Falling for you

‘So it’s just that we’re available, is it? Lonely, neglected wives, grateful for the attention. Oops, I almost forgot –lonely, neglected, wealthy women.’

Giving it one last go, Will said desperately, ‘It isn’t like that. I’d never sleep with someone unless I cared about them. The money isn’t important.’

‘Nice try,’ said Estelle. ‘Very convincing.’ Cuttingly she added, ‘But I’m still not going to buy you a brand new BMW.’

His eyes flickered with guilt and she knew it was all over.

‘Where are you going?’ said Will, as she stalked past him.

Reaching the hallway, Estelle glimpsed her reflection in the mirror on the wall – the mirror that she had bought and hung there yesterday to brighten up the narrow space. She looked exactly what she was: a foolish 45-year-old woman who should have known better and was now living to regret it.

‘To pack my things,’ she told Will, discovering that she didn’t even have the energy to cry. ‘After that, I don’t know.’

Chapter 44

‘I don’t know what to do any more,’ said Kate. ‘I don’t even know what to think. I just ... oh God, I don’t know .. . give up.’

‘It’s like the world’s gone mad,’ Nuala suggested helpfully. Using the tongs to transfer a cherry Danish from the glass cabinet to a paper bag, she added, ‘Like waking up and looking out of your window and seeing that the grass is purple.’

Maddy, who was about to set off with the morning’s deliveries, said, ‘Have you spoken to Estelle this morning?’

‘Like wildebeest stampeding down Main Street,’ said Nuala.

‘She hasn’t been in touch.’ Kate shook her head helplessly. ‘It’s just unbelievable. My mother’s run off with a toy-boy who’s only out for what he can get. My father’s at the hospital with his ex-mistress.

They have a son together, I’ve got a half-brother I never knew I had, and he doesn’t even know who his father is because he’s lying there in a coma.’

‘Orang-utans swinging from the trees, the Taj Mahal where the war memorial used to be,’ said Nuala. ‘Flying saucers whizzing through the sky.’

‘Just ignore her,’ said Maddy.

‘Sorry. That’ll be eighty pence.’ Nuala handed the bag to Kate. ‘But wouldn’t it be weird if that-did happen?’

Maddy rolled her eyes in despair. ‘And I have to live with her,’ she told Kate.

‘What about Sophie?’ Along with the rest of the town, Kate knew that Sophie had been prescribed a course of antibiotics as a precautionary measure. ‘Is she OK?’

Maddy smiled, touched by her concern. ‘She’s absolutely fine.’

Marcella turned up as Kate was leaving. Marcella had a ten o’clock appointment at the hospital’s antenatal unit and she was hitching a lift into Bath with Maddy.

‘Got everything?’ said Marcella as Maddy loaded the cool-boxes into the car along with a bag containing clean clothes for Juliet.

‘I’ve got everything. Have you got everything?’

Smugly, Marcella held up her pink raffia basket. ‘Antenatal notes. Spare knickers. Wee sample.

What more could a woman need?’

The basket was heavier than that. Pulling it open and surveying the contents, Maddy said,

‘Pickled gherkins, a pomegranate, two orange Kit Kats and a tube of tomato puree, by the look of it.’

‘Don’t curl your lip at me like that,’ Marcella protested. ‘I have a blood sugar level to think of. It doesn’t do to get peckish.’

Having dropped Marcella off first, Maddy parked the car and made her way over to the intensive therapy unit. There was a family, distraught and sobbing, in the waiting room. When Juliet emerged from the unit, Maddy hugged her hard, then said, ‘Shall we go outside?’

They found a bench in a patch of sunlight between two buildings. Shaking her head, Juliet said wonderingly, ‘I’d almost forgotten how it feels to be in the sun.’

She looked exhausted.

Maddy said, ‘How’s Tiff?’

‘Still alive. Still in a coma. They did another brain scan yesterday.’ From somewhere, Juliet dredged up a smile. ‘Thank Sophie for the cards, will you? They’re beautiful. How is she?’

‘Good. Missing Tiff.’ Maddy hated having to ask, but it was only fair they should know. ‘Has Oliver seen the paper this morning?’

‘The Mail? Yes. Poor Oliver.’ Juliet shook her head. ‘Poor Estelle too. What a hideous mess.’

Fiddling with her car keys, Maddy said, ‘I’m actually feeling sorry for Kate. And I never thought I’d hear myself saying that.’

‘I feel like it’s all my fault.’ There was anguish in Juliet’s eyes. ‘Maybe Tiff being ill is my punishment for getting involved with Oliver in the first place.’

‘That’s not true,’ said Maddy. ‘You know it isn’t.’

‘Oh God, I’m so tired I don’t know what to think any more.’ Checking her watch, Juliet gathered up the bag of clean clothes. ‘Thanks for these, anyway. Say hello to Jake, and give Sophie a big kiss from me.’

They headed back to the ITU. As they approached the corridor they both heard the sound of hysterical sobbing behind the closed door to the waiting room.