Feelings [antikvár]

CHAPTER ONE 4I DON'T care. I have to get away. I can't stay here a moment longer. Can't you understand?' Mrs Sutherland looked sadly at her daughter. 'Running away won't solve your problem.' 'But don't you see what it's doing to me?' Melissa's wide green eyes were full of pain, her face unusually pale, the skin drawn tightly over her cheekbones. 'I can't go on like this, seeing Tim every day, knowing that it's all over.' It was like facing a death sentence. Couldn't her mother understand that? 'It was cruel of him, I know, to let you down.' Mrs Sutherland, fifty-one, greying, but with a still fine figure, smiled gently as she searched for the right words. 'But to be truthful, I'm glad he did it at this stage. He obviously doesn't love you enough for such a commitment. Two broken marriages in the family is enough; I wouldn't have liked to see a third.' Melissa took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and resignedly. It had not been easy for her mother bringing up two daughters on her own, her father having walked out on them when Melissa was only six. And when big sister Melanie's husband had left her after only twelve months of marriage it had made Melissa wonder if any man found it possible to remain faithful. She had thanked 5