Chapter 1 - The end

What a nightmare it was to suddenly find yourself stuck with a guy you could no longer trust, Jess grumbled, feeling a knot in her stomach with the stress of the situation she now found herself in.

She had met her husband Rob just after she moved in to town and couldn't believe her luck, finding such a handsome trainee construction worker who had fallen so in love with her. Over the next five years, she watched as Rob's physical job added plenty of muscle to his already painfully beautiful body that made all the girls green with envy. Maybe that had been the problem: Jess had never wanted to date a narcissist and Rob was slipping down that track with every passing day. Why else would Rob slide into bed with someone else after such a petty argument?

Jess had always promised herself that she would never forgive infidelity. She couldn't understand anyone who did. But being in the situation for real, she found that life was rarely so black and white. She felt betrayed and hurt, but also embarrassed and lonely; like it was somehow her fault; which it absolutely wasn't, she would remind herself. How could Rob make her feel this way?

The house they shared was half renovated, still months away from completion and worth considerably less than what they had paid for it a year ago. Half of their funds had also been diverted into Rob's new construction business, which they owned jointly. Jess could always have got Rob back by ruining his business, pulling out there and then, but that would hardly make her any happier. In truth, both of them had put all their eggs in this basket and despite the hurt and the upset, they were both stuck together; for the time being at least.

Rob genuinely regretted what he had done, Jess could see that. He wanted to make it work and Jess started to believe that they could. But each time she thought about what Rob had done, her stomach ached with hurt. What was to stop him doing it again next time they had a fight? He certainly had no shortage of women wanting to sleep with him. Could she ever trust him again? It was a question that sat at the forefront of Jess' mind for weeks, making Jess grateful of the distraction of her work.

It was a Tuesday, and Jess was at her desk when the recall order came in. It was the scandal of the year; or at least it would have been, were it not for a powerful team behind the pharmaceutical company, skilfully hushing everything up.

The new multi-vitamin wonder drug 'SunnyVeet' was being withdrawn from sale and Jess's team were busy trying to quietly buy back any unsold stock across the country. It had been on sale for less than six months and the removal of it was fast and well-organised. The company masked it all under a statement saying that the drug was unprofitable due to its high production costs and would now be discontinued. But that, Jess's team realised, made the secret recall a waste of their time and money. Why refuse to sell pre-made stock simply because it had cost too much to make? Surely they would want some of their money back first?

"I wonder what the real reason is!" laughed Jenny, on the phones next to Jess. Not knowing was the basis of much speculation from the team all morning; all of them realising that the strict confidentiality clause they had signed, prevented them from breathing a word about their actions today.

After the long shift, Jess was proud of herself, clawing back more stock than anyone else on the team and she was still there an hour after everyone else had left. Her very stressed looking boss, Gail strutted out from her office and saw she was still about. "Well done," she smiled. "Walmart have just confirmed the sale to us. You've saved my skin today getting that massive shipment back."

Jess smiled, as bosses went, Gail wasn't so bad. She had a rocky relationship with her husband too and the pair would often sit about after-hours complaining about their partners.

"I made this beautiful chocolate pudding yesterday and Harry, the greedy oaf, ate it all before I had even gotten up this morning!" Gail complained of her husband.

Jess chuckled at the thought. "You see, I'd love it if Rob would have that sort of appreciation for the food I make. Since he's been body building, all he wants is boiled chicken!" she complained. "I'd just like him to say, you know, 'nice meal Jess, I can see you worked hard on it;' something like that!" she pondered aloud.

"You should give him some of this SunnyVeet then!" joked Gail, raising her eyebrows. She looked around. "Do you know the real reason why it's being recalled?"

Jess shook her head.

"Don't tell this to anyone!" Gail ordered, enjoying the gossip. "It's an appetite-enhancer," she chuckled. "They've done a study and all the men and women in the group who had taken it had shown a massive spike in their eating habits. They had to pull it straight away in case the results went public." She gave Jess a moment to digest the revelation. "It's not the end of the world for them," Gail shrugged. "There's certainly a small market for that sort of drug. But there were bound to be law suits unless they pulled it now. Before things went too far."

The two women both laughed and chatted for a little longer whilst Jess waited for a phone call to come through, confirming the buy back from another major chain store, shipping the stock to a storage location nearby.

"That's a gold star for you!" Gail smiled, sighing with relief that she had some good news to report back to the pharmaceutical company tomorrow morning.

Jess grinned. At least here he was appreciated. At home, Rob seemed to live his life barely aware that Jess was even there. She would get home, usually cook some dinner, only for it to be snubbed by Rob who was heading out to the gym instead. Then she would spend her evenings alone, worrying and paranoid about where Rob really was.

No, work-life was definitely preferable to home-life these days.