‘And then it all came crashing down, and after you left Lynne got really funny with us, like she didn’t want to be around us, and Gavin said it wasn’t worth bothering with the hotel and we should focus on businesses round here because it was cheaper, and he ended up buying the site at Puffin Point instead, and spending more and more time up there, and we drifted apart and…’ She gave a noisy sob. ‘And then he asked me for a divorce.’
‘Stella,’ Mac said gently, ‘Lynne and I broke up fifteen years ago. You and Gavin only divorced three years ago. It can’t have been down to my marriage ending.’
‘It was the catalyst!’ she said, glaring at him. ‘From then on, everything started to go wrong.’ She glanced around the kitchen. ‘Where is it?’
‘Where’s what?’ he asked, baffled.
‘That bloody cake! I’m starving.’
‘But you’ve given it up for Lent,’ he reminded her.
‘Sod that. Extenuating circumstances.’
He could see himself getting the blame for this as well, tomorrow, but he collected the cake, two forks, two plates and a knife and carried them over.
‘You’re sure about this?’ he asked, knife hovering over the cake.
‘Big piece,’ she said firmly. ‘Enormous.’
As he cut her a slice she poured her fourth glass of wine.
‘Gavin,’ she said, ‘was never the same with me after you left. I don’t know why. I tried, I really tried to make it work, Ian.’
‘Mac,’ he said quietly.
‘Whatever. I really tried. He just drifted away from me, and no matter what I did I couldn’t get him back.’ She dug her fork into the cake, tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘He left me. Everyone leaves me in the end. Gavin. Mum. You. Even my own children.’
‘Your children?’
‘Well, Ned’s gone, hasn’t he? Went off to university and never came back, just like his bloody Uncle Ian. Business and Tourism Management. Pah! And now he’s running a hotel in Wales! I ask you, bloody Wales!’
‘But Crystal’s around?’
‘Hardly ever here,’ she said with a sniff. ‘More interested in Puffin bloody Point. What’s so special about that place anyway?’
‘Well…’ Mac hadn’t been up to that area for years, but he remembered that Puffin Point was a pretty little village with two lighthouses and stunning beaches. Not to mention the tall chalk cliffs that were home to thousands of seabirds – including the famous puffins. He could see the attraction.
‘There’s nobody left,’ Stella said, wiping another tear away. ‘Nobody.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, genuinely feeling her pain. He knew how it felt to believe that not a single person in the world would care if you lived or died. It was the loneliest place on earth. ‘But it’s not true, Stell. Your kids love you. They’re just busy doing what you equipped them to do by being such a good mum. Living their lives. Making their way in the world. And Gavin – he still cares about you, I’m sure. You had two children together. Built up two businesses. And as for Mum… Aw, she couldn’t help leaving you. You know you meant the world to her. You were here for her, and that will have meant everything to her.’
‘Not that much,’ Stella said, before downing the rest of her wine. ‘She took all the photos of me down after me and Gavin split up, but she had loads of you scattered around the place. I couldn’t move without coming face to face with your smug grin.’
‘I’m sure she didn’t mean?—’
‘She said it was because they were my wedding photos, and she didn’t want to hurt me. She could have dug out other pictures, surely? But no. Not worth the bother, was I?’
She ran a hand across her forehead. ‘And this place! She knew how much I needed it, and she left it all to you just to spite me. I wanted it for Gavin, you see. It’s not for me, honestly it’s not. But Gavin needs the land and if you’d just let him have that he might come back to me. It would give him something to do here, you see. Bring him back from Puffin Point. You do understand that, don’t you?’
Mac pushed his cake away, untouched. ‘I can’t give Gavin the land. You know that.’
‘He’d give you a fair price!’ Stella grabbed his arm, a pleading look in her eyes. ‘Think about it, Mac. Think what you could do with all that money!’
He stared at her, feeling icy cold in the pit of his stomach. ‘Are you serious?’ Sonowshe called him Mac, when it suited her. ‘Wow. You really are desperate.’
‘Yes, I am!’ she cried. ‘I love my husband. Can’t you understand that? No, I don’t suppose you can. The way you treated your family you clearly don’t understand anything about love.’
‘You know nothing about it,’ he said, trying to remain calm. ‘You only think you do.’
