Page 49 of One Day at a Time

‘Why didn’t you tell us you felt like this?’ Yvie’s sympathetic expression nearly set off the lip tremble again.

‘Because you lot already want to take out a contract on him and when I’m being logical, I honestly think he’s innocent. This is just me, being hormonal and anxious and I’m sure that I’ve gotnothing to worry about. I truly believe he wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardise our family. When he did it last time, he didn’t know about the baby. It’s different now.’

‘Yeah, but your feelings are understandable, hon, they really are,’ Keli assured her. ‘I think it would be less understandable if you didn’t worry. And I’m sure you’re right. He wouldn’t be that stupid. Although, I have no ground to stand on because I once had a six-month relationship with someone who was practically married to someone else and I didn’t spot it.’

‘I don’t think that’s helping,’ Emmy chided her, just as Orla felt a kick to her shin and yelped.

‘Sorry!’ Yvie blurted. ‘Wrong leg. That was meant for blabbermouth next to you.’

Orla rubbed her shin and carried on. ‘I haven’t got to the worst part yet. Today I did something crazy, and I’m not sure how I’m going to get out of it.’

‘No matter how crazy it is, we’ll help you,’ Emmy said, before aiming for a joke that Orla knew was intended to cheer her up. ‘Unless you’ve murdered him. Actually, we’ll help you with that too. Yvie bought a shovel for her flower beds last summer.’

Orla stopped biting her bottom lip long enough to say, ‘I put my phone in his van.’

Silence.

It wasn’t the reaction she’d expected, until she realised that she hadn’t explained that very well.

‘I put my phone in his van,’ she repeated, ‘so that if he said he was working late, I could use my Find My iPhone to track him.’

Another silence as that sank in. Then four pairs of eyes went to the huge clock on the opposite wall of the café. The one that told them it was now seven thirty.

‘And…?’ Emmy got to the obvious question first.

Orla’s lip wobble responded. ‘He texted me an hour ago to sayhe was working late. The text came through on my iPad because it’s linked to my phone.’

‘Wait…’ Yvie put her hand up. ‘Are you telling me that the phone is in his van right now and all we have to do is follow its location to find the answer to all this?’

Orla nodded. ‘Yes, but what kind of person does that make me? I shouldn’t have done it. I feel terrible. I should just trust him. He’s my husband and the father of my child and…’

If she was expecting any kind of calm reasoning and methodical discussion, she’d picked the wrong audience. Which, subconsciously, was probably why she’d admitted it all to them in the first place. They were strictly ‘no judgement’ friends. Actually, they were ‘no judgement’ friends that were already sliding out of their leather banquettes.

‘Let’s go, ladies. Carlo, can you add all this to my bill please?’ Yvie shouted over to her fiancé, who was loading up a tray with drinks at the bar a few feet away.

‘You haven’t paid a bill in ten years, my love.’

‘And you haven’t married me in ten years,’ Yvie shot back, bringing up her long-standing, half-joking grievance that they were aiming to have the longest courtship in history.

‘Consider your account settled,’ Carlo fired back, his laughter making everyone within earshot smile. Orla loved the easy banter that went back and forward between these two. Once upon a time, she and Kyle had that too.

‘We can take my car. It’s right outside,’ Emmy said, pointing to a huge, slightly battered, but gleaming white double cab pick-up truck. ‘Shit, I forgot I’ve got the truck. My car is in the garage.’

‘Not exactly inconspicuous, is it, Nancy Drew?’ Keli said, shaking her head.

‘It’s fine. He’ll never suspect anyone would be spying on himin a truck that’s like something fromGhostbusters,’ Yvie countered, pulling the door open.

It was at that exact moment that Orla’s cold feet set in. ‘Hang on, hang on – this is crazy. It’s gone far enough. I can’t drag you lot into this.’

They all stopped, stared at her, waited until she processed what she’d just said. If they didn’t go, she’d continue to fret. And if she did go, they might just find him and discover there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

‘Okay, yes I can,’ she concluded, and they all carried on into the vehicle. That’s when Orla sussed out that there was a crucial flaw in the plan. ‘I didn’t bring my iPad, so I need someone’s phone so I can sign into my Apple account to track it.’

Yvie handed hers over, and in seconds she was signed in, and saw that her phone was at an address on the south side of the city, about twenty minutes away from where they were now. Was that where Demi lived? She had no idea. And there was only one way to find out. She handed the phone over to Emmy, who nodded and started the engine.

‘Okay, got it. Let’s go find out what’s going on.’

DECEMBER