Straightening up, Ellis returned his hand to hold Naomi’s again.
‘Well then,’ Jennifer said briskly. ‘Enjoy your evening together.’ Giving Bentley’s lead a small tug, she continued on her way. She had only gone a few steps when she called back over her shoulder. ‘About time the pair of you stopped skulking around and came clean. Good luck to you, I say!’
‘I told you, didn’t I?’ said Ellis when they had walked on and were out of Jennifer’s hearing. ‘I knew we must have given ourselves away.’
‘I wonder who else knows?’
‘Who cares!’ he exclaimed happily. Catching her up in his arms, he swung her round to face him and hugged her. ‘Who cares what anybody thinks?’
His delight was infectious, and she found herself laughing. Maybe everything was going to be all right after all.
Her optimism was short-lived. Later that evening, when they were back from the pub having run the gauntlet of curious stares from a handful of locals, and they were sitting companionably in the sitting room with a glass of wine watching a repeat ofEndeavour, the telephone rang. Naomi went to answer it and was, once more, taken by surprise. It was her oldest friend, Geraldine.
‘Now then,’ Geraldine said after a cursory attempt at small talk, ‘just when were you going to tell me about this boyfriend of yours?’
‘Goodness, how on earth do you know about him?’
‘How do you think? Martha called me.’
‘And I suppose as her godmother and honorary aunt, she felt the need to confide in you, and in turn you would then talk some sense into me? Am I right?’
‘More or less.’
‘So what precisely did she tell you?’
‘That you’ve been secretly carrying on with some chap who’s renting the house next door to you.’
‘How marvellously sensational you make it sound.’
‘You don’t deny it?’
‘Certainly not. And if you’re about to ask why I didn’t tell you, I felt it was nobody’s business but my own until I was ready to tell anyone about him.’
‘How very unlike you you sound.’
‘And maybe that’s the point. I want to be a new and different me.’
‘Martha also said you’d had some kind of a makeover.’
‘Heavens, hold the press, I had my hair restyled and bought a new dress!’
‘All symptoms of something more profound going on.’
‘It’s called not wanting to be considered merely a widow anymore. You have no idea how draining that is.’
‘But I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me. Fair enough you didn’t want to upset the girls by appearing to replace Colin so soon, but why keep me, your oldest and closest friend, in the dark?’
‘Because I wanted something that was entirely my own. And if I’m really honest, I got a kick out of the secrecy. Which I don’t expect you to understand.’
‘No, I don’t think I do.’
‘And did Martha tell you that she had decided it was time for me to downsize to some poky little place on her doorstep so I can be a handy babysitter when the time comes? Did she? I don’t know why she doesn’t just find me a care home, or better still, an undertaker and have done with it!’ The heated dismay in her voice spilled over. She was suddenly furious that she was having to justify and defend herself to her oldest friend.
‘Now you’re just being hysterical,’ said Geraldine. ‘But really, would it be such a bad idea to downsize and be nearer Martha and Tom?’
‘If your daughter were treating you this way, how would you react?’
Geraldine had the grace to laugh. ‘I’d tell Hilary to sling her hook and to hire an au pair if she was after cheap childcare! But never mind all that. Tell me something about this man.’
