The Therapist(44)

In the fridge, I look for something for breakfast and find in the vegetable drawer, along with an overripe avocado, a bottle of expensive champagne, which Leo must have put there before he left yesterday. I’m not sure if it’s for me – if, like the white rose he left me in the hall, he’s trying to make up for everything – or if he put it there to drink when he’s next home.

There’s a message from him on my phone – Everything OK? – to which I reply Everything fine.

I go back to my breakfast but my appetite has gone, chased away by my worry over the state of our relationship. I’m glad I’m meeting Ginny for lunch, I desperately need someone to talk to.

I work for a couple of hours, then leave the house. Edward is in their front garden, tending his roses and, remembering what Tamsin said about me upsetting Lorna with my questions about Nina, I feel suddenly awkward.

‘Hello!’ I call, testing the water.

The smile Edward gives me puts my mind at rest. ‘Alice! How are you?’

I walk over the drive towards him. ‘I’m fine, thank you, I hope you are too?’

‘Yes, yes, I can’t complain. Are you going shopping?’

‘No, I’m meeting a friend for lunch. How is Lorna?’

‘She’s very well. It was nice of you to call by the other day. She gets a bit lonely sometimes.’

‘I hope I didn’t upset her.’

‘Upset her? Why would you have upset her?’

‘I’m afraid I was asking about Nina and Oliver.’

‘Don’t you worry your head. If she was upset, it was about you. She told me you lost your parents and sister?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘What a shocking thing to happen. A drunk driver, was it?’

‘No, just a young driver without much experience.’

‘Absolutely terrible for you,’ he says, shaking his head.

‘Yes, it was. But it’s in the past now.’

‘It doesn’t do any good to dwell on the past,’ he growls and I know, from the fierce look on his face that he’s thinking about his son. He’s of the generation where people don’t talk about their emotions.

‘You’re probably right,’ I say.

He turns away. ‘Well, I’d best get on.’

‘If you need shopping or anything, I hope you’ll let me know.’

‘Thank you, but we get everything delivered. We don’t really go out anymore.’

Except that he was meant to be out the other day.

I nod. ‘Well, goodbye, Edward. Tell Lorna I’ll see her soon.’





Twenty-Two


Ginny is already at Neptune when I arrive. She’s beautifully dressed in a chocolate-brown leather skirt and jacket that I’ve never seen before.

‘Mark’s birthday present to me,’ she says, when I mention it.

‘That’s the problem with working from home,’ I say. ‘It doesn’t matter what I put on in the mornings. I’d love something like that but I’d never get any wear out of it.’

We have a quick catch-up while we study the menus but once we’ve ordered, I find myself confiding my worries to her.

‘I can’t work out if the reason I’m finding it hard to forgive Leo is because our relationship was already doomed before he lied to me,’ I say, turning my fork over and over on the white cloth. ‘When we only saw each other at weekends, we were on our best behaviour, not wanting to spoil the time we had together. We didn’t really know each other. It’s only now that we’re discovering each other’s faults and weaknesses.’

‘But you love him,’ Ginny says.

‘Yes. But I’m not sure that the love I feel for him is strong enough to overcome the negatives.’ I look guiltily at her. ‘That makes me sound horrible, I know.’

‘Not horrible, just honest.’

‘I don’t want to give up on our relationship so I need to find a way forward. It’s just that, for the moment, I seem unable to.’ I give her a smile. ‘Come on, let’s talk about something else.’

We’re interrupted by the waiter bringing our food over.

‘Something weird happened the other day,’ I say, when we’ve finished eating. ‘You know I told you that Nina admitted to Lorna, the lady who lives next door, that she’d been having an affair? When I mentioned it to Leo, he almost jumped out of his skin.’

‘Even I was surprised when you told me.’ Ginny sits back in her chair and places a hand on her stomach. ‘That was delicious.’

‘Yes, but it was more than surprise. He dropped his glass of wine, it went everywhere and – I don’t know – he just seemed overly flustered.’

‘Strange.’ She laughs. ‘Unless he was the one having an affair with her.’

‘What?’ I stare at her and she sits up quickly and reaches across the table for my hand, her two silver bangles jangling together.

‘Alice, I’m joking! Leo didn’t even know Nina.’

It’s too late, I can’t stop the thought from flying through my mind. ‘What if he did? What if he did know her?’

‘Stop it.’ She gives my hand a shake. ‘Don’t start imagining something that didn’t happen. How could he have known her?’