She came with a suitcase and left with a suitcase

“She came with a suitcase and left with a suitcase.”"Like I will?” Clare asked, sadly.”You don’t understand. I love you,” he said, his long, lean, bare body close against hers “I never really loved Amy I mean to marry you.” Clare felt great joy. She’d put her flat on the market the day he’d asked her to move in with him. The place had sold within the week, to everyone’s surprise, for the asking price No time for second thoughts.

Once the mortgage was paid off, she’d even pocketed pounds 10,400 Now it sat in her bank. Ten years’ worth of hard work, long hours, doing what you didn’t really want.”If I pay off your mortgage,” she said to Alan, “we could put this place in our joint names.”"Don’t talk about money,” he said “Talk about love. Don’t think about mortgages, think about going to the Bahamas.” She was ashamed of herself.The smoke alarm went off Clare went downstairs The kitchen was full of smoke Something was burning in the oven. It was a bread roll she’d forgotten to take out the night before She’d cooked Alan coq au vin A celebratory dinner. She’d slipped into the shops on the way home from the office, lugged everything home How much had she spent on food? More than thirty quid. In two weeks, pounds 10,400 was already down to pounds 9,000 and something, one way and another.The smoke alarm shrieked on.

Clare held her nose and fetched the cindery black oval from the oven, using Amy’s kitchen tongs Stainless steel kitchen tongs! What a luxury. She dunked the crisp black thing under the tap, and it softened and smelled even worse.Alan came down to the kitchen He stood on a chair and took the battery from the alarm. The quiet was wonderful.”You can get alarms you shut off from a switch on the wall,” he said.”Aren’t they very expensive?” she asked.”They’re smart and good-looking,” he said “Quality’s worth paying for. And standing on chairs is dangerous.”"I’ll look out for one,” she said. “But this is so spooky, I swear I turned the oven off last night.” But when she looked, its little red light still glowed She turned it off.