‘No, she doesn’t, Mac. Right now she hates herself, and she’s taking it out on you because you’re the one person guaranteed not to turn your back on her.’
‘Is there really no way back for you and her?’ Mac asked. He groaned and gave Gavin an apologetic look. ‘Sorry, mate. The times Stella asked me that about me and Lynne and I wanted to throttle her in the end. If there was a way back, we wouldn’t be divorced, would we? She wouldn’t be living with bloody Terry. She wouldn’t have taken my children to live in his sodding detached house with the massive lawn and the ride-on mower.’
‘You should have told Stella what really happened,’ Gavin said. ‘If she’d known that Lynne was carrying on with Terry behind your back all those years, she’d have gone a lot easier on you.’
‘Yeah, but she wouldn’t have gone easier on Lynne,’ Mac said. ‘She’d have gone round there and played merry hell with her. You know what she’s like. And my kids would have found out what their mother had been up to, and I didn’t want that. God knows, I’d let them down enough. I didn’t want them to think their mum had, too. They neededsomeoneto believe in.’
‘Well, you’re a lot nobler than I’d have been. Letting her have all the profits from the house sale, too. You could have got half of that, you know. You always were too decent for your own good.’
‘I wanted my kids to have financial security. It was the least I could do for them. Besides, I’d only have lost it on a roulette table or a card game or a horse race. Hell, I was such a mess.’
‘That was an addiction,’ Gavin said firmly. ‘One you’ve put behind you and more than paid the price for.’
‘What you said on the phone, about never wanting Watersmeet. Did you mean that?’
Gavin puffed out his cheeks. ‘I have never, ever told Stella I wanted Watersmeet,’ he said. ‘Truth is, Mac, I’m thinking of getting out of Kelsea Sands all together. Tide’s Reach is falling into the sea and there’s only so far back I can move the caravans. The Fosters won’t sell me any land, and to be honest I’ve lost interest. We’ve expanded the park at Puffin Point and it’s doing really well now, competing with the big holiday park companies. And then there’s the hotel. That’s my pet project. I’m selling the house to invest in that. Going to live in. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be Puffin Point’s version of Basil Fawlty.’
‘All you need now is a Sybil,’ Mac said.
Gavin shuddered. ‘No chance. I’m single and happy. Women are too much like hard work. No, I’m sixty now. I just want a bit of peace and to focus on my work. I’m sorry things didn’t work out with me and Stella, but that’s the way it goes, isn’t it?’
‘She still loves you. You know that, don’t you?’
‘Yes. I know. I’m sorry about that, but what can I do? I don’t hate her. I’m quite fond of her. But love… No, that’s long gone. You’d think three years after our divorce she’d understand that, wouldn’t you?’
Mac felt a wave of sadness for his sister. Poor Stella. She’d lost so much when she and Gavin had divorced. Not just the man she loved, but her home and her job, too, because it was impossible for her to continue working with her ex-husband every day. She simply couldn’t face it. Her confidence low, she’d withdrawn into herself, living on the divorce settlement and moving to a smaller house in Weltringham, because with Gavin and the children gone, a larger house would just remind her of all she’d lost.
He wished he could make her happy, but it was beyond his power. He couldn’t even make himself happy. Every time his thoughts strayed to Alison he felt his heart fracture just a little more and a lurch of panic, because what if it became too much and he gave up? It was how it had all started before. Losing Lynne. What if losing Alison sent him back to that hell? What if he lost control? What if he didn’t have the strength to hang on to Watersmeet and he let his mother and all the animals who depended on him down?
Was he capable of being the man his mum had clearly thought he could be?
A meeting, he thought. I’ll go to a meeting this week. I’ll go to every meeting they hold if it will keep me on the straight and narrow.
‘So these shepherd’s huts,’ he said, ‘how much are we talking? Just so I know how much I’m going to have to grovel to Stella for.’
‘I’m not sure, but I’ll text Rupe and ask him.’ Gavin took his phone out of his jacket pocket and began to tap out a message.
Mac took his own phone out, wondering wistfully if there’d been any message from Alison. Not that he expected one, of course, but even so…
He frowned and stared at the screen in bewilderment. A notification from his bank. It was impossible!
He quickly opened his mobile banking app and checked his account. There was no mistake. Thirty thousand pounds had just been paid into his account by Stella. Had she heard about the shepherd’s huts? Had Gavin mentioned them to her? Was this some sort of deposit or…
And then, with sickening clarity, he understood.
He put the mobile phone back in his pocket, his mind whirling. He had thirty thousand pounds in the bank. His to do what he liked with.
Forty minutes later, he hugged Gavin goodbye outside the train station.
‘The shame of it,’ Gavin said. ‘Having to catch a train at my age.’
‘Nothing wrong with taking a train. Better for the environment.’
‘There you go again. Too bloody noble. Great to see you again, Mac. Let me know if you make any decisions about those shepherd’s huts.’
‘I will. Thanks, Gavin. For everything.’
Gavin nodded. ‘Take care of her, won’t you? Stella, I mean. She’s a pain in the backside a lot of the time but she’s a good woman at heart. I don’t like to think of her hurting, you know?’
