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&039;What aboutdown the phone at h? How the hell do you think I feel when I find out thatwohting a losing battle to keep calm &039;You know damn well that I&039;d never cheat on you&039;

&039;That&039;s what I used to believe&039;

&039;So what&039;s happened to change your mind? I&039;ve spent time with Clare before and never had any of this from you What&039;s different this time?&039;

She didn&039;t answer The e I could still hear faint sounds co fro up I looked around the kitchen helplessly as I waited for her to speak I still couldn&039;t co

&039;You could&039;ve asked me to come with you,&039; she sobbed suddenly

&039;I&039;ve already told you, it was a spur of theI went over to Clare&039;s to drop in Penny&039;s present and card They were on their own and it was Penny&039;s birthday and I decided to take them out That&039;s all there was to it&039;

&039;I was on my own&039;

&039;You were at work You toldafterwards&039;

&039;I didn&039;t I came home early I didn&039;t feel well Christ, do you knohat you&039;ve put h today?&039; Her voice sounded hoarse and wracked with ehed, &039;I&039;m sorry&039;

&039;What?&039;

I cleared ain Christ alone knohat I thought I was apologising for

&039;I said I&039;m sorry,&039; I repeated &039;Do you want me to come over?&039;

Silence

Then she spoke

&039;I just don&039;t believe you,&039; she said, her voice little more than a whisper

&039;Shall I come over?&039;

&039;Just leave me alone Just fuck off and leave me alone&039;

She slammed down the phone

What had just happened? I couldn&039;t get my head around any of it I stood there for a while, just staring at the phone When I&039;d said goodbye to Siobhan on Wednesday we&039;d kissed more passionately than ever So passionately, in fact, that we al love on her doorstep And now, just a few days later, the sa any evidence or any reason to doubt me I couldn&039;t believe that Siobhan - the one dependable and stable influence that there had been in my life recently - had turned on me like this She had been friends with Clare for al as I had and I found her sudden lack of faith in either of us incredible and painfully hard to coivable cri at ho Last Wednesday night had been perfect We&039;d left the pub hand in hand and had walked back to her house in the cool ht With the distant satellite&039;s silvery rays dancing and playing on the rippling waves of the ocean she had been the one who had co had been There hadn&039;t been any indication of the venom and hostility so evident in her voice now

&039;Everything okay?&039; Rob asked, startlingWas that Siobhan?&039;

I nodded and pushed past hi roo proble close behind

&039;Neither did I,&039; I grunted angrily I was in noroo down on the dark village below I had forgotten he was there He was the last person I wanted to see, certainly the last person I wanted to speak to I was about to turn and go to ht This isroom was the warmest, most comfortable rooo anywhere else?

The alien turned round and looked at ain &039;So what&039;s wrong?&039; Rob asked with genuine concern in his voice &039;What&039;s happened?&039;

I didn&039;t answer immediately I didn&039;t want to talk with the alien in the room I wasn&039;t even prepared to talk about the weather in his company and I was not about to share my private and personal problems while he was there But at the sa to Rob It was obvious that he orried

&039;I don&039;t know,&039; I ot a clue&039;

&039;So what did she say?&039;

I shruggedan affair&039;

&039;An affair? Who with?&039;

&039;Clare&039;

&039;Clare!&039; he exclaimed, surprised &039;Bloody hell, that&039;s ridiculous For Christ&039;s sake, the way she feels about h to put anyone off&039;

&039;Not according to Siobhan it&039;s not&039;

&039;But you and Clare are just friends, same as me and Clare, same as Siobhan and Clare and me and Siobhan for that matter So why does?&039;

&039;We&039;re ood, close friends And when a good friend ofabout it So I did so today&039;

&039;Why today?&039;

&039;Penny&039;s birthday, isn&039;t it,&039; I said, uest couldn&039;t hear &039;Her ex let her down Couldn&039;t be bothered to turn up for his only daughter&039;s birthday&039;

&039;She&039;s better off without him&039;

&039;That&039;s not the point&039;

&039;You see, this is one of the things that I really have trouble understanding,&039; the alien said suddenly I was angry that he&039;d dared to listen to and then interrupt our private conversation Rob, on the other hand, was encouraging him to join in

&039;What don&039;t you understand?&039; he wondered

&039;How you could even consider changing from one partner to another Back home it just wouldn&039;t happen, not even if our partner died There&039;s never any question of&039;

&039;I wish you&039;d just fuck off home,&039; I spat, incensed &039;You come here with your bloody holier-than-thou attitude and then stick your nose into my business uninvited Do yourself a favour and do me a favour and fuck off!&039;

&039;Tom,&039; Rob protested uselessly &039;Come on, he was only&039;

I stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind me All I wanted was an explanation I felt e for her Christ, I would have taken a bullet for her I thought she knew just how ht she kne I felt So as she so hostile towards me? Had it really been that insensitive of me to have taken Clare and Penny out?

I sat alone in the darkest, quietest corner I could find and listened to the silence

I loved her and I wanted her close