As she and Dan stepped outside, Annabel slammed the door behind them. She fumbled in her bag for her keys as she hastily made her way to the car.

‘What’s happened?’ asked Dan, hot on her heels. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Let’s just say I’ve got my fingers crossed,’ said Annabel.

Frustrated, she crouched down, almost tripping over her bunny slippers as she tipped the contents of her handbag out onto the roadside. ‘I know they’re in here somewhere’ she said. While sifting through the pile of crumpled receipts, her purse, and even a tatty old address book, Annabel sighed. She still couldn’t find what she was looking for.

‘Look, wherever you need to be, I’ll take you,’ said Dan.

Annabel paused. ‘And spoil your plans, I don’t think so.’ She got back to her search, this time tossing a pack of headache pills to one side. ‘Honestly, you go. We’ll talk soon, yeah?’

She felt Dan’s hand on her arm as he lowered himself down to her level. ‘I don’t mind and this is obviously important.’

Annabel momentarily relaxed when she saw the concern on Dan’s face. It was good of him to think of her like this, but there was no way she could ruin his evening. ‘I’m fine. It’s just a family issue and believe me, you’ll have a lot more fun doing whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing.’

With one last grope around, she finally had to concede. Her keys weren’t there. ‘They must be inside,’ she said. She looked towards the house as she scooped everything back up. ‘Shit!’ Annabel rose to her feet and realised that the keys to her home were on the same ring as those to her car. ‘What the hell am I going to do now?’ She put one hand to her forehead and the other on her hip as she tried to think. With only the bathroom window left open, the prospect of shimmying up the drainpipe did not feel like fun.

She watched Dan stand up. He pulled the keys to his vehicle out of his pocket and dangled them in front of her.

With no time to argue, Annabel zipped her bag shut. ‘Okay,’ she said, deciding it couldn’t hurt to have a bit of back up in a situation like this. As she quickly headed for his car, she expected him to be right behind her. ‘Well what are you waiting for?’ she asked.

He pressed the button on his key fob and released the central locking. Dan shook his head and indicated to her clothing as they climbed inside. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t get changed,’ he said.

Annabel looked down at her attire. ‘Who’s going to see me?’ She put on her seatbelt. ‘And like you said, this is an emergency.’

As Dan turned the ignition, she took in the interior of the car. Very nice, she thought. Annabel compared it to her clapped out and rather basic little number; this one seemed to have a display for everything. It was obviously built for speed, something Annabel felt comfortable with. Her lack of punctuality had given her lots of experience on the speeding front, something Dan clearly didn’t realise.

Having expected him to just pull out and hit the accelerator, Annabel waited for them to move. Forced to watch Dan double check for other traffic before slowly pulling away from the kerb, the last thing she’d had him down as was a Sunday driver. He seemed to carefully and methodically move through the gears, from first, to second, to third. She found it painful viewing; especially as they’d already established this to be a life or death situation. Even in her old car, she could have done nought to sixty in no time at all and, as they carried on down the street, Annabel itched for him to put his foot down. ‘You can go a bit faster,’ she said. Her impatience grew. She glanced at the speedometer; surely he was going to go above thirty at some point?

‘Where is it we’re off to?’ he asked.

‘Nowhere by the looks of things.’ Annabel silently insisted she could walk quicker than this.

‘I’ve already had one ticket recently,’ said Dan. ‘I don’t want another.’

‘Really?’ She’d have put money on it not being for speeding.

‘Really.’

Annabel realised no amount of complaining would make him go any faster, so she decided to just go with the flow. ‘You need to take the next right and then a left,’ she said.

She continued to give him directions, all the while thinking they were never going to get there. At this rate her sister had to think she’d been deserted in her hour of need, or worse, gotten herself into trouble. Finally, she thought, at last spotting their journey’s end. ‘You see that car park over there,’ she said. ‘That’s where we’re heading.’

Although still in no rush, Dan pulled in, while Annabel scanned the area for her sister’s vehicle. ‘There she is,’ she said, as she pointed out a blue car so Dan could draw up alongside.

‘A pub?’ he replied. ‘We’ve come to a pub? I thought you said this was an emergency.’

Annabel rolled her eyes. The drive had taken so long, no one would have guessed.

She decided to ignore his questions and hastily unclipped her seatbelt; but paused to look her driver directly in the eye before getting out. ‘You’re not to say a single word,’ she warned him. ‘You’re here for your brawn should anything go wrong and not your brains.’

‘Excuse me,’ said Dan.

Annabel could see that he was wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

‘Plus, I could do with the moral support,’ she added. ‘Silent moral support, that is.’ After opening the car door, she paused for a second time. Annabel knew that Dan’s presence wouldn’t exactly be welcome, but thought it better to excuse her sister’s impending behaviour prior to the fact. ‘Rebecca can be a bit difficult, you see,’ she said.

Dan smiled. ‘I remember,’ he replied, obviously recalling the couple of times their paths had crossed.

She finally disembarked and, with Dan following suit, climbed straight into the back of Rebecca’s vehicle. She could see her sister had been crying, something Annabel thought understandable under the circumstances.

‘Two questions,’ said Rebecca. ‘One, what on earth are you wearing?’

Annabel looked from her sister to her pyjamas and fluffy bunny slippers, no longer quite sure how to respond. Yes, she might be inappropriately dressed considering their venue, but with mascara and eye liner smeared all over her face, she had to ask if Rebecca was really in a position to comment.

‘And two, what’s he doing here?’

Annabel saw that Dan was about to reply, but quickly put her hand up to silence him. Rebecca had long made her mind up with regards to her dislike for the man and, no matter the explanation, she’d still want rid of him. Besides, having already made it clear Dan’s role here was non-verbal, she felt more concerned about her sister’s well-being. She’d never seen such an emotional wreck.

‘Never mind him,’ she replied. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I’ve been asking myself that for the last two hours,’ said Rebecca.

Annabel peered out at the building before her. With a boarded-up window and half its neon signage refusing to light up, the pub couldn’t be more of a dive if it tried. Considering their surroundings, her sister was lucky she hadn’t been robbed at knifepoint or car jacked. And goodness only knew what kind of woman her brother-in-law had got himself mixed up with.

‘Earlier,’ her sister carried on. ‘When he rang to say he was working late again, something just snapped. I got in the car and waited outside the office for him to finish. That’s when I followed him here.’ Tears began to well in her eyes. ‘He’s in there, Annabel, with his other woman.’

‘Oh, Rebecca,’ she said, her sister’s pain almost tangible. ‘You shouldn’t be doing this to yourself, not in your condition.’

Out of the corner of her eye, Annabel saw Dan move, as if about to speak. Anticipating his question, she decided to get in with the answer first. ‘She’s pregnant,’ she said.

Dan’s whole body seemed to slump. ‘Jesus, Annabel,’ he replied.

His reaction surprised her. Dan appeared as shocked by the news as she’d been, he didn’t seem able to say anything else. Instead, he just sat there. Then again, Annabel supposed there wasn’t much he could say. All the platitudes in the world wouldn’t change things. Her sister would still be having a baby and she still wouldn’t. She could see a tenderness in his eyes as he leaned over with a comforting hand, a gesture that left her, like him, lost for words. As she was taking in his gaze, the moment seemed to go on a little too long and, suddenly uncomfortable, Annabel snapped herself out of it. ‘Now is not the time for sympathy,’ she said, trying to re-focus.

‘I just needed to see it for myself,’ said Rebecca, as her lip began to quiver.

‘And if he is with another woman,’ said Annabel. ‘What then?’

Her lip quivered some more. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead.’

‘I take it you still haven’t spoken to Gavin about any of this then?’ asked Annabel. She again took in their dodgy environment. ‘I’m guessing we wouldn’t be here if you had.’

Rebecca shook her head. ‘So he can tell me I’m imagining things? That it’s my hormones playing up?’

As her sister broke down in tears, Annabel didn’t know what to say for the best. She turned to Dan, hoping he’d have some words of wisdom, before quickly changing her mind again. After all, this was the last person Rebecca would take advice from. With no other options, she simply dug into her handbag and pulled out a clean tissue before silently handing it over.

Annabel watched her sister wipe her eyes and couldn’t help but question why life had to be so complicated. If Gavin no longer felt happy in his marriage he should have come clean about his feelings, not turned to another woman. And once Rebecca had suspicions, she should have confronted her husband, not taken to sneaking around after him like this. Why couldn’t people just be more honest with each other? She suddenly felt the warmth of Dan’s leg against hers, forced to ignore the little voice inside of her that was suggesting that she might want to take her own advice. Great, she thought. Now she was hearing things. Maybe her sister had been right of late; maybe she was losing the plot.

Annabel insisted all of this sitting around wasn’t getting anyone anywhere, and decided to take charge of the matter at hand. ‘Just to get things straight,’ she said. ‘You haven’t actually been inside the pub yet?’

Again, her sister shook her head. ‘I’ve tried to pluck up the courage,’ she said. ‘But that’s why I rang you. I was hoping you’d go in for me.’

Annabel looked into her sister’s rather smudged, yet pleading, eyes. Then she once more turned her attention to her pyjamas and bunny slippers and wondered why these things always happened to her. She wished she’d listened to Dan and got changed before setting out.

‘Annabel, you can’t,’ he said.

She threw him a look. ‘What choice do I have?’ she asked.

He held his hands up and, gesticulating his surrender, leaned back in his seat as if retreating to a safe distance.

Okay, she thought. You’ve been in worse situations. You can do this.

She took a deep breath. ‘Right, any idea as to whereabouts in the building he might be?’ she asked. With a bit of luck she could just march in, grab him, and march straight back out again.

‘None at all,’ replied Rebecca.

‘Bugger!’ said Annabel.

Dan tried to say something, but again, she refused to let him. She opened the car door, ready to get out.

‘You’re going in like that?’ asked her sister.

Annabel scoffed. ‘Not without trying to locate him first, I’m not. I’m hoping I’ll be able to see him through the window.’

‘I’m coming with you,’ said Rebecca. She opened her car door too.

‘So am I,’ said Dan, doing the same.

Fantastic, thought Annabel. With her rocking her PJs, her sister doing a great panda impression, and Dan all suited and booted, they had to look like the weirdest search party on the planet.

Once out of the vehicle, Annabel scanned the car park, just hoping no one was watching. She led the way as the three of them headed towards the building and approached one of the pub windows. ‘Can either of you see him?’ she asked, peering inside. ‘Because I can’t.’

‘It’s too busy,’ said Rebecca. ‘He could be anywhere amongst that lot.’

Annabel turned to Dan, who simply shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t know him if I bumped into him,’ he said.

Understandably so, she supposed, considering he’d never actually met her brother-in-law.

She turned and slouched against the wall. ‘Blast,’ she said. Annabel pictured herself having to go from room to room until she found Gavin, she could only imagine the comments about to come her way. She closed her eyes, cringing at the very idea. ‘This is going to be so embarrassing,’ she said.

‘It doesn’t have to be,’ replied Dan.

Annabel opened her eyes again. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I can go in for you,’ he said.

‘But you’ve just admitted you haven’t a clue who he is.’

‘I haven’t. But one of you must have a photo. Everyone carries pictures of their nearest and dearest, don’t they? Look.’ He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. ‘Even me.’

He offered it to Annabel who took in the picture of him and his mother. Seeing him at such a tender age she couldn’t help but giggle. ‘Wow,’ she said, causing him to suddenly snatch the wallet back.

‘That’s enough of that,’ he said, tucking it safely away again. ‘It was the nineties. Every young boy had hair like that.’

Rebecca’s coughing interrupted the banter. Purse in one hand and photo in the other, Annabel took the snapshot from her and, after a quick peek, handed it to Dan. She watched him smile as he took in the photographic scene – Rebecca, Gavin, and their three children in happier times.

‘Good looking family,’ he said, ready to go.

‘Thank you,’ her sister curtly replied.

‘We’ll wait in the car,’ Annabel informed him. ‘Come and get us the minute you spot him.’

‘I will,’ he said. ‘I better take this with me though, if you don’t mind.’

Rebecca nodded her consent and, as Dan headed inside, Annabel took her sister’s arm and led her back to their vehicle. ‘Everything’s going to be okay,’ she said. ‘You’ll see.’

After getting into the car, they seemed to sit there for ages; and as time ticked on Annabel’s confidence began to wane. She wondered if she should be worried. After all, if the pub’s exterior was anything to go by, its clientele had to be equally as suspect. In an environment like that, she knew poor Dan wouldn’t stand a chance and, continuing to clock watch, she couldn’t help but think they were going to have to send in a search party to locate the search party.

‘What do you think’s happening?’ asked Rebecca. The woman was obviously thinking the same thing. ‘Surely he should be back by now.’

‘Maybe, but we both saw how packed it is in there.’ Annabel tried to reassure herself as much as anyone else. ‘It’s probably just taking a while to get through the crowds.’

Dan finally re-appeared. ‘Thank God,’ said Annabel as she and Rebecca jumped out of the car. ‘And he’s still in one piece.’

She tried to read Dan’s face as he approached, hoping for some sort of clue as to what he’d found, but there was nothing.

‘Well?’ said Rebecca.

He looked her sister directly in the eye. ‘I think you need to come with me,’ he said.