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‘Is everything all right?’ she asked as he pocketed his phone with a frown.
‘What?’ he asked with an irritated edge to his tone as he looked down at her, as if he’d never seen her before and couldn’t work out why she was standing there beside him.
‘There’s no need to bite my head off,’ she said with an affronted toss of her head.
His hand scored a jagged pathway through his hair as he let out a sigh. ‘Sorry, sweetheart,’ he said with a quick on-off smile that didn’t involve his eyes. ‘I have some unexpected business to see to when I get back.’
‘Do you want to talk to me about it?’ she asked, linking her arm through his. ‘Maybe I can help in some way.’
He looked down at her arm and gently but firmly removed it from his. ‘Thanks, but no, thanks. I can manage. You have your own business to run without becoming involved in mine.’
Hayley felt her shoulders sag with disappointment. He was already shutting her out of his life. She followed him to the boarding gate but he was silent all the way back to Sydney, barely addressing a single comment to her, his expression pulled tight as if something deep inside him was gnawing at him.
His mood was no better when they arrived at his house. He prowled about like a caged lion, even snapping at her when she asked him what he wanted to do about dinner.
‘For God’s sake, Hayley, will you stop it with the loving-wife routine? You’re driving me nuts being so nice.’
‘Well, perhaps you’d like to move out now?’ she said, folding her arms across her body. ‘Why drag this out another three weeks when it’s obvious you’re already sick to death of me.’
He let out a hard-bitten expletive and reached for his keys. ‘I’m going out,’ he informed her tersely.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To see someone. Don’t wait up.’
‘I probably won’t even be here when you get back,’ she clipped out, desperately fighting b
ack tears.
‘That’s entirely up to you, of course,’ he said, and without another backward glance closed the door behind him.
Hayley seriously considered leaving right then and there, but she was tired and hungry and the thought of traipsing back to her flat with her things was suddenly all too difficult.
Instead she unpacked her things and did a load of washing before having a shower and a bite to eat … well, perhaps more than just a bite, she thought with a rueful grimace at the empty ice-cream tub as she stuffed it into the bin.
She watched television until her eyes began to glaze over, and looking at her watch, felt her insides twist when she saw it was almost three a.m. Jasper hadn’t returned and, recalling the text message he’d received, she couldn’t help wondering if one of his many lovers had arranged a late night assignation with him. Her blood boiled at the thought of him cavorting with another woman so soon after marrying her. In spite of the temporary nature of their marriage, it still hurt unbearably to think he cared so little for her feelings that he would openly betray the intimacy they had shared over the last week.
She trudged despondently off to bed, choosing to sleep in the spare room to send him a very clear message of what she thought of his behaviour, but in the end her message went unnoticed as he didn’t return at all.
Hayley came downstairs bleary-eyed the next morning to find a tiny middle-aged Filipino woman bustling about the kitchen, her enthusiastic greeting when she saw Hayley doing a power of good to her battered self-esteem, even though the housekeeper’s rapid speech left some things lost in translation.
‘My name is Rosario,’ she said. ‘You his wife, ah so beautiful! You happy girl, eh? He very good in the bedroom, yes?’ Her eyes twinkled mischievously.
‘Um … er …’ Hayley faltered, trying not to blush.
‘Would you like breakfast? I make good breakfast for you. Sit down. Would you like cup of coffee?’
Hayley sat down and lapped up the attention. Rosario chatted non-stop but she didn’t mind—it was a relief not to have to contribute more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘oh, really’ now and again.
‘He very good boss,’ the housekeeper said as she cleared away the breakfast things a little while later. ‘He pay me good money. He very kind.’
‘Yes.’
‘He need a good wife now. Time to settle down and have lots of babies, eh?’
Hayley smiled a little weakly without responding.
‘You a nice girl,’ Rosario said. ‘I can see that. You don’t love him for his money, not like all the others. He work too hard. I always tell him he should relax but he not listen to me. But you will be good for him. You love him very much, eh?’ Rosario clapped her hands together in delight. ‘This will be very good marriage. I know it.’
