Chasing Men Read Online Free

still felt weird, sleeping alone: no one else’s breathing by her ear, no heels and ankles in the wrong place, no sleepy gurgles from another’s alimentary canal. Nobody pinching most of the duvet on a cold night. No cold feet. Hetty smiled despite herself, then snuffled. She cuddled the hot-water bottle.
    And allowed herself a few tears.
    To her surprise the weepy feelings did not persist. Underneath, below the layers of bewilderment and despair, beneath the anger and the hot shame, beneath the fear of the unknown, somewhere deep inside, something new stirred, like a dormant volcano. Excitement .
    She rolled over, flat on her back. The hot-water bottle clutched over her heart madeher pulse race. The ceiling above her was blank, smooth and empty. Like a sheet of paper in a typewriter, waiting for her to begin tapping.
    ‘I can write on there anything I want,’ Hetty whispered. ‘I can do what I want, go or stay, as I please. Don’t have to satisfy anybody else. How extraordinary! I am free of all obligations, other than to myself. I am me .’
    The thought made her hug the unprotesting hot-water bottle so hard she feared it might burst. In another moment she was asleep.

Chapter Three
Council of War
    Hetty drank deeply. The second glass of supermarket wine would probably give her a headache, but so would the promised council of war. Sally was slumped on the sofa. By her side were a notebook turned to a blank page, an unopened packet of cigarettes and a half-eaten bowl of cashew nuts. In the best armchair sat Hetty’s mother, stylish and composed as ever, her silvery hair beautifully coiffed, charm bracelet jingling, a stuffed olive between finger and thumb. She was dressed in a grey trouser suit, legs crossed at the ankle. Size twelve, Hetty guessed. She sucked in her stomach.
    ‘Are you quite sure, darling, that this is the right place for you?’ Her mother’s tone was oleaginous, her roaming eyes disapproving. The white chrysanthemums she had brought were too large for their vase and looked wintry.
    Hetty shrugged. ‘It was all I could afford, unless I wanted to start borrowing heavily, and for that I’d need steady employment.’
    ‘Perhaps, dear, you shouldn’t have allowed Stephen to keep the house. You put yourself at a serious disadvantage.’
    ‘Did I? If I’d made a fuss, I’d have been stuck with bad feeling, six bedrooms and a lot of neighbours taking sides for and against. No thanks.’
    ‘Have they set the wedding day yet?’ This from Sally, who would expect to be invited. The girl was not famous for her tact.
    ‘No. They can’t get a licence till the decree absolute comes through. To be frank, I suspect they may hold off for a bit. See if it works. Your father has his practical side.’
    Sally snorted. ‘But what will you do for money? You haven’t earned a living in years – Dad’s settlement won’t last for ever.’
    Hetty had not revealed that, after the first few months, no further maintenance payments were in the offing. It had seemed to her wrong to expect Stephen to pay for two households from one income when she was perfectly capable of looking after herself. It might also have undermined his new relationship; revenge was not on her mind. She decided against telling them about Rosa’s call, since nothing might come of it. ‘I shall get a job. I’ve made a few enquiries, and we’ll see.’
    ‘I can’t quite grasp,’ her mother said – a slight deafness meant that she occasionally missed snippets of conversation, though wild dogs from hell would not have drawn the admission from her lips – ‘why you didn’t want to be left with the house. You could have sold it. Bought something better than this.’
    ‘I doubt it. This flat cost as much as a fair-sized country property. The Swallows is not exactly a dosser’s joint.’ Hetty prayed silently that that was true. ‘It’s done now. This is my new address. I think I could be quite content here. It’s no worse than