The journey back from the airport is pretty silent. I’m too busy reflecting on the life I’m leaving behind to say much. It’s weird to think that could be the last time I see the man I married, the person I thought I was going to be with for the rest of my life.

“Is everything okay?” Blake asks as we pull into town. “You haven’t said anything for ages. Should I be worried?”

“What? No, just thinking about old times. You have nothing to worry about, this is exactly where I want to be. Just promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“Never lie to me. I’m so done with all the lies. If the time comes that you’re bored of me or whatever, please just be man enough to tell me.”

“I’ll never get bored of you, Addison.”

“Promise me,” I demand, as I think back to when I’m sure Edward would have said the exact same thing.

“Okay, I promise, but it’s never going to happen.”

“None of us know what the future holds, Blake, but as long as we’re honest that’s all that matters.”

“Okay,” he mutters as his phone starts ringing again.

“Are you going to get that?” It must be the forth time it’s rang since he powered it up after getting off the plane.

“It’s not important.”

“You haven’t even looked to see who it is,” I point out.

“I know who it is, it’s just work stuff and it can wait.”

“Okay,” I whisper, not really liking his vague answer after he just promised never to lie to me.

Thoughts of who’s trying to get hold of Blake are banished when we pull onto Aunt Addy’s drive to her pulling the door open, revealing a very stressed look on her face. Both Blake and I jump from the car the second he stops it.

“What’s wrong?” we both ask simultaneously.

“Nothing like that,” she says quickly when she sees the panic on our faces. “Addison, when was the last time you heard anything from your mum?”

“I’ve no idea, why? What’s she done?”

“You should come in.”

Aunt Addy turns and walks into her bungalow. I follow behind with Blake trailing after us. We walk down to Aunt Addy’s bedroom and she pushes the door open to reveal a familiar sleeping figure crashed out on her bed.

“Is she cuddling a bottle of vodka?” I ask when I see the object that seems to be under my mother’s arm.

“Yes,” Aunt Addy says on a sigh as she closes the door. “She got arrested for being drunk and disorderly on the flight here. I got called by the police to come and bail her out.”

“What?” I ask, astonished.

“Let’s put the kettle on, shall we?”

* * *

It turns out that toy boy Tim gave Mum the boot a month or so ago and she’s hit the bottle. He gave her enough money to sort herself out but it seems like she’s pissed it up the wall before coming running back here for Aunt Addy’s help. Aunt Addy picked up her from the airport where she had been detained by the police and managed to get her drunk arse back here and into bed.

* * *

“Here’s my baby girl,” Mum slurs twenty minutes later, after she’s stumbled her way to the kitchen, still clinging to a bottle of vodka. “What’re you doing in Ireland?”

“I moved, Mum,” I reply abruptly, not really wishing to tell the whole story when she clearly won’t remember.

“I think you should have a coffee, Bex,” Aunt Addy says as she pulls out a chair for Mum.

“Make it Irish, would ya?”

“No, Bex, I think you’ve had enough, don’t you?”

“Nope, never,” Mum states and goes to prove it by attempting to unscrew the lid of the bottle she’s holding.

“I’ll take that,” Blake says, getting up and taking the bottle from her.

“And who are you?”

“Blake,” he says, but doesn’t go on to explain how he fits in here.

“Blake, Blake, Blake,” Mum repeats as if she knows the name but can’t remember where from. I’m not sure she even realises he’s not the man I married a few years ago.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? I can ask Mum to have Sinead another night so you don’t have to deal with this,” Blake offers as I look over my shoulder to where Mum’s now snoring on the sofa.

“Thanks for the offer but I think it’s best I stay here, help Aunt Addy out.”

“Okay, but if you need me, call me.”

“I will. Thank you,” I say, stretching up to give him a kiss.

“Anytime. Are we still going for dinner Tuesday?”

“Definitely.”

I stand and watch him drive off, feeling like I just made the wrong decision. I fall back into Aunt Addy’s chair and turn the TV on.

“What happened to Edward?” Mum asks, shocking the hell out of me. I thought she was out of it, not eavesdropping on our conversation.

“He was having an affair. We’re divorcing.”

“I hope you’re taking him for all he’s worth.”

“Chance would be a fine thing,” I say with a laugh.

“He’s better looking, much more my type. Does he have money?”

“What happened with Tim then, Mum?” I ask, ignoring her previous question.

“He couldn’t keep up with me so I had to leave him behind.”

“Right.”

“He wasn’t good enough for me anyway, his cock was—”

“Whoa, Mum, I really don’t want to know,” I say, wincing at the thought, but her hand gesture shows me what she was just about to explain anyway.

I shake my head and try not to think of any thoughts that involve my mum, toy boy Tim and sex.

“Here,” Aunt Addy says as she comes bursting through the front door with a bag full of fish and chips. “This should soak up some of that vodka.”

“Do you have any wine to wash it down with?”

“No,” both Aunt Addy and I shout at the same time.

We end up sending Mum to bed not long after we’ve eaten, leaving Aunt Addy and I to sleep on the sofa bed. It’s probably the best outcome for us but I can’t help thinking that I need to get over to the flat above the bakery and get it fit to be lived in as soon as possible if Mum is planning on staying. I’ve got furniture arriving in a few days, so I potentially could move in pretty soon if I get my arse in gear.

* * *

The week goes by in a blur of cake making, cleaning, dealing with drunk mothers, and very little Blake. We’d arranged to go out on Tuesday but when the time came he had to cancel because of work. It was just one of those things but I was seriously disappointed. I was equally as pissed off on Thursday when he text out of the blue, asking if I was home alone. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. Mum was sat at the dining table, talking to me about her time swanning around America. He came around anyway and had coffee with Mum and me. I’d warned her to be on her best behaviour and, to be fair, she was; that day was also the most sober I’d seen her since her arrival.

* * *

Blake and I plan to go out Friday instead. I spend the morning icing, then, once Mum disappears just after lunch, I decide to head over to my flat to do the last bits of cleaning ready for my furniture to arrive. Blake, Sinead and I are planning to spend the weekend painting it; Sinead has all the colours picked out ready. She asked me if I wanted to see them but I told her I’d rather she surprised me. I’m looking forward to seeing what she’s chosen.

Before heading up to the flat, I poke my head into the bakery. It’s almost done; I’m just waiting on the delivery of my kitchen equipment and I’ll be all set. Cara has sent my Opening Soon fliers ready for the end of the month to the printers making me commit to an opening date. It’s such a big and scary step that I do admit I was putting off making the decision about when I would open the doors. But now the decision is made, I do feel better. I’m spending nearly every waking hour thinking about and testing different recipes that I want to sell, along with finding suppliers for some of the items I don’t plan on baking myself. As much as I’d love to do it all one-handed, I know that’s a pipe dream, because there aren’t enough hours in the day.

By the time I’ve finished in the flat, the skin on my hands is wrinkly and my nails are wrecked, but both the kitchen and bathroom have been bleached and scrubbed within an inch of their lives. Blake tried to convince me to let him replace the old kitchen and bathroom but I was adamant he’d already spent enough money on me, so we compromised with new cupboard doors that should also be arriving next week.

I stop in at the salon a few doors down once I’ve finished, hoping they may be able to squeeze me in. It’s obvious from the moment I push the door open that they should have time; there’s no one to be seen, so not only do I get my nails done, I also allow their trainee hair dresser to wash, blow-dry and curl my hair. When I walk out, I may still smell faintly of bleach, but I feel a hell of a lot better. My final stop is the pharmacy before heading back to Aunt Addy’s to get dressed for tonight. I have no idea where Blake’s taking me. He said it was a surprise, but I was told to dress to impress. It’s a shame my clothes haven’t arrived from London yet because I know there are a few dresses in those boxes that are sure to knock Blake’s socks off, but my only choice is the trusty little black dress I wore when we went out for my birthday.

I’m almost ready when my phone rings. Excitement buzzes through me when I see Blake’s name appear on the screen, thinking he’s about to tell me he’s on his way. My bags are packed for a weekend with him and Sinead and I’m raring to go.

“I’m so sorry,” he says when I put the phone to my ear, “I’m going to have to cancel on you again.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” I say, trying desperately hard not to sound disappointed.

“I promise this is the last time.”

“It’s work, Blake. I understand.”

“It’s not good enough though. I should be able to take you out, not be dealing with this.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s your job,” I say, trying to convince myself as well as him it’s true. What I really want to say is to tell whoever it is with a leaky tap or whatever they’ll have to wait until Monday, but I know for a fact if someone rang and asked for a last minute cake I’d have a hard time turning them down.

“I promise, this is the last time,” he repeats, sounding disheartened by the whole thing.

“Okay.”

“I’ve no idea how long I’m going to be tonight so I’ll pick you up in the morning.” That sentence really knocks the wind out of me because when he said he was cancelling I thought he just meant dinner and that he would get me after.

“Oh, yeah, okay.”

“I really am sorry, Addison.”

When I hang up the phone I can’t help but think something more serious is going on than him being called out to fix something. His apologies were a little over the top.

I strip out of my dress and pull the grips from my hair, replacing them with some comfortable Friday night clothes to watch TV in. Aunt Addy’s out with friends tonight and Mum is God only knows where, so I knock myself up a simple pasta dinner before sitting down with my notebook to plan out some more dishes for the bakery.

“Addison, wake up,” I hear Mum say, dragging me from my sleep. I open my eyes and take in my surroundings. I must have fallen asleep because I’m still on Aunt Addy’s sofa with my notebook on my lap. I look to see Mum’s wide eyes staring down on me.

“What is it, Mum?” I don’t mean for it to come out like a groan but it does.

“I’ve just seen Blake out with another woman.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous, he’s working.”

“Addison, I wouldn’t be telling you this if I wasn’t 100% sure.” The smell of alcohol on her breath doesn’t help her case.

“He’s working,” I repeat, already bored of this conversation.

“Fine, don’t believe me, but I swear on your life I just saw your boyfriend out to dinner with another woman—and not a friendly kind of dinner, either. Go and see for yourself.” She continues to rattle of the name of a restaurant in Belfast where she saw them less than an hour ago.

“What were you doing in Belfast?”

“What does that matter? Come on, you can drive Addy’s car,” she says, pulling me to my feet.

“Is this really necessary?” I have no reason not to trust Blake and every reason to question my mother right now. It’s obvious she’s been drinking so she could probably convince herself almost any guy is Blake; she’s only met him twice.

“For fuck’s sake, Mum,” I complain, pulling my boots on when it becomes clear that she isn’t letting this go.

* * *

The drive into Belfast is fairly quick. All the roads are dead this time on a Friday night so it seems like no time at all when I’m attempting to parallel park Aunt Addy’s car across from the restaurant Blake is apparently in.

“Come on, you’ll see them from the maître d’s stand. We’ll just pretend we want a table,” Mum suggests.

I follow along behind her, wondering why the fuck I let her convince me to drive here, let alone go into this fucking restaurant to see for myself that the guy she thinks is Blake is some stranger.

The restaurant is packed and there’s a queue to get a table. “Let’s just go, this is crazy.”

“No, I know what I saw, Addison.”

She holds on to my arm to stop me from walking off just as the line moves, allowing us to step forward.

The maître d’ speaks, which makes me look up. Unfortunately, my eyes don’t make it to his because they lock onto a very familiar face sat at the other side of the restaurant.

“Fuck,” I mutter.

I’m frozen to the spot at I watch Blake accept a fork full of food from the woman sat opposite him. He smiles at her in return and even from here I see the sparkle in his eyes. Then, as if he knows, he looks up and those eyes find mine.

“Fucking wanker,” I announce loudly—earning me a few gasps from the diners—before running from the restaurant.

I jump in Aunt Addy’s car, start the engine and floor the accelerator to get out of there as fast as I can.

I need to get away from here.

I need to get away from him.

I need to get away from the lies.