Chapter 11
Sarah stared at Cheryl from the kitchen and watched as she read through paperwork from the X Factor that she had said she needed to read before her next meeting. She was sat on the sofa with Claude lying next to her, his little head resting on her right leg, looking like he too was reading the papers resting on her lap.
She had told Sarah when she got home the previous Friday that she would be meeting Kimberley on Thursday, and since then Sarah hadn’t seen her cry and she had been eating a bit more.
“Cheryl, are you home for the night now?” Sarah asked, leaning against the doorframe.
“Yeah,” replied Cheryl, looking up from the paperwork. “Why – do you need something?”
Sarah shook her head. “No, just wondered that’s all. Cup of tea?”
Cheryl smiled, “you read my mind”, and she stroked Claude’s head as he tried to snuggle in closer.
Sarah went into the kitchen and took her mobile out, quickly texting Nicola.
“Cheryl’s back and she’s here for the rest of the night. I swear if this goes wrong you’re getting the blame x”.
A reply quickly came back from Nicola.
“Will you chill? I’ll call Kimberley now x”.
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Cheryl looked up at Sarah as she heard the doorbell and Claude barked.
“I’ll go,” offered Sarah, already on her feet.
Cheryl went back to reading the papers but looked up again as she heard people entering the room. “What the f*ck?” she stood up as she saw Justin standing in the doorway.
Sarah held her hands up “Chez before you say anything, I knew he was coming and I promised I’d let him in. I’m sorry, but I think you should listen to him – honestly” and she nodded.
“I’m not here to cause trouble, Cheryl.” Justin stayed where he was, partly out of politeness, but partly because Claude was barking at him from across the room.
“Claude!” shouted Sarah. “Shut up – we know Justin, he’s not a burglar”.
Claude growled and Justin smiled. “Dogs know the enemy, right?”
Sarah clicked her fingers and Claude ran over to her, still growling quietly at the new arrival. “I’m gonna be upstairs, if anyone needs me”. She leaned into Justin’s ear as she walked past. “I swear if you make things worse I will not be responsible for what the dog does”, and with that she was gone, taking Claude with her.
There was an uncomfortable silence as Cheryl tried to decide whether or not to let Justin talk, or tell him to leave.
“Can I sit down?” he asked, breaking the silence.
She shrugged back at him, sitting herself on the sofa. Justin walked over to the armchair by the window – opposite the sofa, and sat down on the edge, looking very uncomfortable.
“I’m not going to lie to you, Cheryl. I’m here because Kimberley asked me to come”. He looked up and met Cheryl’s gaze, but she didn’t respond.
“She told you we’ve been meeting up – taking Chloe out? She’s been great, Cheryl. Our split hurt Chloe more than either of us thought and I was struggling to explain things – she missed Kimberley, that’s why I got in touch.”
He paused for a moment, feeling slightly uncomfortable at Cheryl’s steely gaze, but he soon realised she had no intentions of speaking.
“That’s all it was, I swear – trying to get Chloe to come to terms with seeing Kimberley less, but suddenly we ended up meeting more than before – because I’ve had Chloe during the week now. It was nice, like old times…”
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