‘What’s brought you out here at this time of night?’ he asked, laying a hand on her shoulder. ‘What’s upset you?’
She shrugged it off. ‘As if you didn’t know.’ She glared at Alison, who shrank back, knowing she’d have to come clean.
‘The thing is,’ she said huskily, then cleared her throat. ‘The thing is, we sort of let slip that you were meeting up with Gavin on Saturday night, and Stella got a bit…’
‘Ah.’ Mac crouched down beside his sister and took hold of her hands. ‘Stell, it’s not what you think. I’m just meeting up with him to discuss a few things, that’s all.’
‘About this place? About Watersmeet? Or…’ There was the faintest trace of hope in her eyes as she willed him to tell her they were going to talk about her.
Alison could feel it. She sensed Stella’s desperation for her brother to put her case to Gavin, and for her ex-husband to admit to him that he still loved her.
Mac sighed. ‘It’s just a business idea, that’s all. Nothing to do with caravans or… or anything else you might be thinking.’
‘A business idea,’ she said flatly.
‘Let me make you that coffee,’ he said, getting to his feet and dropping a kiss on the top of her head.
For a moment she said nothing, staring straight ahead of her in a daze. Then her gaze lifted, and she seemed to suddenly remember Alison’s presence in the kitchen.
‘Did I interrupt?’ she asked nastily. ‘Were you about to have sex? You never did answer your mother’s question, did you?IsMac good in bed? No, on second thoughts, don’t tell me, I really don’t want to know, although I expect everyone else in The Hub was agog. Voices do carry, and there were quite a few people in the shop.’
Alison’s face burned as Mac turned to look at her, shock registering in his eyes.
‘It wasn’t like that,’ she said feebly. ‘Really it wasn’t.’
Stella laughed. ‘Sorry, did I say something I shouldn’t? How careless of me.’
Alison glared at her, furious that she was so bitter and twisted that she would do anything to spoil things for her brother.
‘Stop being a bitch,’ she said coldly. ‘You know as well as I do that it wasn’t like that, and Rosie would never have said anything to you about Gavin if you hadn’t been so nasty about us in the first place.’
Stella leaned forward, her finger jabbing in Alison’s direction. ‘Don’t call me a bitch! You have no idea. You think you’re better than me, don’t you? You think you’ve got it all figured out. Keep his bed warm, get your feet well and truly under the table here. You think he can make you happy? My friend, Lynne, thought he could make her happy, too, but he didn’t, did you,Mac?’ She laughed. ‘Oh, sorry! That wasn’tyourfault, was it? It was that nasty Ian. Nasty Ian’s gone now, so good and kind Mac is blameless. No one can accuse him of anything because he’s a different person now. Isn’t that right,Mac?’
Mac looked stricken. ‘Stella, please. This isn’t the way?—’
‘So, youhaven’ttold her then? I suspected as much. Well, maybeIshould.’ She turned to Alison, a smirk on her lips. ‘Do you know why my dear mother left Watersmeet to him instead of leaving it to me? You know, the dutiful daughter who stayed close by and looked out for her every day while big brother was miles away, ruining his life and everyone else’s.’ She glanced round at Mac, who’d gone very pale suddenly. ‘Because,’ she said coldly, ‘she felt sorry for him, didn’t she? You see, my brother didn’t have a home of his own. In fact, for a couple of years he was actually sleeping in his car. Isn’t that right, brother dear?’
Mac stared at the floor as Alison stood frozen, not knowing what to say.
Eventually, she ventured, ‘Well, when marriages break up things happen, don’t they? I’m sure there was a good reason…’
Mac groaned and turned his back on her, and suddenly Alison felt scared. She had a feeling she was about to hear something she really didn’t want to.
‘There was averygood reason why he ended up homeless,’ Stella said. ‘You see,Alison, my brother destroyed his life and ruined the life of his wife and children.’
‘Lynne had an affair with his best friend!’ Alison said hotly. She looked over to Mac, silently pleading with him to state his case and put Stella back in her place, but he didn’t turn round. He remained standing in front of the sink, his hands gripping the edge of the draining board.
‘He drove her to Terry, and thank God Terry was there for her, because where would she have been without him?’ Stella shook her head. ‘Lynne was a lovely woman. My friend. And the children – Wyatt and Sarah – they were my own flesh and blood, but I hardly see them now, because of him!’
‘I don’t understand,’ Alison said desperately. ‘Mac, what’s she talking about? Please.’
Mac turned to face her. ‘I was going to tell you,’ he said, a plea in his eyes. ‘I swear it.’
‘Oh, you swear it!’ Stella continued. ‘And how many times did you swear to Lynne that you’d never do it again, eh, Mac? How many times did you tell your wife and kids that things would be different? How many chances did they give you, until you brought them to the edge of ruin?’
Alison’s legs felt shaky, and she sat at the table opposite Stella. Mac sank to the floor, his arms folded protectively around himself, avoiding Stella’s eyes as she glared at him.
‘He’s a gambler, Alison!’ Stella spat out. ‘Don’t you get it? He went through all the money, all their savings, everything. Luckily, everything in their business account had to be co-signed, so he couldn’t rip Terry off, but he emptied his own personal account. How big was that overdraft, Mac? How many payments on the mortgage did you miss? How many final demands were there when Lynne finally found them stuffed in your desk drawer?’
