Previews Dangerous Echoes by Mai Griffin | Page 24

Dangerous Echoes 6 – Friday April 17 th Jay Johnson glanced at his watch: the car would be here soon with Sarah. He removed his glasses and studied himself critically in the full-length bedroom mirror. He was not a vain man but as he finally adjusted his tie he couldn’t help feeling smug that over twenty years of laboratory desk-work had not thickened his waist or rounded his shoulders. He looked much the same as when he had married, unlike Amy! He could hardly remember what an attractive woman she had been. He had idolised her and given in when she refused to consider having a family – she was, after all, almost thirty and he, in his early twenties, was not particularly eager to be burdened with children. It was only as time went by and he saw friends enjoying their sons that he felt cheated. He begged her to change her mind but her appearance was then too important to her, to risk spoiling her figure just for what she claimed was his selfishness! What was about to happen was entirely her own fault. She should have given him a child when he wanted one ...when he wanted her. After years of indulging her passion for titbits, she had become, literally, a white elephant, for whom he had no affection and no use. If only he’d realised how self-centred she was – but he’d been inordinately susceptible to her surface charm. She was, after all, the first girl he had really known. Always a serious student, it had been easy for his father to commandeer all his spare time to assist with experimental work in his home laboratory. Even during his late teens 23