‘Sorry to burden you with all my problems,’ Jess said with a deep sigh. ‘I suppose I have been carrying a bit of guilt around with me.’
‘You are not burdening me whatsoever,’ Alice assured her.
‘Thanks. I guess I don’t have an awful lot of people to confide in,’ she admitted. ‘I just keep thinking that if I had said something they might have made a go of things. I still haven’t told Mum to this day,’ confessed Jess.
‘Now that is something I may be able to offer an opinion on,’ said Alice. ‘The fact is, he saw you that day, so if anything was going to make him feel guilty and reconsider his relationship with the other woman, then surely that would have been the turning point.’
‘I suppose.’ Jess shrugged. ‘So do you think I should ever tell Mum?’
‘I’m not sure there is any point, other than getting it off your chest,’ advised Alice. ‘Your father chose his own path. Besides, he was only having coffee with a colleague, as far as you were concerned. There is nothing unusual in that. I am sure your mum would understand if you did ever decide to bring it up. But it is up to you.’
‘Thank you, Alice.’ Jess was comforted once more by her words of wisdom. Tea and cake were the least she could provide for a wonderful friend like Alice. What a godsend her moving into Wisteria House had been.
FIFTY
ALICE
Alice had returned home after spending a pleasant couple of hours with Jess and was sitting in her wicker rocking chair, beneath a cherry tree and listening to the trickling waters of a water feature.
The tree had been delivered from a garden centre, after she had ordered it online. When she mentioned it to Mark, who seemingly now had a taste for gardening, he had kindly come along and planted the tree in the ground.
Sometimes, when she sat beneath it, she wondered how many more spring blossoms she would live to see. But then she didn’t really mind. She hoped future tenants would enjoy the tree growing in all its glory and not rip it out if they remodelled the garden.
She also wondered who had chopped down the oak tree she and her sister had planted as a child. Unbelievably, it had been planted from an acorn, lovingly nurtured in a pot before planting it in the ground. When they left the house, it was already two foot high.
As a young woman, she thought of knocking on the door and asking if it was still there but never managed to do so before sheheaded off to London. Maybe the tree had been destroyed during the blitz, even though the house had remained. Who knew?
Jess had told Alice that she should probably ask her over for tea more often, but then, perhaps Alice ought to do the same. Especially as she had one of the garden flats. It did not have to be a grand affair like the dinner party, but a cup of tea and a chat was always nice.
She would invite them over soon. She was sure Maisie would enjoy sitting in the rocking chair and looking at the garden ornaments that included pretty toadstools and little fairies dotted around the borders of the lawn.
She could feel the sun warming her face, and almost lulling her to sleep, when she heard her telephone ring. It was her oldest nephew, Callum, telling her he would be in Liverpool on Monday, and was she free for lunch.
‘But, of course! How wonderful.’ Alice could barely contain her excitement. She loved both of her nephews dearly. Callum was such fun to be around, and she always left his company feeling completely invigorated.
Callum told her he would be visiting a prospective client in the city to discuss the refitting of floors in the large music arena.
‘It’s a huge job,’ he told her excitedly. ‘I could probably pay off my mortgage with this one job alone,’ he confided.
Callum was the sales director of a large flooring company and often earnt generous bonuses.
She often thought that Callum, unlike his brother, was a little frivolous with money. She knew that he often threw lavish parties and seemed to be constantly jetting off somewhere on holiday. ‘Splashing the cash,’ as her brother-in-law would say. Maybe she would pay for their lunch, she decided.
They chatted for a while longer, after which Alice rustled herself up a simple tomato pasta supper before settling down to watch a film.
She had recently discovered a TV channel that showed black and white movies and was thrilled to find a Bette Davis film that was due to start at six o’clock. It might also distract her from the house sale that dominated her thoughts. Maybe she would have a little glass of wine to go with her dinner. It was Saturday evening after all.
FIFTY-ONE
DECLAN
It was early evening when Declan bumped into Mark as he was making his way in through the sliding glass doors of the Co-op.
‘Hi, how are things?’ Declan asked Mark amiably, his cheerfulness hiding the knot of tension he felt in his stomach after his conversation earlier in the week with Jess.
‘Good, thanks. Actually, I am pleased I have run into you; I was about to give you a knock later,’ said Mark.
‘Oh right, what’s on your mind?’
