My Husband’s Lies: An unputdownable read, perfect for book group reading. Caroline England

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       CHAPTER FIVE

       Nick

      The first test, for better or for worse.

      Nick gazes at the polite polished faces of his guests. A plastic bubble, he thinks. That’s how it feels; he can still smell the tang of roast beef and hear his new father-in-law’s heavily accented voice, but they’re muffled by his thoughts.

      He tries to shake himself back to his wedding dinner. The dessert bowls have been cleared and the champagne flutes refilled. Friends and family have turned their chairs, they’re listening and smiling. He knows there’s eight tables, but he counts them, rehearsing each label: ‘St Mark’s’ for the school crowd, ‘Leeds’ for uni, ‘Swansea’ for the noisy Welsh, or ‘the coven’ as Lisa calls them …

      His mind drifts to her prolific wedding lists and he smiles a small shaky smile. The handwritten plaques were her idea, pretty much everything else too. She was their clever wedding planner; centring every table with a potted flowering plant, rather than cut flowers, so that they’d last; lovingly decorating each invitation, each envelope; choosing the menu, the hymns and the flowers. Even the men’s suits, their patterned waistcoats and plain cravats.

      But no one can plan everything.

      A blip. That’s what Dan called it. ‘It’s only a blip, mate,’ he said when he came back from Will’s room. ‘Will has to go home with Penny, but don’t worry, leave everything with me.’

      His heart thrashes. Dan caught Penny just in time. Only just in time! Moments later and she could’ve been dead. Bloody hell! A fucking vast blip in his regular safe life.

      Feeling for Lisa’s fingers under the stiff tablecloth, he tunes into her father’s words. His hair is black and oiled and he speaks for some time: his birthplace of Swansea, which raises a loud cheer from his plethora of sisters; his meeting with Lisa’s mum at a church dance; moving to her home town of Prestatyn; having two burly boys before his beautiful baby daughter. He says Nick will find out, if he hasn’t already, that his girl is ‘a bossy little Miss, a bossy little Mrs now, but only in a good way, men need to be told’.

      As the coven make another whoop, he squeezes his new wife’s hand. She turns towards him and her green eyes are shiny. He’s only known her for thirteen months, but he knows without a doubt she’s still grieving for her mum. He hopes Lisa and his own mum will become close, but senses a frostiness between them. ‘Your mum only had boys,’ Lisa says. ‘Of course she’s indulgent with you and Patrick, but I don’t think she knows how to relax. It’s different between mothers and daughters.’

      He didn’t recognise Lisa’s description, but looking at his mum now, he can understand her mistake. Straight-backed and small, she looks timid and tense, but underneath she’s quite steely. Once Will and Penny had left, she took him aside. ‘It’s your day, love, yours and Lisa’s. No point dwelling on it, you need to put it behind you. Most people didn’t notice. Forget it and enjoy yourselves.’

      Though he knew his mum’s words were partially a white lie, he found Lisa hiding in the ladies’ and repeated them. ‘It’s our day, Lisa. Hardly anyone saw. We’re going to put this behind us. Yes?’ Looking into her tearful face, willing her to agree.

      It felt like the first test, for better or for worse.

      The guests bang the tables as Dan stands for his speech. He takes off his jacket, rolls up his shirtsleeves and loosens his cravat. Pausing for a moment, he looks around the room, then lifts his dark eyebrows and clears his throat. ‘Mr and Mrs Quinn,’ he says. ‘… Senior. A few words to the wise before I start. Perhaps now would be a good time to leave …’

      There’s laughter and a loud cheer. ‘Dish the dirt, Dan,’ a pal from university shouts.

      That’s it, Nick thinks, trauma over. Please God, let that be it. Please put my regular and safe life back on track.

      Yet still his heart races.