Julie Wright:If they are happy, what business is it of anyone else’s?
Suzie Q:Good for them, Alex deserves to be happy again.
Emily Krimble:I don’t find it weird at all. They were both grieving the loss of Liam and have become close as a result of their shared grief. If they are happy and not harming anyone else, why the hell not.
Cleo Knight:To be clear, they didn’t run out on their bill, I bought their dinner for them as I set them up on a blind date. I’m not sure if they were just pretending to get on well to make me happy or whether they really did hit it off, but I think they are perfect for each other. If things get serious between them, Quinn would be an amazing dad to Zara. If it turns out to just be one night of passion, that’s great, they are both single and who they do or don’t sleep with is their own business.
Tina Parker-Barrington:One-night stand = Slut.
Cleo Knight:Oh get a life. There’s nothing wrong with sex between two single consenting adults. Maybe you should try it, it might finally put a smile on your face.
Alex put the phone down, not wanting to read anyone else’s opinions on whether she should be sleeping with Quinn or not. There were over a hundred comments although most of those were from Tina and her cronies,Verity, Jacqualyn and Jodie, all bitching and moaning between themselves and shooting down anyone who tried to defend Alex.
She got up and walked into the bathroom where Quinn was in the shower. She stepped inside the cubicle with him and wrapped her arms around him so her face was against his back. He took her hand and held it against his heart. After a moment he turned round and wrapped her in his arms as the hot water pounded down on top of them. She held him tight. How could this possibly be wrong? She belonged here in his arms. He tilted her chin up and studied her face.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘There’s a post about us on the neighbourhood forum.’
‘I’m not surprised. Was it from Tina?’
‘Yes, and loads of commenters are agreeing with her.’
‘What did it say?’
‘That basically we should be ashamed of ourselves for betraying Liam, who was a nice kind boy, and I’m a slut for dating three different men this week. A lot of the comments say that we’re disgusting and scum.’
A scowl darkened his face. ‘I’ll deal with this.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘I’m going to have a word with her.’
‘You can’t do that, she’ll put a post out saying you’re threatening her or something.’
‘No threats, just a firm word.’
Alex sighed. ‘Liam was so loved in Lovegrove Bay, everyone knew him and everyone was so sympathetictowards him when his best friend died. They were always asking how he was doing. I’d say he wasn’t doing well, but I never told anyone that he’d become a massive alcoholic with a terrible temper and was verbally abusive. I kept that part of him hidden from the people of the town because I thought one day he would choose life over alcohol, he would want to get better – if not for me, for his daughter. One day I thought he would finally choose not to drink and, although our relationship was irreversibly damaged, I didn’t want the people of the town treating him any different. I thought his recovery would stand on the shoulders of those who wanted to support him and if he didn’t have that then recovery would be that much harder. I didn’t think anyone would want to help him or employ him if they’d found out he’d been abusive to me and cheated on me. And if they’d have treated him like scum he might have gone scuttling back to the bottle again. But now they hate me for what they see as a betrayal of the man they loved.’
‘What do they expect you to do? Wear black and live in mourning for the rest of your life? You’re thirty years old.’
‘I think it’s the fact that I’m seeing you that’s the problem. Or, as Tina put it, the worst crime of all. It’s not just moving on, it’s moving on with Liam’s brother that they hate.’
‘Well, tough. We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re not going to stop seeing each other just because a few moaners have got a bee in their bonnet.’ Quinn frowned as he studied her. ‘Are we?’
‘No, of course not. I just wish I could be blasé about it, like I was last night. I wish I could not care what people think, but it does bother me.’
‘I’ll fix it, I promise, but it will only last a few days before they find something else to be upset about,’ he said. ‘You just have to ride out the storm until then.’
‘I know you’re right. It’s just frustrating. People even took the time to tell Violet last night, they actually phoned her to tell her, bloody busybodies. I worry how she is going to react to this when she didn’t react positively to me dating in the first place. I thought at first she would be OK with it, because she was smiling when Zara forced us to tell each other we loved each other a few days ago, but maybe she was just laughing at the silly situation. Violet’s friends say she will be horrified.’
‘Well, we’ll talk to her too.’ He cupped her face and kissed her. ‘It’ll be OK, I promise.’
Alex nodded though it did nothing to ease the sadness in her heart. Her bubble of happiness had well and truly popped.
With just three days until Christmas excitement levels were almost palpable as they made their way to Christmas Gardens to see Santa later that morning. Zara was bouncing with anticipation as they walked along. Alex smiled that her jumper-and-jeans-loving daughter had wanted to wear a dress today to see him and she looked gorgeous.
Alex suspected this would probably be the last time Zara would want to visit Santa. Her worldly-wise daughter was growing up fast and this year she’d asked way too many questions about Santa that Alex had struggled to answer convincingly. She imagined that this time next year, Zara would know the truth so Alex was going to make the most of this last one. Zara had even invited Quinn along, which he was thrilled with. Immy was bringing Jacob too, to try and get a photo for next year’s Christmas cards. Even the dog seemed to have caught onto the excitement as he was pulling Immy along and giving little barks of joy.
