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the cupboard and fetched two wine glasses, noticing her hands were visibly shaking. He must mean a lot to her if she was this nervous of speaking to him. “Here,” she said setting them down.
    “I’ll let it breathe for a moment while we put everything away. I didn’t want to start, I’m sure you like to organise your own kitchen.”
    “Yes, I do,” she said smiling at him. Then she set about putting everything in it’s rightful place.
    “So was the visit to check up on you?”
    “Yes. Helen is Dan’s sister. Max must have given her orders to not let me stew here on my own.”
    “She’s on her own. Helen I mean?”
    “Yes. Dead beat husband left her a while back.”
    “That must be hard. Being a single mom.”
    “She does a great job. But yes it is. I hope she finds the right man one day, but when you have kids you have to be so careful.”
    “It’s not too uncommon these days, there’s plenty of men who would love to take on a family like that.”
    She sighed, now or never. “I know. My mom was a single parent, for most of the time when I was growing up.”
    He hesitated only briefly before saying, “Really, so you have first hand experience of what Helen’s going through.”
    “Yes. Well Laura and Jess anyway. I also know how much everything will change when a new man comes into their lives.” She reached for the wine. “I think I might need that drink now.”

Chapter Twelve - Greg
    His palms were sweaty when he accepted the glass from her. Suddenly he was afraid what he was about to hear might change his opinion of her, which would be terrible. He had so much invested in their new relationship, more than emotions, as of this afternoon.
    It wasn’t that he thought she could have done anything too terrible, it was more that he was never good at getting his own feelings across, and he might react ... wrong.
    She sipped her drink for a couple of minutes before continuing. “My mom met man, a good man. Or so he seemed. Steady job, treated me with respect. It all seemed perfect. I was even a bridesmaid when they got married. Then I saw him with another woman.”
    He went to move towards her, wanting to give her some support while she spoke, but she put her hand up to stop him.
    “I didn’t know what to do. So I did nothing. And then my mom went away for the night with work, and I arranged to stay with my friend, a sleep over. But I’d forgotten the movie we were going to watch. And I went back home to get it.”
    She took a bigger gulp of her wine.
    “I let myself in, his car was in the drive, so I knew he was home. He wasn’t in the lounge or kitchen, so I thought I’d run up to my room and get the DVD and he wouldn’t even know I was there. By then I had distanced myself from him a little, but he had no idea I already knew he was having an affair.”
    Greg wanted to speak, but it was best to let her carry on, although he could see the emotion building in her.
    “He was in my mom’s bed with this other woman. He had brought her to our house while my mom was away, and he was fucking her in my mom’s bed. I tried to keep quiet, but he heard me on the stairs, and flew after me.”
    Tears trickled down her face. “Robin, you don’t have to go on.”
    “Yes. Yes I do. I want you to know what happened. If we are going to have a future together I can’t keep this from you, because it’ll come out, sooner or later you’ll find out. So I want us to have no secrets.”
    He nodded, and she continued. “He grabbed me, his hand around my throat, and threatened me with what would happen if I told. He ... he said I would lose my mom. I shouted at him that she thought more of me than she did of him, and he just laughed. When he let me go, I ran.”
    Greg knew the worst was yet to come, that whatever the outcome was, it had affected Robin for the rest of her life.
    “I stayed at my friend's house until the day my mom got back. But he’d got to her first, when I started to tell her, she shouted at