‘Ah, I’m so sorry.’
‘When the boys finally left home, a lot of joy went out of our lives, well,mylife really. Instead of listening to what two vibrant young men had been up to all day, over dinner, I had morose Doug telling me about the latest disaster at work.’
Maddie would be thrilled to hear about Tony’s work day, morose or otherwise, but voicing that would stop Charlotte in her tracks.
‘Yes, I can see that would be tough.’
‘I started to pull away from him, Mads. I made out I was painting day and night and spent a lot of those nights in the spare room. And then I’d wait until I heard him go out of the house before I got up.’
‘It sounds like the whole thing was very stressful.’
‘It was. But I think I was also in denial about how bad things were. Of course, our sex life went to pot.’
Maddie swallowed the last of her second cocktail. She had to be grateful that everything had been fine and dandy on thatscore right up until Tony’s death. He may be gone, but she had a whole trove of romantic memories to dive into.
Charlotte’s voice had dipped to a whisper.
‘I turned him down a few times, so he stopped asking. It felt easier that way. And then it just became the norm.’
The tears when they came were silent, and Maddie took her friend into her arms and let her cry on her shoulder.
‘Shhh. Let it all out.’
After a couple of minutes, Charlotte pulled away and leaned back in her chair again.
‘So, you can see why I bear some responsibility for the whole thing as well. I made it clear I didn’t really want him at a time when he was under immense stress.’
Maddie couldn’t let that one lie. She’d heard it so many times before, women blaming themselves for everything that went wrong in a relationship. It took two people to let things go sour.
‘But you were stressed up to the eyeballs as well by the sound of it. You were shoring up the business, working your arse off, dealing with your empty nest and no doubt the lingering effects of the menopause, which doesn’t help anyone’s sex life. You’re being too hard on yourself.’
‘Maybe. But can you see why it isn’t exactly how it must appear to Sof?’
‘I can. Ending a long and mostly happy marriage is a huge decision. And one that is yours, and only yours, to take. There’s no judgement here. If you stay together, I’ll back you all the way, and Sof will just have to get used to it.’
She’d never be able to look at Doug in the same way again, but that wasn’t helpful to say right now.
‘Hello? Where are you?’
Sofia’s voice in the bedroom brought an abrupt end to the conversation.
Charlotte put her finger to her lips.
‘Not a word of what I’ve just told you, please.’
Maddie banged her chest in the Greek gesture of love.
‘Of course not. Hey, Sof, we’re out here.’
Chapter Twenty-One
‘Everything sorted?’
Maddie went straight in with a question to stop Sofia asking any of Charlotte, who’d had more than enough for one evening.
‘Sorted?’
‘We assumed you had to go and’—Maddie put her fingers into air quotes—‘“sort something”?’
