‘Are you all right?’ he asked.
‘I will be.’
‘Come here,’ he said, opening his own door and showing her in. ‘You need some of this.’
From his wardrobe he took out a bottle of Chianti and opened it.
‘I bought it because I was feeling homesick,’ he said, producing a glass and filling it. ‘Drink. It’ll do you more good than all the words in the world.’
Laura sat on the edge of the bed, which was almost the only place to sit, and sipped the wine.
‘It’s good. And who needs words anyway? It was all over as soon as I saw his face.’
‘You wouldn’t marry him now?’
‘Not in a million years, not after he hurt her. But he wouldn’t ask me now, I know that.’
‘What happened after I left?’
‘He was embarrassed. He kept giving this little nervous giggle and he couldn’t meet my eyes. We were supposed to be going out on Friday, but he’d suddenly remembered that there might be a problem about that.’
‘Oh, yeah?’ Gino asked cynically.
‘Yeah,’ she echoed with a little wry smile.
‘Then he said he’d call me to arrange something else. He won’t of course. It’s over. How could I have got him so wrong?’
‘I guess you wanted to believe in him.’
‘Yes, I wanted it too much. I was a fool.’
‘You’re not a fool just because you want to feel loved and wanted. It’s what we all want.’
‘But I have no right to want it,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have let myself forget that. I can’t take my happiness at Nikki’s expense.’
‘There wouldn’t have been any happiness, not with him.’
‘You were right about him. Now you can say I told you so.’
‘Do you think I will?’
‘No, you’re too good a friend for that.’
‘Laura,’ he asked hesitantly, ‘were you very much in love with him?’
She was silent a long time.
‘I don’t know,’ she said at last. ‘I thought I was. Now I’m just full of anger and bitterness towards him for reacting like that. If he hadn’t-I don’t know. What’s the point of talking about it now?’
She finished with a disconsolate sigh. Gino sat down beside her on the bed, and slipped his arm around her.
‘You’ve still got your brother,’ he said.
She gave a shaky laugh. ‘Poor Gino. First Nikki, now me. You ought to set up as an agony aunt.’
‘I’m not “poor Gino” and I’d rather you turn to me than anyone else. More Chianti?’
‘I’d better not. I’m going to bed now.’
‘You’ll feel better in the morning,’ he said, wishing he felt more sure of that. ‘Come along, I’ll walk you home.’
He escorted her solemnly along the corridor, and opened her bedroom door.
‘Thank goodness you were there,’ she mused. ‘It would have been much worse for Nikki otherwise. Goodnight, Gino.’
‘Goodnight.’
When she had closed the door he hesitated, wondering whether to go away or knock and give her another chance to talk.
After a while he heard the sound of weeping. And then he knew that he had no place here.
As Laura had predicted, Steve did not call her. Nor did he come into the pub again. He was allowed to fade into the past, and never mentioned by any of them.
Gino fell into the habit of dropping into The Running Sheep just in time for one drink before Laura was ready to leave. She never had to walk home alone.
‘Thank you,’ she said one night.
‘What for?’
‘Everything,’ she said simply.
When they’d walked a little further she asked, ‘What happened to your girlfriend, the one with the voluptuous figure.’
‘She found a better man. I left the field in defeat.’
‘You mean you dumped her?’
‘Certainly not,’ he said, shocked. ‘I’m a gentleman. I never dump a lady. I let her dump me.’
She shot him a sideways glance. As she’d guessed, he was grinning.
When they got in there was a message waiting for her by the phone.
‘Mark?’ Gino queried.
‘Just a friend,’ Laura said vaguely. ‘Why don’t you go and put the kettle on?’
‘You’ll make an Englishman of me yet,’ he predicted, and headed for the kitchen.
She joined him a few minutes later and announced that she would have to be out the next evening too, although not at the pub.
‘You’ve got a date,’ Gino said.
‘No, of course not. I just-have to be out.’
‘With Mark.’
‘Stop fishing and pour me some tea. Mrs Baxter, you’ll be in tomorrow night, won’t you?’
‘Yes, I’ll be here. Gino and I will look after Nikki so you’ll be all right,
‘That’s lovely,’ Laura said brightly. ‘Goodnight, you two.’
She left them and went upstairs. Mrs Baxter muttered, ‘It’s always the same. Mark rings. She drops everything to go out, and won’t tell anyone where she’s going.’
‘A woman of mystery,’ Gino mused.
‘I’ll say. And it’s no use asking her, because she just clams up.’
He discovered that this was true. For some reason he felt piqued by Laura’s determination to keep the secret from him.
‘I’ll drive you there,’ he offered when she was ready to go the next evening.
‘No thanks, I can drive myself.’
‘Suppose there’s an emergency? How do I contact you?’
‘On my mobile.’
‘You’re being very annoying, you know that?’
‘Goodnight, Gino.’
Laura picked up a small bag that she’d set waiting in the hall, and whisked herself off, leaving him staring at the front door, speechless.
‘Claudia and Sadie are coming home from holiday tonight,’ Nikki said.
‘Not till the early hours,’ Mrs Baxter reminded her.
‘And then it’s back to work to the stresses and strains of the packing department,’ Gino mused. ‘I don’t know how I’ll stand the excitement. Good heavens! Whatever’s that?’
‘It’s a nut cake,’ Mrs Baxter said, producing it from a cupboard. ‘I bought it this afternoon, for everyone.’
‘It’s made with lots and lots of different kinds of nuts,’ Nikki assured him. ‘It’s gorgeous.’
It was a pleasant evening. Mrs Baxter was an army widow who had travelled extensively, and had a fund of funny stories. But when she had told a few of them she said, ‘Of course the best thing of all is my family. I’m going to become a grandmother some time next month. I’m so looking forward to that.’
She glanced at Nikki, who had begun to yawn. ‘I think it’s time you went to bed, don’t you?’
Nikki nodded and agreed without argument. When she’d gone Mrs Baxter produced a bottle of sherry.
‘You haven’t eaten your cake yet,’ she told Gino.
‘I’ve been too busy laughing at your stories. Don’t you have any more?’
Before Mrs Baxter could speak the phone rang. She answered it, and Gino saw her turn pale.
