Alison was speechless, which was a shame because it gave Rosie the perfect opportunity to say airily, ‘Oh, that ship’s already sailed.’
‘I can’t believe you just said that!’ she gasped, as her mother whooped and clapped her hands.
‘You know, you’d never believe you’re eighty-four, Auntie Cherry,’ Rosie said sarcastically.
‘Is this true?’
Alison groaned inwardly as her mother leaned over and grasped her arm, her eyes bright with excitement. ‘Have you and Mac done the dirty deed?’
‘How many euphemisms can you come up with in one afternoon?’ Alison shook her head in wonder. ‘All right, just keep your voice down, will you? Rosie, remind me never to tell you anything in confidence ever again.’
‘It’s only sex, Ali,’ Rosie said, her eyes twinkling. ‘We’ve all done it. And anyway, it’s your own fault. You should have given me all the details, but you won’t, which I think is dead mean. Do you know, Auntie Cherry, she won’t tell me anything about it! I mean, what’s the point of doing it if you’re not going to spend hours relaying every detail to your favourite cousin afterwards?’
Alison’s mouth fell open as her mother nodded. ‘It does seem a bit mean. So come on, love, spill the beans. I mean,’ she added hastily, ‘I don’t want any of the ins and outs, so to speak, but just tell me if it was worth it. Was Mac good in bed?’
There was a clattering sound and they all turned, stunned to see Stella standing in the archway between the shop and the cafe, a carrier bag lying on the floor and cans of baked beans and chopped tomatoes rolling along the slates.
‘Bloody hell,’ Alison murmured, horrified.
‘Oh heck,’ Rosie said. ‘Awks or what?’
‘Stella, love,’ Mam cried, waving to the white-faced woman as if she’d just spotted her best friend. ‘How smashing to see you. How are you? Would you like to join us? We’re about to have tea.’
Stella bent down and gathered her spilled shopping. Stuffing it in the carrier bag, she walked hesitantly over to the table.
‘You and Mac?’ she asked Alison. ‘My brother?’
Alison’s heart skipped. She hated confrontations. ‘Er, yes.’
‘Since when?’ Stella demanded.
Alison looked round at her mother and cousin for support. ‘Well, not long,’ she said faintly.
‘Long enough, though,’ Rosie said defiantly.
‘Clearly,’ Stella said. ‘Well, I’m glad to see he’s got over our mother’s death so quickly. I’d hate to think he was grieving or anything silly like that.’
Alison’s eyes narrowed. She might not like confrontation, but she wasn’t about to let Stella get away with that. ‘He loved your mother very much. Of course he’s grieving for her. He misses her.’ She hesitated, hardly wanting to be nice to this woman at all, but knowing Mac wanted to build bridges with her. ‘He misses you too.’
‘Sure he does.’ Stella gave a bitter laugh. ‘If Ian – or Mac as he insists on calling himself these days – really missed me, he’d do as I asked and give me my due. By rights Watersmeet should be mine anyway and everyone knows it, but I’ve said I’ll accept half of it and I’ve offered to buy his half from him. What more can I do? He’s just so bloody unreasonable. And now I know why. He’s got some stupid notion of playing happy families with you!’
‘He’s building a new life for himself,’ Alison said, forcing herself to stay calm, even though she was seething. ‘Can’t you just accept that and move on? Let him be happy.’
‘Let him be happy?’ Stella gave her a pitying look. ‘You really don’t have the first idea, do you? You think you know him? You don’t. He doesn’t deserve to be happy.’
‘Well,’ Rosie said angrily, ‘your ex-husband clearly doesn’t share your opinion of him.’
Stella and Alison both turned to look at her, each clearly as surprised as the other.
‘Gavin?’ Stella asked. ‘What’s he got to do with it?’
Alison heard the catch in her voice and felt a sudden stirring of sympathy for her. She had to remember that Stella was still missing her ex-husband and was acting out of character. She never used to be like this. Everyone said how kind and lovely Stella was, though you’d never believe it lately. What had happened to her?
She wanted to warn Rosie to leave it. She knew Mac wouldn’t want his sister hurt and she had a feeling any mention of Gavin would only inflict more harm upon her. But Rosie had the bit between her teeth, and she wasn’t about to mince her words.
‘I was chatting to him this morning. He called the caravan park while I was cleaning Time and Tide, and he mentioned Mac had rung him to chat, and they were going out for a drink on Saturday for a catch-up. So it seems Gavin doesn’t bear any grudges towards him, doesn’t it? Maybe you should take a leaf out of your ex’s book.’
Stella stared at her for a long moment, until even Rosie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Then, without another word, Stella marched out of The Hub, slamming the door behind her.
