Page 56 of The Sunrise Sisterhood

This whole night was so not me. I was sensible Clare, the one with the steady career, the one who worked hard at school and never caused her mother a moment’s trouble. I’ve never even tried drugs, for God’s sake, not one tiny whiff of a spliff, and I could always be relied on to drive on a night out.

I had this sudden image of myself writing tomorrow’s post in my journal:

Dear Diary, last night I had sex with a stranger in his hotel bedroom. And bathroom, come to that …

I felt a giggle bubbling up in my chest.

‘I just had sex with a stranger,’ I said aloud into the darkness.

‘Me too,’ came the reply and we both laughed. ‘We could swap life stories, if you like? So we’re no longer strangers,’ he suggested, trailing a finger up my arm.

I felt my body flood with desire.

‘Or,’ I said, pulling him towards me, ‘you could just kiss me again.’

Words that would come back to haunt me, by the way.

He did kiss me again and I stopped worrying about finding my knickers.

We must have fallen asleep, because when I heard the soft vibration of my phone coming from my bag on the floor beside the bed, I sat up with a jolt.

The display on the clock beside the bed glowed red. It was after eleven and Adam was asleep. I slid out of the bed, wrapping myself in the damp towel I’d dropped on the floor after our shower, and pulled my phone from the depths of my bag.

I blinked at the screen, trying to work out what I was seeing. There were missed calls from an unknown number and several from Liz. Something was wrong. My blood started pumping even as I hit call on Liz’s number.

She answered straight away. ‘Oh Clare,’ she sobbed down the line. ‘I’m so, so sorry.’

‘Liz? Oh my God, what’s wrong?’

‘It’s your mum, darling. It’s Jen.’

And just like that, the fun was over. Saskia vanished into thin air.

Chapter Fifteen

Clare

‘Just drive, please.’ Clare’s voice trembled. ‘Go!’

Skye complied.

They accelerated onto the road and Clare was pushed back against her seat. The pain, the pain, the pain. It was almost unbearable.

She forced herself to breathe as she watched Adam in the wing mirror. Hands low on his hips, shaking his head, he looked completely in shock. She was in shock too; not only from seeing him again, but from the crunching sensation going on in her upper arm. Her heart was thudding so erratically that it felt in danger of bursting right out of her chest.

Adam was in Salcombe of all places. She groaned out loud. Since hearing the name ‘Saskia’ being shouted from the ferry, she’d felt as if she’d been holding her breath. She’d deliberately stayed away from the beaches and the centre of town ever since to avoid bumping into him again, only to literally run into him at that party.

‘I wish I’d never called you,’ Skye said, her voice breaking. ‘I should have just managed by myself. I’ve made everything far, far worse.’

‘Not your fault,’ Clare replied, although, truthfully, she wished the same. Her forehead was clammy, sweat prickled under her arms. ‘You weren’t to know.’

She closed her eyes to discourage any further conversation and her head was immediately full of him.

She’d never expected to see Adam again after that night. Never thought she’d be caught out like this, never thought she’d be confronted with the reality of Ivy’s conception. Clare Marriott wasn’t a liar, she was the sensible one. The sister who’d never made a misstep. The head teacher whose private life was completely wholesome. Clare was a woman who had it all, did it all and did it bloody well too.

Now she was going to have think fast; her past was catching up with her and she didn’t know what to do about it.

And then there was Ivy. Oh God, Ivy, Adam’s baby. A cold shiver ran down her back.