll be going now. It’s a long trip back.”

Peter could see that his wife was almost at breaking point and was leaving to preserve her dignity. He hated to see the pain he had brought on her, but knew he was powerless to do anything to help at this stage. He would only be twisting the knife further. At the same time, he couldn’t just sit here doing nothing. “Shirley… I’m sorry.”

“Yes Peter, I’m sure you are.” Shirley turned on her heels and walked out, head held high.

Peter watched her helplessly then realised if he was going to do anything it needed to be now. He started to get out of his seat, then remembered Sue and turned back. “I need to go after her,” he said simply.

“Go,” was all she replied.

He shrugged his shoulders at her as a half-hearted gesture of apology, and followed Shirley out of the door. Only, by the time he got there she was nowhere to be seen. He looked around ineffectually, then walked outside to check the hotel car park. As he had suspected, Shirley’s little car was no longer there. She must have left straight away and be on her way driving back to their home. He wondered what had brought her out here in the first place. He had no idea she had had any suspicions whatsoever, and he had certainly left no address around as to where he was going to be. The only people who knew he was spending the weekend in Torquay was himself and Sue. The situation felt unreal and nightmarish. He didn’t want to lose Shirley, he loved her. He just loved her in a different way to Sue. He wasn’t the only man in history to have wanted the best of both worlds.

Sue! Damn. If he was going to follow Shirley home then he was going to have to let Sue know. Cursing the delay, he went back into the restaurant not seeing a red-eyed Shirley leaving the ladies toilets just behind him and head out of the hotel via the revolving doors he’d just been through.

“She’s driven off already.” He burst out once he’d reached their table.

“Oh.” Sue calmly carried on eating, seemingly not interested in Peter’s plight.

He felt hurt, felt that they had shared so much this weekend, why was she not being more supportive? Didn’t she realise how upsetting all this confrontation had been for him? “Well, I need to follow her, and seeing as it’s a long way back, you need to come with me.”

Sue blinked at the use of the word “need”. “You know, I don’t think I do need to come back with you.” She waved a hand around to indicate the restaurant and the hotel. “It seems a bit of a shame to waste all this after it’s cost you so much. One of us may as well make the most of it and I’m perfectly capable of getting a train back tomorrow. Besides, you’ll make better time if you don’t have to drop me off on the way.”

Yes, it had cost him a lot, he thought bitterly. It had cost him his marriage. He couldn’t believe how cold and calculating Sue was being all of a sudden. This was a side of Sue he had never seen before. “Okay then. If that’s what I want. I’ll call you later in the week.”

He left the restaurant fuming. Right, what did he need to do? Get his bag from the room – it would be a long way to return to pick it back up, and with Sue’s current mood he didn’t feel able to go back and ask her to take it to London with her own things. He waited impatiently for the lift and rushed to his room, fumbling with the key card to get in. Grabbing his bag he took one last look around the room and sighed. It had been such a good dream before it had turned sour.

Next, he visited the hotel reception and rang the bell.

“Can I help you, Sir?”

“Yes, I’ve been called away on a bit of an emergency, but my … erm… wife will be staying here until tomorrow as previously planned. Can I give you my credit details now to settle up in advance of her checking out?”

“Certainly, Sir. I’ll swipe the card now and ask you to sign. Anything outstanding will be deducted from your card when she leaves.”

Peter gave the receptionist his card and edgily drummed his fingers on the counter while she slowly put the card through the machine, fumbled for some paper to put in the hotel printer then rummaged through the drawers for a pen while the machine slowly chugged the bill out. He signed the document hurriedly as soon as it was put in front of him.

“That’s everything then?” Peter asked, and as soon as he’d got the confirmation from the receptionist he was out of the door and heading for his car.

The fine weather of the daytime had passed over, and now it was cold and dark with a fine drizzle in the air. Not the nicest of weather for a four hour drive, especially not when you’d already made the journey once already today. He thought about Shirley driving back in her small car; she wasn’t used to journeys like this – quite inexperienced. She was also upset and he hoped that she was going to be safe and not take any unnecessary risks. He glossed over in his mind that the only reason she was here in the first place was his betrayal. Instead, it was just another example of how Shirley didn’t think through any possible consequences of her actions.

He hurried along with complete disregard for road conditions or speed limits, his eyes peeled hoping that at some point he would catch up with Shirley, dramatically imagining tragic accidents before he’d had the chance to explain or to make it up to her. Not that he knew exactly how he was going to make it up to her, all other thoughts were pushed out of his mind except finding his wife. To make sure he kept alert during the journey he turned the radio up loud and kept the window open. The icy air made sure that he didn’t get too comfortable or dozy.

The rain was getting stronger now and he flipped the switch to increase the wiper blade frequency. Begrudgingly he slowed his speed, unable to see far enough ahead with all the spray churned up by other road users. He was no longer able to identify the cars that he passed and he hoped that he hadn’t missed Shirley en-route. Then again, maybe that would be better – to arrive at home first and prepare himself a little for the argument sure to follow.

In the event, he actually found himself feeling relieved as he pulled into their driveway and saw Shirley’s car sitting outside. At least she had got home safely; she must have had a greater head start than he had realised – sorting things out at the reception had been quite time consuming. He glanced at the clock in the dashboard – it was the early hours of the morning which explained the lack of lights on in the house, everyone must be asleep. Shirley wouldn’t be asleep though would she? She can’t have been home that much earlier than himself.

He unlocked the door and raced up the stairs, forgetting in his anxiety to confront his wife that his daughters would also be sleeping.

“Shirley?” He called. “SHIRLEY!” He threw open their bedroom door and switched the light on. The bed was empty. Confused he turned around, perhaps she was still downstairs upset and sitting in the dark. Hadn’t she heard him calling?

The spare room door opened behind him and a very groggy Philip walked out, rubbing his eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Philip?! What are you doing here? And where’s Shirley?” Peter was completely taken aback by the sight of his brother.

“She had an emergency situation with one of her friends and asked me to look after Michelle and Clare while she was away. What are you doing back? Aren’t you supposed to be in some training course? Anyway, let’s go downstairs to talk. If we’re not careful, we’ll wake your kids.” Philip yawned and shivered slightly, pulling his dressing gown tightly around himself.

Peter obediently followed Philip downstairs, waiting until they were safely in the living room with the door closed before asking confusedly, “but I don’t understand. If Shirley’s not here, what’s her car doing parked outside?”

Philip shrugged. “She didn’t take it. I just assumed that she’d walked to her friend’s house or taken public transport. She went in the direction of the railway station, perhaps she was heading there.”

“So you have no idea where she is?” Peter moaned and put his head in his hands.

“I told you, she’s at a friends…”

“No, no, no … you don’t understand. She came and found me in Torquay and left very upset. I thought she’d come straight back here but obviously not.” He stood up and started pacing around the room.

The truth suddenly dawned. “You utter arsehole.” Philip said softly. “You were cheating on Shirley.”

Peter looked up and nodded mournfully. The punch took him completely by surprise. He reeled, clutching both hands to his face, blood pouring out of his nose. “Fucking hell, what did you do that for?”

Philip passed him a box of tissues that was lying on the armrest of the sofa. “I have no idea. Suddenly your face became an attractive target,” he said dryly.

“Ow, fuck… ouch, oh shit.” Peter clutched a huge handful of tissues to his face and tipped his head back, hoping to stem the flow.

“You know, you really disgust me. Here you are, you have everything. You’ve worked hard all your life and have got yourself a beautiful wife whose whole life revolves around you, great kids who love you, a nice house and a stable job. Then you throw it all away, all for the sake of some floozy. I just don’t understand how you could be so stupid.”

Peter, still staring at the ceiling, said petulantly, “Sue’s not a floozy.”

“No,” Philip replied sarcastically, “I’m sure she’s a lovely person who cares deeply about the homes she’s wrecked in her quest for meaningless sex.” He turned and walked out of the room.

“Hey, where are you going?” Peter brought his head back down to stare after the retreating back of his younger brother. “You have to help me find Shirley.”

“I have to do no such thing. This is your mess, you can get yourself out of it. If Shirley’s got any sense whatsoever she’ll have left you.” Philip called back, not even turning around. “Anyway, it’s late. I’m going back to sleep.”