‘Not a chance.’
* * *
A birthday party with no guest of honour was an unusual experience. We’d still been in the conservatory when Laughlin phoned Paulette to say that Veronica had headed home but he’d managed to catch up with her halfway and she’d let him accompany her inside. She hadn’t said much as she was clearly in shock but she’d let him make her a sweetened tea and said he was welcome to stay so long as he didn’t try to get her to talk as she wasn’t ready for that yet. Her request was for us to go ahead with the party without her and to apologise to her guests for her absence again. We were to say that it was a family emergency which, given the absence of Rebecca and Felicity, seemed plausible. With heavy hearts, we displayed the balloons, put the birthday banners up and sprinkled the table confetti to make everything look as ‘normal’ as it possibly could.
Paulette made the announcement and the guests were clearly disappointed but it didn’t stop them enjoying the food and having a great afternoon. They had no idea what had gone down earlier. It was only Milly, Paulette and I who struggled to relax, worried about our friend.
‘It feels like such a waste,’ Paulette said as we burst the balloons after everyone had left, ‘but we can hardly show up at Veronica’s with these.’
We loaded the cards and gifts into the boot of Milly’s car and, when we dropped Paulette home, we took everything into her house for when Veronica felt ready to collect them.
‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire,’ Milly said as she pulled up outside my house a bit later.
I stared at her, not getting her meaning for a moment. ‘Oh, my gosh! Harry’s at your place.’ It had completely gone out of my head thanks to the unexpected turn of events at the party. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘More churned up about Veronica than I am about asking my husband for a divorce. I thought I was going to spend today fretting about it but that was one heck of a distraction.’
‘I hope he takes it well. If you want to talk about it later, you’re welcome to come round.’ It had been a heavy day, so I decided to lighten the mood. ‘Trevor’s a good listener. All you have to do is tell him he’s a pretty boy and slip him a slice of fruit.’
‘I might take him up on that,’ Milly said, smiling.
She did. The doorbell rang shortly after 7p.m. and Milly thrust a bottle of wine at me the moment I opened it. ‘Don’t know about you, but I could do with this after today.’
‘How did it go?’ I asked, returning from the kitchen and handing her a large glass of wine.
‘Remember how I said before that my biggest fear was that he might refuse? Turns out the thing I should really have feared was him saying an immediate yes.’
‘Immediate?’ I asked.
‘Immediate. I got home and he had the telly on watching a football match. I saidhelloand asked how his flight was and do you know what he did? He put his finger up to silence me. The game was nearly over and he wanted to watch the ending uninterrupted. Four months abroad and another five minutes of football was of more interest to him than his wife.’
‘Oh, Milly, that’s awful.’
‘Isn’t it? So I grabbed the control, switched it off and told him we needed to talk. I had this speech all prepared about how unhappy I was and had been for a while because we barely ever saw each other and, when we did, I felt like we’d grown apart. After I delivered it he said,so I’m guessing you want a divorce?I saidyesand he saidokayand took the remote back from me, switched on the telly and watched the final minute of the game.’
She paused to take a large glug of wine. ‘I’m lost for words. I mean, I didn’t expect him to beg me to reconsider but I did anticipate at least talking about it. I thought he’d have questions. I stupidly thought he might apologise but he didn’t seem to care. Honestly, Yvonne, I haveneverfelt more insignificant in my entire life.’
‘I’m so sorry he reacted that way, Milly. That’s really hurtful, but I can assure you you’re anything but insignificant. If he can’t appreciate you for the smart, funny, beautiful, kind woman that you are, he clearly can’t appreciate anything.’
She gave me a weak smile.
‘What’s he doing now?’
‘I’ve dropped him off at Lakeside Inn and he’s coming back to pack up his stuff tomorrow. His brother’s collecting him and his belongings tomorrow and he’ll stay with him for a while. Can I ask a huge favour? Can I work from here tomorrow? I won’t be able to work while he’s clattering about and I don’t really want to be there anyway.’
‘Of course you can. I can clear the dining table for you.’
‘Thank you. He’s said I can keep the cottage and he’ll keep the Manchester flat. Assuming he doesn’t change his mind about that, the divorce should go smoothly.’
‘That sounds really positive to me, but you don’t look too enamoured.’
She sighed. ‘Itispositive. I love my cottage and I’m thrilled I get to keep it. It’s just that it was all too easy, like we were dividing up our CD collection or something.’
‘And you’d have preferred him to put up a bit more of a fight?’ I suggested.
‘I guess. It’s daft, isn’t it? I want a divorce and now I’m moaning because he’s granted me one.’
‘It’s not daft. Your marriage is ending and, even though that’s the right thing for you, you’re bound to be feeling all sorts of emotions about it. This is the man you loved who you chose to spend the rest of your life with. He’s the father of your daughter. Your feelings for him might have changed but that doesn’t mean that calling time on your marriage isn’t going to hurt. You’re grieving for what you used to have and what you hoped you’d have in the future and it’s only natural to want him to grieve for it too.’
