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Stella shook her head. ‘Nothing. Not a word. Honestly, I have no idea where he is. He’s not answering his phone, it just goes straight to voicemail. He’s not even read my messages.’
‘I don’t understand why he’d just go like that. That’s so… dramatic,’ said Caroline. Her barely concealed dislike for Stella’s husband had always been a sore point, one that they both tried to avoid as much as possible.
‘Please, Caro. Don’t do that, it’s too soon.’ Stella sat down next to Bridget at the table, sinking into the chair.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean…’
Stella waved her hand. ‘I know. I’ve just got to think. Except I can’t even…’ She sighed, her eyes lowering to the floor. ‘I just don’t get it.’ She looked up at Bridget. ‘Am I missing something? Do you know something I don’t?’
‘No!’ Bridget was quick to respond. ‘Stella, if there is something wrong, he needs to tell you. You can’t be expected to second-guess.’
‘And I’m sure there’s a perfectly simple explanation to all this.’ Caroline tried to sound sincere. ‘I reckon by the time you pick the kids up tomorrow, Simon will be here and everything will be back to normal.’ Seeing her sister so blindsided was horrible to watch. ‘Right, I’ll go and chivvy the children and we’ll get going. Just promise to keep me posted, let me know when he’s back.’ She paused. ‘Or gets in touch, at least.’
Stella looked up at her big sister. She couldn’t ever imagine Philip leaving. He wouldn’t dare. But, as overbearing as she could sometimes be, there was no denying Caroline was good in a crisis. ‘Thank you.’ Stella smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She felt totally numb.
Bridget got up and went to give Caroline a hug. ‘Thank you, I’ll look after her at this end, I promise.’
* * *
With overnight bags packed and loaded into Caroline’s car, Stella and Bridget waved to the children as they drove off down the road. They’d seemed quite happy to be going away for the night, although Stella could tell Max suspected something was up.
Bridget put an arm around her as the car disappeared out of view. ‘You OK? Sorry, silly question. What I meant was, would you like a glass of wine?’
Stella looked at her friend and smiled. This time, it did reach her eyes. ‘I think I need a brandy.’
Bridget laughed. ‘I’m on it. Go and collapse on the sofa, I’ll bring it to you.’
Stella headed to the sitting room and curled up at one end of the big sofa as instructed, Percy at her feet. She checked her phone again. No messages, no voicemail, no emails. She ran through a list of people she could call to see if they knew anything. But then, what would she say? If she said he was missing, they’d say she should call the police. And she knew that he wasn’t missing. He’d chosen to go because he didn’t want to be with her. That’s what he’d said and for now she had nothing else to go on.
* * *
That afternoon, Sarah messaged the book club group chat asking if anyone fancied a trip to the cinema the following week.
Stella’s phone pinged when the message arrived. She grabbed it, hoping with her whole being that it would be a message from Simon. When she’d read it, she held the phone out to Bridget.
‘Can you tell them what’s happened? I want them to know.’
‘You sure? They’ll insist on coming over, you know that?’
‘I know, I want them to if they can. I want to be with you all.’ Stella wiped at her face with the scrunched-up ball of tissues she held in her hand.
* * *
An hour later, they sat, the four of them, quite literally holding Stella together while they tried to figure out where her husband might possibly be – and why he’d left in the first place.
‘And there really weren’t any warning signs?’ Lucy asked again.
‘Honestly, no. I know I probably sound mad or maybe like I’m kidding myself, but I thought that everything was fine. There was the usual stuff – we’ve been really busy at work and we should have probably made more time for each other without the children being around, but then it’s always like that, I guess.’ Stella shrugged her shoulders, looking at them for reassurance.
Sarah leaned forward to pour herself more wine from the half-empty bottle of white on the table. ‘Maybe he’s having some kind of midlife crisis.’
Lucy nodded, holding her glass out to Sarah for a refill. ‘Maybe he just needs to buy a motorbike or whatever and be done with it.’
Stella shook her head. ‘But this behaviour, it’s just not him. He’s so… measured. Normally, I mean.’ She paused. ‘There is something I haven’t told you.’
‘The tie?’ asked Bridget.
‘What tie?’ asked Sarah and Lucy in unison.
