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‘What! Where is he?’ Emma asked with a frown.

‘I don’t know. Last I saw, he was getting into a car with his woman.’

‘Dru, what makes you think that?’

‘I know, Emma. I know.’ Dru squeezed Emma’s hand tightly. ‘Where’s Jeremy? Could he collect Ruby?’

‘He’s home with Akasha. I’ll give him a call and he can get Ruby.’

‘Thank you, I’ll have to call daycare and let them know he’s coming. At the moment it’s only Mum and Connor and me who can pick her up.’

‘Okay, you do that now, while I call Jeremy.’

Dru managed to make the call and was pleased her voice stayed calm. Her breathing had returned to normal, and her heartbeat had settled down now the contractions had stopped and she knew that she was being taken care of.

‘Okay, Dru. The lift’s on the way up again, so tell me quickly why you’ve got this God-awful, stupid, ridiculous idea that Connor is having an affair.’

‘Well, he’s barely spoken to me for the last six weeks and he’s been very distant. We haven’t slept together. He comes out of the bathroom fully dressed. We’ve barely had a conversation so I headed off to his office today when I dropped Ruby at daycare, determined to have it out with him. You know what Mum always says? Communication is the key. Well, it’s something we haven’t been doing and I set off to make it happen.’

‘What happened?’ Emma asked. ‘What did he say?’

‘Would you believe my husband’s firm is closed for a month? He’s been going off to work or somewhere every day, and I’ve had no idea where he’s been.’

‘What about Greg? Does he know?’

‘Do you remember Greg came here on Saturday when we were having the barbecue?’

Emma nodded slowly.

‘Well, he came looking for Connor too, because he hasn’t been answering Greg’s calls either.’

‘Maybe there’s something wrong with his phone.’

‘And would that explain why he’s treating me the way is, and why does it have a closed sign on the office with Greg’s number that I don’t think Greg even knows about?’

‘There must be an explanation.’

‘No, Emma, he doesn’t love me anymore and he’s found somebody else.’

‘I still can’t accept that. Your husband adores you. You’ve only got to look at the pair of you together.’

‘How long since you’ve seen us together?’

‘At Mum’s birthday in February.’

‘That’s three months ago. I think that was the last time that Connor spoke to me properly.’

‘Why are you so certain there’s another woman?’

‘I saw him. He got into her car this morning. And he held her hand. Maybe he even kissed her. I couldn’t watch. I took the back way out of the building because I’m a coward. I should have marched out and confronted him then.’

‘That’s not proof. It could’ve been a client. And how silly would you have felt, if she turned out to be a client? Or it could’ve been a friend? A new office person? There are heaps of possibilities.’

‘We don’t have any friends,’ Dru said. ‘You know what we’re like. We’re both loners.’

‘No, not loners. I know what you’re like. You’re a couple who enjoy spending their lives with each other, the same as Jeremy and I; family is enough for us at this stage of our lives. Between work and kids, we don’t have time for a big social circle.’ Emma folded her arms. ‘It must be a client.’

‘Oh, dear, sweet Emma, you’ve inherited Mum’s happy genes, didn’t you? You’re more like Mum than Ellie and I. We’re the ones with the hard centres who see harsh reality and you’re our Pollyanna.’ Dru squeezed her sister’s hand again. ‘Don’t be offended. I do love you the way you are, and I love you for trying to find a happy answer.’