Prologue.

Briony shook her mane of blonde curls over the back of her favourite bar stool and smugly circled the Cabernet Sauvignon around her glass. She watched Andre's tight butt cheeks and slim waistline move behind his Army greens as he strode magnificently through the pub towards the gents toilets.

She knew he wasn't good with the chores at her flat but boy, he was smooth and so good looking, and she forgave him every time. She licked her lips after taking a sip of the wine and relived their most recent make-up sex.

On his way back he smiled his confident, sexy smile and winked at her, making her tingle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw he'd left his phone on the bar top and he was receiving a call but weirdly there was no ringtone.

She leaned over to take a better look and was shocked to see the face of a beautiful red-haired woman on the screen. Instantly, the offending contact’s name was like a dagger to her heart: Captain Wifey.

She turned her head in the direction of her approaching "boyfriend", hissing and spitting at him like a snake,

"You're fucking married!?"

She watched his eyes sink into his skull and fear oozed from his body as he obviously searched all the pockets to his greens looking for his phone. Briony grabbed the device and hung it in front of the Army officer’s face. Even in her heels she had to reach her arm up to hang the phone at his eye level.

"Are you looking for this? So, Captain Wifey, that beautiful woman who just rang you, is obviously your wife. Don't even try and bullshit me, otherwise I'll call her back."

The pub stopped dead and all eyes focussed on the officer trying to find the right words, but he didn't speak. Briony felt like the Army was surrendering to her, yet he didn't apologise. He just fidgeted on the spot like a naughty schoolboy.

Flo, The Red Lion's long time landlady balled up the oak floorboards and the pub waited with bated breath. She pulled in next to the tall man and in spite of her small, plump physique, it was obvious to everyone that she held the power.

"Right, I think everyone’s seen enough now. Andre, your game is up. Please leave and don't let the door hit you on your way out. I think you know you're not welcome."

He cleared his throat and Briony awaited his expected apology,

"Can I have my phone back?" Briony quizzed him with her eyes and couldn't believe the sheer audacity of the man. 

Then her stomach dropped as she realised she wasn't the first. He'd obviously done this before and his poor wife, wherever she was, had no idea. She wanted at that moment to call and tell her, but in the same split second decided she didn't want to be the reason another woman was left heartbroken and put Andre's phone back on the bar.

The phone had barely reached the surface before he snatched it and stormed out of the pub without even a glance back at Briony. His departure echoed around the bar and all eyes returned from the door to Briony. Flo watched the woman try to hold back the tears sparkling over her bright blue eyes.

"Right, show’s over everyone!" and she clapped her hands loudly. Just like that, the normal hubbub returned, and everyone went back to their own business.

Flo enveloped Briony into a tight hug and tears spilled down her cheeks. Flo asked a pub employee to get a bowl of ice cream for Briony.

Before heading home alone, Briony drowned her sorrows in the ice cream and finished off a bottle of red. She looked through the photos of her friends on her phone and smiled because her flatmate Lauren was home from her cruise job in a couple of weeks and her best friend Natalie was back from Disneyland with her husband and kids on Tuesday.

 

Find out what happens to Briony, Lauren and Natalie in Two Scoops, not Three - available from Amazon.