An audio book,
In the prelude a dead body is found in a house.
Ruby (her PoV) leaves Tom, who she's been with for 12 years. He's become controlling. At the start they'd tried for children. Her step-son Josh, 17, sees them about twice a week. She enjoyed her time with Josh. She trusts him. She also gets on with their bachelor neighbour Oliver. She waits at the hotel where she planned to meet Harry, her boss of 18 months. But she discovers that Harry's gone on holiday with his newly pregnant wife, Emma. Ruby gets sacked. "Just as a stopped clock is right twice a day, a marriage is never entirely unhappy" observes Ruby, whose heart sinks, freezes, etc.
At chapter 22, Emma's PoV takes over. Her heart lifts, stomach drops, etc. She's 38 and has been with Harry for 20 years, childless. She suspected that Harry was having an affair when he mentioned Ruby at every opportunity, then suddenly not at all. When he went on a business trip to Paris she sneaked to the airport and saw how chummy Harry and Ruby were together. She went to Tom (who she didn't know) and told him the news, then slept with him. A few weeks later when she's pregnant she doesn't know who the father is. Harry's attitude to her changes suddenly because of the pregnancy (which she hadn't wanted, which she feels guilty about). Tom meets her after Ruby left him. She hadn't known that Harry had planned to leave her. Tom wondered why she hadn't told him about her pregnancy, which he presumes he caused.
PoV returns to Ruby. Her stomach clenches, etc. She's getting dirty phone calls. A character "breathes a deep sigh" rather than "sighs deeply". Later a character "breathed a huge sigh of relief", then "breathed a sigh of relief" (rather than 'sighed with relief'). Ruby's heart leaps. Her stomach drops. Her heart aches.
PoV changes more quickly now. Emma's stomach tightens.
Ruby begins to distrust what Tom has told her - about the reason for his first divorce, etc. She wonders about returning to Tom, because he's being so considerate. But with him she couldn't be herself. She thinks she's being stalked. She meets Harry by chance in a snack-bar. He had tried to contact her about his change of mind but various technical issues and colleague betrayals got in the way. She thinks that Harry might be a nice person after all, that there still might be something between them. She realises that Tom had known about her affair for a while. Her heart sinks. There's a dull thud in her stomach.
Ruby goes to Tom's. He's thrown her stuff away. They argue. He falls down the stairs as Emma arrives to tell him the baby's Harry's. The two women agree on a story to tell the police. Emma's stomach clenches, tightens, drops. "My heart thumped hard in my chest" (Emma). Where else would it thump? When Emma discovers the affair had been going on for 18 months, she prepares for departure in an echo of the way Ruby prepared - "This isn't working for me." Harry phones Ruby, asking for her back.
Lots of wincing.
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