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Stella swallowed hard. ‘I need you to…’ Her voice cracked, a wave of nausea washing over her.
‘Stella, what’s going on? You sound weird.’ Caroline, as ever, got straight to the point.
‘I don’t really understand what’s going on, but Simon’s gone.’
‘Gone where?’ Caroline’s voice was flat.
‘I don’t know.’ Stella blinked, not wanting more tears to fall. She needed to try to find some order in the chaos. ‘I honestly don’t know. He said he… I’m not even sure what he said, but basically, he said he couldn’t be here any more. And then he left.’
‘Do the children know?’
‘No, they were asleep. Caroline, I don’t understand.’
‘Have you called him?’
‘About a thousand times.’ Stella remembered sitting at the table the night before, hearing his answerphone message over and over again, watching to see if he’d read her messages. ‘He’s not answering. It’s like he’s just… disappeared.’
‘OK, listen. don’t say anything to the children for now, just say he’s gone to work or something. Then we can try to figure out what the hell is going on.’
‘I’ve got to get them to school.’
‘Darling, it’s Saturday. Leave them sleeping.’
‘God, so it is.’ She shook her head. ‘Max has got football practice. I can’t leave the twins here on their own. He’ll be so disappointed if he misses it. Simon usually takes him.’
‘OK, is there someone you can call to come over and stay with the girls while you go?’
‘I’ll call Bridget.’
‘OK, good. Do you want me to come up later?’
Stella rubbed her forehead with one hand as if willing a sensible thought to come into her head. ‘Actually, yes please.’
‘I’ll be there around midday. I can take the kids back with me for a night if you need me to. Just to give you some time to do whatever you need to do. Don’t worry about packing for them, I can throw some things in a bag when I get there.’
‘Thanks, Caroline.’ There were times when Stella was grateful for Caroline’s no-nonsense approach, and this was one of them. ‘I’ll call Bridget now. Speak to you later.’
‘Stella, please try not to worry too much. I’m sure there’s an explanation and he’ll be back. Maybe it’s just a wobble.’ Caroline sighed. ‘Hang on in there. I’ll see you later.’
‘Bye.’ Stella hung up and tapped out a message to Bridget.
Please can you come over? Slight emergency. Max has got football and Simon not here. Don’t want to leave girls on their own.
She looked at the message, then deleted it and typed a new one.
Simon’s gone and I don’t know what to do.
She pressed send. A few seconds later, her phone rang.
‘Stella, what’s happened?’ Bridget’s voice was croaky. Stella had obviously woken her.
‘I’m sorry to call so early…’
‘Don’t be silly, what’s going on?’
Stella told her.
‘Didn’t he give you any kind of explanation?’ Bridget sounded incredulous.
