‘I suppose we just have to accept that Alastair knows what he’s doing,’ Frankie said. ‘But if it does go pear-shaped with Valentina, we’ll be there for him. Just as we were when Orla died.’
Danny smiled. ‘You’re right, as always.’
‘I’ve made it a lifetime’s work always to be right, darling.’
‘Only a fool would dispute that.’
She smiled back at him, thinking that in that moment she was the luckiest of women to have been married so happily and for so long. ‘It was a good idea of yours to suggest we all had a day doing our own thing,’ she said.
‘I thought Alastair and Simon needed to have some time out from each other; things were in danger of getting a bit heated between them.’
‘Oh, so it wasn’t about you wanting to spend time alone with me, then?’
Danny chuckled. ‘Bang to rights!’
‘You better believe it. Your punishment is to stand me an ice cream. Go on, off you go and buy me a Cornetto.’
He rose to his feet and bowed. ‘Your wish is my command.’
‘And when you’re back, we’ll discuss what we’re going to do next about your plan for us to move here.’
He remained where he was and stared at her. ‘Are you serious about considering the idea?’
‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘Because it’s a big step to take.’
‘I prefer to think of it as an adventure.’
Danny smiled. ‘That’s what Alastair keeps saying about his own plans.’
‘If it’s good enough for him, why not for us too?’
Watching Danny walk away from her, Frankie acknowledged that her husband needed to have something new in his life, something to give him a purpose. Since suffering a heart attack and retiring, he’d lost direction and a sense of who he was; he’d lost some of his confidence too. Moving house to somewhere they both loved might give him a much-needed boost. Just so long as the stress of moving didn’t make him ill. She would have to ensure that she took control of that.
She turned back to the staithe to see a Herbert Woods motor cruiser making a hash of reversing into a mooring space – mooring was stern-on here – and a flicker of anticipation stirred within her. Perhaps Danny wasn’t the only one who needed a new challenge in his life; shaking things up for herself might prove to be fun also.
Over in the dyke, the traditional reedlighter – theHelen of Ranworth, the boat Frankie and Danny had gone out in earlier – was now setting off with another group of wildlife enthusiasts. On the staithe, the motor cruiser was still trying to negotiate the mooring spot and onlookers were doing their bit and offering advice to the man behind the wheel, none of which he seemed to be heeding.
Frankie smiled, thinking how easy it was to ignore even the most level-headed advice, to assume one always knew bettter. Certainly there was no telling Alastair to be careful regarding Valentina, and why should he be careful? Why not take a risk on happiness? Just as why shouldn’t she and Danny have an adventure of their own?
And what would Simon think of that, she wondered? Would it make him feel even more left behind? Because that was what Alastair’s new zest for life was causing them all to feel, whether they admitted it or not.
‘You know,’ said Simon, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Alastair is actually going through some sort of breakdown. All this nonsense about being in love is nothing more than a diversion to stop him going through the pain of grieving properly for Orla.’
In the passenger seat of their Mercedes, as Simon drove them back to Linston End, Sorrel was tempted to suggest that the only person going through a breakdown was Simon. She had spent most of the day trying to distract him from what was rapidly becoming an obsession – the subject of Alastair and Valentina. In the way that Brexit was blamed for everything wrong with the country, even the weather, Valentina was being held responsible by Simon for turning his oldest friend against him.
‘I’ll tell you what I think,’ Simon said, continuing with his monologue and drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, ‘Alastair’s so firmly under her control he’s lost sight of what should matter most to him.’
‘Which would be what exactly?’ asked Sorrel. As if she didn’t know.
‘His friends, that’s what! His friends who have been with him every step of the way, through school, college, marriage, and even death.’
Give me death any day over this purgatory, thought Sorrel, staring grimly out of the side window.
Oblivious to her mood, Simon went on. ‘The three of us have been together through all the highs and lows and now, now that he’s lost his head over the first woman to make a move on him in his widowed state, all that loyalty and history counts for nothing and is tossed aside.’
It was useless to say that Simon was blinded by personal bias, and that he was helping Alastair make light work of tossing him aside by his flat refusal to accept the situation. ‘I’ve told you before,’ she said calmly, ‘you’re exaggerating. Alastair won’t turn his back on you and Danny. That’s not in his nature.’ It was a lie, of course, she knew from bitter experience that Alastair was more than capable of turning his back on a person.
