Chapter 1-Part 1.
'Good bye my little darling, have a good day at school', I whisper as I lean down to kiss my 7 yr old daughter Alice's long wavy blonde hair. As I climb back in to car; I turn on the radio and hear a conversation or debate between two of the resident disk jockeys discussing fulfilling your dreams and fantasies. I squirm in my seat, feeling a little embarrassed and uncomfortable about the topic at this time of day. Jason would love to hear this sort of thing, as he is always trying to input scenes and scenarios into our private life. I shudder at the thought. I am not into anything like that; I am more of simple plain Jane, jeans, t-shirt and sneakers kind of girl. I press the buttons on the radio set to find a more suited station, I stop when I hear the familiar sound of Frank Sinatra's voice singing The Way You Look Tonight, singing along with the radio, my voice a little out of tune. I turn left and pull into the parking lot of the shopping mall, ready to face another day at my job. A counter assistant at the Mall Deli. I'm on my break, sat with a cup of tea in hand, I think to myself 'Surely there is more to life than this?' I murmur to myself as I sit and think about what to make for dinner. The same humdrum day in, day out routine of cooking, cleaning, looking after the children, school runs, soccer practice and working at the Deli.
The day has passed by in a daze of busy shoppers, school kids and business like people. Its four thirty in the afternoon when I finish work. Time to collect the dry cleaning, pick the kids up from soccer practice and head home to cook dinner for Jason and the children. Jason, a sophisticated, talented and handsome man, just under 6ft tall, with dark hair and dark eyes to die for. A beaming smile, olive tanned skin and the body of athlete who works for a most prestige accounts company in the whole of San Francisco. I don't think I could ask for anything better than what is right here in front of me. We married young, when I caught pregnant with my son James at the age of nineteen, having to drop out of college, leaving my business and cookery course to become a wife and mom. I often think that Jason only married me because of the pregnancy. 'I'm in the kitchen darling' I call out as I hear Jason walk through the door of our home. A two story, four bedrooms, three and half bathroom home, just on the outskirts of San Francisco. He places his brief case on the oak wood side table in the entrance hall, at the same time as Alice bounds out the dining room, leaving her homework scattered all over the table. 'Daddy' she shouts as she jumps into arms, 'my beautiful girl' Jason replies smiling at her. I love the sound of giggles, smiles and the love I see in their eyes, it is such a beautiful sight to see. As he walks past our eldest son, James, he taps him on the shoulder to grab his attention, as he is too preoccupied with his games console. James, my 14 yr old son, big brown eyes and hair just like his dad, looks up from the television and smiles slightly at his dad before returning to his game of 'War Lords'.' Hi babe' he smiles sweetly at me, hugging me around the waist and kissing me on the cheek, 'Hi yourself' I reply with a smile. 'I'm sorry to do this again Ness' he says in a small voice 'but I have another meeting with a rather important client this evening' as he walks out the room undoing his tie and opening the top buttons of his shirt. I sigh and put on an its-ok-I-understand smile before getting back to making the casserole. That's the third meeting this week and its only Thursday. I relish the thought and gut wrenching feeling I have been getting over the last few weeks.
