In the last week of March, 2020, I split up with my girlfriend of three years. Even though it was my decision to end the relationship, I decided to take a few months to sort out my head.Thankfully, I’d kept my small terrace house and I moved back in. My next door neighbours, David and Helen were a young couple with two kids and they’d lived there throughout the four years I’d owned my property. On moving day, David kindly...
Owing to complications within Andrea’s divorce, we’ve had to wait nearly two years after our engagement before we could finalise a wedding date. The delay did help in our bid to save money for the day we wanted and Ian and Rachel also helped with the funds. During the two years, nothing really changed except Andrea switched her job and Sam turned sixteen and finished secondary school. Hopefully, he’ll start college in Sep...
My relationship with Andrea had progressed so well that she and her kids moved in with me. It was turning into such a fine family home that I rang Ian at work one Thursday in March and asked if I could meet him alone. We arranged to meet at a pub not far from his office. I arrived first and the pub was very quiet but warmed by a log burner. I was standing at the bar when Ian walked in, and I bought him a drink before we m...
Andrea’s kids were picked up by their dad and taken off for a two week holiday with him and his parents. While they were going to Spain, we were heading to Cornwall for a week with Andrea’s family. Our first stop was at her parents’ house and her mother, Rachel came out to greet us. “The Jeep’s loaded and we’re ready to go,” she said and then surprised me by adding, “Men in the Jeep, girls in your car.” “Oh, right,” I sai...
I’d been dating Andrea for a week following the pool party when I had a phone call from a number I didn’t recognise. I was actually relaxing in my back garden, reading the news on my iPad, so I ignored the call. Minutes later, a text arrived from the same number: ‘Hi, hope you’re ok, it’s Sally here. Can you talk?’ I know two girls named Sally — one at work and Andrea’s sister. ‘Sally who?’ I replied, put my phone on the...
It all started in my last year of junior school when, like adolescent boys tend to do, I had a crush on a girl in my class. Living in the same small village, our families had known each other for years and Andrea Jones definitely knew I liked her. But, for some reason that my juvenile brain couldn’t fathom, she wasn’t interested in being a girlfriend, not even as we progressed through secondary school together. She’d occa...
