‘I have to go.’ She turned and scuttled down the path towards the front door to the café.
‘Susanna!’ Mateo called after her a couple of times, but his voice was blocked when the door shut behind her.
Louisa came out from the kitchen while Susanna was still standing by the front entrance. ‘We wondered where you and Addie had got to,’ she said, all smiles. ‘Just the kitchen floor to be done now.’ Louisa, with her beautiful blonde curls and the hint of youth that Susanna felt she’d long since left behind, picked up the mop and bucket to take to the kitchen.
‘Just going to the bathroom,’ Susanna said before Louisa could respond. She needed a minute before she could deal with anything else.
If Alex was having an affair, she’d be devastated. But if she did the same? It wouldn’t make it any better, would it?
In the bathroom, she stood with her back against the closed door and took a few deep breaths. Addie had run off, she’d almost cheated on her husband by kissing Mateo, and she still had to face Louisa and Gayle.
When her phone rang it made her jump. It was Alex calling, and she wished he’d forgotten to call her back.
She let it ring out. But he rang again.
‘Where are you?’ he asked when she answered. ‘It sounds echoey.’
‘In the bathroom at the café.’
‘Should I call you in a few minutes?’ he asked.
‘I almost kissed Mateo,’ she blurted out, the words leaving her lips before she could change her mind. She couldn’t keep it to herself. She just couldn’t.
‘What?’
‘Mateo, he still lives here, and he was here today, at the café…’ Her words were tumbling out as if she was worried she wouldn’t get the chance to say them if she didn’t do it right this minute.
A knock at the bathroom door was followed by Aunt Gayle asking, ‘Susanna, what’s going on? Are you okay? Where’s Addie?’
‘Alex, I’ll have to call you later.’ Gayle’s timing couldn’t have been worse.
‘No, we nee?—’
But she cut off the call because Aunt Gayle was still knocking, anxious to know what was happening.
She emerged from the bathroom, but she didn’t say a word until she was in the café where she turned to her aunt and said, ‘Addie ran off.’
‘What do you mean, she ran off?’
‘She knows.’
‘Knows what?’
Louisa appeared at that moment, picked up on the atmosphere, and remarked, ‘Sorry to interrupt. I’ll leave you both to it.’
Susanna’s voice stopped her before she could head back to the kitchen. ‘She knows about you, Louisa. We both do.’
She wasn’t sure who looked more shocked, Louisa or Gayle.
Gayle let out a big breath. ‘I think I need to sit down.’
Louisa rushed over, held her arm and guided Gayle over to a chair. Louisa didn’t really meet Susanna’s eye when she said, ‘I’ll go and make us all a cup of tea.’ She rushed out to the kitchen.
Susanna sat down opposite her aunt.
‘I was going to talk to you after today,’ said Gayle, voice soft, a hand to her chest. ‘I wanted to do it right.’
‘Doing it right would probably have been before today,’ said Susanna defeatedly. ‘I found out yesterday when we were looking through Dad’s things.’
