‘Tell me, Trevor,’ Flo said in a tone she hoped carried a thick layer of apology, ‘How did the Scots respond when Hadrian showed up with all of these workmen of his?’
‘Ah!’ Trevor’s eyes lit up. ‘Now that’s an interesting story.’
And for the next hour he talked and talked and talked, during which time Flo had plenty of time to reflect on how she might have been a better mother, a better wife and whether or not knee surgery might lend itself to Zumba Gold and, heaven help her, decaf coffee with ‘the girls.’
‘I owe you an apology.’
Sue started. She’d been so lost in thought she hadn’t even noticed Kath riding up alongside her. ‘Sorry, I—why do you owe me an apology?’
‘Kevin,’ Kath said, her expression a shade of grim Sue didn’t think she’d ever seen on TV’s Kath Fuller before.
‘Oh,’ said Sue. ‘Yes, well …’ She’d not actually heard what Kev had said herself as Kath was the only one who could hear him and, of course, the crew, and everyone watching television which was how word began circulating that Kevin was now being flown home under a cloak of shame and Ben Fogle was being left behind to do something on rhinos or hippos and then, of course, have a go at playing the beach volleyball team. ‘I think,’ she began, fighting against the discomfort of talking about it, ‘… not everyone has experienced what I have so I’m sure he didn’t mean to be insensitive—’
‘No, please,’ Kath waved a fingerless gloved hand. ‘What Kevin said was completely reprehensible. Your husband died by suicide. To make a joke of it, as if suicide was a way to escape a conversation you didn’t want to have, was inexcusable.’
Sue almost said she hadn’t tried to have a conversation one way or another with Gary, let alone a difficult one, so perhaps there was some merit in the crass statement. It got people talking. There were a thousand things she could have asked her husband that day and all the days before. But no. They had their routine and they’d stuck to it. For the rest of her life she’d have to live with the fact that the last thing she’d said to him was to leave her to it, she had things handled and that she’d let him know when supper was ready. She had, in effect, told him he wasn’t necessary. Having replayed the evening over and over again, she was quite certain he’d not heard the part about it being toad-in-the-hole, which could’ve been the problem right there because as her mother was fond of saying, the devil was in the detail and it was a detail she was desperate to get right. She considered asking Kath what she thought but she appeared to be on a bit of a roll so Sue didn’t say a word. As usual.
‘He’ll be reprimanded of course,’ Kath was saying. ‘I’d be shocked if some of the advertisers didn’t pull their support. It’ll be all over the papers. Who knows? They might even cancel the show. And make no mistake – he’d deserve it. I’d deserve it for having set up a situation where he could say such a horrid, horrid thing.’
‘Oh, no. Please, no. Brand New Day is an institution, I doubt they would—’
Kath barrelled on, ‘It was a tactless, insensitive, vile thing to say. Especially considering you are out here, just a handful of months after enduring such a painful, senseless tragedy, helping to raise money for people who hopefully won’t ever have to go through what you did. Suicide is a plague right now in the country. Did you know thousands of men a year take their own lives? Young men, middle-aged, teenagers all reaching rock bottom and seeing absolutely no light at the end of the—’
‘Please!’ Sue heard herself beg. ‘Please stop!’
Kath not only stopped talking but also stopped her bicycle and, to her surprise, so did Sue whose face wasn’t
