Torn Read Online Free Page A

put in his surprise re-appearance! I just want to forget about the guy. Oh, that sounds lame … stupid. How can I forget someone who was part of my life for four years?’
    â€˜Not stupid at all. It’s perfectly understandable. About Friday … I blame myself for rushing off.’
    â€˜Hardly your fault.’
    â€˜The bloody burglar alarm’s always going off for no reason. The sensor was probably tripped by nothing more threatening than a cat on his nocturnal prowl!’
    â€˜It could have been a real emergency.’
    â€˜You had the real life emergency to deal with … on your own. Thank God you had someone there willing to step in and help you. These days that’s rare. Too many prefer not to get involved. If only I’d known. You needn’t have had to rely on the kindness of strangers.’
    â€˜Stop beating yourself up about it. If I’d had the slightest inkling my ex was lurking outside planning to kidnap me, do you think I wouldn’t have left with you?’ Yet again a flinch of remembered emotion kicked her in the gut. The lights of the Christmas tree sparked and jumped, doubling then quadrupling into a fuzzy network of stars. Jessica blinked away the momentary blurring.
    Though Rory and the other children had made many of the decorations which now adorned the room, they’d not seen them go up. Since Friday, their lick and spit paper chains had been looped across the ceiling and the irregular gold and silver shapes they’d laboriously cut out with blunt-nosed scissors had found their way onto the walls, representing a starry sky. Christmas was still so new, so magical to Rory, he was stunned by the transformation. Even the tree with its tarnished baubles and thin, moulted tinsel seemed to him to have arrived from wonderland. It had choked her up to witness his wide-eyed awe.
    â€˜There’s no need for you to stay, you know. I’ve enough help today.’ Sheila nodded towards Lynn, Sara, and Jan who were assisting.
    â€˜I’ll only brood. I’m better with company. All weekend I felt really paranoid, imagining Sean really did know where I lived. That he was skulking around somewhere, just waiting to pounce and force us to go back with him.’
    â€˜But he can’t make you. Not even if you were married.’
    â€˜Brute force and intimidation are hard to resist.’
    â€˜Men!’ Sheila exclaimed. ‘And people ask why I don’t allow them in my life. They’re all chameleons. They wait till they’ve got their feet under the table, and you’re starting to trust them, before turning into Mr Hyde.’
    It was a valid point. ‘Story of my life. In future it’s me calling the shots. I’m not dancing to anyone else’s tune ever again!’
    â€˜Right on, sister.’ Sheila said, with an approving smile.
    â€˜I’m really going to take my time before …’
    â€˜Before what? You’re better off without. Who needs ‘em?’
    â€˜Quite right. Why swap independence for the dubious benefits of permanent coupledom?’
    â€˜Enslavement you mean.’ Sheila stood up abruptly, hands on hips. ‘Yasmin! Don’t grab! I want to see you share with Chanel.’
    â€˜I’m not planning to rule men out of my life altogether,’ Jess continued, ignoring the interruption. Sheila sat down again, but her eyes were on the squabbling children.
    â€˜Give me one unarguable reason why not.’ She sat straight-backed, alert to what was happening in the room. Lynn intervened in the dispute between the two little girls who both wanted to use the pink glitter. Sheila sighed, pushed her fingers back through her curly, mahogany red hair, then turned and smiled at Jessica.
    â€˜Tell me just one thing they’re good for?’
    â€˜Putting up shelves? Oh, and I’d miss the sex.’
    Sheila grimaced. ‘Get a vibrator! And a power drill.