31st July 2022

‘How long have you and your ex been separated, Mrs Hall, if you don’t mind me asking?’

Susannah’s sitting in the armchair opposite me, holding onto her glass of wine, wearing a light blue summer dress. I’d liked it the moment I saw it and asked her where she’d got it from, making a note to take a trip to Monsoon to check it out later. I shift in my seat. Where the hell has this question come from? Joshua’s driven into town to pick us up fish and chips. I was surprised when he talked about brining Susannah over tonight. He asked me last week, and I’d said yes in a heartbeat, I haven’t had a chance to have a proper conversation with her yet.

‘Oh, um, we split up a decade ago,’ I say, rubbing the back of my neck. ‘And please don’t call me Mrs Hall, it’s Stacey, calling me Mrs Hall makes me seem ancient.’

Susannah smiles. ‘But you’ve never been with anyone else since?’ she asks.

‘No, well, I was sort of in a relationship with some guy a couple of years ago, but it didn’t work out unfortunately, but I’m happy being on my own, I can do what I want, when I want,’ I reply.

Susannah inspects her nails. ‘Joshua took me round to meet his dad the other day,’ she says.

‘Oh, did he?’ This is the first time I’m hearing about this.

‘Lives in a really fancy place, doesn’t he?’ she says.

‘Yes he does, but it’s not his; it’s all in his new girlfriend’s name, her parents are the ones with millions in the bank, you know she’s a good ten years younger than him?’

Susannah laughs. ‘Yeah, I noticed that, she’s not that much older than me. Do you, sorry, if you don’t mind me asking, do you know how he met her?’

‘It was in Ibiza of all places,’ I reply, rolling my eyes. I still can’t help but imagine the scene in my mind, Daniel at the bar, this woman appearing beside him rubbing his shoulders, enticing him to dance. ‘This was before we split up. He was out there with a bunch of his friends from his school days and I think, well, it wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up with her in bed that weekend. His friends insist with me that he didn’t sleep with her until we’d split up, but men cover for each other, don’t they? Sorry, I’m rambling on a bit.’

‘Must’ve been hard for you,’ she says, taking a sip of her wine.

‘Well, I think I’d grown to realise for some time before that, that we weren’t compatible any more. But I’d go through it all again to have Joshua and Rachel. They’re my world.’

I breathe a sigh of relief as I hear the front door open, the smell of fish and chips wafts into the room. The smell always puts me in mind of my youth when my parents would insist on having fish and chips every single Friday without fail.

‘Let’s eat outside, shall we?’ Joshua says, clutching onto the paper bag. He beams at Susannah. ‘It’ll be a shame not to make use of the garden on such a glorious evening. I hope Mum’s been keeping you entertained.’

‘Oh yeah, we’ve been having a right old natter, haven’t we?’ Susannah says.

‘We have,’ I agree.

I get up from my chair and follow Susannah and Joshua out of the room, glad the conversation about my ex is over.

**********

Characters:

Stacey (mother of Joshua) 

Lucie (foreman of the jury)

Joshua (Stacey's son)

Susannah (murder victim) 

Rachel (Stacey's daughter)

Daniel (Stacey's ex-husband) 

Ruth (journalist)