The Naughty Girls Book Club. Sophie Hart

You seem a little preoccupied tonight.’

      ‘No, I’m fine,’ Rebecca insisted. She pulled her knitted beanie hat further down over her choppy brunette bob, and hoped Andy would change the subject.

      ‘All that marking to do this weekend, eh?’ he commented. ‘What was it again – Year Ten coursework on the Tudors?’

      ‘That’s the one.’

      ‘Never mind. I’ll stay out of your way. I wanted to make a start on stripping the wallpaper in the spare room anyway.’

      ‘Right.’

      ‘And then next week,’ Andy broke into a beaming smile as he turned to Rebecca, ‘there’s a big treat in store.’

      ‘Is there?’ she asked hopefully.

      ‘Oh yes. The new Spiderman movie is being released,’ he grinned, not noticing the way his wife’s face fell. ‘Whaddya think? Me, you, a medium-sized bucket of popcorn …’

      ‘It’s a date,’ Rebecca replied weakly.

      ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ Andy pressed after a few moments. ‘You just don’t seem as excited as I thought you would be.’

      Immediately, Rebecca felt bad. ‘I’m fine,’ she repeated, forcing a smile. ‘I’m just feeling a little bit out of sorts. It’s been a long week, I suppose, and work’s been really busy …’

      ‘Righto.’ Andy seemed satisfied with the explanation. ‘At least you’ve got me to cheer you up, eh?’ he grinned, giving her a friendly nudge.

      They carried on walking in silence, as Rebecca tried to work out just what exactly was wrong with her. She’d been like this for weeks now, and couldn’t shake the general feeling of … what? Restlessness? Boredom?

      Rebecca and Andy had been married for over a year now and everything was … fine. Not amazing, not incredible, just … fine. They’d quickly adapted to their little routine of quiet nights in during the week, a Friday night trip to the cinema, and weekends spent doing DIY. There was nothing wrong per se; it was just that it never changed, with every week becoming a carbon copy of the one before.

      Everything had seemed so exciting after Andy proposed, Rebecca remembered with a pang. She’d revelled in her role as the bride-to-be, throwing herself into scoping out venues, trying on dresses, choosing the exact flowers for her bouquet. She’d been rushed off her feet, juggling her job as a history teacher with planning her dream wedding, but she’d loved every minute of it.

      The wedding day itself had been perfect, the honeymoon in Sorrento utter bliss, and then … reality hit. Was it so unfair to admit that she was finding her life now a little dull?

      It wasn’t Andy’s fault, of course. He was easy-going (perhaps a little too easy going at times) and nice looking too, even if his sandy hair was starting to thin, and that cute little belly she’d teased him about at first was becoming a permanent fixture. All of their friends said they made a great couple, and Rebecca knew she should be grateful for her settled, untroubled life.

      But there was part of her that couldn’t help but wonder if this was all there was from now on. She was only thirty-three, but she was starting to feel old before her time, and recently she’d had the horrible suspicion that she was turning into her mother.

      It was abundantly clear to Rebecca that she and Andy needed to put the oomph back into their relationship – and soon. There was no way she wanted to turn into one of those couples you sometimes saw in restaurants, the ones who sat together in silence because they’d run out of things to say to each other some time back in 2005 …

      ‘Hey, why don’t we go to the pub?’ Rebecca burst out suddenly.

      Andy looked at her doubtfully. ‘The pub?’

      ‘Yeah!’ Rebecca tried to inject some enthusiasm into her voice. ‘It’s not too late – we could still make last orders. It might be fun … something different …’

      She trailed off, as Andy broke into a huge yawn.

      ‘The thing is, I’ve had such a long week and I was really looking forward to my bed tonight. Maybe next week, eh?’

      ‘Uh-huh. Maybe next week,’ Rebecca echoed, forcing a smile. Inside, she felt herself deflate like a punctured tyre. What had happened to the pair of them? They hadn’t been like this when they were dating. She desperately wanted to do something spontaneous, but Andy’s idea of going wild seemed to be ordering an extra-large popcorn on their weekly cinema trip. Not to mention his DIY obsession – recently, stripping the wallpaper was about as exciting as it got in the bedroom too …

      Yes, Rebecca was realistic, and knew that the initial throes of passion would fade over time, but she hadn’t expected her sex life to dry up quite so completely. Since they’d got married, sex was a rarity. They hadn’t even consummated their marriage on their wedding night; Andy had got roaring drunk with his old university friends and passed out, fully clothed, on their four-poster bed before Rebecca had time to unlace her corset. Perhaps she should have taken that as a sign, she realised with a sigh.

      Even when they did find the time and energy to make love, it had become somewhat … routine. Rebecca could predict the two or three positions they’d work through, before cuddling briefly, turning off the light and falling asleep. She was too embarrassed to talk to any of her friends about the situation, and too scared to bring up the subject with Andy. What if it meant that she was abnormal? Or that Andy didn’t fancy her anymore? But the truth was, Rebecca was becoming increasingly frustrated – in more ways than one.

      ‘Bex, come and look at this!’

      She heard Andy shout and realised that she’d walked on without him. He was browsing in one of the shop windows, reading a poster that had been tacked up.

      ‘What is it?’ she called.

      ‘Come and see!’ He waved her over, grinning excitedly.

      Reluctantly, Rebecca retraced her steps. Knowing Andy, it was probably a plant sale at the local church, or an announcement that the Phoenix Cinema was running a back-to-back showing of the Star Wars movies.

      ‘What is it then?’ she asked wearily, as she came up alongside him.

      Triumphantly, Andy pointed to the poster in the cafe window:

       Hungry for books?

       Join the Cafe Crumb book club!

       We’ll be meeting every other Thursday to talk books, life, everything …

       Email [email protected] for details

       The coffee and cake at our first meeting will be free

      ‘You want to join a book club?’ Rebecca asked in confusion. Andy was more of a newspaper guy, occasionally reading the biography of some sporting hero. She’d never known him to willingly pick up a novel.

      ‘Not me!’ he burst out. ‘You!’

      Rebecca rolled her eyes at him. ‘Why would I be interested in that?’ she snapped, feeling another wave of disappointment at just how hopeless her husband could be sometimes. ‘It’ll be a load of old fogies rambling on about War and Peace,’ she complained, as she stomped off down the street.

      Andy looked hurt as he ran to catch up with her, and they fell into step outside the butcher’s. ‘Oh. I thought you might enjoy it. It’d be a chance to get out of the house, meet some new people. And you like reading, don’t you?’

      ‘True,’ Rebecca admitted. Not that she had much time for it these days. Pretty much the only things she read now were badly written history essays from her Year Tens.