‘True. But what if Alastair finds our connection to the past, in particular our connection to Orla, too much to bear?’
‘If I died, would you want to cut all ties with Alastair and Simon and Sorrel? Did that thought go through your head when I was in hospital?’
Frankie came to a stop just yards from their car. ‘Danny, all I could think about when you were in hospital was willing you back to full health. And if you don’t mind, I’d rather you didn’t speak so flippantly about you dying. It upsets me.’
‘I’m sorry, love.’
Danny drove out of the car park in silence. He was cross with himself for upsetting Frankie. But then these days they all seemed to be upsetting each other. That scene around the table in the kitchen earlier had been excruciating. What had got into Sorrel?
It had been a golden rule between Danny and Frankie that they would never gossip about their friends. It was something Danny felt strongly about, and was a trait he’d learned from his parents – do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But now he was going to break that rule.
‘Do you think Sorrel and Alastair have had an affair?’
Frankie stopped flicking through the haul of property brochures they’d gathered while trawling the agents. ‘A relationship other than the one they had before Orla came on the scene?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Are you sure this is something we should discuss, after all—’
‘Yes. Just this once I think we need to.’
‘Well,’ she said, while keeping her gaze fixed on the car in front of them, ‘I’ve always believed there was an unresolved issue between the two of them, and with—’
‘Why do you think that?’
‘Are you going to keep on interrupting me?’
‘Sorry. Carry on.’
‘I’ll try to, if you give me half a chance. I’ve always suspected that Sorrel still had feelings for Alastair, and that the way he dropped her when Orla showed up hurt her profoundly.’
‘And you believe—’
Frankie raised a hand. ‘No interrupting!’
‘Sorry.’
‘I think the pain she experienced all those years ago never left her and she would have leapt at the chance to get her own back on Orla by sleeping with Alastair again. After what we witnessed at lunchtime, I think it’s highly likely they did have an affair, but maybe only very briefly. Maybe just a one-off fling.’
Danny could see the sense in what Frankie had said. ‘Permission to speak?’ he asked.
‘Granted.’
‘When do you think that might have happened?’
‘Orla had her ups and downs, we all know that, particularly when she suffered yet another miscarriage. I’d hazard a guess that Alastair may well have sought a distraction during one of those episodes. Not that I’m condoning it. But then I’m not judging either.’
‘Have you always thought this about Alastair?’
‘In my subconscious, perhaps so. It was never something I consciously articulated though.’
‘And you were never once tempted to share this with me?’
‘Again perhaps subconsciously I didn’t want to say the words out loud for fear of making it true. I know how important the stability of your relationship with Alastair and Simon is to you, and to suggest that Sorrel was betraying one of your closest friends by sleeping with the other, was not a Pandora’s box I wanted to open. But when you think about it, can you honestly say you believe Sorrel has been truly happy all these years?’
‘I don’t know what to think. I suppose I just accepted Sorrel for being, well, Sorrel; not entirely capable of expressing joy. She’s not one of life’s naturally spontaneous people, is she?’ Before giving Frankie the chance to respond, he said, ‘Do you think Simon may have had the same thought as you?’
‘I wouldn’t like to say.’
