Page 101 of Be More Octopus

I wonder. Yes, he was still using the same passcode.

She scrolled through his contact list. That one would do perfectly.

'Come on, Em. I thought you wanted to get rid of me?' he yelled through the letterbox.

She tapped out a message, pressed send, checked it had been delivered, deleted it, switched back to the home page, went back into the hallway and shoved the phone through the open letterbox straight into Connor's face.

'Ow!'

Em didn't respond. She breathed deeply. How am I going to get out of this mess?

There was another knock at the door.

'What now!?' Em shouted as she opened the door again.

Nancy was standing on Em's doorstep. She looked surprised.

'Did you try to kill him? There's a trail of blood leading down my drive.'

CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

Nancy was unloading the dishwasher as Em walked into the kitchen. 'Nothing from Jack yet?'

'No, nothing at all. I was hoping you might have heard something.' Em took her phone out of her back pocket just in case she'd missed a notification in the 30 seconds since she'd last checked it.

'It's early yet,' said Nancy. 'He's probably having a lie in after all that driving.'

'Yes, probably.' Em yawned.

'Did you get any sleep last night?'

'Not much.' None at all, if she was being honest. Her mind had refused to shut down. She'd lain in bed looking at a crack in the ceiling, running through all the ways she could get through to Jack if he didn't phone. When the morning twilight started to appear around the edge of the blind, she had given up all hope of sleeping and got out of bed. Jack's portrait was by the window, almost finished. She picked up her brushes, unwrapped her acrylics and quietly worked on the bits of the background that needed completing, remembering the sexual tension between them during the sittings. It was the next best thing to being in the room with him. By 6 am, she was happy that his portrait was finished.

Em's stomach rumbled.

Nancy looked concerned. 'I can hear that from here. When did you last eat?'

Em frowned. When had she last eaten? Not since she'd kicked Connor out. And she'd skipped lunch as usual on a Saturday, preferring to get all the cottage cleaning done first.

'I think I had a snack yesterday morning.'

'You can't go on like that. I don't want you fainting on me.'

Nancy started bustling around the hob and the fridge. 'A cooked breakfast is in order.'

'That's kind, but I'll go back to my flat and get some cornflakes or something.'

'No, you won't. You'll sit here while I make you bacon and eggs. I think I'll join you for a change. I haven't made an effort to cook breakfast in ages. Would you like mushrooms as well?'

'Yes, please.' Em couldn't be bothered to put up a fight. And it was nice to be waited on. Just like Jack waited on her. Oh god, don't go there. Tears welled up again.

Nancy looked concerned. She came over and gave Em a hug. 'I'm sure Jack's fine. Once you've had a chance to explain the mix-up with Connor, you'll be back to normal.'

'But what if it's something else? What if he's had a car accident?'

'Aliens could have landed on the M4 and abducted him, though I think Radio 4 might have mentioned that in this morning's news bulletins. You're not thinking straight because you've not slept or eaten. I'll phone Olivia later to see if she's heard anything. It's too early now. She likes to lie in on a Sunday.'

9.30 am. Em was lying on her own sofa, having finally fallen asleep after forcing herself to eat Nancy's breakfast. Not that it wasn't tasty. She just didn't feel like eating anything at all.