‘Simon, Sorrel is obviously still upset about Rachel, please take her upstairs and—’
‘And what, Alastair?’ demanded Sorrel, springing to her feet. ‘What precisely do you want Simon to do? Carry on living in ignorance of how we’ve betrayed him? Is that what you want?’
‘You’re talking rubbish, Sorrel. You’re upset and overwrought. For the sake of everybody else, just stop.’
Her face set like a mask, her hands balled into fists at her sides, her knuckles white, she squared up to Alastair. Jenna didn’t think she had ever seen Sorrel look so formidable. ‘And what if I don’t?’ she said. ‘What if after all this time, Alastair, I want to be honest?’
‘Well, this is interesting,’ drawled Nikolai with insufferable insouciance. ‘Who knew lunch today would turn out to be this much fun?’
‘I really wouldn’t,’ said Simon in a low growl. ‘If you had any manners, you’d keep quiet.’
Nikolai laughed. It was a horribly patronising laugh and Jenna expected it to send Simon into a fury. But he barely reacted. He just sat there staring at Sorrel, and then Alastair.
Jenna tried to make sense of what Sorrel had just said. What betrayal? How could she and Alastair have betrayed Simon? There seemed only one answer to the question, but she couldn’t bring herself to accept it.
‘We’ll deal with this later,’ said Alastair in a shockingly grim tone of voice. ‘For now, I have people in the hall who have come to view the house. I forgot about the appointment, so if you’d just go and make sure your rooms are relatively tidy, I’ll show them round down here. Will you do that for me, please?’
Given the precarious atmosphere Sorrel had created, his request felt bizarrely surreal, and weirder still when Simon rose from his chair and said, ‘They can’t go in Rachel’s bedroom.’
‘I’ll tidy the kitchen,’ offered Jenna, now that everybody was on their feet.
‘There’s no need,’ said Valentina, already reaching for plates and effectively forcing Jenna to step out of the way, ‘I shall do that with Nikolai and Irina’s help.’
Made to feel that she had no right to be there, Jenna climbed the stairs behind her parents with a heavy heart. Simon and Sorrel were ahead of them and muttering furiously at each other.
Back down in the hall, Jenna heard Alastair apologising to the couple for keeping them waiting, then suggesting they might like to see the sitting room first.
‘No need to apologise,’ said the woman. ‘Oh, darling, just look at the view of the river. And there’s a windmill too. Goodness, how could you possibly move from here?’
Jenna would have liked to hear Alastair’s reply, but she kept moving forwards until she was outside the room she shared with Rachel, and where Sorrel was now looking in. Simon had disappeared inside the room he and Sorrel always stayed in.
‘She’s still asleep,’ Sorrel said. ‘Better you don’t go in and disturb her.’
‘I promise I’ll be quiet,’ said Jenna, determined to be with her friend. She was suddenly tired of people telling others what they could and could not do, and anyway, where else was she going to go while Alastair was showing the potential buyers around the house?
Sorrel looked far from pleased, as though recognising she was being challenged, but after a split second of hesitation, she stepped back to allow Jenna to pass. ‘Come and get me if she wakes.’
Once inside, Jenna closed the door and went and hovered over Rachel to make sure she was all right. She then sat on her bed and checked her mobile, which she’d left charging and switched to silent mode. Blake had texted.How’s it going over there?
She tapped in her response.Pretty bad.
Almost instantly he replied.With Rachel?
No. She’s sleeping. It’s everyone else that’s the problem.
Sorry to hear that. Anything I can do to help?
If only it were that easy, thought Jenna.It’s complicated,’she wrote.
Do you fancy escaping? The rain’s easing off now. I could come over for you.
Jenna hesitated. She really didn’t want to leave Rachel, but since her friend was fast asleep, and since she didn’t want to get caught up in any more unpleasantness, or think how Sorrel and Alastair might have betrayed Simon, she decided to accept Blake’s invitation.
Give me ten minutes and I’ll be down at the entrance to the dyke.
Excellent!
Chapter Forty-Eight
