rather wistfully at the psychiatrist. ‘I did it all wrong, didn’t I?’
‘It would have helped if you’d told me you were coming.’
‘I should have done,’ she agreed. ‘You did warn me he wasn’t interested.’ She gave a small sigh. ‘The trouble was, I didn’t believe you. Charlie gets silly ideas in his head when he thinks the world’s against him, but I can usually persuade him out of them.’
Willis nodded. ‘I’m sure that’s true. You’re very—’ He broke off to reach for the telephone. ‘Will you excuse me for just a moment? This shouldn’t take long.’ He placed the receiver against his ear. ‘Hello, Henry.’
Ruth’s voice spoke quietly at the other end. ‘Before you go gooey at the knees, she’s not as innocent as she looks. I think she went through your jacket earlier. I left her alone for a couple of minutes and she moved damn fast to get away from it when I came back.’
‘Don’t worry on that score. There’s nothing important there. Anything else?’
‘She was ratty as hell before her bag arrived, then she asked to go to the Ladies. When she came out again she was sweetness and light. Gareth fell for it . . . but I didn’t –’ Willis sensed her smile down the line – ‘probably because I’ve never been as pretty as that.’
Willis chuckled. ‘OK. Thanks, Henry. That’s very helpful.’ He replaced the handset and smiled absent-mindedly at Jen. ‘Where were we? Oh, yes . . . Charles.’ He eyed her with a puzzled expression. ‘He seems to think I told you to come, Ms Morley. Did he get that idea from you?’
She shook her head. ‘It wouldn’t have been true.’ She thought for a moment. ‘He’s quite jealous, Dr Willis. If he knows you and I have been writing to each other that might have made him suspicious.’
‘He does,’ Willis agreed. ‘I mentioned I’d written to you and that you’d replied.’
‘Did he ask what I’d said?’
‘Not that I recall.’ He smiled apologetically, as if it were his fault that his patient was so uninterested. ‘Was jealousy a problem in the relationship? You didn’t mention that in your email.’
‘You’d have thought me arrogant.’
‘Not at all,’ said Willis in surprise. ‘I can easily imagine you being the focus of a man’s jealousy. You must attract a great deal of attention every time you go out. Was that hard for Charles?’
‘Hasn’t he told you?’
Willis shook his head. ‘He’s been very reticent about everything. All I know is what you put in the email. I remember you mentioned a violent argument. Was that prompted by jealousy?’
Fleetingly, a look of wariness crossed her face, as if she feared that his unassuming manner and constant fussy cleaning of his glasses were a front.
‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,’ he assured her. ‘I’m not of the school of thought that says anything useful can be raked from dead ashes. Charles has told me he has no feelings for you any more and I’ve no reason to disbelieve him. He certainly didn’t want to see you today.’
She didn’t like that. ‘He wouldn’t have been so angry if he didn’t love me still.’ She fiddled with the clasp of her bag. ‘He was crazy about me. A friend of mine used to call him my personal guard dog . . . panting to lie in my lap one minute . . . and showing his teeth the next if anyone came too close.’
It wasn’t an analogy that sat easily with Willis. The Charles he knew was too self-contained to display his feelings so obviously.
‘Totally. I couldn’t breathe without Charlie’s permission. Another friend – the one who persuaded me to break off the engagement – said he had me locked in a cage like an exotic bird, and if I didn’t break out I’d have no freedom left.’
Willis took note of the mixed metaphors. There was a world of difference between a caged parakeet and a siren who handed titbits to a Rottweiler.
But Jen didn’t like that either. Perhaps she felt the criticism applied equally to her. ‘Not from Charlie’s point of view. He had everything he wanted. He turned
‘So why didn’t he welcome you with open arms today? You said it was you who ended the engagement?’ He put an upward inflection at the end of the sentence.
‘That’s right.’
He smiled. ‘Men are very simple creatures, Ms Morley. Most of us hanker after an easy life and take a reprieve when it’s offered.’ He breathed on one of his lenses. ‘If you were everything Charles wanted, why didn’t he grasp your olive branch?’
There was a slight narrowing of the huge eyes, but whether in irritation or confusion the doctor couldn’t tell. ‘His pride won’t let him. He’s still very hurt.’
It was a reasonable answer and Willis acknowledged it with another thoughtful nod. ‘Even so, I’m not clear why you want to rekindle the ashes, Ms Morley. You implied the relationship was stifling.’
‘I miss him,’ she said simply. ‘I hoped the fact that he hadn’t told his parents about the split meant he felt the same.’ She produced a crumpled tissue from her sleeve and held it to her nose. ‘You can’t explain love, Dr Willis. It’s chemistry. It happens.’
‘Mm. I’d say that’s a better description of infatuation. Chemistry has a nasty habit of producing volatile mixtures that end in an explosion.’
She shrugged impatiently. ‘We were good together.’
‘In what way?’
